[Chief Wiggum]

(Original post by zeezee180)
Why should I drop it at A2?? Does it get hard?

I think they [probably] meant because it's the least respected out of the subjects you are doing.

[Tortious]

(Original post by Selym95)
I would avoid Law as an A-Level subject because some universities do not like it. Law tutors expect students to have little or no knowledge of Law, so there is no need to take it. Regarding your current choices, your combination is very good and you have three very strong subject choices, which is important when applying for a competitive course like Law.

Not the case.

(Original post by TimmonaPortella)
Rethink this when you've done some degree level work. A level law is too superficial to be of any assistance.

OP, your choices are fine. If you drop one at A2, make it psychology.

I beg to differ (even at Cambridge!), although I'll concede that a lot of it depends on how well you are taught at A2. Whilst there's a fair degree of memorisation of case names, as you'd expect, my teachers still made sure I understood the key principles and some of the finer distinctions (e.g. Steer in criminal damage - danger to life has to come from the damage, not the method used to cause it).

I seem to recall we started a conversation on this before exams, but unfortunately I'll have to let it drop again since TC applications are beckoning...

[EWS147]

There is an awful lot of mis-information about Law A Level on this site. I have a Law degree from Nottingham but did not study Law A Level - many students on my course, however, did and seemed to fly through several of the degree units as they had studied them previously .I have since taught A Level law and can see why - there is a striking amount of similar content/skills required as the degree, esp at A2.I was actually quite taken aback by the similarity of analysis required in criminal law particularly. It is certainly not 'superficial' in comparison to the degree,though of one would expect the depth of evaluation to be notched up as one moves from level 3 to a Level 4 qualification.
I would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of whether they wanted to study Law at uni or not - The AQA syllabus is VERY interesting and even naturally quite lazy students find themselves motivated to do rather a lot of work .

[CharliePhillips]

do NOT take law at A-level some universities see law as a useless A-level. To be a lawyer you need to be well rounded. excellent a levels are e.g. Chemistry, History, English lit, for A2 then maybe sociology( though I'm not sure) at As

[Tortious]

(Original post by CharliePhillips)
do NOT take law at A-level some universities see law as a useless A-level. To be a lawyer you need to be well rounded. excellent a levels are e.g. Chemistry, History, English lit, for A2 then maybe sociology( though I'm not sure) at As

I think your post betrays your ignorance - I'd say that Law and Sociology are similarly ranked in terms of respectability. Further, no universities regard law as "useless" (although LSE and Manchester are slightly wary of it) - as EWS147 says, it's certainly not "useless", nor does it prevent you from being a well-rounded individual! It's certainly fine as a fourth.

[ManPowa]

(Original post by zeezee180)
I'm going to be doing my A levels in September and so far I've decided to take Biology, Maths, English Lit and Psychology. Do you think they're good choices? Or do you think I should take Law?? So confused...

I applied for law through UCAS this year at top Lnat unis and my a-levels are biology, chemistry, r.e and I.t now you tell me what think with my choices. lol

[hannahsm]

I have studied maths, further maths, physics and english lit at AS and hope to continue them all next year. Would these be suitable for a law degree or would they disadvantage me compared to those candidates with history, economics ect. (fyi - when starting my a levels I didn't have a bloomin' clue that i would want to do law.) cheers!

[et cetera]

I agree, do not take Law - in fact the Tutor responsible for admissions at Kings College London called A Level law "insidious".

Your choices will be fine if you have at least two essay subjects - I think that's the precedent?


Hope this helps.

[Tortious]

(Original post by hannahsm)
I have studied maths, further maths, physics and english lit at AS and hope to continue them all next year. Would these be suitable for a law degree or would they disadvantage me compared to those candidates with history, economics ect. (fyi - when starting my a levels I didn't have a bloomin' clue that i would want to do law.) cheers!

I wouldn't think so - even Cambridge says that it has no preference as to subject combinations when it comes to arts and sciences!

EDIT:

(Original post by et cetera)
I agree, do not take Law - in fact the Tutor responsible for admissions at Kings College London called A Level law "insidious".

Your choices will be fine if you have at least two essay subjects - I think that's the precedent?


Hope this helps.

Out of interest, do you have a source for this on the web?

[et cetera]

(Original post by Tortious)
I wouldn't think so - even Cambridge says that it has no preference as to subject combinations when it comes to arts and sciences!

EDIT:





Out of interest, do you have a source for this on the web?

Its not from the internet - I went to the Law Open Day last year.

[TimmonaPortella]

(Original post by Tortious)

I beg to differ (even at Cambridge!), although I'll concede that a lot of it depends on how well you are taught at A2. Whilst there's a fair degree of memorisation of case names, as you'd expect, my teachers still made sure I understood the key principles and some of the finer distinctions (e.g. Steer in criminal damage - danger to life has to come from the damage, not the method used to cause it).

I seem to recall we started a conversation on this before exams, but unfortunately I'll have to let it drop again since TC applications are beckoning...

I would hope to find common ground in saying that it is possible to score high As in A level law whilst understanding little or nothing, or at least having an understanding too superficial to be of any use at degree level, even if some teachers teach beyond that necessary level.

I'd go further and argue that unless your teachers are genuinely teaching you different possible interpretations of cases etc, the A level is going to be of limited use in areas where the law is unclear; and unfortunately as we know the proportion of law which is unclear is quite large.

I recall discussing this with you at some point. I think I asked to be banned before you replied and then was banned before I could respond. anyway that's an outline of my view, I won't expect a reply if you've things to do.

At the posts saying that A level law is particularly disapproved of by tutors, I've looked at this quite extensively and never seen anything to that effect. If anyone can provide any sources showing otherwise I'd be interested to see them.

[lankan-gurl]

I would say, English Lit, History, maybe a language? and perhaps maths or a science?

I'm planning on doing Law next year and the subjects I'm taking at the moment are French, English Lit, Psychology and Law although I'm planning on taking up English Language at AS level.

However there are NO specific subjects that uni's prefer, they do like candidates who have taken modern subjects.

[Festina lente]

(Original post by hannahsm)
I have studied maths, further maths, physics and english lit at AS and hope to continue them all next year. Would these be suitable for a law degree or would they disadvantage me compared to those candidates with history, economics ect. (fyi - when starting my a levels I didn't have a bloomin' clue that i would want to do law.) cheers!

Totally fine. Don't worry at all.

[Tortious]

(Original post by TimmonaPortella)
I would hope to find common ground in saying that it is possible to score high As in A level law whilst understanding little or nothing, or at least having an understanding too superficial to be of any use at degree level, even if some teachers teach beyond that necessary level.

I'd go further and argue that unless your teachers are genuinely teaching you different possible interpretations of cases etc, the A level is going to be of limited use in areas where the law is unclear; and unfortunately as we know the proportion of law which is unclear is quite large.

I recall discussing this with you at some point. I think I asked to be banned before you replied and then was banned before I could respond. anyway that's an outline of my view, I won't expect a reply if you've things to do.

At the posts saying that A level law is particularly disapproved of by tutors, I've looked at this quite extensively and never seen anything to that effect. If anyone can provide any sources showing otherwise I'd be interested to see them.

I think your post is completely balanced and these are very fair points - particularly given that you've highlighted the lack of specific disapproval for the A Level (which one wouldn't necessarily expect since you sounded fairly critical of it earlier). I'd even accept your "further" point that the A2 doesn't help with the more abstract areas, especially the debates/law reform aspects (back in my day we only looked at reform of non-fatals, and even then you could memorise an essay to spew out in the exam!). We never "read cases", and I only ever took from Brown that you can only consent to ABH, but the substantive law was certainly beneficial. I was surprised by how much ground of the "(Criminal) Law at Cambridge" course - what I regarded as the "acid test" of its usefulness - it covered!

[Anetata]

I have been told by one of my teachers once that if I wanted to do Law at uni (which I did, but ended up doing something else but related), then I shouldn't take A level law, because a lot of unis won't like the fact I did. Apparently they don't want you to already have ideas in your head and have that A level mindset/approach to the topic, and that A level law isn't too great anyway. I ended up doing it anyway because I really wanted to do it lol!

[zeezee180]

Ok i think ive chosen:
Biology
Religion and Ethics/Philosophy
English
Psychology

I'm probably going to drop phil. at A2 Do you think thats ok now?