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All 3 sciences at A-level without Maths?

So I'm trying to choose my options for Sixth Form and I was wondering whether it'd be a really bad idea to take all sciences, particularly Physics, without Maths?

I'm currently on high A's in Biology, Chemistry and Physics so I'm pretty confident with those. I'm basically scraping a B in Maths because I really don't like it so I'm only considering taking it to sort of push myself and to keep my options open for the future and because so many people have said that it would make the other subjects a lot easier haha, but would it be completely impossible to get 3 A's with only GCSE level Maths if I decided not to take it?

Also, my other option is French which I'm getting A*s in and it's my favourite subject so obviously I'm leaning towards that, but it doesn't help with science at all and I feel like I'd regret taking it instead of Maths if I decided I wanted a career in Physics or something, so would Maths be the better option?:confused::confused:

(I went on a bit of a tangent writing this haha sorry)
Reply 1
You should be fine. There's no real A level maths in any of those subjects. All you have to do (Beside elementary operations) is rearrange formulae and logarithms. Because of people in your situation, logarithms should be taught by each subject when you're starting that topic. If they aren't - ask one of your teachers to quickly go over them.
Reply 2
most of the people i know that did physics a levels droped it or hard to revise a lot for it. wouldn't recommend doing physics if you're bad at maths
Reply 3
Its a hard combination what you're currently doing. Not doing maths won't affect anything. Good luck :smile:
Reply 4
I have a friend who does Physics - arguably the most mathematical of the sciences - without having taken Maths to A-level. Now, admittedly, he is the only kid in our higher physics set to do this, but he's probably going to come out of it with an A. In fact, there's specific notes in the back of the textbook for students who didn't do Maths to A-Level

What I would make sure is that, if you have your eye on a degree/university already, PLEASE check what they require for you to go and study there. I think I'm right in saying that Maths at A-Level is the most 'required' subject for various degrees... definitely a physics degree
Original post by bugsuper

What I would make sure is that, if you have your eye on a degree/university already, PLEASE check what they require for you to go and study there. I think I'm right in saying that Maths at A-Level is the most 'required' subject for various degrees... definitely a physics degree


I second this^, if you've got any thoughts about taking a physics degree you have to take maths; it's really rare to find a good physics degree that doesn't ask for maths a level - Imperial even ask for an A* in maths and an A in physics. Defo look around uni courses and see what they want, and try to keep your options open. Best of luck, year 12 isn't quite as bad as they make it out to be if you work hard enough :smile:
Reply 6
They don't ever tell you to do this, but it's really worthwhile making sure that you've got a good subject combination for what you want to do.

My stepbrother got into Medicine with that combination of A-levels - although I'm pretty sure he did Maths AS - but it's still worth checking.
Reply 7
Original post by ylimmmee
So I'm trying to choose my options for Sixth Form and I was wondering whether it'd be a really bad idea to take all sciences, particularly Physics, without Maths?

I'm currently on high A's in Biology, Chemistry and Physics so I'm pretty confident with those. I'm basically scraping a B in Maths because I really don't like it so I'm only considering taking it to sort of push myself and to keep my options open for the future and because so many people have said that it would make the other subjects a lot easier haha, but would it be completely impossible to get 3 A's with only GCSE level Maths if I decided not to take it?

Also, my other option is French which I'm getting A*s in and it's my favourite subject so obviously I'm leaning towards that, but it doesn't help with science at all and I feel like I'd regret taking it instead of Maths if I decided I wanted a career in Physics or something, so would Maths be the better option?:confused::confused:

(I went on a bit of a tangent writing this haha sorry)


Sorry for digging out a relatively old post but I'm in exactly the same position right now, except that I have Eng. Literature instead of French. Can you please tell me what you ended up doing, and is doing Physics without Maths really such a bad idea (aiming for medicine here). Also, I'm not particularly bad at maths, in fact I had add maths at GCSE, I just really really want to do Lit. instead. I also feel like I would regret taking it instead of maths since it is not relevant.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 8
I want to do my A levels but I don't have maths would I be able to do my A levels or is it compulsory, I want to study history, English lit/lang and sociology I got a U for unit 1 because I ended up panicking and doing the wrong paper but I ended up getting a really high C in unit 2 which overall made it a E, so I'm wondering if I could retake just unit 1 in another college or would I have to retake the whole exam? I really do love sociology though :frown: I hope this doesn't ruin my chances.
Original post by Diretto
Sorry for digging out a relatively old post but I'm in exactly the same position right now, except that I have Eng. Literature instead of French. Can you please tell me what you ended up doing, and is doing Physics without Maths really such a bad idea (aiming for medicine here). Also, I'm not particularly bad at maths, in fact I had add maths at GCSE, I just really really want to do Lit. instead. I also feel like I would regret taking it instead of maths since it is not relevant.


hey, seems like I'm now in the exact same position you were when writing this post. I was looking through this oretty old post aswell, so sorry to ask you this as of now but I'd really love to know how you got on and what Alevels you chose in the end! Ideally, I want to take Bio, Chem, Phys and Eng Lit, but I keep worrying about not taking maths. Your advice would really help me out a lot, I'd very much appreciate it! (: Wishing you the best.

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