4th A-level option help!! Economics, Psychology or Further Maths??

Hi, I am currently in year 11 and I am in the process of picking my a levels which has been the most frustrating journey ever. I am applying to really good sixth forms in east London which have a minimum requirement of choosing 4 a levels so I would love some advice on what I could choose.

I have picked biology, chemistry and maths as my first three options since i genuinely enjoy chemistry and maths. I would like to keep the option of studying medicine in the future open which is why i also picked biology.

As for my 4th a level: I feel clueless. I am completely unsure of what I want to study in the future or what career path I would like to pursue which is making it very difficult for me to make a choice. I know that I enjoy stem based subjects and so maybe I would like to pursue a career in that direction, I also know I would like to aim for a top university or maybe even a degree apprenticeship (which is more appropriate for people that already know what they want to do, so i don't think i will be able to do one anyway) or if i really cant figure out any passion of mine then I would pursue money but ehh people always say to follow what you like over money so...
Anyways this is just some context to understand my situation a little bit better.

As my 4th a level options I have considered economics, psychology and further maths. I want to pick the a level that will keep the most options open for me in the future but i dont understan which one will.
For example I am considering economics as I am doing GCSE business as of right now and it is quite easy so I believe I will be able to make some links between business and economics, however 1) I feel like the workload will be too much?? Will it? and 2) Apparently even if I want to go to a financial/ economical sector in the future, economics will not be a requirement by unis - is that true? Because if it s true then taking it would not be useful if I could do something related to it in the future anyway without the a level (of course it would help if I were to pursue that career path but the problem is that I am not sure of anything yet) BUT idk because apparently economics can also open a lot of doors for future opportunities so idk its confusing.
I have the same question for psychology - would I be able to do something related to it in, for example, university without psychology a level itself? does it open doors for the future? is it less of a workload?
And again same with further maths - would taking it reduce my workload since I am already taking a level maths? would it open more doors for me in the future?

Overall, I would love some advice on what I should pick out of psychology, further maths and economics in terms of keeping my options open for the future (and good money).
Thanks :smile:

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 1

{Moss}

20

Original post by oduna

Hi, I am currently in year 11 and I am in the process of picking my a levels which has been the most frustrating journey ever. I am applying to really good sixth forms in east London which have a minimum requirement of choosing 4 a levels so I would love some advice on what I could choose.

I have picked biology, chemistry and maths as my first three options since i genuinely enjoy chemistry and maths. I would like to keep the option of studying medicine in the future open which is why i also picked biology.

As for my 4th a level: I feel clueless. I am completely unsure of what I want to study in the future or what career path I would like to pursue which is making it very difficult for me to make a choice. I know that I enjoy stem based subjects and so maybe I would like to pursue a career in that direction, I also know I would like to aim for a top university or maybe even a degree apprenticeship (which is more appropriate for people that already know what they want to do, so i don't think i will be able to do one anyway) or if i really cant figure out any passion of mine then I would pursue money but ehh people always say to follow what you like over money so...
Anyways this is just some context to understand my situation a little bit better.

As my 4th a level options I have considered economics, psychology and further maths. I want to pick the a level that will keep the most options open for me in the future but i dont understan which one will.
For example I am considering economics as I am doing GCSE business as of right now and it is quite easy so I believe I will be able to make some links between business and economics, however 1) I feel like the workload will be too much?? Will it? and 2) Apparently even if I want to go to a financial/ economical sector in the future, economics will not be a requirement by unis - is that true? Because if it s true then taking it would not be useful if I could do something related to it in the future anyway without the a level (of course it would help if I were to pursue that career path but the problem is that I am not sure of anything yet) BUT idk because apparently economics can also open a lot of doors for future opportunities so idk its confusing.
I have the same question for psychology - would I be able to do something related to it in, for example, university without psychology a level itself? does it open doors for the future? is it less of a workload?
And again same with further maths - would taking it reduce my workload since I am already taking a level maths? would it open more doors for me in the future?

Overall, I would love some advice on what I should pick out of psychology, further maths and economics in terms of keeping my options open for the future (and good money).
Thanks :smile:

Hey,
I think so long as you think you enjoy them, any could be a good choice. I've not done economics, so I can't comment on workload, but I would probably suggest picking one of the others first, for reasons I'll go into (but obviously this is just advice, you do you!).

The major reason I say that is because, like you said, you don't actually need it to do an Economics degree - even at top unis like Oxbridge, the only A-levels required are Further Maths and Maths (for less prestigious unis it's often just Maths). So if you're looking to keep your options open, I'd personally recommend sticking to Psychology or economics. On the other hand though, it is quite common for people doing an Economics degree to have it (though I believe that's more because they just found they liked it at A-level, and not that it influences intake).

Both FM and Psychology can be good for keeping options open though, in different ways, it really depends on your career plans :smile:

. The former is just a generally well-respected A-level, and comes off especially well for degree subjects in STEM, etc. Personally I would say it can help with A-level Maths workload, in the fact that it's so much harder that you begin to do better at Maths anyway, if that makes sense, because your general Mathematical skill increases. I would say though, only go for FM if you really like Maths (which you've said you do, so that should be fine!), because it's very tough.
It is also a common fourth A-level, because of that overlap. Other subjects FM can help with, at least in top unis, is with Computer Science (no uni actually requires CS A-level, just Maths or Further Maths for higher-ranked unis).

I think Psychology would help you a lot in keeping your options open regarding more Humanities-based subjects (e.g. History, Geography, neither of which require any specific A-levels) because it's very essay-based, and provides some good skills in that direction, whereas otherwise you're very STEM-based (not that that's bad in any way whatsoever, if you're interested in that route :smile:

), so it could serve to help in that direction.
I have heard that it's a big workload though, so it might be harder with 4 A-levels (if you have a passion for it though, you might find it easier).

Looking at Psychology-related degrees, it doesn't look like you need any specific A-level, but obviously having it would certainly help, especially due to the aforementioned essay-ness.

To conclude, I would personally advice against economics as there isn't anything it's explicitly required for. The other two both have benefits in different fields, so it really depends what kind of uni you're aiming for, and just how many options you want. I would say, try and go with what you think you'll enjoy, because getting AAAA, would be more well-valued than getting AAAC, even if that C were in one of the most well-respected subjects.

Sorry for the length of this, hope it helps! Good luck :biggrin:

Reply 2

oduna

OP

2

Heyy I never ended up replying to you but thanks for the advice. I ended up picking psychology as a fourth a level so now we'll just wait and see what happens in september when i start my a-levels... either way i will be able to drop a subject later on so if there are any issues it shouldnt be too bad hopefully. And also I actually appreciate your lengthy reply I had been trying to get opinions from many people but not everyone likes to expand in depth so yeah thanks. and if you dont mind, what year are you in and what a levels are u doing/ did you do?

Reply 3

srss.1

2

Original post by oduna

Heyy I never ended up replying to you but thanks for the advice. I ended up picking psychology as a fourth a level so now we'll just wait and see what happens in september when i start my a-levels... either way i will be able to drop a subject later on so if there are any issues it shouldnt be too bad hopefully. And also I actually appreciate your lengthy reply I had been trying to get opinions from many people but not everyone likes to expand in depth so yeah thanks. and if you dont mind, what year are you in and what a levels are u doing/ did you do?

don’t worry you make a good decision i do economics and it only gets worse 😭
there’s too many graphs you need to learn

4th A-level option help!! Economics, Psychology or Further Maths??

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