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I'm not sure what to take for a 3rd a level

Hi, so I originally chose to do English lit, history and maths. However, I wasn't sure about maths and I really had to be convinced to do it. After my results I have decided that I want to swap maths for something, but I'm not sure what it should be to. I'm thinking art because my teacher was really keen for me to do it and I got an a* at GCSE but I'm worried about the work load. I'm aiming towards doing law at university.
Can I please get some advice?
Original post by AmeliaGD
Hi, so I originally chose to do English lit, history and maths. However, I wasn't sure about maths and I really had to be convinced to do it. After my results I have decided that I want to swap maths for something, but I'm not sure what it should be to. I'm thinking art because my teacher was really keen for me to do it and I got an a* at GCSE but I'm worried about the work load. I'm aiming towards doing law at university.
Can I please get some advice?


I always find with secondary schools, at least mine, that they say you should do what you enjoyed/were good at at GCSE's. This is true to a point, but honestly it's good to keep in mind that A-Level choices will potentially close a lot of doors for universities. So you need to think about where you what to go, and at least what course you wanna do!
I love these things. OK, let's do this.

For AS I did History, English, Latin and Philosophy. Does your school, and this is an important distinction, do the AQA Philosophy course, or does it do some Philsophy and Ethics course? If the former I would recommend it wholeheartedly, if the latter, not so much (less rigorous, less interesting, less respected).

Other alternatives you should consider are RS (Theology), or perhaps Economics (keep an element of maths in there). I'd avoid Geography - my bro did it and the workload is suffocating and the material dry as a desert (wooo 'desert', that's geography!). Aside from these recommendations, feel free to choose any from this list from Trinity College Cambridge's website:

A-Levels by SuitabilityLIST A1 Generally Suitable Science A-levels

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Biology

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Chemistry

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Mathematics

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Further Mathematics

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Physics

LIST A2 Generally Suitable Arts A-levels

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Art History

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Chinese

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Classical Civilisation

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Economics

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English Literature

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French

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Geography

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German

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Greek

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History

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Irish

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Italian

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Japanese

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Latin

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Music

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Philosophy

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Religious Studies

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Russian

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Spanish

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Welsh

The science subjects definitely hold less relevance for a law career, but they would be equally fine. From these subjects, just go with what you enjoy!:tongue:
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by AmeliaGD
Hi, so I originally chose to do English lit, history and maths. However, I wasn't sure about maths and I really had to be convinced to do it. After my results I have decided that I want to swap maths for something, but I'm not sure what it should be to. I'm thinking art because my teacher was really keen for me to do it and I got an a* at GCSE but I'm worried about the work load. I'm aiming towards doing law at university.
Can I please get some advice?


Original post by DeafeningSilence
I always find with secondary schools, at least mine, that they say you should do what you enjoyed/were good at at GCSE's. This is true to a point, but honestly it's good to keep in mind that A-Level choices will potentially close a lot of doors for universities. So you need to think about where you what to go, and at least what course you wanna do!


I agree with DeafeningSilence. Whilst you need to pick subjects that you're good at and obviously you need to enjoy them at the end of the day you should also be aware of roughly what subjects you need to make you a good applicant for the course at uni. Personally I'm not applying for law (I'm an A2 student) but I would imagine that maths would be useful. Then again if you enjoy art more then maybe have a look at the entry requirements of your preferred unis to see if taking art instead would rule you out as a competitive applicant
Ahh didn't see you wanted to do Law!! It really depends what university you want to go to, but law is extremely competitive. English Lit and History are great, but many universities will not take art as your third grade. Potentially it would be okay as a Fourth A-Level, but if you're looking at the better universities you need to have three traditional A Levels! Maths is great, but not necessary for law and if you're not naturally good at maths you'll struggle to get an A.
Reply 5
Thanks for all the help. For GCSE I got 9 A's and 2A* (chemistry and art) but English lit and biology were really close. I think with maths I'm just worried about struggling in the exams. I did further maths at GCSE and I got an A but I found one of the exams really difficult so I'm worried that will happen again. I just want to pick something that I can get an A in.
Reply 6
Anyone know what economics is like?
Reply 7
Eco is fun if you like graphs and are willing to repeat information to learn it. I take economics, is recommend it definitely.

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