A-Level

i am about to start year 11 in September but i thought i’d start thinking ahead about which a levels to do after year 11. i was thinking of doing english lit and lang, philosophy, and politics. i’m not sure if i should switch politics for business and im overall not sure if my options are good a levels i’ve researched online and they seem interesting. i love writing and english and thinking deeper into things. english is my best and favourite subject so i hope i’ve made the right decision! thanks any comments would be appreciated ☺️

idk if youve been researching sixth form yet but most sixth forms dont do eng language or business(i have yet to see this), so maybe think of doing economics??

What are you thinking of doing after 6th form? (uni/another course elsewhere/apprenticeship/whatever).

i am about to start year 11 in September but i thought i’d start thinking ahead about which a levels to do after year 11. i was thinking of doing english lit and lang, philosophy, and politics. i’m not sure if i should switch politics for business and im overall not sure if my options are good a levels i’ve researched online and they seem interesting. i love writing and english and thinking deeper into things. english is my best and favourite subject so i hope i’ve made the right decision! thanks any comments would be appreciated ☺️

idk if youve been researching sixth form yet but most sixth forms dont do eng language or business(i have yet to see this), so maybe think of doing economics??

I’m going into Year 13 and I’m currently studying philosophy, politics and psychology (I used to study English literature and language but I switched to politics). If you’ve done your research and know the content you’ll be learning about then I think this is a great subject combination. Studying English will allow you to fulfil the English A level requirement if you wish to study English at university. Personally, I found English lang and lit quite easy and I didn’t do my research prior to picking the subject (last minute decision on results day). I knew I wanted to study either psychology or law at university so having an idea of what you want to study will help you navigate your options better. Some degrees will have required subjects. Philosophy, business and politics are never required subjects for any degree (to my knowledge). I personally really enjoy both politics and philosophy a lot. With philosophy, I enjoy to writing style and the philosophical debates we learn about and have as part of the course. I would say I’m most interested in epistemology, aesthetics, political philosophy, modern philosophy and moral philosophy. If you’re exam board is AQA then you’ll learn epistemology and moral philosophy for the A level course. I struggled at first to get high grades, but you’ll eventually get the hang of the exam technique. I would recommend it as the AQA specification isn’t very content heavy - getting high marks is really down to precision and mastering the exam technique. Politics is my favourite subject and I would absolutely recommend taking it! I find it so interesting and it helps you understand a lot more about the way the world works and how past, current and future events can impact a society or your life as an individual. I would say that an interest in current affairs is quite important if you want high grades, as politics is a subject where they’ll expect your knowledge to be up to date and relevant. I especially enjoy the exams as the questions are all essay questions. Overall, I think politics and philosophy would go really well with English literature and language. As long as the degrees or career paths you have in mind don’t require specific subjects, you should be fine! If you have any questions feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer them in as much detail as possible

omg! thank you so much that’s so useful! when i researched into philosophy, politics, and english it sounded so interesting however i think overall i’m stuck on whether the a levels will benefit me job wise or for the future but i’m not sure what specific job i would want to get? thanks again!! i really appreciate it 😁😁

i was planning on doing sixth form college but i’m not too sure on what to do afterwards. i’m definitely going to go to university though

For most jobs, the A level subjects you take won’t matter too much. Some employers won’t even look at your A level grades if you have a degree. The subject choice is mainly important if you plan on studying something specific at university. For example, to study economics, typically you’ll either need to study A level maths or have a high GCSE maths grade (7 or above). Specific universities also have specific requirements. At LSE, many of their competitive courses will be expecting candidates to have achieved lots of grades 8-9 at GCSE. To study medicine at most Cambridge colleges, you’ll need to be studying three sciences including chemistry. Since you’ve picked humanities and social sciences subjects, it seems like your interests lie there. Here are a few university courses you may be interested in:
English
Politics and/or International Relations
Philosophy
Religion and Theology
Law
Sociology
Economics
Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE)
Journalism
Media Studies
Film Studies
Psychology
Criminology
Social Policy
Business
History
I would suggest looking at the course structure for some of these courses on different universities’ websites. I tend to start with UCL since they have an extensive list of courses. Some other universities to look at that offer these courses include LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Bristol, Manchester, Nottingham, Leicester, Bath, St Andrews, York and Warwick. I found it quite useful to take some careers quizzes too when deciding what careers I should go for. I took the UCAS one and found it quite helpful
https://www.ucas.com/explore/career-quiz

I wouldn't worry too much just yet about what you want to pick. Look into local 6th forms and colleges to see what you think of them. But if you aren't sure what you want to do, then best pick stuff that will keep your options open.