The Student Room Group

A levels for Languages degree at Oxbridge

Hi everyone,

I am interested taking a 'modern language (Spanish) combined with Arabic' degree at Oxbridge, but am unsure if what a levels would be suitable. I know I will take Spanish A level (obvi) but which combo would be the best for my stated degree at Oxbridge

1. SPANISH, ENGLISH LIT, MATHS
2. SPANISH ENGLISH LIT, GEOGRAPHY
3. SPANISH, ENGLISH LIT, BIOLOGY
4. SPANISH, GEOGRAPHY, MATHS BIOLOGY


Which one will give me best chance of gaining entry into Oxbridge for a "Spanish and Arabic degree"
Reply 1
English lit is a good option for languages. They will not be too fussed about the other options. Maths seems to also be popular option for modern languages.
Any of those is fine but as above, English lit is useful specifically for Oxford as the European languages side of it there tends to largely emphasise literature and literary analysis I gather (being somewhat akin to an English lit degree except all the texts read are in your target language). So having some experience of literary analysis before starting is probably useful, although since it's not required clearly not indispensable.

Just aim to take whichever set of subjects you think you'll get the best results in really.
At Cambridge people have done such a range, it really doesn’t matter when it comes to getting in. I would say English Lit helps once you're actually here, though, as writing essays isn’t so overwhelming. Otherwise, so whatever you prefer so that revising doesn’t feel so overwhelming.
Yeah I think any of those combinations are good because they're all traditionally academic subjects. I'd just pick the three that you're best at.
My daughter is planning to apply for French and Spanish courses of Oxford. I have read a lot of posts here and found that most language applicants take English Lit to A level. My daughter is fine with English but we are afraid it is too difficult to get A grade for Eng Lit, not to mention A*. By the way, we are Chinese and she is about to finish year 9. For IGCSE, she has finished Spanish 0530 and French 0520 ( results will be out in August. should be A* no doubt). Of course she will take English 1st language and Eng Lit exam by end of year 11. What concerns us is the combination of A level subjects. For now, she is thinking of these A level subjects: French, Spanish, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Economics. Actually, maths is the easiest subject for us Chinese. Please advise if the mentioned combination is ok or not to apply for Oxford! For English proficiency, she prefers to substitute with a good IELTS or TOEFL score. Thank you in advance!

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