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What to do when questioning your future career?

My current A-Level options are:

Maths
Further Maths
Business Studies
Economics

I'm not sure if Business Studies and Economics may become boring so wondering whether to replace one with Geography as I really enjoy Geography and working at 9 at GCSE
Business and economics do have a few crossovers and are mainly one problem if they're 2/3 of your A-levels. It doesn't disadvantage you a whole lot as I study maths, economics and business and have gotten offers from RG unis but if you're aiming very high eg Oxbridge, LSE etc, it wouldn't be in your favour. However, since business would technically be your 4th subject, it wouldn't disadvantage you in the same way that I've just mentioned as I know many who have been able to get offers with your subjects minus business.
Business is very basic at the beginning since it's getting everyone on the same page but that's only for the first few weeks so bare with it. It gets more interesting a month or two in when you start to have a lot more theories to learn and in Year 2 they also chuck in a theory that you learn in further maths. Thats where a lot of people slip because they take business since its viewed as 'easy' but if they have that mindset throughout the entire 2 years, its hard to achieve that A/A*.
Economics is pretty much the same except the complexity is higher than business which is why many unis view econ as quite a valuable subject to have. However since they usually don't specify you to get a certain grade in econ (as not all schools offer it), business is a nice subject to fall back on if econ doesn't go as well once you get your offers. Saying that, if you want to drop econ or business, econ would be the strongest option that I suggest you keep as unis still have the bias that business is super easy.
As for Geography, I was in your exact same position- I loved it at GCSE and was one of the highest performers in that subject. However, A-level Geography is a lot more complex and confusing as well as the fact you have to do a chunky load of coursework. I actually had geography as my 4th subject but dropped it the second lesson in. But that's only my experience so yours may be different. Ask your school if you can trial your subjects as that's what I did and it gave some good insight.
Original post by Carrotsroom
Business and economics do have a few crossovers and are mainly one problem if they're 2/3 of your A-levels. It doesn't disadvantage you a whole lot as I study maths, economics and business and have gotten offers from RG unis but if you're aiming very high eg Oxbridge, LSE etc, it wouldn't be in your favour. However, since business would technically be your 4th subject, it wouldn't disadvantage you in the same way that I've just mentioned as I know many who have been able to get offers with your subjects minus business.
Business is very basic at the beginning since it's getting everyone on the same page but that's only for the first few weeks so bare with it. It gets more interesting a month or two in when you start to have a lot more theories to learn and in Year 2 they also chuck in a theory that you learn in further maths. Thats where a lot of people slip because they take business since its viewed as 'easy' but if they have that mindset throughout the entire 2 years, its hard to achieve that A/A*.
Economics is pretty much the same except the complexity is higher than business which is why many unis view econ as quite a valuable subject to have. However since they usually don't specify you to get a certain grade in econ (as not all schools offer it), business is a nice subject to fall back on if econ doesn't go as well once you get your offers. Saying that, if you want to drop econ or business, econ would be the strongest option that I suggest you keep as unis still have the bias that business is super easy.
As for Geography, I was in your exact same position- I loved it at GCSE and was one of the highest performers in that subject. However, A-level Geography is a lot more complex and confusing as well as the fact you have to do a chunky load of coursework. I actually had geography as my 4th subject but dropped it the second lesson in. But that's only my experience so yours may be different. Ask your school if you can trial your subjects as that's what I did and it gave some good insight.


How did you trial your subjects?
Original post by propergoodman
How did you trial your subjects?

I just asked my form tutor (you can ask your department head/year head too) if I could sit in some classes for a week or so and then you can ask them to enrol in the subject you like. It's usually done at the very start of you starting sixth form so try to do them before the 2-3 week mark as some teachers might not want you to enrol in their classes that late, especially for STEM subjects
The only disadvantage is most social/humanities subjects start of very very basic so you'll have to do a bit more independent research on the subject itself before jumping to the conclusion that the course is boring based from the first/second week of lessons.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by propergoodman
My current A-Level options are:

Maths
Further Maths
Business Studies
Economics

I'm not sure if Business Studies and Economics may become boring so wondering whether to replace one with Geography as I really enjoy Geography and working at 9 at GCSE

Heya!
You could check out uniguide ( courses) and prospects (career) if it helps :h: Usually unis don't like the business and econ combination as there is a lot of crossover in content so replacing it with geography would be ok!

I hope this helps!
Milena
UCL PFE
Study Mind

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