A-Level Options - Stuck

Computer Science is the subject I enjoy the most at school, and I have been doing well in it so far, so it seems logical to take it further into A-levels. I agree that maths is a necessity for many CS courses, and I suppose my original statement isn't completely true; I don't really enjoy maths on it's own, but I am fine applying it to a subject that I enjoy. The only thing holding me back is my fear of failing. However, you are right, I don't know much about CS degrees, and it's something I certainly need to research further.

Of course, I'm not squeamish about ribosomes. That would be absurd . I was thinking more of the twelve or so dissections which come along with the subject.

Anyway, thank you for your answer. I will think upon what you have said.

Apologies for the delayed reply, I didn't see you had responded to me - if you click the "reply" button beneath someone's post or tag them with the @ symbol it will show up in their notifications so they know you have responded to them

I think the first step in thinking about what to take to A-level (and potentially then to degree level) is to reflect on what it is about the subjects you're currently taking that you like. So, for example, you say you enjoy CS at school currently; think about what the CS you're studying covers, what it is about that you specifically enjoy, and then you can start to think about what other subjects might have similar aspects (albeit not necessarily identical). This might be e.g. coursework elements, using computers (as opposed to specifically learning about them), or specifically the programming element you enjoy.

If you enjoy and are doing well in CS now it's perfectly reasonably to continue with it, even without maths. Just be aware that without maths you may have a more limited range of courses to choose to apply to when you get to apply to a degree (if you so choose). However, if it's mainly the programming elements you enjoy, you might want to look at courses that focus more on that, such as software engineering, games programming, IT (or ITMB), applied computing etc. You might also want to look at degree apprenticeships in the computing sector, of which there are a fair range (the most common being the BSc Digital & Technology Solutions degree apprenticeships). You will probably focus more on the practical, industry relevant aspects of CS rather than some of the more theoretical and/or mathematical aspects in such a course (although it's probably inevitable you'll cover a little of the latter).

Although I didn't do it as an A-level, 12 dissections seems a lot! I would imagine this is more dependent on your school than the syllabus? I'd consider you quite lucky if your school can arrange 12 dissections in the two year course! In IB biology I think we did maybe 3 or 4 for SL, and HL did a couple more. In my science foundation year we only did 2 (and a lot of those students were directly continuing to degrees in e.g. biomedical sciences as well)! While it's not something that bothered me, I'd say there isn't too much to be squeamish about; it's not really much different to e.g. preparing some chicken breast you bought to cook for dinner - it's just meat, and it probably came from a butchers that also sells other more typical forms of meat

That said I did find the kidney dissection we did somewhat gross because of the smell...and I wouldn't want to do an eye dissection (certainly not after our English lit teacher had us watch le Chien Andalou with no prior warning...). In any case, most biology labs I had were still fairly non-dissection oriented; stuff like testing osmosis with potato sections, enzyme activity experiments using pineapple juice as I recall, fruit fly breeding for genetics, stuff like that.