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Are these A-Levels correct?

hi am asking for my sister, she has taken:
English Lit
Maths
Law
Sociology for her A-Levels, career wise she wants to become a lawyer then a barrister.
her questions are:
Are the A-Levels she has choosen correct?
Is Sociology easy and a good subject to study towards Law?
Is Chemisty better then law?
and How hard is Chemisty in A-Level?

She dosen't want to choose History for A-Level becasue it is not one of her favourtie subjects.

Thanks

Reply 1

Nix-j-c

Chemistry is considered among the hardest (harder than maths IMO) and sociology among the easiest - it depends on what she's capable of but go for the hardest and most relevant subjects she can.

What about psychology or geography?

Reply 2

Robinjh

From The Independent

These results are generated by plotting a student's ability (from GCSEs) against their actual acheived result.
(Harder subjects have a higher score)

The hardest
CHEMISTRY 0.96
PHYSICS 0.95
GENSTUDIES 0.87
BIOLOGY 0.81
MATHS 0.52
FRENCH 0.51
GERMAN 0.50
HISTORY 0.24

The easiest
FILM STUDIES -1.79
MEDIA -1.00
PHOTOGRAPHY -0.82
DRAMA -0.70
ENG LANG -0.43
ENGLISH -0.43
ENG LIT -0.30
GEOGRAPHY -0.13

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 3

Little Jules

It's very difficult to become a barrister - the competition for getting places at Chambers is very tough. So she may want to reconsider Law as many top universities don't like it. Law & Sociology are both considered 'soft' subjects, and it's best to only have one of those.

Reply 4

wulfyrokujuyon_64

It depends on where she wants to go for university. If she's aiming for the likes of Oxford or Cambridge she may want to avoid sociology or law because they're seen as 'soft' (although I think Oxford sees psychology and sociology A-levels as complementary), however most universties accept ANY A-level for their social science courses (including law) and most don't require law at A-level. You just need good grades because it's a popular course.

As for your questions:

Sociolgy is NOT easy: far from it. All essay questions and requires you to know a lot of names and theories. However it complements law a lot.

Chemistry would probably be better than law, but DON'T TAKE IF YOU DON'T ENJOY IT OR YOU FIND IT HARD AT GCSE. I did and regretted it later, I ended up dropping it. Chemistry is perhaps the hardest A-level you could take. You basically have to learn the mark scheme (not fun at all!).

You could also consider taking history (looks good for law applicants).

Maths + English lit = good choices I think.

Well there's my 2 cents.

Reply 5

FlobberDobber

Original post by sim12345

Do the highlighted ones but DON'T do Law or Sociology - if she wants to keep one keep Sociology but Chemistry would be a better option than Law :smile:

Reply 6

Ari Ben Canaan

She shouldnt be choosing between chem and law basis which is 'better'.

There is no such thing. Choose the subject you have a passion for.

If she likes both... I'd say chemistry :tongue:

I'm quite passionate about it as a subject.

Chemistry for the win !!!!

Reply 7

tface

Original post by Ari Ben Canaan

She shouldnt be choosing between chem and law basis which is 'better'.

There is no such thing. Choose the subject you have a passion for.

If she likes both... I'd say chemistry :tongue:

I'm quite passionate about it as a subject.

Chemistry for the win !!!!

She absolutely should be choosing the one which is better if she is entering a competitive environment where she might lose out on a place/job due to doing less reputable A levels. Don't give bad advice!

Reply 8

flying plum

Original post by Robinjh

This is quite interesting. I can't say I ever found English Lit to be an easy subject; however, I do think that how these subjects are taught makes a massive difference. You can 'make' English an easy subject, in a way you can't with maths or a science. Vis:

My English Lit class was great - we were expected to do a lot of research, and come up with our own ideas. A friend at a different school was completely spoon fed, and as long as she could regurgitate the ideas that she had been given, she'd do well.

You can't do that with maths - you either understand it, or you don't. I think arts and humanities A-levels need to become more rigorous again, with pupils responsible to a much greater degree for their own learning and independent thought.

Reply 9

Nix-j-c

I didn't think geography was the easiest a-level you could do - yes it's the easiest out of what i'm doing (bio, chem, maths and geog) but that's because the other 3 are so hard.

Reply 10

Robinjh

Original post by Nix-j-c

I didn't think geography was the easiest a-level you could do - yes it's the easiest out of what i'm doing (bio, chem, maths and geog) but that's because the other 3 are so hard.

You're reading the "easiest" column upside-down. :tongue:

Also bear in mind that these results should be taken with a pinch of salt, "Genetic Studies" probably looks quite so hard because few people took it and did badly. The data also is not perfect in that science students may just be lazier than arts/humanities students, perform worse, and make their subject look harder. You just can't tell.

Reply 11

Nix-j-c

Original post by Robinjh

You're reading the "easiest" column upside-down. :tongue:

QUOTE]
Yeah I realised that just after I said that, also I think there could be better measures of deciding which are the hardest . . .

Reply 12

Robinjh

Original post by Nix-j-c

Yeah I realised that just after I said that, also I think there could be better measures of deciding which are the hardest . . .

It's a very hard thing to measure, and any method will have it's flaws.

I post this data because, as far as I am aware, top universities use a similar method when evaluating a candidate's A-level results. Therefore, it might be in OP's Sister's best interests to pick subjects higher up the list.

Reply 13

Lucygator

I heard that they prefer you to not do law if you want to study it at uni, for some reason. you may want to check that though...

Reply 14

flying plum

My understanding is that it doesn't necessarily preclude you, but many universities prefer you not to have done it, as they have to 'unteach' a lot of what is learnt, and many first years have a slightly misguided idea of how much they know. I recall from previous threads that Oxbridge in particular prefer law to be a fourth a level if you must do it. i don't think it's particularly regarded as a sign of dedication to the subject, or anything. But again, might want to check the universities entrance criteria.

Reply 15

Ari Ben Canaan

Original post by tface

The whole concept of education and learning revolves around learning for the betterment of one's knowledge.

If she were to choose a career path she lacked any passion for she would end up as a washed out recruit with no ambition in life.

Every second of her life will be wasted thinking 'what IF...'

Choose the subject you have a passion for, do it well and do it whole heatedly.

That is my ethos. To hell with the rest.

Reply 16

tface

Original post by Ari Ben Canaan

I fully respect this opinion. However I would counter it by saying choose a career you have a passion for, and do the everything you can to make it viable, even if that means suffering through a chemistry a level. After all, 2 years of not enjoying an a level will be worth it if the OP's sister can get her dream job as opposed to being a second rate lawyer due to not making it to a good university due to having the wrong a level choices. A levels are a means to an end, your argument works a lot better at degree level :smile:

Reply 17

username568974

I have also heard many uni's saying law and psychology are too soft.

she wants to do psychology but she mananged to get a very high grade in her Science, but I heard A-Levels in Chemisty is too hard and get like a B in it, wereas you get a very high grade in GCSE Sciene like B,A,A*.

She doesn't like Geography and dropped it so she isn't going to to a GCSE in Geography, she doesn't like the subject at all as she finds it hard.

She's already choosen her A-Levels she needs to know which are the extact A-Levels for Law.

Thanks for your feedback, its been a real help
keep posting if you have any more information

thanks

Reply 18

LifeIsGood