English or Maths a level ?

Hey guys,
this is probably my third or fourth post about a level options but I still can’t decide because I’m interested in a lot of subjects.😔
So I know I want to do history and psychology. I originally wanted to do drama but it’s not going to run at my school so I picked English instead because it’s the closest thing and I’m getting 8/9s I love learning the context of literally texts.
I also want to do french as a fourth a level because I’m fluent so it’ll be beneficial.
However I’ve also been thinking about doing maths because I’m doing gcse further maths and I love revising for it and I know some topics are covered in the a level. Also maths exams are split into many questions but English you need to write an essay in a l’inter time and I struggle to finish my essays in time, but I complete the maths in the time.
For the future, I’m thinking of going to uni to do history and a language, and I’m interested at going to oxford.
Any advice and sharing your experiences would be appreciated,
thanks

Bear in mind that English Language A-Level is nothing like English Language GCSE. It's more on linguistics. Unless you're referring to English Literature?

Also, it really isn't necessary to do four A-Levels.

ik the person above said 4 A-levels isn't necessary but if you have the academic ability to handle 4 A-levels, it can be really useful in making you competitive for top unis like Oxford. I attended their summer school in 2022 and when someone asked whether taking more than 3 A-levels is useful, they didn't give a straightforward answer and simply said 3 A-levels is the least they expect. I also attended an LSE seminar and they told me 3 A-levels is the standard but as a uni that doesn't do interviews, if they see someone with more than 3, it can make that person far more competitive, but that is if you achieve the top grades!
I do agree with the person above though, do not decide your A-levels because of your GCSEs! GCSE content is far from A-level and is simply a rocky foundation for some A-levels and provides you basic skills (ie GCSE English gives you the skills to structure and write essays in exam conditions for social subjects such as economics and sociology)

History and psychology is an essay-based subject and will definitely have essay questions that test your ability to write fast enough, the same with any other humanities subjects. GCSE English 30 markers will become a norm for every humanities subject you take- its worth looking at some A-level papers before you start since time management in an exam and writing fast enough is crucial to adapt if you're thinking of applying to a uni course that is literacy based.
I wouldn't say maths wouldn't be ideal for you but considering you would be applying to a course that has no requirements for maths and the fact that many other students applying for the same course wouldn't usually have a maths a-level, it might not be in your best interest. Ultimately, do not base you decision purely from GCSE, look into the A-level specification and exam papers.
Unfortunately, the problem you have with finishing your essays in GCSE English will be a problem you'll need to overcome during your A-levels, its basically unavoidable given you're choosing 2 essay based subjects already.

do maths not eng lit.

as someone who does both, do maths. i was exactly like you - i wanted to do english lit because i loved analysing and learning context for the texts and i really enjoyed it at gcse but, unless you have a really strong english department at your school, doing eng lit a-level is not the greatest. i also struggle with writing essays in timed conditions and trust me it gets worse at a-level. you're also doing two other essay subjects so having english is not going to help at all. i spend more time on english than my other two subjects combined.

Thanks, I know not to be base my choices on my GCSEs, I just included it for you to have more context. I might stay with English which means I’ll have to fix my time management, but I’ll still ask my teacher about maths to make an informed choice.
Off topic but how do you sign up for the LSE seminars and Oxford summer schools? Do you live near london and Oxford or is travelling not an issue?

From my knowledge, they do these types of programmes every year across almost every university for mainly Y12s. You'll benefit if you start searching around for them around November/december time but your sixth form should also let you know of them. I'm from the north east so there's a few more programmes and summer schools available for me as unis have to partake in widening participation for state schools and my summer schools were completely free. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of summer school opportunities available for free for private schools but seminars are usually free for everyone but mine was done over Zoom which I'm not sure if they will still do it that way now that covid restrictions are no longer in place.
If you are in state school, theres loads of summer schools available and some even offer grade reductions for your offer if you complete the summer school. The sutton trust programme also is a free summer school of a uni of your choice- I went to Cambridge through their programme but Cambridge also does their own summer schools such as the AHSS summer school where you do need to write an essay after the summer school to get a certificate (you don't have to, you could literally just go for the experience) Good example is Durhams supported progression and if you're successful you get a 2 grade reduction, Exeter does the same too. If the programme you apply to for free, they will provide some form of transport for you. All my summer schools i attended had paid for my train tickets and also reimbursed any other travel fees, you just have to be eligible for them.
Your school might advise you not to apply to too many but I suggest apply to as many as you can since you don't know if you'll be accepted into the programme and plus you can choose which ones to go to too.
Even if you manage to go to one, its a great experience plus it fills a bit of your Y12 summer too. I've made some great friends from them and we're still in touch

It’s interesting how people are giving me different advice. how are you dealing with time management? And can you tell me more about the english and maths topics? Thanks

thank u so much! this will be really helpful and I’ll start researching soon. When you mean a 2 grade reduction is that lowering entry requirements so if you need AAA it goes to ABB?

Please do maths if you're competent at it. I'm scared I won't meet my university offer purely because of English and how subjective marking can be - the grade boundaries are ridiculous for an essay subject. Maths on the other hand has extremely low grade boundaries if you're naturally quite good at the subject, and many people argue that it is a feasible A*.

I agree but remember the grade boundaries are low because many people arent capable of reaching for higher grades, that's why an A is around 55% every year since almost half the cohort cant achieve that grade. I can't speak for english since I don't take it but maths will take most of your time as you need to constantly be practising exam style questions almost daily if you're not some sort of maths genius (and if people are then they are probably taking further maths too lmao). Theres a lot of contradicting advice and in the end its up to you so you don't always need to decide now. As I said you can always take both and drop one later but you can also always ask your teachers if you can sit in some classes without enrolling in the programme and decide by the end of September as teachers wont usually take new students on later than 3-4 weeks into the course (so enrolling in both is usually better but the cons I mentioned in my other comment still remains)

I don't take further maths but don't find single maths to be too difficult. I don't have to practise questions daily, and this allows me to focus on my weaker subjects. Nevertheless, I still believe a maths a-level is easier to get a good grade in than english a-level if you're working at the same level for both, hence my advice. However, if OP is amazing at english but average at maths, then english might be a wiser choice I guess.

i think English lit is a really good option as it links greatly with your other subjects of psychology and history which are also essay based, and since you like doing context, which at times is 50% of the paper in most exam boards, I think you would be strong at it. Personally Eng lit is my therapy subject and I really enjoy it despite not having the best teacher at school, if you study popular texts its really easy to find relevant resources online, plus if yorue good at providing original interpretations thats even better as examiners are all about looking for unique interpretations. As for time management, its something you learn along the way because youve got full essay questions so it gets easier, especially if you have studied the text thoroughly. For maths, perhaps if your base isnt strong enough I wont recommend it, as it seems the only reason you want to choose it is due to taking further maths and some of the topics being relevant. Good luck with your decision!

yeah hahah i guess everyones advice is based on their own skillset. tbh ive enjoyed maths over english for as long as i remember but i quite enjoyed english during year 10 and 11 so i thought yk why not.

for time management, im just not dealing with at atm so im not the best person to ask #indenial but for english im terrible at it i go really above time limits but maths its completely fine, very chill imo

so in my english class we are doing the edexcel board. for our prose texts we are doing frankenstein and never let me go. for our shakespeare text we are doing othello (this is the only part of english i love) and for our drama we are doing the importance of being earnest. we also have to do two poem anthologies (we are doing the modernist anthology and 'poems of the decade'). for poems of the decade, in the exam, we have to compare a poem from the anthology with an unseen which imo is the worst part of the whole a-level as theres barely enough time to do everything. you might want to check what texts you will cover in your class and have a quick search on google for resources because for me, never let me go is so hard to analyse because yes there is a lot to say about context but i can barely find anything to do with language and structure (pretty crucial for exams). there's quite a lot you need to do and in my experience, you will have to do a lot of out-of-class work for things like annotating books.

i was actually reluctant to take maths. even tho i was pretty good at it (i got a 9 in maths lol and i got a 9 and 8 in eng lang+lit), i knew that maths a-level was going to be a lot of work bc i would be introduced to so many new concepts and ive heard from so many people that its really difficult. there are a couple of modules that we've already covered at gcse - 5 out of the 22 modules we cover this year i already did as part of gcse maths. also, a lot of the modules do begin with gcse stuff and build off that which is why you need to have a really strong gcse maths base. im really lucky bc i have amazing teachers and there are only 4 of us in my class so i do get a lot of attention (there are 5 of us in my english class) so that really helps my experience with maths but i think the content in maths is very learnable and you've even got the advantage of having done further maths which means you will be even more ahead. ive attached screenshots of the names of the chapters we cover in year 12 - have a look

I’ve asked my future English teacher and she said we’re gonna study King Lear or Othello, streetcar named desire, Thomas Hardy so I’m guessing Tess of D’ubervilles because that’s the only hardy book on the edexcel course, Wuthering heights and poetry that she still hasn’t decided yet because at my school the options change every year.
I’m happy to hear that getting better at time management is expected and context is a big part of the essays.