A level

helen28770

I am planning to take criminology and business studies for my A level. Do anyone know if this is a good course?

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by helen28770

I am planning to take criminology and business studies for my A level. Do anyone know if this is a good course?

I can comment on business studies. I am not entirely sure about the criminology diploma though.

Business studies at A Level would give you the foundational knowledge of how to operate a business, but the way they mark you would be based on how well you analyse and apply critical thinking to your scenario (usually involving a lot of strategic thinking) for the most part. As Business is a subject that's more art than science, there's usually no single right answer so long you can give a very long and strong justification. You don't need to learn a lot of material to answer a question, but you would need to go into the analysis in depth.
Business is typically not an academic subject and is considered more vocational than anything. However, it can still be used to get into top unis. I wouldn't recommend doing this alongside Economics if you intend to get into a top uni for a degree that are for well rounded candidates though as they're considered too similar (if the entry requirements don't specify that they are looking for well rounded candidates, then I don't it would hurt you too much).

Criminology diploma by WJEC on the other hand is technically not an A Level, so I would check to see if the unis that you want to apply to accept it for their courses. Criminology also isn't strictly an academic subject as far as I know. However, those who did it said they enjoyed it.

I think it's more appropriate to look into what sort of degree you want to do or what sort of job you want to get into. If the degree or job doesn't require specific subjects or qualifications (e.g. not medicine, veterinary science, engineering, etc.), then I suppose either of the 2 mentioned subjects should be fine. If they do, then you might have a hindrance to getting onto the degree or apprenticeship.
If you don't know what you specifically want to do, then I would work backwards and ask yourself:

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What sort of thing do you see yourself doing day in day out

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What sort of thing don't you want to do

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What careers or sectors would you want to remain open to

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What careers or sectors don't you want to go into

Reply 2

yoe_gei

I take those two subjects and they’re my favourite even though criminology isn’t technically an A level they mark it as an a level with the marking scheme