Choosing your A levels? Your questions answered here!

Hi Guys,

I'm going into year 12 in September but I'm having doubts about my A-level choices
At the moment they're Maths, Further Maths, French, Economics, and Art, with the view of keeping my options open so I could do Economics, or Maths, or Architecture at uni.
But this summer I did some architecture work experience and I'm not so sure that I want to do it as a career anymore, so I don't need art at A-level.
Though I really enjoy art, I know having done GCSE (and got full UMS wooooooo) that it's a LOT of time and work, and also that I could take a more facilitating subject to maximise my chance of getting a place to study Economics at Oxbridge or a Russell Group University.

So what do you think fits best? Keeping the list of facilitating subjects in mind, these are the options:

Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Geography
German
English lit

(Tbh I really don't like English lit)

Thank you!

I'm doing Psychology,Economics and RE for ALevel.Is that okay considering I want to be a psychologist? I didnt get the A I needed in science to do biology so will that hurt my chances ?

If you can't do it, you can't do it.

Shouldn't be to bad, can you do maths at all? Or stats

I'm doing Psychology,Economics and RE for ALevel.Is that okay considering I want to be a psychologist? I didnt get the A I needed in science to do biology so will that hurt my chances ?

The school doesn't offer statistics and as for maths I don't have the grade,I got a B you need a A.Sometimes it sucks to be a straight B student...

Hmmmm... Can you do sociology?

Yeah but I think I'd prefer RE since I have a natural affinity for the subject.I got a B in it but admittedly that's a huge flop for me personally since I've been getting A/A* consistently before-sorry if this sounds rude or insensitive or snobbish.

Can you not do both?

They gave me the choice of 3 subjects+ an EPQ which is compulsory.

Psychology
Economics
RE

I would like to do art therapy
will taking
English, art and psychology be okay to take for alevel to meet the requirements for that particular job

Okay I've whittled my choices down
For an economics degree, which would be better:

Maths
Further maths
Economics
French
Geography

Or

Maths
Further maths
Physics
Economics
French

Thanks!

Maths
Further Maths
Physics
Economics
French

Only because geography is super boring, and physics will be nice with your maths/fm.

That's true, but I do enjoy geography! Do you think a top university would prefer to see maths + economics + two arts subjects or maths + economics + a science + an arts subject?

Or are they pretty equal?

Physics trumps Geography if that's what you mean.

But if you really want to do geography, both are good.

I thought I liked geography, but it was so easy, I had to swap it didn't feel like an A Level

Choosing A-Levels can be a difficult decision to make so early on in life for those who choose to do them. There are many threads on A-Level choices being posted at this time of the year, so to we've created this thread for all questions about choices to help everyone to get the most effective help.

How do I choose which A-Levels to take?

What to do if I know which career path I would like to follow?

The first and most effective thing to do is to have a look on the website of the university/college you wish to attend to see which A-Levels are required and which grades from each subject you need for the course. Alternatively you can search for your course on www.ucas.com and click on ‘specific course entry requirements’ to see the grades and the subjects required for a course at a university or college. Also, you can post in the subject specific sub forums in the University and University Courses forum for advice from current students and other students who are also either in the same position or would like to take the same course as you and have already chosen their options.

Not everyone likes to go straight onto university after completing A-Levels, so if you would prefer to look into what career paths are available then make a thread in the appropriate sub forum in the Careers and Employment forum, or if you would prefer an apprenticeship, make a thread in the Apprenticeships sub forum.

What to do if I don’t know which career path I would like to follow?

In general, it's often good to try to take a wide range of subjects, such as a science subject (e.g. maths or physics), a humanities subject (e.g. history or English), an arts subject (e.g. a foreign language) and/or a social sciences subject (e.g. business or law). This will open up many career paths options to you. However the danger here is if you decide to go into a career which requires 2 or 3 subjects with are part of one particular area of such as 2 science subjects or 2 humanities subjects for a course then you may not be able to get a place on your desired course. We would suggest that you try and make a short list of possible courses you would be interested in doing, looking at all of the subjects they like you to take and pick your favourite ones or most suitable ones from that.


How hard are A-Levels?

It cannot be doubted that there is a relatively large jump between GCSEs and AS-Level. However the first module of each A-Level subject is designed to give you the basic knowledge for the rest of the A-Level, and make up for any gaps of knowledge that may be present. But it does not mean that it is impossible to do well at a subject, even if you did not achieve or are not predicted one of the top grades at GCSE for those subjects. The key is in understanding the basic knowledge of each course by doing a little bit of work or background reading each day on each subject to make sure that you know the course material well. At A-Level you can't do little work over the course of the unit then cram the night before as easily as it is claimed to be for GCSE subjects so persistent reading and extra study is required throughout A-Levels in order to gain a good grade. As a guideline it is good to try and get around 5 hours of additional independent study for each subject done each week in order to gain a good grade. This may increase to around 6-7 hours for those wanting to achieve the highest grade possible. Please remember though that this is only a guideline and it is variable for each individual.

How will I know if I will be able to cope with a particular subject?

The simple answer to this is that you just don’t know, and you'll never know unless you try! However if you are concerned about taking a subject on to A-Level or are considering it but are unsure, the best thing to do is to talk to your subject teacher and ask for their opinion on the matter.

How many subjects should I take?

The majority of A-Level students take 3 or 4 A-Level subjects. Many take 4 subjects in their AS year and drop one subject in their A2 year so that they also have an extra AS qualification on top of their full A-Levels (ASs count as a qualification on their own, and they do count for UCAS points. See www.ucas.com for more details on UCAS points, or post in the Applications and UCAS sub forum).

Few students take 5 ASs or more and take all of their subjects onto A2. This will all depend on how much work you do and how suited to the subjects you are taking. However, in many cases you will not gain an advantage when making university applications by taking more than 3 A-Levels as most university courses only require 3 A-Levels to gain a place. If you are unsure if your chosen university course requires 4 A-Levels to gain a place on the course, contact the admissions officer for that course at your preferred universities and they will be able to provide you with this information.

Can I change to a different subject if I don't like one that I've chosen?

Most sixth forms and colleges would allow you to do this very early on into a course (maybe a maximum of 2 weeks) if there is a legitimate reason for you wanting to change. To do this you will have to speak to the person at your sixth form or college who deals with your A level courses. If you are unsure who this is, then speak to your tutor or subject teacher to find out. It might be a good idea to speak to your subject teacher before deciding to change as well. They won't be offended if you ask for their opinion on the matter, I'm sure.

What do the Russel group think?

They've just published this list on which A levels they prefer and which degrees require which A levels.

You may have noticed references to certain A-Levels subjects being 'blacklisted' by universities as being 'easier' than others. In general, the official line from universities is that there is no such 'blacklist', but this is something that has been strongly rumoured by many in the media and can't be dismissed. It is notable that Trinity College at Cambridge University, LSE and Sheffield University have published lists of 'preferred' A-Level subjects, as linked below, but these should not be taken as a strict 'blacklist'. You should also remember that these lists are from these institutions individually and are not recognised by other universities.


If you would like to ask other users on their opinions of a particular A-Level subject, make a thread in the appropriate sub forum. There are 3 main forums which lead to many specific subject sub forums. These are:


TSR member Paulwhy has written up an extensive guide setting out his personal interpretation of the various publications and discussion on this issue, which you can read here if interested.

If you have any more general questions regarding choosing A-Levels, then please post in this thread.

Hi, my daughter has done very well in her GCSE's getting all A* & A's she is planning on taking Maths, Biology, Chemistry & PE for her AS's. Do you think these are good choices to keep her options open when it comes to applying to University. She will need to drop one after 12 months & take 3 at A2. She could possibly swap some of her choices for Physics and/or Geography. She is adamant she does not want to do all 3 sciences. She chose PE because she is very sporty and loved it at GCSE but we are not sure if it would be wise to take it at A level especially after all of her other great results as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'd recommend she swap PE for geography if she's adamant not to do physics.

Then she'd have her options open to a lot more.

She can keep up sports outside of lessons!