Further Maths or Biology

I think you should do biology instead of FM because FM isn't necessary for many science courses and seeing as you aren't completely sure what you want to do, biology might keep more doors open for you. Also, FM would probably be easier to self-teach if needed, and you are already doing maths, proving your mathematical capabilities to universities.

This is an extremly well thought out thread and I must say I've been in EXACTLY the same situation as you. I'm starting my A-Levels in september and have opted for biology. This is because I feel quite indecisive and would like a broad scientific knowledge ( as I think you would). Also choosing biology does NOT restrict physical science choices. An AS in further maths is still good for many unis and I know a few people who were set on medicine with these A levels but did maths at good universities ( russell group)- without further maths.

Nice to know you have opted for biology! Sounds like you're in an extremely similar situation indeed

I'm just worried I wouldn't get as good grade in Biology as I would in further maths though.

If you'll do better in fm then pick that! It's a far more respected and rigorous ( to most people) choice so it'll look very impressive. You're obviously a mathematical person and so you should be doing a lot of maths. By the way have you studied maths beyond GCSE Level? I did the Further maths gcse and I found it quite hard and realised I only enjoyed maths because of how simple GCSE Maths is . You don't want to feel like I did next year when you've chosen double maths.

Most people hate the part of biology that's on plants and biodiversity etc (I think this is the unit 1 paper for AQA) but it's fairly easy. The other unit on human biology is much more interesting and I really enjoyed it. If you have Maths already then I don't see the point in FM. Biology will give you a wider range of subjects and tbh I learnt a lot during AS that seemed like common sense i.e we learnt about different types of medicines in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and how they work etc so I guess you could say that biology helps you understand every day things. A lot of people doing maths physics and chemistry usually drop biology after AS anyway, despite enjoying it. I'm on Edexcel but the content is more or less the same across all the boards.

...

If you have Maths already then I don't see the point in FM.

Do FM. I studied M, FM, B & C and I had the exact same mindset: 'breadth of knowledge is important.'

Well I don't feel better off after studying biology. All I can do better now is name a few diseases, name-drop a few immune responses and explain how the heart works. And analyse a graph of data. But I could probably do the former after reading a good book on human biology.

If you're thinking of anything along the lines of economics, computer science (which I study), maths, physics, engineering, then it's a no-brainer: do FM. Think about doing biology if you want to do medicine, biology (duh!), maybe biochemistry or human sciences.

FM because then you will have more degree options.

Also what I'm afraid of is AQA bio has some sort of essay? Idk if you did the AQA but seriously I don't wanna have essay homework if it's true ._.

Well, that's what I thought as well at first. I could probably read a book and I suppose it is easier to read biology book than any of my other options... i don't know really

Economics is almost non existant in my mind. Kinda interesting, but not as much as science.
I had computer science or engineering in mind when I was like Year 8 but now I think I like natural sciences than these

Medicine is a big no, I'm not these saints who devote their lives helping other lives lol I'm too selfish; i wanna satisfy my curiosity than aidin
Biochemistry is still in my option not sure but probably I think I'm going for plain chemistry or physics



Posted from TSR Mobile

Greetings fellow TSRers.

As some of you may notice, I have made two similar threads regarding to this question over the past few months. Each time, I seem to settle on a conclusion but since this is such a huge dilemma for me, I am being very indecisive despite the two threads. Also I had not had enough information about my Sixthform or had not had enough time to think about with my cool head or organise my thoughts due to all the moving, IGCSE exams, leaving my beloved school and the option choice deadline etc. I apologise for making multiple threads and bother you every time.

I am also aware that hundreds of similar thread existed in the past. However, I made another again because I wanted advice for my situation specifically and not general advice.

I would like to believe that now I have enough "information" about myself, and thus I would like to make a new thread with every piece of information that might help me decide.

So as you can probably see from the title, I am considering to take either Biology or Further Maths.

Here are my points that can be considered when you kindly give me some advice

Background info

---

Further Maths (Edexcel)
pros


cons

---

Biology (AQA)
pros


cons

---

Possibilities
(A) Biology AS in Year 12, Further Maths AS in Year 13 possibly as a private candidate if the Year 12 timetable doesn't fit mine. Resulting in 2 AS and 3 A2.
Will cover interesting topics in AS Biology (except classification or some environment stuff) and won't need to do big environment topic in A2. In exchange it is risky as I don't know if I will be capable for self-teaching time wise. I have strong enough passion for maths/biology that I am willing to do so, but I don't know if it's physically possible. Also Further Maths A2 won't be possible to obtain unless I self-teach 6 modules so hard (probably won't happen).

(B) Further Maths in Year 12 drop it next year/continue with it
If I want to why not do 4 A2 (seems to be possible at my sixth form though I assume I need to prove that I can keep up with the workload). Will do the seemingly interesting A2 topics. However I won't be able to have an advanced biological grounding which I'm very hesitant about. What if what I really want to do was Biology? (can't know just with limited knowledge from GCSEs and a few extra videos/articles) Maybe chemistry is sufficient especially for biochemistry which I'm quite interested about, but if I need to catch up later on in uni, it could be too hard? I also like interlinking topics between each subject area and am also good at it.

(C) Biology AS in Year 12 drop it next year/continue with it
If I want I could continue to A2, in case I realise Biology is what I really want during Year 12. Could opt for Option A later on as well. But will miss out with A2 FP modules which seem interesting and missing FM A2 can be disadvantageous if I realise Physics/maths is the way for me during Year 12.

---

Okay, so I tried to make all the thoughts very organised and easier to read. I hope I didn't miss out anything. Apologies for very long post but I will really appreciate if you read it all and avoid "if you're good at understanding concepts go for FM, if you're good at memorising go for Biology" sort of answer because I heard this thing enough. If you could work out and suggest what would be the best option for me (I'm aware that final decision should be mine) maybe using your experience, I will be very grateful. It is sometimes better to hear 3rd person's opinions as they are often less emotional and objective.

Once again, thank you all for your help.

Biology sounds like the better choice in your position. I'd only go for Further Maths if you really, really love Maths. If you're not looking to go into a Maths degree and you feel that devoting 50% of your time is a bit of a waste, it'll just be hellish. As you've mentioned, in the worst case scenario you can always self-teach Further Maths (at least the AS) whereas Biology will probably be nearly impossible to self-teach.

Go through the specifications of both, maybe flick through the textbooks. Since you're doing Maths, Chemistry and Physics anyway, you've got 95% of science-based courses open to you so whichever subject you choose, you can't go too badly wrong. Go with the subject you think you'll enjoy the most. I do think that you might perhaps be over-thinking this!

One thing though: the people saying that Further Maths will open more options for you are talking nonsense. The only courses that require Further Maths are Mathematics degrees, and that's only a portion of Mathematics degrees - many don't actually require it. In comparison, there are a number of degree courses that require biology.

My honest advice; ONLY TAKE BIOLOGY IF YOU LIKE THE SUBJECT because AS is a massive jump from triple (I did triple) let alone Double award.



Posted from TSR Mobile

Yeah I did AQA. The essay isn't too bad.. You can bring up anything from all 4 modules. Mine was on cycles, so it wasn't so bad, since there are so ****ing many of them. Revising for it is gruesome though.

You'll have a much better idea once you get to college what you'll want to do. I wanted to do medicine initially, but after studying biology and realising that you had to devote your life to the profession I turned towards maths and compsci in particular. If you're set on chem and physics in particular, do FM! Even to do biochem at uni, you don't need bio.. Just chem!