Choosing your A levels? Your questions answered here!

Duckzilla- sorry if I got a little stressy :L as i said, it's just cause I get passionate about things XD thanks especially to you for all your help

Hello potential helpers! :P

I am interested in taking Psychology at University due to many personal reasons, not because I want to learn 'mind-tricks' etc. My interest in the subject itself started when my sister used to come home from her classes and tell me about various case-studies.
I was selected as one of the potential Oxbridge candidates at my school, and I would love to go to one of the top universities for Psychology, even if the university isn't seen as being one of 'the best' all-round.

I've done a lot of research through reading forums, jobs4u etc to university websites, and so I just wanted to close my 'investigation' of sorts by posting my own situation on a forum.

Currently my a-level options are Psychology, English Language, Drama, and I am unsure of what to take for my fourth option as I don't really want to drop anything ... I know it would be a good choice to take Biology as I don't want to take maths, but I also enjoy History (when not being taught by my teacher).

So, i'm faced with the classic dilemma of A-level options - in particular, my fourth.

If I'm honest, I couldn't care less about plants biological systems, and I would much rather learn about how our brain and body works. However, I also know that if I want to achieve my goal of going to a top university I will have to learn things that are completely uninteresting to me in order to get there. Biology seems to be useful, (though not essential), as universities do like a mix of sciences etc.

History is also a contender as I do find it interesting, but this probably won't be reflected as well as it could be in my GCSE results due to a bad teacher. I would enjoy this more than Biology, but I am unsure whether Biology would look better for me than History.

I'm also struggling to decide between English Language and Lit. I do love Lit but Language sounds interesting, even though Lit does seem to be a popular choice. I do love analysing texts but I am wary that a very large part of my success at GCSE was due to my excellent teacher, and so am concerned if I end up with one of the rubbish teachers I won't do as well as I could. I chose Language after my brother telling me about language change & acquisition aspect of the course, and also because I can be creative with my writing.


Drama may seem to be an odd choice, but as I am also a dancer I will also be auditioning for Musical Theatre / Contemporary dance schools at 18 as well as sending off applications for Universities. So drama will be useful if I do go to dance school, while also potentially showing my 'arty' side.

I am predicted As and A*s for all my subjects, and currently achieve A* in my sciences so I would probably be able to do Biology, but I am worried that my lack of interest may lead me to not put as much effort into it as I want to and lower my grade.

Another note is that I tend to do a lot better in coursework as I like to take a lot of time to think through things and map them out, and so am not sure whether or not I am taking the correct options. I just wanted to open the question to the floor and see what others think of my situation and whether or not someone has been through the same thing.

I'm planning on talking to my Head Of Year on results day, it's just been difficult as I only discovered I would have to stay on for Sixth Form due to funding problems for dance school at the end of my exams.

Sorry for writing so much! I did do my best to cut out a lot of waffle, but I want it to be easier for you to understand my situation and give advice.
Thank you so much if you can help

Hey!

My intention is to do a degree in Classics, as that is what I adore, and to work in the city. Hopefully I'd like to be a Stockbroker/Investmentbanker/Actuary etc....

For AS level, my current choices are English, Latin, Greek and Economics. Should I change my Economics to Maths, because I know Economics degrees require Maths A level but not Economics. My assumption is that jobs in the city are the same. Thanks

Should you not do a degree in Maths/Economics/Acturial Science?

I know it's possibly to get into finance type jobs after any degree, but it's making it harder for yourself.

I just don't know :/ because I would love to do Classics at uni as I adore the literature of it etc. but I can't see many job prospects. I think out of your three suggestions I would choose economics/ppe, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough, whereas I know I would be good enough for Classics.

What are you expected to get in GCSE maths? If you're on for an A or A* grade you should be good enough to do really well in A-level and hopefully degree level if you put the work in. You wouldn't be able to do an economics degree at a decent uni needed to get you into a good actuarial science career or any good maths related career if you changed your mind away from classics if you don't have A-level maths, economics A-level won't be enough.

Hi! I'm currently doing my GCSEs, and in a few months I have to pick my A-Levels. I'll probably be doing a Geography degree, so I was wondering which subjects I should take. I will be going for careers advice etc. but I'd like your opinions ^_^

My choices are:

Geography (obvious choice )
Biology
Chemistry
English Lit
English Lang
Maths (already done the GCSE, expected A*, but I don't like maths at all :x)
Spanish
Economics
History

I'd say biology was a good choice, as is chemistry. Don't take maths if you don't like it. For a fourth take anything you enjoy.

Thank you (: Just one thing, do you think I'd be at a disadvantage if I only took one science plus geography to A2? I'll be taking English Lit at least to AS but I might want to continue it :x

Can't you take four to A2 (2 sciences, geography and Lit)? If not it shouldn't affect you much. I know someone who is doing geography (at newcastle) with no science subjects. But I'd recommend at leat 1 other science to A2.

Thank you (: Just one thing, do you think I'd be at a disadvantage if I only took one science plus geography to A2? I'll be taking English Lit at least to AS but I might want to continue it :x

Hi,
I'm doing my GCSEs but have to pick my AS choices pretty soon, and was wondering which subjects would best?

I'm quite set on doing languages (preferably French & Russian) at uni, and will have an AS in Spanish before I start the rest of my A-levels. Because I'm not a native speaker, to carry it on to A2 would be a lot of work on top of my other subjects, and I don't know if it would be worth it?

My choices are:
French

And 3 of:
English Lit
Music
Maths
Latin

Any advice on which 3 of these to take would be much appreciated!

Just wondering can you take both Biology and Human Biology at A level because I think I might change my music choice to human biology?

Just an idea but why not do French, 2 of the other things on the bottom list and Spanish A2 in year 12...then do the other 3 in year 13 that way you get 4 A Levels rather than 3A Levels and 2 AS's if you were planning on dropping a subject after AS without the extra workload? If you liked all the subjects you listed equally I would probably do French, English Lit, Maths and A2 Spanish in year 12. Maths just because doing Latin, Spanish and French might be language overkill and it is better respected than music. But if you think you could cope with all languages go for it, and if you really like music it should be ok as a 4th option

You'd be fine, even the very top universities don't need more than geography and one science for a geography degree. Would you want to do biology and chemistry AS? Biology would probably be better to take at A2 because there's not going to be any maths like in chemistry (the maths will get harder at A2), and biology is more relevant to geography.

Cambridge university say:

'If you are particularly interested in contemporary human geography or historical geography, then economics, English literature, history, and sociology are helpful.'

So even the very top will like your subjects, and English literature will be a big plus

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/geography/requirements.html