[ChloeBelle]

Hi! I'm Chloe. I'm new to TSR, and I'm in a bit of a predicament, so I thought this would be the best place to ask.

Here's the thing. I'm leaving my school because, to put it bluntly, it's terrible, and I'm going to a really posh school over the other side of town. So, naturally, my current school have forgotten that I exist. I'm basically stuck regarding what A Levels I should do next year. My sights are currently set on becoming a teacher, though I'm not 100% sure whether this would be primary or secondary teaching, and I'm determined to attend one of the better universities in the country. I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a genius. I'm predicted all As in my GCSEs, but I personally would be overjoyed with Bs across the board because I think my school are aiming far too high. So no, I'm not an Einstein, but nobody can say I haven't worked my backside off for these exams.

At the moment, I'm considering:
English (Lit/Lang or Lit, currently undecided)
Sociology
Law
Psychology

However, I don't know if I'd enjoy Psychology, and I'm wary of taking both Psych and Sociology. I think Sociology's pretty definite, though, because I LOVE it at GCSE, even though it's not particularly highly regarded.

I've also considered Politics, German, Biology and History. Politics, I know nothing about, really, I just love debating and asking deep questions. German, I love at GCSE, but I think that's because I have the most amazing teacher in the world. Biology is probably my strongest Science, and although I never really learn History in class, I've taught it to myself during study leave, really enjoyed revising it and seem to do well in the exams!

Any help would be MUCH appreciated!

Love,

Chlo x

[GiveMeAChallenge]

Rightio...
Firstly, I'd pick english lit language as is it a lot more respected by universities- particularly if you want to go to a good one!

The other 3 are social sciences and if I were you, I wouldnt go for all 3...1 or 2 max! Just because they are sometimes seen as 'soft' subjects by good universities. Im not saying they are easy or anything because I do law and i can tell you that its such a pain to revise for and so much to remember!!! So, if you are definite on sociology then go for that one and only pick the others if you NEED them for what you would be wanting to teach! Do you know which subject you would like to teach?

German is a really good option. Not many people speak it and it will look great when applying to uni and useful for future careers I do german and i have really got into it! Even if your new teacher isnt as good as your current one, im sure theyll be fine and you can always do things like read newspapers and watch german films at home to keep you interested

History and biology are equally good subjects! Do whichever you enjoy most and whichever you have the best chance at achieving a high grade.

I have no experience with politics but dont just take it because of the deep questions as this might not be he case with the course. Make sure you ask your new school about it, for all you know, it could be just learning loads of facts. I thought law would be lively and full of debating but trust me...its not :| Have you looked at philosophy? From what ive heard this has a lot of deep question type stuff

So, if it was me, id go for eng lit, sociology, german and either history/biology. But it's completely up to you...

[ChloeBelle]

Thanks for the help

I want to teach English as my first subject and Sociology is my second, hence why Sociology is so important to me :P I really do like German, and I'm good at it, I just think that the main reason I'm good at it is because I couldn't have asked for a better teacher. We actually went to her wedding last Summer! :P I'm worried that the kids at my new school would be that much more advanced than me, because we had a hell of a lot of support at GCSE level... :/

People keep mentioning Philosophy to me! Do you know what it involves? I always related it to RE, and as this new school's a Catholic school, I'm going to have to do an RE lesson a week anyway...

Ooh, you do Law?! What's it like? It's something I really fancy because I've considered being a lawyer. I know it's frowned upon by Law Unis, but I figured that doing it at A Level would kind of give me an insight into what it'd be like at degree level...

[GiveMeAChallenge]

(Original post by ChloeBelle)
Thanks for the help

I want to teach English as my first subject and Sociology is my second, hence why Sociology is so important to me :P I really do like German, and I'm good at it, I just think that the main reason I'm good at it is because I couldn't have asked for a better teacher. We actually went to her wedding last Summer! :P I'm worried that the kids at my new school would be that much more advanced than me, because we had a hell of a lot of support at GCSE level... :/

People keep mentioning Philosophy to me! Do you know what it involves? I always related it to RE, and as this new school's a Catholic school, I'm going to have to do an RE lesson a week anyway...

Ooh, you do Law?! What's it like? It's something I really fancy because I've considered being a lawyer. I know it's frowned upon by Law Unis, but I figured that doing it at A Level would kind of give me an insight into what it'd be like at degree level...

If youve had a good german teacher at gcse then this should form a good base for a level. Dont worry about others being more advanced than you. In the first few weeks you go through the basic grammar to make sure everyone is on the same level anyway you'll be surprised how much you start learing once you start a level. If you know how to do past, future and present tense then you will be fine. They teach you the other tenses later. As for vocab, i wouldnt worry about being behind with that either. That was a weakness of mine at gcse but i find now that i know so many words, i could have a good go at forming any sentence. You will do lots of discussuon and reading texts so you will pick it all up as you go along!

I think philosophy is stuff like 'just war' theory and erm well i dont really know anything else. I think it might have an element of RE in it but i dont think you go through details of every religion like you do at gcse. I could be worng though...you might want to check aqa website and look at the specification.

Thats's also why i took law, because i was interested in becoming a lawyer and thought it would give me a bit of an insight into it. But, tbh i wouldnt recommend it. Its really tedious and its just remembering tonnes of facts and case studies. I think it might be a bit of a myth that unis look down on it...i dont think it makes a difference with admissions, i think its just the lecturers you dont like people having a head start. That being said, ive heard that most of what you learn at a level isnt inolved in a degree so it will only give you a head start on some of the latin words. But if you think youd enjoy it then go for it! Its just that the majority of people at my school who took it really find it boring...

[ChloeBelle]

I'll have to wait and see with German, anyway. I need an A to get on the A Level course. I got As and A*s in my oral and coursework, but I had a bad listening exam last week...

Law sounds really interesting to me. We covered crime in Sociology and there was a lot of Law-based content... It's so hard! Unlike GCSE options, these really matter! I'm one of those who crumble under exam pressure, too, so I can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to pull things off... :/