advice needed on what to do next year...

to save people here getting bored, I#m going to try to keep this as short as possible.

I'm in first year IB at the moment, and was told at the beginning of the year by my school that maths methods would be enough to pursue a degree in engineering, however, I've now found that this is in fact not the case, and I would need HL or A level in maths, but the school wont let me change to higher, as I didn't take extension GCSE maths. Alongside this, I feel that I've made poor decisions in some of my subjects, and generally dislike the IB, so I'm effectively left with 3 possible paths to take:

1) finish IB as planned, and take A level maths in my own time and at my own expense during a gap year.
2) leave my current school, and resit year 12 at a school that offers A levels instead of IB, although I fear this may reflect badly on me when I apply to university.
3) continue struggling on with IB, and take a scientific degree which allows me onto the course with SL maths, such as chemistry, however, I'm uncertain as to whether I'll like the course or not, by no means do I dislike chemistry, but in general, I prefer physics, and I'm not sure whether I could pursue a career in eng with that since it is still a "numerate discipline".

TSR, let me know what you would do if you were in my position.

Reply 1

Maxffm

It's a hard one, I personally take higher Math's Physics Chem and we've had a few talks on Engineering... lot's of them are getting made redundant and a fair few do find it boring... but that's just me...
Personally, I would do everything I can to avoid having to re-do a year, the boredom you will experience redoing what you've already learnt will be nothing but unbearably boring and really unproductive. Maths A level is a possibility and trust me, you'd rather do maths A level than IB, but it's not easy and it would take a lot of time. Depending on where you want to study I would do one of two things, find a Uni with lower entrance requirements where you may be able to do a similar course with your SL maths, or secondly do chemistry or material sciences... something along those lines...

Reply 2

imgoingtofail

ive had a look around, and ive found that southampton, nottingham and york do foundation years, where i could take a year to catch up on maths that ive missed, im thinking that this seems like a pretty good option now, because (i dont know about nottingham) southampton and york are decent unis, only thing is, it would mean spending a 5th year at uni, i think i might talk to someone at schoolabout it when i go back