A-level Options (Classics)

Thanks for the advice, I’m leaning towards English Lit, as well as Philosophy, as I could always cut down to three if needs be. I’ve already begun self-teaching Greek, from the OCR John Taylor textbook, and will probably do an EPQ on a topic related to Ancient history. I’d never thought about linking English to Classics in that way (as an A-level), so that really helps. Once again, thanks a lot.

No problem! Those 4 would definitely be a fantastic combination. John Taylor is THE man for Greek GCSE - hope that keeps going well. Glad I could help, and I'm excited for you for your EPQ - I did mine primarily as a literature dissertation but I used some Classical texts in it too, and it was so fun.
If you have any more questions feel free to ask!

Just wondering if you were planning on continuing classics to degree level, and if you had any advice on how you managed doing both Latin and Greek, though my Greek will be less intense?
How have you found doing Greek, Latin, and English lit? I’ve heeded your advice and am now looking to do Latin, Class Civ, and English lit. Thanks a lot for all the help!

I'm actually applying for English! (Cambridge, Durham, St Andrews, York, and Exeter). I debated doing Classics or Combined Honours for the longest time, but in the end I just went for what I loved most, and I find that I can still incorporate Classical literature into my degree. I still find Greek quite difficult, but it's also super rewarding. I also found that doing those three was a really good move since the skills needed are so transferable. I do have 8 set texts from Latin and Greek combined, which is amazing but also hard!! Learning vocab is a massive part of the language side, and so is just knowing your cases and constructions well. Practicing unseen language extracts is the best way of improving translation skills (I'm in the middle of one right now ahaha). Balancing the two isn't as confusing as you might think, you'll manage to keep vocab etc separate.

Good luck!!

All classics courses will incorporate some literature, while some may focus on that more (usually due to less of a range of options in the other areas of classical inquiry), so A-level English Literature may be useful in giving you some experience and background in literary analysis. The source evaluation aspects of A-level History would also be broadly useful (not only for historically oriented classical courses, but also literary or philosophical, since most texts are known from editions attested quite late, e.g. in the medieval period, and there are issues of textual criticism where that skill could be useful).

Neither of those backgrounds are specifically required though, and you'll soon learn to analyse classical literature in any classics course no matter what your background in that is, plus you have some literary work in the classical civ curriculum anyway. The generalist essay writing skills developed in any of the subjects you suggest will serve you well I'm sure, so I don't think there is really a "best" option. Whatever you think you'll do best in and enjoy the most!

However I would suggest taking only 3 A-levels, especially if you're also doing a GCSE alongside those in Greek, and even more so if you are going to be taking an EPQ. In fact that may actually be more work than is feasible since you'll also be doing A-level Latin so will need to keep on top of the grammar and vocab of two languages, along with your two other A-levels, and then adding an EPQ on top.