Choosing correct A levels help!? oxbridge? law?

Hi guys I need help with my a level choices. ..
we chose 4 subjects and I possibly want to do law at oxbridge

Im stuck between a levels I suggested this first choice to mentor (to help choose a levels)
[LIST]
[*]maths
[*]geography
[*]chemistry
[*]spanish
[/LIST

But she said they were to random...

so I changed one subject from geography to history because its more essay based (gd for law)
So now im thinking of

•

maths

•

history

•

chemistry

•

spanish

So I need help deciding if she was right

I know there are no requirements for law but preferred a levels are esaay based like history and english, so I changed geog to english. :biggrin:

They also said science based subjecrs are good so I hose xhemistry.

Was the second lot of a levels a gd choice??
Thankyou!!!

Reply 1

ProfessorStatic

why not change spanish to english??

Reply 2

Mutmit287

[QUOTE="mon_2b;52908495"]Hi guys I need help with my a level choices. ..
we chose 4 subjects and I possibly want to do law at oxbridge

Im stuck between a levels I suggested this first choice to mentor (to help choose a levels)

•

maths

•

geography

•

chemistry

•

spanish[/LIST

But she said they were to random...

so I changed one subject from geography to history because its more essay based (gd for law)
So now im thinking of

•

maths

•

history

•

chemistry

•

spanish

So I need help deciding if she was right

I know there are no requirements for law but preferred a levels are esaay based like history and english, so I changed geog to english. :biggrin:

They also said science based subjecrs are good so I hose xhemistry.

Was the second lot of a levels a gd choice??
Thankyou!!!

To be honest I would choose one from maths and chemistry as you only really need one logical science subject to show your flare for numbers and logical problem solving, maths and chemistry both show that.

Geography is HUGELY essay based!! my whole exam this year consists of 2x 7 mark questions on a source, 2x 8 mark questions on knowledge and 2x 10 mark questions on a case study as well as 1x 40 mark essay based on a whole topic!!! It is so essay based and is amazing as a subject as it is so broad and makes you much more in touch with the world today rather than yesterday like history.

If you like languages that is great, but also english literature would look very good!!

do not loose hope on geography!! I do AQA and LOVE IT!! and last year you needed like 68% for an A or something silly like that at AS. plus the whole exam consists of you having arguements with the examiner as well as yourself.

law at oxbridge will not be easy to get into, ideally for oxford you need AMAZING GCSES, and for cambridge your UMS averages at A2 need to be really above 90% but even better would be above 93%.

oxbridge is so competitive and i would reccomend you not getting your heart set on it, so many of my good friends have had their decisions from oxbridge back this past week, and out of around 30 who applied (all AMAZING candidates) i think 6 got in.

good luck!!

Reply 3

mon_2b

Original post by Natalierm2707

Thankyouu for the reply!! Its my first time using tsr haha.

I know!! I love geography I get 100UMS in all my tests at gcse (I do ED excel for gcse) iys really easy and enjoyable for me! I was happy to see its 'easy' at a level too.

Im struggling between hist and geog since history is slightly more respected but geography is so much easier for me to get a good grade in.
(In my mocks I got an a* in both somehow)

Do you honestly think higher univeristies care between history and geog since they are so respected?

My school is pushing me for oxbridge because im predicted 11a* and 1a (art lool) but I really am scared of the competitive side

Reply 4

mon_2b

Original post by ProfessorStatic

why not change spanish to english??

Yeah I was thinking that but I thought spanish might make.me stand out as from what I know little people take languages for a level

Would english be a better choice than history in my case?

Reply 5

Mutmit287

Original post by mon_2b

Hey dont worry about it, Im here to help (pardon the pun if there even is one there, it just sounds so punny)

Geography is NOT an easy A-level, Ii agree at GCSE it was MUCH easier than history, but sadly at A-level that isnt the cause. geography at A-level is hugely essay or long answer question based, and they are often highly subjective in their wording.

You have to learn HUGE AMOUNTS of knowledge, as well as case studies. and at A-level its not good enough just to name the case study and vaguely explain it... "for example the boxing day tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people throughout south asia, many families were torn apart and the huge earthquake devastated rural communities, cutting them off from society", instead you need to know your case studies and several facts about them like the back of your hand... "A devastating earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale devastated 19 countries lining the Indian ocean including the Shri Lanka, whose Capital city Colombia saw its Bogota airport destroyed. in total around 200,000 people were killed...", you get the point.

In my AS year I had to learn 4 topics, energy, population, rivers and coasts. each consisted of around 20 lessons worth of work (very fast paced lessons) and often 30+ case studies. thats a lot to learn, just as much if not more than history, this is why the grade boundaries are so low each year.

It is just as highly regarded as history, and for me, I have applied to med, it has helped me incredibly with essay writing but also knowing common knowledge. At GCSE I nearly full UMS in geography (dropped 1 mark in my coursework), and at AS I got 96% UMS, but that required a lot more hard work.

In terms of oxbridge, I was also pushed by my high school to apply, we visited many times to both universities and I was even put into a special oxbridge tutor group at my college for doing so well at GCSE (9A* 1A), but never ended up applying as i detested the course for medicine at oxbridge.

honestly it is soooooooo ridiculously competitive, and I wouldnt reccomend applying if you do not have strong GCSEs and strong AS UMS, as well as some work experience etc. But if you have that THEN GO FOR IT!! what have you got to loose??

Reply 6

pigwidgeon23

Well that's great if you love geography at GCSE, but I can assure you that geography is not 'easy' as you put it at A-Level. Both geography and history are respected by all universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.