The Student Room Group

Okay A Levels?

Hey all! :smile:

I'm new to TSR, but, I was just wondering if you guys could see if my A Levels are a good choice for me to do?
I'm going to finish my GCSEs in a few weeks, with predictions of all As and A*s. I honestly have no idea what I want to be; when I was growing up my aspiration was always an ice cream man! :tongue:
All I know is that I want to get into one of the Russell Group universities, of course, Oxbridge would be nice, but for me, I don't think it's very realistic.
Anyway (you can tell I'm new by the amount I've written), I'm considering the following:
English Lit.
Maths, and then Further Maths at A2.
French.
Geography.

Personally, I think it's a good range of skills, but, I don't know about the work load and resulting from my results, where these could take me, in terms of both university and career paths.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated, and I thank you for it, and I apologise for twittering on. :colondollar:

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Reply 1
Maths is a great A Level to take as it gives a good grounding for many different careers and is considered good, (I say this, of course, in a non-biased way).
Do you mean you would start up FM in Y13? This is what I did and I regretted not doing it in Y12 as it is a great subject.
Don't know about the other A levels sorry, didn't take them.
Reply 2
Thank you so much for replying.
Maths would probably be my weakest one, so I don't know if I could cope? I only need a C in my exam in a few weeks to secure an A which should be achievable, the A* is a different story. Yeah, we do the Edexcel Maths at my school, yes, I think that means we start Further Maths in Year 13? I don't know. I was planning to have a good look after my final exam in a few weeks, but, I just don't know where to go from the options..
It might be a good idea to swap Geography for Biology as it would open a few more doors.

Also if you're not too confident in maths it probably isn't the best idea to do it at A level, it is a big jump from GCSE.
Reply 4
Ahh okay thank you.
I know Geography isn't the most challenging or sophisticated subject, I'm purely doing it for the grade, so far I haven't lost a mark, so I don't even need my final exam, plus I quite enjoy it. Science is my weakest area, so I probably wouldn't go down that route; it's incredibly competitive and my grades haven't been that good. I've heard top universities look at the individual grades for the subject which you want to pursue? If that's so, I got 4 Bs, an A and 2 A*s in Core Science; Additional we will have to wait and see.
I know Maths would be difficult for me, but, I think a challenge would be good considering I'm confident with the others, plus my teachers are really good. There are pros and cons of every subject really. If I had a clearer idea of a career, I think I would be so much better off..
Reply 5
Original post by BartoBarto
Ahh okay thank you.
I know Geography isn't the most challenging or sophisticated subject, I'm purely doing it for the grade, so far I haven't lost a mark, so I don't even need my final exam, plus I quite enjoy it. Science is my weakest area, so I probably wouldn't go down that route; it's incredibly competitive and my grades haven't been that good. I've heard top universities look at the individual grades for the subject which you want to pursue? If that's so, I got 4 Bs, an A and 2 A*s in Core Science; Additional we will have to wait and see.
I know Maths would be difficult for me, but, I think a challenge would be good considering I'm confident with the others, plus my teachers are really good. There are pros and cons of every subject really. If I had a clearer idea of a career, I think I would be so much better off..


I find for maths there is a set pattern to the exams in that the questions are generally similar every year so if you understand the method and concept it's not too bad.
It's quite the memory game.
Put bluntly, A levels are nowhere near as simple as gcse so you may find you really dislike the a level when you enjoyed the gcse.
Good filing and note taking are key :yep:

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830
Reply 6
Ahh okay. I didn't know that, obviously, but, when I've finished my exams I'll look into it!
My memory is fairly sharp when it comes to equations and quotes so remembering them shouldn't be too bad.
Will they give a formula sheet in the exam? Or is a case of blitzing them and learning them all?

Of course, there is that possibility. Hopefully, it won't be the case for me. I'll just have to wait and see.

Again, thank you very much for your help and advice, I guarantee you it is making me think! :smile:
Original post by BartoBarto
Thank you so much for replying.
Maths would probably be my weakest one, so I don't know if I could cope?


in my school we do AS and A2 level in one year i secured an A* in maths in GCSE edexcel if u know GCSE maths well i dont think GCE maths should really be a problem. I'm doing C1 C2 C3 C4 M1 S1 and my expected grade according to my teacher is an A with chances of an A*
I do English Lit and French and love them both. Work load is quite a lot and it's a bit annoying because the French oral is around the time of coursework final deadline, but I think they work well together as two subjects. You can always read some french literature in both languages to help both subjects!

Think this is a great mix of subjects, Oxbridge would LOVE it. Don't have to worry about how realistic a dream that is yet, you have a whole year to decide!

I don't think there's any need to swap Geography for something else, however I think there may be a lot of coursework involved? You might have quite a lot of work if you're gonna be doing the five subjects.
Reply 9
Original post by BartoBarto
Ahh okay thank you.
I know Geography isn't the most challenging or sophisticated subject, I'm purely doing it for the grade, so far I haven't lost a mark, so I don't even need my final exam, plus I quite enjoy it. Science is my weakest area, so I probably wouldn't go down that route; it's incredibly competitive and my grades haven't been that good. I've heard top universities look at the individual grades for the subject which you want to pursue? If that's so, I got 4 Bs, an A and 2 A*s in Core Science; Additional we will have to wait and see.
I know Maths would be difficult for me, but, I think a challenge would be good considering I'm confident with the others, plus my teachers are really good. There are pros and cons of every subject really. If I had a clearer idea of a career, I think I would be so much better off..


As an A2 student about to do my last Maths and Geography exams next week, I can tell you that Geography is both challenging and sophisticated. The two subjects require entirely different skill sets, and unfortunately on TSR there will always be the ill-conceived judgement that unless it's a science, it's not respected.

I find geography harder than maths due the all rounded analytic skill set required. It is a totally different ball game to GCSE. For instance, geopolitics plays a huge role in A2 topics; you may be discussing emerging superpowers like China one minute and then conflicts over resources like water the next.

Basically, it's extremely diverse and at university level can branch into many routes, perhaps why a degree holds such great employability at the moment - it makes you an extremely well rounded person.

But I don't know why I'm trying to sell it to you, I'm probably being protective as it's my degree choice and i'm currently anxious with revision about attaining the grade I need! :tongue: I would just advise that you research the exam boards that your sixth form goes by for their subjects and see if the topics may interest you.
Reply 10
Original post by laurenbowes

I don't think there's any need to swap Geography for something else, however I think there may be a lot of coursework involved? You might have quite a lot of work if you're gonna be doing the five subjects.


Hey I don't think I did that right but ahh well?
On the exam board which I would be doing it with (AQA) there is no coursework, which is a huge boost to the course I believe. Especially, as there will be coursework for my other subjects.
Reply 11
Original post by 99llewellyn99
in my school we do AS and A2 level in one year i secured an A* in maths in GCSE edexcel if u know GCSE maths well i dont think GCE maths should really be a problem. I'm doing C1 C2 C3 C4 M1 S1 and my expected grade according to my teacher is an A with chances of an A*


Ahh well done! That's amazing!
I'm most likely to get an A grade in Maths, there is the chance to get an A* but that means getting something like 111 out of 120 which I don't see happening to be honest..

Good luck with your results. I'm sure you deserve the A*, you sound lovely. :smile:
Original post by BartoBarto
Hey all! :smile:

I'm new to TSR, but, I was just wondering if you guys could see if my A Levels are a good choice for me to do?
I'm going to finish my GCSEs in a few weeks, with predictions of all As and A*s. I honestly have no idea what I want to be; when I was growing up my aspiration was always an ice cream man! :tongue:
All I know is that I want to get into one of the Russell Group universities, of course, Oxbridge would be nice, but for me, I don't think it's very realistic.
Anyway (you can tell I'm new by the amount I've written), I'm considering the following:
English Lit.
Maths, and then Further Maths at A2.
French.
Geography.

Personally, I think it's a good range of skills, but, I don't know about the work load and resulting from my results, where these could take me, in terms of both university and career paths.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated, and I thank you for it, and I apologise for twittering on. :colondollar:



Well it goes without saying if you want to get into Oxbridge you'll have to do more academic A levels, such as Physics etc. So the ones you have chosen maths etc are an excellent choice- make sure you'll be able to do them though and don't pick ones that are all going to be hard to cope with. Steer away from subjects such as Art, Business Studies etc as these are considered soft subjects to do eventhough there is nothing wrong with them at all. Remember if you have got your sights set high you need to do the highest things possible to get what you want. For example, Oxbridge like other things apart from excellent grades, you will need to do specific enrichment activties such as sport/music and so on. This is because it shows that as well as academically you are a whole rounded person.

Anyway- good luck!!
Reply 13
Original post by Braptings

I find geography harder than maths due the all rounded analytic skill set required. It is a totally different ball game to GCSE. For instance, geopolitics plays a huge role in A2 topics; you may be discussing emerging superpowers like China one minute and then conflicts over resources like water the next.
I would just advise that you research the exam boards that your sixth form goes by for their subjects and see if the topics may interest you.


Okay thank you. This was all so helpful!
I hope it is highly regarded, like I said I would like to go to a good university!
We do AQA at my school, which means that there is no coursework, and there is one exam each year, plus a skill based one each year as well.
Physical Geography is normally considered the hardest (at my school anyway) but I find that so much easier. I got 73 out of 75 in my exam last year, but, Human Geography seems to baffle me, because I find... I don't know how to describe it, more like common sense. I feel like anyway who isn't doing Geography could explain why poorer countries have a higher birth rate for example.
Those subjects do sound interesting! :tongue:

Thank you so much! :biggrin:
Original post by BartoBarto
Ahh well done! That's amazing!
I'm most likely to get an A grade in Maths, there is the chance to get an A* but that means getting something like 111 out of 120 which I don't see happening to be honest..

Good luck with your results. I'm sure you deserve the A*, you sound lovely. :smile:


thanks an A* in GCE level would be great nd good luck for your results too
Original post by laurenbowes
I do English Lit and French and love them both. Work load is quite a lot and it's a bit annoying because the French oral is around the time of coursework final deadline, but I think they work well together as two subjects. You can always read some french literature in both languages to help both subjects!


This.

You have a good range of subjects, although it does preclude you going down the science route, but you don't seem to mind that.
Reply 16
Original post by Bettypratchit
For example, Oxbridge like other things apart from excellent grades, you will need to do specific enrichment activties such as sport/music and so on. This is because it shows that as well as academically you are a whole rounded person. Anyway- good luck!!


Ahh okay, thank you! At least I no know I have a chance of getting somewhere with these subjects, as long as my grades are good.
I recently won an award for the Intermediate Maths Challenge-I got a Merit which puts me in the top 1% of those who took it, so could that be something to help me get somewhere?
'Enrichment' activities do seem to be my downfall though. Sport is an absolute no go, but, I suppose it's never to late to learn an instrument? Is there anything else you can think of which would help?

If you are doing exams of some sort, I wish you the best of luck too! Thank you once again; means a lot.
I do english lit and I love it. Obviously it depends on your essay writing skills but it's not that hard if you work at it. French and english go really well together. My friends have told me that french is hard and quite stressful, but they also say that it's worth it and everyone I know who takes it enjoys it.
I found further maths quite hard but if you're taking it in Year 13 then you'll have developed enough skills through AS maths so I'm sure you'll be fine. You don't really need to worry about geograhy not being the hardest subject since you're other subjects are considered respectable.
Reply 18
Original post by roflcakes1
I do english lit and I love it. Obviously it depends on your essay writing skills but it's not that hard if you work at it. French and english go really well together.
I found further maths quite hard but if you're taking it in Year 13 then you'll have developed enough skills through AS maths so I'm sure you'll be fine.


Okay, thank you much!
I could do History instead of Geography, but, I find Geography so much easier. Plus, the reading for both English Lit. and History would probably slow me down a bit..
I've heard they're quite hard too, but, French there will only be 5 of us, so it will be almost one-to-one. Maths, I'm taking more because it looks good. As I've said, it's not my best, but, I think if I put enough work in, I could get an A overall.

Good luck with your results. I hope you do fantastically. :biggrin:
Reply 19
Original post by BartoBarto
Hey all! :smile:

I'm new to TSR, but, I was just wondering if you guys could see if my A Levels are a good choice for me to do?
I'm going to finish my GCSEs in a few weeks, with predictions of all As and A*s. I honestly have no idea what I want to be; when I was growing up my aspiration was always an ice cream man! :tongue:
All I know is that I want to get into one of the Russell Group universities, of course, Oxbridge would be nice, but for me, I don't think it's very realistic.
Anyway (you can tell I'm new by the amount I've written), I'm considering the following:
English Lit.
Maths, and then Further Maths at A2.
French.
Geography.

Personally, I think it's a good range of skills, but, I don't know about the work load and resulting from my results, where these could take me, in terms of both university and career paths.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated, and I thank you for it, and I apologise for twittering on. :colondollar:

The only one I'll be much help to you with is English Lit. To be honest it depends on what you're looking for really. Last year (AS), I wasn't a big fan on my teacher who taught us coursework and I thought that the coursework would be relatively easy as I seemed to sail through GCSE. We studied Othello and Hedda Gabler. I got a C the first time round, and I was honestly shocked as I did not see it coming. Hedda Gabler was good to study, wasn't the biggest fan of Othello, but I think if I had really thrown myself into it I would have enjoyed it a lot more and got a better mark. Anyway, that teacher left last year and we got a new one who alllllllways mentions the AOs, which, in all honesty, I was only half-aware existed last year. So if you want to do well at English Lit, look up the AOs, and in your essays, make sure you hit them all on the head and you should do well. There are four AOs, e.g. context/alternative response etc, and they count as 25% of your mark. So if you leave one out, you've immediately lost 25%. For our exam we studied the Great Gatsby (LOVE), the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (which I thought was a bit of an odd text to study, but I have a feeling they have taken it out of the spec) and Tennyson and Browning poems (which I enjoyed). Got a B in the exam but, again, if I had thrown myself into those texts more, I know I would have done better.
A2 English is much better than AS, I think. For coursework you get to choose which books you write about, and choose your question which I think massively helps as you can write about what you're interested on. I did sexual perversion in Lolita and the House of the Spirits for my first piece, and the Great Canon of Literature in regard to Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis. I think I have matured a lot in my writing this year, and enjoyed the texts more. For the exam (on 20th June, ahh) we have studied three texts on the Gothic - I absolutely love this course. We've done Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff...its me its Cathy I've come home blah blah, love it), the Bloody Chamber (which i thought I'd hate but is amazing - she's basically rewritten fairytales and made them dark) and Chaucer's the Pardoner's Tale (was v difficult to grasp the language at first, but once youve read it a couple of times you're fine).

Definitely recommend English Lit, even if you hate it at AS. Sorry for the essay.
The only other thing I can say is I've heard French is very very difficult - it's basically English Lit in another language. But that's just hearsay.
Good luck x

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