A levels

Hi! I’m currently thinking about what A levels I’d be interested in doing. I’m not really sure on if I’d want to do a economics/finance related degree or a degree in law. Since law doesn’t have any requirements most university’s want essay based subjects, I’m not really sure what essay based subject I’d want to take, since I can’t do history (didn’t take the GCSE) and I didn’t really enjoy GCSE English much so I don’t really want to risk taking it as I wouldn’t really be motivated to revise for it. I’m currently thinking of doing maths and economics, but what other essay based subjects would be suitable? Or if it’s not necessary which other subjects would be best? I’m kind of interested in science a levels (mostly biology), and I’ve also been looking at psychology, and I really enjoyed business GCSE so I’ve been thinking of doing that too, or would something like politics or law be better?

Thanks so much in advance!!

Any social science is essay based (psychology, economics, politics and sociology) as well as humanities subjects (history, geography and RE).

I suggest you do RE or any social science (I’m doing economics right now it’s really interesting).

Hi, thanks so much for the reply
I was thinking of doing economics and maths, but what do you think would be a good third option?

Hi, thanks so much for the reply
I was thinking of doing economics and maths, but what do you think would be a good third option?

Yeah right now I’m doing economics maths and dt, but I suggest you do another essay based subject such as re politics or sociology (Which ive heard is really interesting) if not you could go ahead and do something which you’re interested in

Has your school said you can't take History? There is no requirement to do GCSE before A level.

In my school for Geography and History they don’t let you take the subject without a grade 6 in the GCSE, and when I picked my GCSEs I chose Geography instead of History so now they won’t let me take it, but if I go to another sixth form they’ll let me do History with at least a 5 in English and other Humanities subject. But I’m not so sure if I’d want to go to another sixth form since I’d prefer to stay at my school, but I’m still thinking about it

If you are wanting to do a degree in law, which one: English or Scottish? Will your school not let you take history for GCSE. Dont take english A level then. You defo need maths A level for economics but economics is not required but helpful tbh. Economics is essay based. What do you like from gcse or anything at all? What other A levels are you considering?

That is incredibly unusual - were you told this when you picked your GCSEs?

No they didn’t tell us when we picked our GCSEs, but I find it really unusual too as most other sixth forms don’t require the GCSE to do the A level for History, my school is quite strict on the requirements and most of the grades that they require are higher than the other sixth forms I’m applying to and I don’t know why. But if I do end up really wanting to do History I’ll probably just go to another sixth form.

I’d be doing English Law, and I chose my GCSEs last year and we had the choice between Geography and History and I chose Geography since I wasn’t really thinking of doing History for A level back then. There are a few A Levels I’ve been considering but I’m not really sure if they’d be good options for a studying law; Computer Science, Psychology, Biology, Physics, Business, Further Maths and maybe Politics or Sociology but I’m not too sure, what do you think?

No they didn’t tell us when we picked our GCSEs, but I find it really unusual too as most other sixth forms don’t require the GCSE to do the A level for History, my school is quite strict on the requirements and most of the grades that they require are higher than the other sixth forms I’m applying to and I don’t know why. But if I do end up really wanting to do History I’ll probably just go to another sixth form.

Oh then whatever you choose is fine because no a levels is required while an essay subject is recommend its not required so dont worry as you could apply for law with 3 STEM subjects and you can show you can do essay writing in many different ways. Dont worry about choosing essay base subjects but the ones you want to do - only one college in cambridge and LSE cares about subject combinations. You will be able to do history a level without gcse - you just need to find a sixth form/ college that will let you. However you dont need to do history so dont worry about it if you dont think you'll enjoy it. Dont choose a levels based on studying law but what you enjoy because law doesnt care for what subject you do but what grades you will get and they do require high grades (A decent law school would be at least BBB-ABB without firm conditional) so it's important you can motivate yourself to get those high grades. Further maths is useful for economics tbh. Is there any favourites between them?

Its not unusual sixth forms dont require the gcse because most dont base their a level course on gcse content (I assume tho) unlike stem subjects do. I literally didnt learn any of the topics I did at GCSE for A level. All you need for history to start from is a basic exam technique which you can learn in english or another humanity subject, which is why they want a 5 in either subject. You will learn the content from the start and you will learn an A level exam technique so you dont really need gcse content that much.

Is it unusual - I teach in a selective school and we allow it. We do want a good grade in an essay subject but the A level is different content.

Thanks so much for all the help! If I were to put the subjects in order it would probably be;

MOST - LEAST favourite
- business (because I’m doing the GCSE and enjoy it)
- psychology (haven’t done psychology before but I read the syllabus and it seems quite interesting)
- biology (my favourite science out of the three and the one I’m best at)
- computer science (I haven’t actually done computer science before, but I read the syllabus again and it seemed quite interesting but I’m not too sure if I’d be good at it)
- physics (my second favourite science, but I heard physics is considered one of the hardest a levels and it’s basically all maths and I looked at the syllabus and it seems really tough)
- politics, law or sociology (I’ve heard they’re quite interesting options but I’ve never done any of them before so I’d have to look at the courses a bit more)
- further maths (I’ve heard it’s really really challenging and I’m not sure if I’d be able to do it, but I do enjoy maths but I’m not sure if I’d be able to do further maths since I’d want to do subjects I’d most likely get the best grades in)

So like I’m just really unsure haha
thanks again for the help

I totally agree with you, I have no idea why my school require the GCSE, I think it would make more sense for a English grade requirement or something like that but it’s not my decision haha