A level options

Original post by sussychuu

Im having trouble with deciding subjects for my A levels next year. I am interested in studying chemistry/ChemE/pharmacy. Currently I am taking Triple sciences, Higher maths, Eng lit and lang, Business, psychology, spanish and food tech. My weakest subject is Chemistry.. So far I have chosen Chemistry, Maths, Physics. Im not sure if these options would be suitable for my interests. My school also offers 4th subject for A level but I dont think I would be able to manage it.

to add on to what they said most unis require chem and either bio or maths for mpharm, so your options work! if your weakest subject is chemistry, just work on it and maybe get tuition if possible, as it does get a bit harder at a level.

as someone who took 4 a levels, i dont recommend it; I actually ended up dropping my 4th at the beginning of year 13 which was kinda a waste of time. unis really dont prioritise the 4th a level as much as people think.

your combo can be difficult but its a great one as it opens doors to many degrees, but dont stress too much now as many people actually change their mind by the time it gets to uni applications

good luck!

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 3

OP

Original post by imhannah?

to add on to what they said most unis require chem and either bio or maths for mpharm, so your options work! if your weakest subject is chemistry, just work on it and maybe get tuition if possible, as it does get a bit harder at a level.

as someone who took 4 a levels, i dont recommend it; I actually ended up dropping my 4th at the beginning of year 13 which was kinda a waste of time. unis really dont prioritise the 4th a level as much as people think.

your combo can be difficult but its a great one as it opens doors to many degrees, but dont stress too much now as many people actually change their mind by the time it gets to uni applications

good luck!

Thank you for the reply! Since Unis look for Chem and Math, im wondering if theres any other subject i can replace physics
with if i ended up not enjoying the subject?

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 4

OP

Original post by MP_25

hey, im in yr 13 and do chem, physics and maths :smile:

for chem eng, chemistry that's a perfect set of subjects and im pretty sure for pharmacy too (if you know vaguely where you'd want to go for uni i'd look at the entry requs but you shouldn't have a problem as far as i know).
i was going to apply for chem eng before but decided on civil eng (3 opts) and chem (2 opts) and i've gotten both chem offers so i wouldn't worry + you could always change from chem to pharmacy/chem + pharmaceuticals at uni anyways so i wouldn't worry
chem, physics and maths is a great combination however it may seem hard at first so unless you'd really want to, 4 subjects isn't necessary (better 3 strong alevels than 4 decent ones!)
hopfully thats been helpful :smile:

, goodluck on your choices + gcses ( don't worry chem was also my weakest (4/5) and i came out with an 8 in the end and now i really enjoy the alevel :smile:

)

Hii, thanks for sharing your experience with alevels. If you don't mind me asking, how do you find doing this alevel subject combo? Is it hard to balance with studying two sciences?

Reply 5

Original post by sussychuu

Im having trouble with deciding subjects for my A levels next year. I am interested in studying chemistry/ChemE/pharmacy. Currently I am taking Triple sciences, Higher maths, Eng lit and lang, Business, psychology, spanish and food tech. My weakest subject is Chemistry.. So far I have chosen Chemistry, Maths, Physics. Im not sure if these options would be suitable for my interests. My school also offers 4th subject for A level but I dont think I would be able to manage it.

Those subjects are definitely suitable for those career paths. However A levels are considerably harder than GCSEs so if your weakest subject is chemistry I'm not sure if it's a good idea to pursue it. If you are working below a grade 7 you should potentially reevaluate or put some extra work in.

Reply 6

imhannah?

Original post by sussychuu

Original post by imhannah?

to add on to what they said most unis require chem and either bio or maths for mpharm, so your options work! if your weakest subject is chemistry, just work on it and maybe get tuition if possible, as it does get a bit harder at a level.

as someone who took 4 a levels, i dont recommend it; I actually ended up dropping my 4th at the beginning of year 13 which was kinda a waste of time. unis really dont prioritise the 4th a level as much as people think.

your combo can be difficult but its a great one as it opens doors to many degrees, but dont stress too much now as many people actually change their mind by the time it gets to uni applications

good luck!

Thank you for the reply! Since Unis look for Chem and Math, im wondering if theres any other subject i can replace physics
with if i ended up not enjoying the subject?

you can do anything as your 3rd option! i have a lot of friends going into stem and everyone pretty much takes bio and chem and their third subjects are stuff like art, psychology, biology, geography, economics etc

unis don't really look at what your 3rd subject is, rather the grade

Reply 7

OP

Original post by sophier2005

Those subjects are definitely suitable for those career paths. However A levels are considerably harder than GCSEs so if your weakest subject is chemistry I'm not sure if it's a good idea to pursue it. If you are working below a grade 7 you should potentially reevaluate or put some extra work in.

To be honest I haven't put as much effort in sciences but since year 10 i have been getting 7-5 with the recent being a 5. Currently im waiting for my last mock results.

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 8

MP_25

10

Original post by sussychuu

Hii, thanks for sharing your experience with alevels. If you don't mind me asking, how do you find doing this alevel subject combo? Is it hard to balance with studying two sciences?

honestly it feels a bit rough at first (in all fairness i had a bad start to sixthform cause of illness haha), but i find it to be quite easy to balance well now in yr 13, the most important thing is to make sure you're on top of content and revisiting topics often, pretty much as soon as you finish a section make revision notes/flashcards etc as it makes it SO MUCH EASIER. i know it sounds super basic but i didn't manage to make revision notes early enough in yr 12 i spent summer catching up on the first half of yr12 revision notes and its definately changed the quality of my work especially exam questions :smile:

also studying two sciences, though sounds overwhelming, is quite nice cause physics and maths relate quite a bit (kinematics (physics) and mechanics (maths) ) and chem is quite a bit different especially organic so it doesn't feel like you're doing the same thing over and over again but as well it all links at points, for example ideal gases and thermal physics was nice cause they're covered in different times so once you get to it in physics, you've had enough practise in chem that it almost feels like revision and all the definitions in the subjects are the same which is a nice bonus :smile:

Reply 9

OP

Original post by MP_25

honestly it feels a bit rough at first (in all fairness i had a bad start to sixthform cause of illness haha), but i find it to be quite easy to balance well now in yr 13, the most important thing is to make sure you're on top of content and revisiting topics often, pretty much as soon as you finish a section make revision notes/flashcards etc as it makes it SO MUCH EASIER. i know it sounds super basic but i didn't manage to make revision notes early enough in yr 12 i spent summer catching up on the first half of yr12 revision notes and its definately changed the quality of my work especially exam questions :smile:

also studying two sciences, though sounds overwhelming, is quite nice cause physics and maths relate quite a bit (kinematics (physics) and mechanics (maths) ) and chem is quite a bit different especially organic so it doesn't feel like you're doing the same thing over and over again but as well it all links at points, for example ideal gases and thermal physics was nice cause they're covered in different times so once you get to it in physics, you've had enough practise in chem that it almost feels like revision and all the definitions in the subjects are the same which is a nice bonus :smile:

I just got my mocks results and i got 6-8s for other subjects but 3-5 for my sciences. Right now im contemplating if im actually interested in studying sciences or if i want to go for other fields. Currently im looking into hospitality/culinary. I mostly wanted to go into ChemE to work in cosmetic/food industries so i think there might other routes for me instead.

Physics is my lowest grade since the grade boundaries used were high but i was getting 6-8s before this mock. I got 8 in maths and so im really interested in taking the alevel.

If i were to go for science im not sure if i should take chem or physics or both. I was thinking about taking both and dropping one of them in y13 incase i find it difficult. If i were to not go for science route i would choose maths, psychology, business.
I dont think that i find sciences hard except for chemistry and i know that i didnt do so well due to my study habits.

Reply 10

Don't take chemistry. Physics is better and superior.

Reply 11

OP

Original post by Jo.nathan3.0

Don't take chemistry. Physics is better and superior.

what makes physics better than chemistry? Does taking math alongside physics makes it better?

Reply 12

Original post by Jo.nathan3.0

Don't take chemistry. Physics is better and superior.

That sounds like you don't do chemistry.

Reply 13

Original post by sophier2005

That sounds like you don't do chemistry.

Yes

Reply 14

Original post by sussychuu

what makes physics better than chemistry? Does taking math alongside physics makes it better?

We have a subject hierarchy of coolness and epicness of sciencesbl in my Sixth form. Physics is on top, chemistry is second, and biology is bottom.

I do physics because knowing how the world works is superior B)

Reply 15

Original post by Jo.nathan3.0

We have a subject hierarchy of coolness and epicness of sciencesbl in my Sixth form. Physics is on top, chemistry is second, and biology is bottom.

I do physics because knowing how the world works is superior B)

That is such a wacky opinion, you can't compare the sciences in that way. Collaboration is way more effective. I'm assuming you do further maths too because if you don't then you are a fake physicist.

Reply 16

Original post by sophier2005

Original post by Jo.nathan3.0

We have a subject hierarchy of coolness and epicness of sciencesbl in my Sixth form. Physics is on top, chemistry is second, and biology is bottom.

I do physics because knowing how the world works is superior B)

That is such a wacky opinion, you can't compare the sciences in that way. Collaboration is way more effective. I'm assuming you do further maths too because if you don't then you are a fake physicist.

I did core maths at AS level as I took Double IT instead for my main 3 a levels 😞

Reply 17

Original post by Jo.nathan3.0

That is such a wacky opinion, you can't compare the sciences in that way. Collaboration is way more effective. I'm assuming you do further maths too because if you don't then you are a fake physicist.

I did core maths at AS level as I took Double IT instead for my main 3 a levels 😞
If you don't even do regular maths you have no business coming after chemistry and biology.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 18

Original post by sophier2005

I did core maths at AS level as I took Double IT instead for my main 3 a levels 😞

If you don't even do regular maths you have no business coming after chemistry and biology.

I do because all my regular math and further maths compatriots all agree physics is the coolest :tongue:

Take physics for A level!!! And learn about radiation, space, the creation of mass and energy!!! All the stuff biology and chemistry relies on to exist.

Reply 19