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Help me choose my A levels subjects

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I think you should take government & politics :yep:
Reply 2
Maths would definitely be good to open up your options. How about doing a 4th subject, another science -physics, chem or bio.



Maths, Physics, Computer science, Thinking Skills(AS only)

Plan to study physics at uni, Going to apply soon to oxford and other universities.
Reply 3
Do maths, history, geography to keep options open.
History and geography are both solid choices, so they're fine! One thing I will say, is don't pick a subject if you don't like it. If you don't like it, then you're not likely to do as well in it as you would if you picked a subject you enjoy, or at least think you'd enjoy. Even though maths is a good subject to have, I wouldn't recommend choosing it if it stresses you out!

It seems to me like you're more interested in humanities rather than sciences, seeing as you've settled on history and geography so far (forgive me if I'm wrong!), so perhaps choose another similar A Level, like English Literature or Politics?

I did Geology, Geography and ICT at A Level, and I am studying Geoscience as a degree :smile:
History, geography and maths sound good :smile: Have you considered a language? I take French and German (just completed my A2 exams) and know people doing Spanish. I recommend languages :tongue:

Edit: Sorry didn't see the bit about your sixth form cancelling French - that sucks :frown:
(edited 7 years ago)
I presume PE is out of the question? :p: :biggrin:
I'd say take Gov&Pol as it relates closer to History and Geography, and if you don't really like Calculator-y Maths then it's not worth taking it. This is quite biased though as I hated Maths GCSE:biggrin:

Maybe a science one would be good, however? Physics is quite mathy however isn't as sin/log/tan-y as Maths A Level (as far as I know) and you were able to get an A* in Maths so you are capable of doing it. Biology and Chemistry would also be good choices? Depending on if you like science though. :colondollar:

I'm doing History/English Lit (whichever I do better in), French and Spanish and I'll probably do languages at university. It sucks you can't do French A Level, that would be a great one to take with your combination! :frown:
Reply 8
I think you should take 4 at AS (most people drop one at the end of year 12) - it leaves you more space to make sure you have subjects you like, and you can always drop one at any point in year 12 if you're hating it. In which case, maybe take an arts subject you'll enjoy and a STEM subject like maths?

I took music, maths, physics and chemistry this year, will likely be dropping physics, and I plan to do music at uni. So I can speak for these subjects if you've any questions about them
It's up to you! If you think you'd be able to cope with maths, then take it! You might be able to swap it for another subject within the first few weeks if you find that you really don't like it.

The only subject I'd say I enjoyed was geology. It made a lot of sense to me because it's a very logical subject, and I got an A in it overall (I'm on a gap year now). Geography was the subject I liked least, not because I didn't like it (well, partially I didn't haha!), but because the exam questions were really ambiguous, and there weren't many revision resources available for my exam board, WJEC. ICT was okay, it was simply a matter of learning the mark schemes for each question!

Geoscience covers many different topics, including the geology of the Earth and other planets, processes such as plate tectonics, rocks, minerals and fossils, the history of Earth (it's formation, geography, past climates etc), geochemistry, energy resources such as oil and gas, hazards like volcanoes and earthquakes, coasts and glaciers :smile:
A lot of universities like geology applicants to have at least one science, however geography (and maths) are usually counted as sciences, so there are universities which would accept you, even if you took geography without maths a level :smile:
Reply 11
ah okay. what's involved with the welsh bacc.? I don't know anything about that, or how it's considered among unis. Will you take your 3 AS's to A level then?

C1 is a piece of cake, it's mostly GCSE with some new stuff thrown in there. C2 is tricky because it's new concepts, but do a bunch of past papers and you'll start to see the same questions coming up each time. I find C2 pretty good, I enjoy it.
I did next to no revision for maths throughout the year, if I'm honest. as exams approached I was doing quite a bit - mostly past papers, and going to teachers for help on things I got stuck on. Like I said though, once you do lots of papers over and over it's the same stuff coming up, so I got really rather good at C1 and C2. S1 is also pretty easy, it's mostly formulas, just make sure you don't neglect it because of this - I did, as it was my last exam, and I don't think I did as well on it as I could have.
I get my results in August, but I'm pretty sure I've got an A

edit: I should add that I did additional maths in year 11 so I'd learnt a bit of C1/C2 already, which is why I didn't need to revise as much - because it wasn't all new to me. You should definitely revise to get your head around it - keep practising throughout the year and you'll thank yourself for it when it gets to exam season and you already know it all (trust me)
(edited 7 years ago)
Government and politics is HARD. But TOTALLY WORTH IT (I did the Edexcel course). You'll be able to expand your ability to debate over political issues, be more aware of the issues facing the UK today and understand a lot more how the government affects your life. Too bad your school cancelled French etc. because politics goes well with A level languages (I do French + loved it - doing it at uni). I really loved politics, (most) the issues are interesting/ will relate to your life in some way. Politics is NOT required to study Law.

History is also a good complement to politics, as some of the course will have recent history (between 20-30 years depends on what course/exam board you do). I've heard a lot from fellow history A level students that the history essays are insane, but if its your thing then totally go for it.

Economics is an okay choice, it's what I did at AS level then dropped afterwards. The whole PPE is still a thing.

Maths will ALWAYS be a good choice for anyone if they are capable. I detest maths and sciences because I'm absolutely useless at them so obviously I hate them, but I really wish I was good at them because they're very useful. Also so far your choices have been mainly essay based, so a subject like maths, or one of the sciences will help offset the mass of essays (I did English lit, economics, politics and French. The struggle was real). A lot of people say its hard, any A level will be hard and will blow your mind in the first couple months but we had a thing where we could switch choices within like a month if we sucked.

A subject you might want to avoid/be aware of is psychology - lots of fuss made over this subject during year 11, the actual subject is very hard and loads of case studies, but it depends on the person (I'm making no judgments here - it is probably a fab subject).

Also go through all the degrees you MIGHT be interested in doing at any uni, and then checking their absolute A level subject requirements. I know a couple of people who regret not taking a subject because they later found out it was necessary for the course they wanted to do, e.g. Biology is usually required to do dentistry.

I don't know what other options you have but there's my opinion. History + geography + politics/maths doesn't sound too bad, especially since your essay writing abilities will be literal perfection by the end of it (I jest). Humanities subjects are cool.
Hmm. I would go with Government and Politics as two of your subjects are already facilitating. But thats because I regret doing maths.
Maths if you enjoy it since it will open up a lot (it will be very hard to get into engineering however) compared to gov and politics.

I'm doing maths, physics and geology with geography at AS and I'm hoping to get into civil engineering. Throughout my time at sixth form I looked at geology, physics, maths and computer science as well at uni.
I pretty much just used past papers and looked at how to answer them properly if I failed, I would ask a teacher if I couldn't understand it at all. One question I got completely wrong with about 10 lines of workings, teacher showed me how to do it in less than 5.
Original post by lyamlim97
Maths would definitely be good to open up your options. How about doing a 4th subject, another science -physics, chem or bio.



Maths, Physics, Computer science, Thinking Skills(AS only)

Plan to study physics at uni, Going to apply soon to oxford and other universities.


Thinking skills, do you mean critical thinking? Because that's ****ing useless. Literally no decent uni will accept it.
Don't do maths if you don't like it - you will absolutely detest it at A-Level and won't do as well in it and you'll just basically wish you were anywhere but doing maths.

I should know - I made the mistake of choosing chemistry when I KNEW I hated it at GCSE :redface:

I'm doing biology, Chemistry, Maths and History btw - in case you have any questions regarding them.

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I chose Maths, Politics, History and Biology! Have dropped Biology and carrying on with the rest. Also taking up AS FM, beginning in Sept.

Will be applying for economics and politics joint honours :smile:

Let me know if you have any questions about these A-levels!
I just asked questions and did as much practice as possible!

I remember differentiating for the first time ever, and I had literally no clue what to do! It all clicks though, as long as you put the work in and are determined to do well - you will do well.

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