Chinese A Level?

Hi. My name's Nekro, but you can call me A.

I'm in year 11 at the moment, and I need to decide my options for A level (which I won't be able to change without a lot of paperwork), so I wanted to ask you guys for some advice.

I'm a pretty good student, I'm getting A/A* in all of my subjects and I'm a fluent Mandarin speaker (my mother taught me when I was younger). I'm currently doing a GCSE in Mandarin, and my predicted grades for it is A*.

Since my best subjects are STEM, I definitely want to take Maths, Further Maths and Physics at A level. But then I have a problem:

I currently take Chinese out of school, meaning that I would be taking Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chinese, Extended Project Lv3, General Studies (it's mandatory) AND another AS level. I'm panicking. That's 5 and a half A levels, which I know for certain I won't be able to handle. So I've limited my options and I want to know which will be the best for my future. Thanks :smile:

Option 1: ALL THE A LEVELS!
I take everything and give myself a heart attack.

Option 2: Don't take Chinese
Not keen on this one. Chinese, as far as I know it's mega useful in business. Translator is also a valid job if University doesn't end well.

Option 3: Only take 3 A levels at sixth form
This was the option recommended by my head of year. This would give me six free periods a week to work on my other A levels. Since the option I'd be giving up would only be eng lit/lang or economics (only at AS) so it's a fair trade off.

So that's my problem, please leave advice if you can, the deadline for this is next Friday. Thanks for your help :smile:

-A

Reply 1

loperdoper

Your options seems a little extreme. Why can't you just take Maths, FM, Physics and Chinese (ignoring General Studies, which I don't take but most people say doesn't take all that much work)? Is the EPQ compulsory as well?

Reply 2

Nekro

Original post by loperdoper

That's option 2, which at the moment seems most likely

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

loperdoper

Original post by Nekro

That's option 2, which at the moment seems most likely

Oh, I see what you mean now (reread and saw you took Chinese out of school).

As long as you avoid the "take all the a-levels" option, the best option for you is to get all the subjects you want to take.

Reply 4

Nekro

Thanks, I'll definitely keep that in mind

Reply 5

imcalled

Hi A,

I'm in Year 12 and I'm doing Chemsitry, Physics, Economics and Maths this year. I decided on Further Maths as well so I'm completing the whole Maths A Level this year and going on to do FM next year. For option 3, is Maths and FM considered as two A Levels? If it is I wouldn't take it because you'd have to trade Physics for general studies if you wanted to do maths and fm.

My parent's are fluent in Mandarin so I'm pretty decent at listening, speaking and reading but writing is definitely my worst. I took the GCSE in Year 9, AS in Year 10 and A2 in Year 11 and prepared for them at Chinese School on Sundays but took the exams in school. I would definitely NOT stop learning Chinese or doing the exams. They should be relatively easy for you (the GCSE listening was the death of me because it was so slow). The only bits I found difficult were the essays because my vocabulary isn't great. But still, might as well get an extra couple of qualifications in Chinese since it isn't too much effort :smile:

Out of all my subjects I dislike Economics the most, just because it doesn't really interest me. Everything seems so theoretical and writing 30 markers (Edexcel) really isn't for me. Plus if you did want to do anything Economics related at university, I don't think Economics at A Level is a requirement but you might need to double check the specifics. So yes, you're not really missing out on too much if you don't take that. If you are interested in it though, you can try taking out a student subscription for The Economist and reading some economics related books.

Not sure about the EPQ - I mean it is an extra qualification but you don't have to do it right? And if you're worried about juggling 5 and a half qualifications, I'd drop that one first.

Sorry for that rather lengthy post, hopefully it helped a bit?

Reply 6

Nekro

Thanks, that's really helpful. Maths and Further Maths are counted as two separate A levels at my school, but I really want to take both of them (with physics). I'm probably going to only take those three (since none of the fourth options take my interest) and the EPQ (I did the level 2 and found it pretty easy, and if it is too much work, it's a lot easier to drop out of it), with Chinese on the side. Thanks for your feedback, I'll make sure to avoid Economics :smile:

Oh, and about the Chinese listening? OH MY GOD IT WAS SO SLOW AND BORING AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Reply 7

imcalled

Original post by Nekro

Oh, and about the Chinese listening? OH MY GOD IT WAS SO SLOW AND BORING AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Oh bum, sorry I didn't see this earlier

Yes yes yes take physics and maths, so much love for those subjects <3

And YES I KNOW, was on the verge of dozing off when I did that exam, and for reading I checked it over about 5 times and it was only 15 minutes in.. so I fell asleep :3

Good luck with all your exams and studies xD

Reply 8

Blainerock17

Sorry, but did you know any teacher that teach Chinese A-level, I really want them to help me mark an essay for me since I didn't have a Chinese teacher around and I kind of depend on this subject right now. So if you do, can you give me the teacher's e-mail address for me, I would like to send a copy of my essay to ensure that I can get an A in this subject!
If you do that would be so generous of you! :smile: