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Need Help Picking A-Levels

Hi, I've just finished GCSEs and I want to become a commercial pilot in the future. I'm thinking of taking History and Maths as definites for A-Levels as I enjoy both. However, I don't know what to take as a third and I'm not sure about taking Further Maths.

As a third subject, I don't know whether to take Physics, Economics or Politics. I'm leaning more towards Physics as a third but worry there may be gaps in my knowledge as I took Combined Science for GCSEs. I did FM as a GCSE and enjoyed it but I wonder if the workload in Sixth Form may be too much with FM as an A-Level.

If, in case, I need a plan B to fall back on in the future then I'm wondering which A-Levels would be beneficial in finding jobs.

I haven't fully ruled out the possibility of doing IB either, it's just that my chosen Sixth Form doesn't have a great IB reputation.

Any advice/insights would be greatly appreciated!
If you’re heading towards a career as a pilot I would say that a levels in Maths and Physics would likely be the most beneficial to you as theyre the most relevant to your career path in terms of academic qualifications and also could offer options if you became interested in designing or building planes in fields like aerospace engineering for example in the future.
Loads of students go from combined science to a level sciences. I would suggest buying the head start to a level textbooks for physics and maybe maths as this will cover all the triple content and some new physics content which you need. I’ve been doing some of mine over the summer so far and its really interesting and well presented so highly recommend if you’re moving on to STEM subjects to check them out.
History sounds like a great option if you are passionate about it, so go ahead and take it!
In terms of a plan B a levels in Maths, Physics and History will get you onto a broad variety of degrees across a vast vast number of fields depending on your interest (engineering, maths, physics, law, history, teaching, comp sci etc).
With regards to further maths I would consider your passion for maths, your aptitude (you’ll need to be getting an 8/9 at gcse to consider it) and also your confident in your ability to satisfy the workload of 4 subjects. Think of it like this: if you take 3 subjects you might have 15 hours of homework per week and 5 hours of study during the school day- so 10 hours outside of school. For 4 a levels you’ll have perhaps 20 hours homework and a pretty much full timetable- so 20 hours of work to be done outside of school. Not trying to put you off: if you think you can handle the difficulty and workload alongside your other subjects it will help with fields like computing, engineering, maths and physics if you chose to pursue them, however a 4th subject is not essential so dont push yourself if you dont think you can do well across all 4 (most unis only consider 3 grades).
Hope this helps and happy to try to answer any more questions if you have them. Have a great day :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by DerDracologe
If you’re heading towards a career as a pilot I would say that a levels in Maths and Physics would likely be the most beneficial to you as theyre the most relevant to your career path in terms of academic qualifications and also could offer options if you became interested in designing or building planes in fields like aerospace engineering for example in the future.
Loads of students go from combined science to a level sciences. I would suggest buying the head start to a level textbooks for physics and maybe maths as this will cover all the triple content and some new physics content which you need. I’ve been doing some of mine over the summer so far and its really interesting and well presented so highly recommend if you’re moving on to STEM subjects to check them out.
History sounds like a great option if you are passionate about it, so go ahead and take it!
In terms of a plan B a levels in Maths, Physics and History will get you onto a broad variety of degrees across a vast vast number of fields depending on your interest (engineering, maths, physics, law, history, teaching, comp sci etc).
With regards to further maths I would consider your passion for maths, your aptitude (you’ll need to be getting an 8/9 at gcse to consider it) and also your confident in your ability to satisfy the workload of 4 subjects. Think of it like this: if you take 3 subjects you might have 15 hours of homework per week and 5 hours of study during the school day- so 10 hours outside of school. For 4 a levels you’ll have perhaps 20 hours homework and a pretty much full timetable- so 20 hours of work to be done outside of school. Not trying to put you off: if you think you can handle the difficulty and workload alongside your other subjects it will help with fields like computing, engineering, maths and physics if you chose to pursue them, however a 4th subject is not essential so dont push yourself if you dont think you can do well across all 4 (most unis only consider 3 grades).
Hope this helps and happy to try to answer any more questions if you have them. Have a great day :smile:

Thank you for replying and giving advice on this! I'll choose physics but can always drop it if I find I don't like it. I appreciate the recommendation for the head start to A-Levels textbooks.

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