Good Final A Level choices?

Reply 20

UCL

Original post by xelentoliver

Okay, I realise how common this thread is on TSR, but I would like a second opinion on this, next year I'm starting sixth form doing 4 A Levels my final choices are:

1.

English Literature - Because I enjoy it, and am pretty good at it.

2.

History - Haven't done it for GCSE, but I thought it'd be interesting

3.

Maths - Got a high B at GCSE, bit nervous about starting it for A Level but realise how useful it is.

4.

ICT - I am passionate about this, am pretty good at it

So yeah, I was just wondering if this is a good selection which leaves doors open for further education options.

* In our school it seems standard that you drop one of your AS subjects after a year, so bare that in mind*

1) English - fine
2) History - Your school is allowing you to do it at A-Level without a GCSE? I had to have had a B at least in a subject to continue it (bar a few exceptional cases) but maybe that's just my school. History I found hard enough and to start it because "you thought it would be interesting" seems a slightly thin base to A-Level success?
3) Maths - A high B is ok but I would have thought an A would have been obvious for someone who wanted to do Maths A-Level? From my experience of others who did maths a-level, most had done "Ad-Maths" GCSE as well and so the ordinary maths gcse was easy to them. That's not to say you'll succeed in Maths A-level, you will just need to work very hard/keep up to date with class work/ask teacher for help always if stuck.
4) ICT - As many people have said already, if you're aiming for a top-level degree, dropping ICT after AS would probably be best. However, as you have a passion for it, it is likely you will do well
--> AAA in History ICT and English for example would be a lot better than AAE in History English and Maths.

Reply 22

lizz-ie

18

Original post by xelentoliver

Okay, I realise how common this thread is on TSR, but I would like a second opinion on this, next year I'm starting sixth form doing 4 A Levels my final choices are:

1.

English Literature - Because I enjoy it, and am pretty good at it.

2.

History - Haven't done it for GCSE, but I thought it'd be interesting

3.

Maths - Got a high B at GCSE, bit nervous about starting it for A Level but realise how useful it is.

4.

ICT - I am passionate about this, am pretty good at it

So yeah, I was just wondering if this is a good selection which leaves doors open for further education options.

* In our school it seems standard that you drop one of your AS subjects after a year, so bare that in mind*

At my school, you need at least an A in GCSE Maths to do A Level, and people still completely fail (Us). You may want to bear that in mind. :smile:

Reply 23

bradfriedal24

1

Is business studies a good alevel

how may a2 do u need for law

Reply 24

xelentoliver

OP

Thank you all, I can't say I worked 'my ass off' to get a B in Maths GCSE, I'm capable of an A I'm sure, I'm sure as long as I put in the work I'll get a fair reward afterward. To the person questioning my ability to do a History A Level, I've read on these forums as long as you have will-power and essay skills (which I do) I'm set.

Reply 25

stephwearne

Original post by xelentoliver

Thank you all, I can't say I worked 'my ass off' to get a B in Maths GCSE, I'm capable of an A I'm sure, I'm sure as long as I put in the work I'll get a fair reward afterward. To the person questioning my ability to do a History A Level, I've read on these forums as long as you have will-power and essay skills (which I do) I'm set.

I think you've been misinformed. Good luck however!

Reply 26

lou_100

15

Original post by xelentoliver

Okay, I realise how common this thread is on TSR, but I would like a second opinion on this, next year I'm starting sixth form doing 4 A Levels my final choices are:

1.

English Literature - Because I enjoy it, and am pretty good at it.

2.

History - Haven't done it for GCSE, but I thought it'd be interesting, I have the essay skills and I also know it's useful.

3.

Maths - Got a high B at GCSE, bit nervous about starting it for A Level but realise how useful it is.

4.

ICT - I am passionate about this, am pretty good at it

So yeah, I was just wondering if this is a good selection which leaves doors open for further education options.

* In our school it seems standard that you drop one of your AS subjects after a year, so bare that in mind*

1) This is a good, academic subject which, if a good grade is attained will keep many doors open. But note that probably only English (or closely English related) degrees will actually require it at A level. Having said that, it will open other doors in the sense of showing an ability to think analytically and show that you can break down a large amount of text. These skills apply to many courses and are liked by many Universities in relation to a lot of Arts/Humanities (or perhaps even Science to some extent!?) courses, so English may well give you an advantage in that sense.
2) I'd say GCSE essay subjects are a good predictor of how well you can be at A level. i.e. good results in English (and things like RS etc) would suggest that you may be able to grasp History. However, a lot of skills seem to be repeated from GCSE to A level and my concern is that, having not done it before, you might find History a big shock and consequently take a while to get into the swing of things, thus risking a slightly lower mark at AS and having to re-sit. This isn't the end of the world, obviously, it's fairly common to re-sit some exams. But obviously not ideal for most... Perhaps I could suggest reading through some AS past papers in advance over summer to try and prepare yourself for kinds of questions you'll be answering. Then again, I didn't do GCSE RS but took up A level and have proved fairly good (much better than expected!) at the essay writing. So I could be an example of how not doing an essay subject at GCSE doesn't give you a disadvantage. I'd just advise you to know what you're letting yourself in for in advance - I've heard History is quite difficult. :biggrin:

(oh and also the same things apply to History as what I said about English).
3) Maths is a very good thing to have under your belt (although I'm probably biased because I love it :tongue:

). High B indicates a good understanding but do be prepared for it to get a lot harder and a lot different. For example, things like drawing stem and leaf diagrams from information given to you in a table in order to receive 5 marks are completely scrapped. A lot of people do Maths, and as a result of lots of brilliant mathematicians the grade boundaries (in my opinion) are ridiculously high, unless it's a stupidly hard paper. Prepare yourself to pay full attention would be my advice! But of course Maths opens lots of doors.
4) ICT is a weaker subject. Advised either to not be taken at all, or to be taken as a fourth A2 or the AS which is dropped. It doesn't open many doors as it's seen as a softer/less academic subject unfortunately. But having said that, taking it to AS will do you no harm, especially with the other 3 brilliant subjects and another plus is that if you enjoy it, you'll get a good grade!

I wish you all the best of luck :biggrin:

(and hope I vaguely reassured/helped you). If you get decent grades in these subjects I'm sure all (if not most) of your doors will be open! - except of course for highly scientific course like Medicine and Vet. Med. or Biochemistry etc, but if you wanted to do those you'd have taken more Sciences so that's obviously not a problem!

Reply 27

OliviaVW

2

English Lit:
I did this at AS, started A2 before making it my subject to "drop" because the reading load was a lot, along with being really complex. I couldn't keep up because my other subjects were coursework heavy. I think with the subjects you've listed, you won't have this issue (with the exception of ICT.)

History:
I would advise taking this. I envy my friend who does it - She failed it at GCSE, got an A at AS and is currently sitting the A2. It seems like a great subject!

Maths:
I know people doing this that got C's at GCSE and they're coping fine, but probably will come out with a C at a-level. I'd recommend looking through a few practice papers and textbooks, just so you know what you're letting yourself in for.

ICT:
This is alright, but probably the one I'd drop because it's really coursework heavy (depending on your exam board?), which combined with the reading load of English, the learning of an entirely new subject to you (History) and the difficulty of Maths, it may get too much for you.

Good luck, and remember you don't have to worry about which one to drop just yet! :tongue:

Reply 28

EsmeA

Original post by Quantaˌ

What did you get for Critical Thinking?

I took the exam this year, so I am yet to find out- but I can let you know, come the 16th August. Fingers crossed!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 29

Quantaˌ

3

Original post by EsmeA

I took the exam this year, so I am yet to find out- but I can let you know, come the 16th August. Fingers crossed!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Good luck in that! How did you find the paper? Did you do Unit 1 and 2? I did the same like you since it was compulsory at my school.

Reply 30

abc:)

22

Original post by xelentoliver

Okay, I realise how common this thread is on TSR, but I would like a second opinion on this, next year I'm starting sixth form doing 4 A Levels my final choices are:

1.

English Literature - Because I enjoy it, and am pretty good at it.

2.

History - Haven't done it for GCSE, but I thought it'd be interesting, I have the essay skills and I also know it's useful.

3.

Maths - Got a high B at GCSE, bit nervous about starting it for A Level but realise how useful it is.

4.

ICT - I am passionate about this, am pretty good at it

So yeah, I was just wondering if this is a good selection which leaves doors open for further education options.

* In our school it seems standard that you drop one of your AS subjects after a year, so bare that in mind*

Good choices :smile:

I would drop ICT after the first year, unless it is one of the ones you do really well at

Reply 31

EsmeA

Original post by Quantaˌ

Good luck in that! How did you find the paper? Did you do Unit 1 and 2? I did the same like you since it was compulsory at my school.

The paper was alright, but it didn't quite stick to the structure of previous years- I found Unit 2 slightly more difficult than Unit 1, in talking about the provision of sport at school and why schools should offer a wider variety of sport- but that's probably because I'm not in the least bit sporty, so that was hard! How did you find it?

Reply 32

Quantaˌ

3

Original post by EsmeA

The paper was alright, but it didn't quite stick to the structure of previous years- I found Unit 2 slightly more difficult than Unit 1, in talking about the provision of sport at school and why schools should offer a wider variety of sport- but that's probably because I'm not in the least bit sporty, so that was hard! How did you find it?

The sport questions were hard to answer as I'm not interested in sport, like you. But, the multiple choice was quite easy and, in Unit 2, I had plenty of time to answer the questions. I thought both were easier than the past papers. A2 seems much more quite interesting!

Good Final A Level choices?

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