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I don't know what A-Levels to take after my GCSES..

I am so unsure on what A-Levels to take. I really want to do A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Math but I am also interested in Law and History..
I am so confusedddd
Original post by sumayaibar
I am so unsure on what A-Levels to take. I really want to do A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Math but I am also interested in Law and History..
I am so confusedddd


Hi there

Colleges generally do have adjustments periods/taster days where you can try out different A levels before committing to them so try not to worry.
Completing all your GCSE content and receiving your exam results can help influence your decision too.

For now study hard to help keep your options open.


Hope this helps :smile:
Reply 2
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sumayaibar
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Original post by TriplexA
Hi there

Colleges generally do have adjustments periods/taster days where you can try out different A levels before committing to them so try not to worry.
Completing all your GCSE content and receiving your exam results can help influence your decision too.

For now study hard to help keep your options open.


Hope this helps :smile:

Yeah you're right. Thanks:smile:
Original post by sumayaibar
I am so unsure on what A-Levels to take. I really want to do A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Math but I am also interested in Law and History..
I am so confusedddd

Do you have any idea about what you want to do in the future?
I would say that of those, I would cut out law because to study law at uni, you don’t need it at A level. It’s also a bit more of an uncommon subject.
With the bio/chem/maths route, subjects like medicine & dentistry are open to you - does that interest you?
Alternatively you could do something sciencey, like bio, chem, or biochemistry.
If you took away either of those 3 and did history, your options would be more limited in terms of STEM degrees.
Reply 4
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sumayaibar
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Original post by booklover1313
Do you have any idea about what you want to do in the future?
I would say that of those, I would cut out law because to study law at uni, you don’t need it at A level. It’s also a bit more of an uncommon subject.
With the bio/chem/maths route, subjects like medicine & dentistry are open to you - does that interest you?
Alternatively you could do something sciencey, like bio, chem, or biochemistry.
If you took away either of those 3 and did history, your options would be more limited in terms of STEM degrees.

Yeah I do. I want to go into the medicine route and study at Oxford/Cambridge...
Original post by sumayaibar
Yeah I do. I want to go into the medicine route and study at Oxford/Cambridge...

Cambridge, you will want bio chemistry & maths. If your school lets you, you could also do history as a 4th. But for medicine, you should take biology chemistry and maths. Cambridge medicine wants maths a lot more than oxford does. But I think to have the best chance of an offer, you would still want maths.
Oxford is more GCSE heavy of the two, whilst Cambridge looks more at A levels.
Original post by sumayaibar
Yeah I do. I want to go into the medicine route and study at Oxford/Cambridge...

Oh okay - well doing Bio + Chem A level + one A level of your choice keeps virtually all your options open. Cambridge needs 3 Science A levels/ 2 Sciences + Maths.
Reply 7
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sumayaibar
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Original post by booklover1313
Cambridge, you will want bio chemistry & maths. If your school lets you, you could also do history as a 4th. But for medicine, you should take biology chemistry and maths. Cambridge medicine wants maths a lot more than oxford does. But I think to have the best chance of an offer, you would still want maths.
Oxford is more GCSE heavy of the two, whilst Cambridge looks more at A levels.

Yeah true... There is a lot of maths involved in medicine so I will take that A-Level:smile:
Thanks!
Reply 8
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sumayaibar
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Original post by TriplexA
Oh okay - well doing Bio + Chem A level + one A level of your choice keeps virtually all your options open. Cambridge needs 3 Science A levels/ 2 Sciences + Maths.

Will do thank you:smile:
Will do more research!
Hey, I'm a Cambridge student. Not a medic but I'm a bio natsci so that's fairly close (we do the same animal physiology practicals). I'd definitely recommend bio, chem and maths. Could you do an AS level too? An essay subject like history might actually be beneficial because medics have to write essays. I got to uni having not written an examined essay since GCSEs because I did all STEM A levels and couldn't write a timed essay to save my life, and I imagine that the medics' essays are similar, so an essay subject could make the first year of uni easier. That being said, it is definitely not necessary. If you only want to do 3 A levels that's completely fine.

The Oxford website says that it requires "Chemistry with either Maths, Further Maths, Biology or Physics." So you could supposedly take chemistry maths and history but I assume that most applicants will have biology too.

This is what the Cambridge website says:
"A Levels in Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics.
Most applicants have at least three science/mathematics A Levels and some Colleges require this and/or particular subjects. See College websites for details.
Please note that in the past three admissions rounds, 95% of applicants for Medicine (A100) offered three or more science/mathematics A Levels and, of these, 23% were successful in obtaining a place. Of the 4% of applicants who offered only two science/mathematics A Levels, just 3% were successful in gaining a place." So Cambridge really wants 3 STEM subjects. And like I said, the physiology module of my natsci course is very similar to some of the content in the medicine course and I don't want to think about how hard physiology would be without biology A level.
Original post by Tammie2345524
Hey, I'm a Cambridge student. Not a medic but I'm a bio natsci so that's fairly close (we do the same animal physiology practicals). I'd definitely recommend bio, chem and maths. Could you do an AS level too? An essay subject like history might actually be beneficial because medics have to write essays. I got to uni having not written an examined essay since GCSEs because I did all STEM A levels and couldn't write a timed essay to save my life, and I imagine that the medics' essays are similar, so an essay subject could make the first year of uni easier. That being said, it is definitely not necessary. If you only want to do 3 A levels that's completely fine.

The Oxford website says that it requires "Chemistry with either Maths, Further Maths, Biology or Physics." So you could supposedly take chemistry maths and history but I assume that most applicants will have biology too.

This is what the Cambridge website says:
"A Levels in Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics.
Most applicants have at least three science/mathematics A Levels and some Colleges require this and/or particular subjects. See College websites for details.
Please note that in the past three admissions rounds, 95% of applicants for Medicine (A100) offered three or more science/mathematics A Levels and, of these, 23% were successful in obtaining a place. Of the 4% of applicants who offered only two science/mathematics A Levels, just 3% were successful in gaining a place." So Cambridge really wants 3 STEM subjects. And like I said, the physiology module of my natsci course is very similar to some of the content in the medicine course and I don't want to think about how hard physiology would be without biology A level.

Im interested in doing natural science(biology route) for uni what alevels did you take- any as levels?
Original post by Simrika.aa
Im interested in doing natural science(biology route) for uni what alevels did you take- any as levels?

I did biology, chemistry, maths and further maths A levels, which is a pretty standard combination for Cambridge bio natscis. For Cambridge specifically the further maths really was helpful because we have to take a maths course as well as 3 experimental courses in first year. The maths started off really easy but we very quickly got to further maths level maths (matrices, more advanced statistical models, differential equations etc) so having covered some of this stuff at A level has made my life a lot easier. Quite a few of us have further maths A level but many don't (my physiology supervisor estimates it's about 50/50) so it's not like you'll be rejected on the basis of not having further maths. If you're good at maths and enjoy it, I'd recommend it - if not, don't bother as it won't be worth it and will just cause unnecessary stress. Maths A level, on the other hand, is pretty much essential. You can't do science in general without being able to do maths. Chemistry is a required subject for natsci, and biology is clearly favourable for a biological course.

For unis other than Cambridge I'd still say bio, chem and maths. Further maths would still probably be helpful if you like maths. As I said above, an AS in an essay subject might be useful because biology A level requires no essays but then you get to uni and get set more essays that the humanities students.
Original post by Simrika.aa
Im interested in doing natural science(biology route) for uni what alevels did you take- any as levels?

Hey,

I am a current 3rd year student at the university of Nottingham. I study Biology and psychology (with chemistry in first year). My A levels may seem slightly strange but, as you don't need maths to study natural sciences at Nottingham, I was still able to study what I wanted. At A level I took, Biology, chemistry, PE and Spanish.

If you have any questions about my subjects or natural sciences at Nottingham just let me know,
Emily :smile:

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