What would be the best two options?
What A-Levels could I take alongside History and Psychology. I'd not be interested in Science, Maths, English or a language. How heavy or manageable would the work load be of History, Psychology and the two A-Levels suggested, thanks in advance.
Original post by Ciaran Cobain
What A-Levels could I take alongside History and Psychology. I'd not be interested in Science, Maths, English or a language. How heavy or manageable would the work load be of History, Psychology and the two A-Levels suggested, thanks in advance.
Geography? I did geography, history, psychology and biology.
Original post by Delphinus
Geography? I did geography, history, psychology and biology.
Never really thought about Geography just because I never enjoyed it during the early years of school and I didn't take it at GCSE either. I was thinking of maybe Sociology being one but I'm not sure if another essay based subject is going to be a good idea.
Original post by Ciaran Cobain
What A-Levels could I take alongside History and Psychology. I'd not be interested in Science, Maths, English or a language. How heavy or manageable would the work load be of History, Psychology and the two A-Levels suggested, thanks in advance.
Business Studies, Economics, Politics, World Development, Art, Drama, Media Studies, Sociology, P.E., Technology, ICT, R.E.?
Are you sure you want to completely cut out the sciences and languages from your options? It may not be the best idea but at the end of the day it is up to you... do you want to go to uni? If no, then ask yourself why are you doing a-levels? You shouldn't be pressured into doing a-levels just because other people are. It is your life after all but just remember, throughout your life there will always be things that you won't want to but you'll have to... that's just how life is.
If you are planning to go to uni though, think of which courses you'd be interested in and find out their entry requirements, a lot of them require specific subjects and grades.
Original post by Ciaran Cobain
Never really thought about Geography just because I never enjoyed it during the early years of school and I didn't take it at GCSE either. I was thinking of maybe Sociology being one but I'm not sure if another essay based subject is going to be a good idea.
You don't necessarily need the GCSE to be able to do it at A-level
Sociology would be a good idea... each year in my sixth form we have quite a number of people do World Development, Economics, Business Studies and Politics which are all essay based (we also used to have the option to do Sociology but the only teacher for it left a couple of years ago).
It's not that bad if you keep on top of your work. My friends who did the four subjects I mentioned, all did pretty well.
Just make sure you get your homework done during free periods which clears up most of your time in the afternoon, then use your evenings to finish off any homework you have left and go over things you discussed in class (the recommended amount of time is 3 or 4 hours).
Your essay subjects will pay off in the end... no A-level is going to be easy, they're all difficult in their own ways
Original post by Ciaran Cobain
Never really thought about Geography just because I never enjoyed it during the early years of school and I didn't take it at GCSE either. I was thinking of maybe Sociology being one but I'm not sure if another essay based subject is going to be a good idea.
It doesn't matter than you haven't done it for GCSE, you should look into what A-level is like, because believe me, it's nothing like what you did in years 7 - 9! It's quite a good medium between short answer questions and essays - you get both. If you're interested in geography (that's kind of necessary to be able to to well, I think) then research the a-level, it could be a great subject for you.
It's also far more respected than sociology, if that helps your decision.
Original post by Ninjasrule
Business Studies, Economics, Politics, World Development, Art, Drama, Media Studies, Sociology, P.E., Technology, ICT, R.E.?
Are you sure you want to completely cut out the sciences and languages from your options? It may not be the best idea but at the end of the day it is up to you... do you want to go to uni? If no, then ask yourself why are you doing a-levels? You shouldn't be pressured into doing a-levels just because other people are. It is your life after all but just remember, throughout your life there will always be things that you won't want to but you'll have to... that's just how life is.
If you are planning to go to uni though, think of which courses you'd be interested in and find out their entry requirements, a lot of them require specific subjects and grades.
You don't necessarily need the GCSE to be able to do it at A-level
Sociology would be a good idea... each year in my sixth form we have quite a number of people do World Development, Economics, Business Studies and Politics which are all essay based (we also used to have the option to do Sociology but the only teacher for it left a couple of years ago).
It's not that bad if you keep on top of your work. My friends who did the four subjects I mentioned, all did pretty well.
Just make sure you get your homework done during free periods which clears up most of your time in the afternoon, then use your evenings to finish off any homework you have left and go over things you discussed in class (the recommended amount of time is 3 or 4 hours).
Your essay subjects will pay off in the end... no A-level is going to be easy, they're all difficult in their own ways
Are you sure you want to completely cut out the sciences and languages from your options? It may not be the best idea but at the end of the day it is up to you... do you want to go to uni? If no, then ask yourself why are you doing a-levels? You shouldn't be pressured into doing a-levels just because other people are. It is your life after all but just remember, throughout your life there will always be things that you won't want to but you'll have to... that's just how life is.
If you are planning to go to uni though, think of which courses you'd be interested in and find out their entry requirements, a lot of them require specific subjects and grades.
You don't necessarily need the GCSE to be able to do it at A-level
Sociology would be a good idea... each year in my sixth form we have quite a number of people do World Development, Economics, Business Studies and Politics which are all essay based (we also used to have the option to do Sociology but the only teacher for it left a couple of years ago).
It's not that bad if you keep on top of your work. My friends who did the four subjects I mentioned, all did pretty well.
Just make sure you get your homework done during free periods which clears up most of your time in the afternoon, then use your evenings to finish off any homework you have left and go over things you discussed in class (the recommended amount of time is 3 or 4 hours).
Your essay subjects will pay off in the end... no A-level is going to be easy, they're all difficult in their own ways
I do plan on studying at a uni its just I'm not sure what career path I'm actually going to take, this is why I'm finding it much harder to decide on subjects. If I took both History and Psychology (which I'm assuming from what I've heard are ''strong A-Levels'') and I decided on two ''weak'' A-Levels would this be a bad decision? From the list of strong A-Levels I can only really see myself doing the two I've decided I will take. I mean I wouldn't mind doing say for example History, Psychology, Sociology and ICT. However will my chances of attending a good uni decrease because I've chosen two weak A-levels?
Original post by Ciaran Cobain
I do plan on studying at a uni its just I'm not sure what career path I'm actually going to take, this is why I'm finding it much harder to decide on subjects. If I took both History and Psychology (which I'm assuming from what I've heard are ''strong A-Levels'') and I decided on two ''weak'' A-Levels would this be a bad decision? From the list of strong A-Levels I can only really see myself doing the two I've decided I will take. I mean I wouldn't mind doing say for example History, Psychology, Sociology and ICT. However will my chances of attending a good uni decrease because I've chosen two weak A-levels?
Ah okay, well psychology is actually on the same level of respect as sociology. Philosophy being higher as you can see on this list: http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=604
I know this is the Cambridge list but it is basically how most other universities think as well. They want strong subjects mainly and if any, only 1 weak subject...
So ICT you should actually trade for computing if you want a better chance of getting into a good uni (you might think "but they're pretty much the same thing" well, computing is more respected).
If I were you I would also consider having one more from "LIST A2" but if you want to stick to what you told me, I'd definitely go for computing instead of ICT
As I said before though, check out entry requirements for different courses at uni, even if you only have a slight interest in them it'd be good to give you a rough idea of which subjects you need to take. Maybe start off on the UCAS website so you can see every course available.
Original post by Ninjasrule
Ah okay, well psychology is actually on the same level of respect as sociology. Philosophy being higher as you can see on this list: http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=604
I know this is the Cambridge list but it is basically how most other universities think as well. They want strong subjects mainly and if any, only 1 weak subject...
So ICT you should actually trade for computing if you want a better chance of getting into a good uni (you might think "but they're pretty much the same thing" well, computing is more respected).
If I were you I would also consider having one more from "LIST A2" but if you want to stick to what you told me, I'd definitely go for computing instead of ICT
As I said before though, check out entry requirements for different courses at uni, even if you only have a slight interest in them it'd be good to give you a rough idea of which subjects you need to take. Maybe start off on the UCAS website so you can see every course available.
I know this is the Cambridge list but it is basically how most other universities think as well. They want strong subjects mainly and if any, only 1 weak subject...
So ICT you should actually trade for computing if you want a better chance of getting into a good uni (you might think "but they're pretty much the same thing" well, computing is more respected).
If I were you I would also consider having one more from "LIST A2" but if you want to stick to what you told me, I'd definitely go for computing instead of ICT
As I said before though, check out entry requirements for different courses at uni, even if you only have a slight interest in them it'd be good to give you a rough idea of which subjects you need to take. Maybe start off on the UCAS website so you can see every course available.
Is it best I pick 2 from A2, 1 from list B and one from list C? What do they recommend?
I'm talking in a broader sense of good uni's not just cambridge and oxford and the real top ones.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Ciaran Cobain
Is it best I pick 2 from A2, 1 from list B and one from list C? What do they recommend?
I'm talking in a broader sense of good uni's not just cambridge and oxford and the real top ones.
I'm talking in a broader sense of good uni's not just cambridge and oxford and the real top ones.
Yes, because of what you wanted to cut out from your first post, these choices would be the next best thing! Unis are starting to ask for higher grades in more classical subjects and seeing as you want to do 4 subjects it is okay to pick one from list C
(they say to only pick one from list C if it's a fourth subject)I know, this list is produced by Cambridge but it is generally what most if not all good uni's want... they may not say it but they do.
When people apply to uni, they first sort through grades, your personal statement, work experience then subjects (or something like that). So it's better to have more subjects from the A lists and list B. Oh and don't forget that most people drop a subject in their second year (because universities only require 3 full a-levels and 1 to as-level) so if you ever feel like the workload is too much, you can drop one.
Before you make your decision however, I would suggest talking to the head of the sixth form/college you'll be attending and also a careers adviser.
If you don't enjoy science, don't do it. I took Chemistry 'because I was good at it' and failed it miserably, because I had absolutely no enthusiasm for the subject or motivation to do the work.
I'd recommend Government and Politics, particularly if you choose to do Sociology as well. It works nicely with both History and Sociology and although it's on List B, it's an essay-based subject with a lot of weighting on analysis. Whilst the subject list is great if you're aiming for Oxbridge, don't allow it to dictate what subjects you study and deffer you away from the ones you'd actually enjoy.
If you're not entirely sure of a fourth A Level to do, don't bother. It places a lot of pressure on your other three as you have to do well, but it's much better to ace three subjects you enjoy than struggle in a 4th and that one subject to drag your grades down all-round. I dropped my fourth A Level after struggling with it and it was one of the greatest decisions I made, and I wish I'd done it earlier.
I'd recommend Government and Politics, particularly if you choose to do Sociology as well. It works nicely with both History and Sociology and although it's on List B, it's an essay-based subject with a lot of weighting on analysis. Whilst the subject list is great if you're aiming for Oxbridge, don't allow it to dictate what subjects you study and deffer you away from the ones you'd actually enjoy.
If you're not entirely sure of a fourth A Level to do, don't bother. It places a lot of pressure on your other three as you have to do well, but it's much better to ace three subjects you enjoy than struggle in a 4th and that one subject to drag your grades down all-round. I dropped my fourth A Level after struggling with it and it was one of the greatest decisions I made, and I wish I'd done it earlier.
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