Do I need 3 facilitating A-level subjects to get into a good university?

Here's a bit of backstory: I'm in Year 12 and have been extremely indecisive about my A-level subjects.
Originally I took maths, physics, history, and psychology, but found physics too hard so I swapped it for chemistry, and had to drop history (since chem and history clashed on my timetable). And so now I'm doing maths, chemistry, psychology, and english lit. I wish I could take maths, chem and phys but I can't deal with physics. I'd be quite happy with just doing maths, chemistry, and history, but obviously that couldn't happen, so now I have to take the complicated route.

My concern is whether my a-levels would be good enough to go to a good university - like Russel group, possibly Oxbridge, and as well as if I could get onto STEM related courses. I'd have no problems with this if I actually knew what I wanted to study at uni, but I don't, so I'm very lost. My career may be in the field of science, but I'm not sure yet.

Maths and chemistry are both facilitating and highly regarded subjects, as well as eng lit, however psychology isn't one of such subjects. Pysch wouldn't be relevant to my career (I think).

I think I want to drop english lit as I don't think it's the right course for me (it takes a **** ton of effort), but if I drop it then I'll only have 2 facilitating subjects, and then I'm worried I won't have enough 'hard' subjects to be able to get onto, for example, a science uni course. (My school doesn't offer subjects such as further maths or languages at a-level so it's even harder for me to choose some hard subjects.)

I could take biology I suppose, but maths, chem and bio sounds like torture; plus I'm not up for learning mass amounts of material like you have to do in biology (but I am considering taking it). Since I don't know what career/course I want, I should take subjects that display a range of skills (like maths, a science, and an essay-based subject) but I can't take the ones I want. (If chem goes south I'll take maths, bio, history and psych.)

I wish I could stick to maths, chem, and physics, but I doubt I could handle physics. Plus I found it a bit boring and nothing really sparked my interest I guess, but I'm not completely ruling it out. (For context, some of my gcse grades were: bio - 8, chem - 9, phys - 8, eng lit - 9, maths - 8, and sociology - A).

I should add that in my school we can only take 3 A-levels and so have to drop one subject at year 13, so I might as well just stick with 3 now.

What are your thoughts on all this?

That your mind is all over the place and overcomplicates things.
Utter chaos.

You need to get an idea of what courses you wish to do, but normally:

2 science + 1 other is good enough for stem.
Chem and Bio work well together as do maths and physics.

Also its nice to have 2 facilitating subjects as they tend to be well respected and your third is less important.

Look at what you enjoy and can get the best grades in as they will get you into the best uni.

If your option works for the unis you want to go to and your chosen course then its all good.


Read these links and use the tools.

Which course?

https://my.sacu-student.com/sacustudent/f?p=SACU_BROWSE0

https://university.which.co.uk/a-level-explorer

Which A levels?

http://russellgroup.ac.uk/for-students/school-and-college-in-the-uk/subject-choices-at-school-and-college/

https://university.which.co.uk/advice/a-level-choices/six-things-you-need-to-know-before-making-your-a-level-choices

I definitely agree with you that my mind is chaotic Thank you so much for your help.

Here's a bit of backstory: I'm in Year 12 and have been extremely indecisive about my A-level subjects.
Originally I took maths, physics, history, and psychology, but found physics too hard so I swapped it for chemistry, and had to drop history (since chem and history clashed on my timetable). And so now I'm doing maths, chemistry, psychology, and english lit. I wish I could take maths, chem and phys but I can't deal with physics. I'd be quite happy with just doing maths, chemistry, and history, but obviously that couldn't happen, so now I have to take the complicated route.

My concern is whether my a-levels would be good enough to go to a good university - like Russel group, possibly Oxbridge, and as well as if I could get onto STEM related courses. I'd have no problems with this if I actually knew what I wanted to study at uni, but I don't, so I'm very lost. My career may be in the field of science, but I'm not sure yet.

Maths and chemistry are both facilitating and highly regarded subjects, as well as eng lit, however psychology isn't one of such subjects. Pysch wouldn't be relevant to my career (I think).

I think I want to drop english lit as I don't think it's the right course for me (it takes a **** ton of effort), but if I drop it then I'll only have 2 facilitating subjects, and then I'm worried I won't have enough 'hard' subjects to be able to get onto, for example, a science uni course. (My school doesn't offer subjects such as further maths or languages at a-level so it's even harder for me to choose some hard subjects.)

I could take biology I suppose, but maths, chem and bio sounds like torture; plus I'm not up for learning mass amounts of material like you have to do in biology (but I am considering taking it). Since I don't know what career/course I want, I should take subjects that display a range of skills (like maths, a science, and an essay-based subject) but I can't take the ones I want. (If chem goes south I'll take maths, bio, history and psych.)

I wish I could stick to maths, chem, and physics, but I doubt I could handle physics. Plus I found it a bit boring and nothing really sparked my interest I guess, but I'm not completely ruling it out. (For context, some of my gcse grades were: bio - 8, chem - 9, phys - 8, eng lit - 9, maths - 8, and sociology - A).

I should add that in my school we can only take 3 A-levels and so have to drop one subject at year 13, so I might as well just stick with 3 now.

What are your thoughts on all this?

You don’t really need more than 2 facilitating subjects. For non-STEM people get into RGs for courses such as Law with no facilitating subjects at all (:/) so for the most part you have nothing to worry about even if you decided to not do a STEM related subject

The thing is, I've been researching STEM university courses, and almost all of them require maths and at least two sciences at A-level, if not all three. I doubt I'd be able to deal with taking all three, but I'm just stuck on whether I should then take physics or biology. Physics is the hardest generally especially since I don't find it that interesting, and biology is alright (in terms of difficulty and my interest), but just the abundance of info to be learnt is extremely hard.

My best bet would be to, I guess, take maths, chem and physics (or biology) since that would probably get me into most fields regardless of whether they're STEM-related, it's just down to me being able to do physics. But there's no point in taking a subject you struggle at/aren't completely interested in :,). Thanks for your response

Psychology will actually help you to develop some really good essay and argument writing skills so there are some really core skills in the subject, even if you don’t pursue it to further study. It’ll also teach you skills you can apply in the rest of your life like learning to read people and about motivations etc.

But it as others have said it would be worth doing some research into what you want to do and tailoring your A-level options to that.

I'd be okay with doing psychology, it's just about how that would benefit my career/uni course option. I understand it provides a range of skills (but I already learnt similar skills at GCSE, although I don't know if that counts) which would be good, but it's just not relevant to my career and unis are pretty picky about what subjects you choose. I just don't wanna take any risks. :/
Thanks for your advice

How did you find physics hard in the first week? wtf were you learning. Just take what you find interesting and be done with it. I'm p sure you only need 2 facilitating subjects but maybe you should look at some courses you want to do and make your mind up that way.

Are there any specific courses you want to do? Yes you’ll need physics for any physics related course just as you’d need biology for most biology related courses, unless you want to do physics or engineering (where it may help/be required) I’d do maths chem and bio if you’re unsure you’d do well in physics. Psychology is fine but is very content heavy and from my experience - quite dull, if I were in you’re position I’d have chosen maths, bio and chem especially if you believe you’d do well in them.

Lmao maybe I'm just a dumb *****, who knows, but we were learning resolving forces, units, base quantities (?), errors, etc. Anyway thanks for your reply mate, I'll look at some courses

Honestly, I haven't got a clue on the courses I wanna do. I am gonna be doing a lot of research though so I can figure something out. But technically speaking, if I don't like physics, I probably won't enjoy a career out of it. Biology would be a good option for me since it's interesting, I just don't know if I'd be able to succeed, given the abundance of content and the difficult exam questions (as I've heard).

EDIT: I've decided I won't be doing physics, but now I have to decide whether I wanna do biology or not.

Are there any specific courses you want to do? Yes you’ll need physics for any physics related course just as you’d need biology for most biology related courses, unless you want to do physics or engineering (where it may help/be required) I’d do maths chem and bio if you’re unsure you’d do well in physics. Psychology is fine but is very content heavy and from my experience - quite dull, if I were in you’re position I’d have chosen maths, bio and chem especially if you believe you’d do well in them.

From the sounds of things, you should probably go for mathematics, chemistry and biology of you doubt your abilities in physics and if a course requires it, then perhaps it isn't the course for you unless it's for a competitive course/ one that involves a little physics but isn't based off it. Good luck!