Advicr
Hello, I’m posting on here on behalf of my daughter , she will be looking to choose her a level subjects soon as she prepares for her GCSES,
She interested in taking biology, chemistry , physics and maybe psychology or economics ( as she does not want to do maths ) is there any advice tips that I could give her , as I know it is a big steep from GCSES to A-levels so that she does not struggle
She interested in taking biology, chemistry , physics and maybe psychology or economics ( as she does not want to do maths ) is there any advice tips that I could give her , as I know it is a big steep from GCSES to A-levels so that she does not struggle
Hi Im starting a levels in September and one of my friend is taking Chemistry, Physics and Biology. It’s a solid combination if your daughter is wanting to go into biosciences, less so for physics related degrees because they’ll usually want maths. Does she have any idea about what she wants to study at uni or do as a career yet?
Does her school force her to take 4? Unless you’re doing double maths, it’s not really recommended to do 4 subjects. I know people hoping to do 4 and I know its no uncommon but its not recommended because universities only want 3 grades and I’ve been told it basically doubles your workload outside of school. The way it was explained to me is that if you do 3 subjects you’ll need to do about 15 hours of work outside of class per week, but you’ll have like 5 hours of study periods to work in- so 10 hours of homework. Then if you do 4 you’ll have 20 hours work and a pretty much full timetable so could be able 20 hours work outside of school. She could always take 4 and drop one though I guess.
Hope this helps and sorry if that doesn’t make much sense! Hope you have a lovely day
Does her school force her to take 4? Unless you’re doing double maths, it’s not really recommended to do 4 subjects. I know people hoping to do 4 and I know its no uncommon but its not recommended because universities only want 3 grades and I’ve been told it basically doubles your workload outside of school. The way it was explained to me is that if you do 3 subjects you’ll need to do about 15 hours of work outside of class per week, but you’ll have like 5 hours of study periods to work in- so 10 hours of homework. Then if you do 4 you’ll have 20 hours work and a pretty much full timetable so could be able 20 hours work outside of school. She could always take 4 and drop one though I guess.
Hope this helps and sorry if that doesn’t make much sense! Hope you have a lovely day
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post by DerDracologe
Hi Im starting a levels in September and one of my friend is taking Chemistry, Physics and Biology. It’s a solid combination if your daughter is wanting to go into biosciences, less so for physics related degrees because they’ll usually want maths. Does she have any idea about what she wants to study at uni or do as a career yet?
Does her school force her to take 4? Unless you’re doing double maths, it’s not really recommended to do 4 subjects. I know people hoping to do 4 and I know its no uncommon but its not recommended because universities only want 3 grades and I’ve been told it basically doubles your workload outside of school. The way it was explained to me is that if you do 3 subjects you’ll need to do about 15 hours of work outside of class per week, but you’ll have like 5 hours of study periods to work in- so 10 hours of homework. Then if you do 4 you’ll have 20 hours work and a pretty much full timetable so could be able 20 hours work outside of school. She could always take 4 and drop one though I guess.
Hope this helps and sorry if that doesn’t make much sense! Hope you have a lovely day
Does her school force her to take 4? Unless you’re doing double maths, it’s not really recommended to do 4 subjects. I know people hoping to do 4 and I know its no uncommon but its not recommended because universities only want 3 grades and I’ve been told it basically doubles your workload outside of school. The way it was explained to me is that if you do 3 subjects you’ll need to do about 15 hours of work outside of class per week, but you’ll have like 5 hours of study periods to work in- so 10 hours of homework. Then if you do 4 you’ll have 20 hours work and a pretty much full timetable so could be able 20 hours work outside of school. She could always take 4 and drop one though I guess.
Hope this helps and sorry if that doesn’t make much sense! Hope you have a lovely day
Hello,
Thank you for your reply, it helps to know how much work age would need to put in
So, she is looking to drop one, but it would be sciences , I’m sure if she will take physics ( if I’m honest )
But pretty sure about chemistry and biology, she interested in going into either medicine or dentistry but she is also interested in accounting, but unsure whether to do something that mathematical or psychology. But she did say , she might drop one ( as I believe they give this as a choice )
Original post by Purples1
Hello,
Thank you for your reply, it helps to know how much work age would need to put in
So, she is looking to drop one, but it would be sciences , I’m sure if she will take physics ( if I’m honest )
But pretty sure about chemistry and biology, she interested in going into either medicine or dentistry but she is also interested in accounting, but unsure whether to do something that mathematical or psychology. But she did say , she might drop one ( as I believe they give this as a choice )
Thank you for your reply, it helps to know how much work age would need to put in
So, she is looking to drop one, but it would be sciences , I’m sure if she will take physics ( if I’m honest )
But pretty sure about chemistry and biology, she interested in going into either medicine or dentistry but she is also interested in accounting, but unsure whether to do something that mathematical or psychology. But she did say , she might drop one ( as I believe they give this as a choice )
To go into Physics at uni she’d need maths and for good unis for accounting and finance related things they’ll sometimes want maths too. If she wants to go into somethign related to biology or chemistry and needs to choose a third which wouldn’t be related to her degree choice she should choose a subject which interests her and she will enjoy. Maybe encourage her to have a think about what degrees she is interested in (recommend checking out the uniguide) and see what subjects they require. Have a nice day and best of luck to your daughter with year 11
DerDracolage has as usual already given incredible advice and is 100% right that 4 A levels is a bad idea (unless double maths is taken) and that dropping one of the sciences and keeping economics/psychology won’t help your daughter access the courses she is most interested in.
I used to mentor A level chemistry and maths throughout my time in sixth form and in my gap year and this was the advice I often gave:
1. You will want dedicated revision resources to go to in order to check your understanding of the material covered in class. If you know what exam boards she is with for each subject, stating them here will make it possible for users here to give subject-specific advice. Regardless, PMT is a highly recommended revision resource at both GCSE and A level for a wide range of subjects and exam boards:
https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com
2. You will need to remember much of what you learnt in GCSE maths for the A level sciences. OCR has published maths skills guides that work for all the major exam boards courses for each subject so you can stay on top of all the maths you will ever need without taking A level maths:
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/294471-biology-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295468-chemistry-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295471-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
3. Have a dedicated routine. Know when you need to get up and go to bed to set the start and end points of each day and set alarms. If you can set general timetables for a typical weekday and a typical day on the weekend, great!
4. Don’t spend long, consecutive hours studying as it won’t benefit you and instead study in bursts of maybe up to an hour with 15 minute breaks between. I also advise not listening to music when studying as it has been shown to be detrimental to study.
5. Use active recall methods for the sciences! These may well be flashcards, writing mindmaps onto a piece of paper or doing a quiz on something like quizlet or sporcle. You are expected to memorise a lot for these subjects and this is one of the most important things you can do.
6. There is no point 6.
7. Use your free periods well and wisely - especially if you don’t have a quiet room to study in at home. These will probably be your most productive hours of study.
8. Make sure you use past papers routinely. Mark them and use the examiner’s report to understand common mistakes and misconceptions associated with each question and keep some record of questions you’ve lost marks on. This could be done by making flashcards out of the question on one side and the mark scheme on the other.
9. Enjoy yourself and don’t overdo it. You will not succeed at GCSE or A level if you compromise your health and wellbeing.
I used to mentor A level chemistry and maths throughout my time in sixth form and in my gap year and this was the advice I often gave:
1. You will want dedicated revision resources to go to in order to check your understanding of the material covered in class. If you know what exam boards she is with for each subject, stating them here will make it possible for users here to give subject-specific advice. Regardless, PMT is a highly recommended revision resource at both GCSE and A level for a wide range of subjects and exam boards:
https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com
2. You will need to remember much of what you learnt in GCSE maths for the A level sciences. OCR has published maths skills guides that work for all the major exam boards courses for each subject so you can stay on top of all the maths you will ever need without taking A level maths:
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/294471-biology-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295468-chemistry-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295471-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
3. Have a dedicated routine. Know when you need to get up and go to bed to set the start and end points of each day and set alarms. If you can set general timetables for a typical weekday and a typical day on the weekend, great!
4. Don’t spend long, consecutive hours studying as it won’t benefit you and instead study in bursts of maybe up to an hour with 15 minute breaks between. I also advise not listening to music when studying as it has been shown to be detrimental to study.
5. Use active recall methods for the sciences! These may well be flashcards, writing mindmaps onto a piece of paper or doing a quiz on something like quizlet or sporcle. You are expected to memorise a lot for these subjects and this is one of the most important things you can do.
6. There is no point 6.
7. Use your free periods well and wisely - especially if you don’t have a quiet room to study in at home. These will probably be your most productive hours of study.
8. Make sure you use past papers routinely. Mark them and use the examiner’s report to understand common mistakes and misconceptions associated with each question and keep some record of questions you’ve lost marks on. This could be done by making flashcards out of the question on one side and the mark scheme on the other.
9. Enjoy yourself and don’t overdo it. You will not succeed at GCSE or A level if you compromise your health and wellbeing.
Original post by DerDracologe
To go into Physics at uni she’d need maths and for good unis for accounting and finance related things they’ll sometimes want maths too. If she wants to go into somethign related to biology or chemistry and needs to choose a third which wouldn’t be related to her degree choice she should choose a subject which interests her and she will enjoy. Maybe encourage her to have a think about what degrees she is interested in (recommend checking out the uniguide) and see what subjects they require. Have a nice day and best of luck to your daughter with year 11
Thank you so much,☺️
Original post by TypicalNerd
DerDracolage has as usual already given incredible advice and is 100% right that 4 A levels is a bad idea (unless double maths is taken) and that dropping one of the sciences and keeping economics/psychology won’t help your daughter access the courses she is most interested in.
I used to mentor A level chemistry and maths throughout my time in sixth form and in my gap year and this was the advice I often gave:
1. You will want dedicated revision resources to go to in order to check your understanding of the material covered in class. If you know what exam boards she is with for each subject, stating them here will make it possible for users here to give subject-specific advice. Regardless, PMT is a highly recommended revision resource at both GCSE and A level for a wide range of subjects and exam boards:
https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com
2. You will need to remember much of what you learnt in GCSE maths for the A level sciences. OCR has published maths skills guides that work for all the major exam boards courses for each subject so you can stay on top of all the maths you will ever need without taking A level maths:
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/294471-biology-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295468-chemistry-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295471-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
3. Have a dedicated routine. Know when you need to get up and go to bed to set the start and end points of each day and set alarms. If you can set general timetables for a typical weekday and a typical day on the weekend, great!
4. Don’t spend long, consecutive hours studying as it won’t benefit you and instead study in bursts of maybe up to an hour with 15 minute breaks between. I also advise not listening to music when studying as it has been shown to be detrimental to study.
5. Use active recall methods for the sciences! These may well be flashcards, writing mindmaps onto a piece of paper or doing a quiz on something like quizlet or sporcle. You are expected to memorise a lot for these subjects and this is one of the most important things you can do.
6. There is no point 6.
7. Use your free periods well and wisely - especially if you don’t have a quiet room to study in at home. These will probably be your most productive hours of study.
8. Make sure you use past papers routinely. Mark them and use the examiner’s report to understand common mistakes and misconceptions associated with each question and keep some record of questions you’ve lost marks on. This could be done by making flashcards out of the question on one side and the mark scheme on the other.
9. Enjoy yourself and don’t overdo it. You will not succeed at GCSE or A level if you compromise your health and wellbeing.
I used to mentor A level chemistry and maths throughout my time in sixth form and in my gap year and this was the advice I often gave:
1. You will want dedicated revision resources to go to in order to check your understanding of the material covered in class. If you know what exam boards she is with for each subject, stating them here will make it possible for users here to give subject-specific advice. Regardless, PMT is a highly recommended revision resource at both GCSE and A level for a wide range of subjects and exam boards:
https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com
2. You will need to remember much of what you learnt in GCSE maths for the A level sciences. OCR has published maths skills guides that work for all the major exam boards courses for each subject so you can stay on top of all the maths you will ever need without taking A level maths:
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/294471-biology-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295468-chemistry-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/295471-mathematical-skills-handbook.pdf
3. Have a dedicated routine. Know when you need to get up and go to bed to set the start and end points of each day and set alarms. If you can set general timetables for a typical weekday and a typical day on the weekend, great!
4. Don’t spend long, consecutive hours studying as it won’t benefit you and instead study in bursts of maybe up to an hour with 15 minute breaks between. I also advise not listening to music when studying as it has been shown to be detrimental to study.
5. Use active recall methods for the sciences! These may well be flashcards, writing mindmaps onto a piece of paper or doing a quiz on something like quizlet or sporcle. You are expected to memorise a lot for these subjects and this is one of the most important things you can do.
6. There is no point 6.
7. Use your free periods well and wisely - especially if you don’t have a quiet room to study in at home. These will probably be your most productive hours of study.
8. Make sure you use past papers routinely. Mark them and use the examiner’s report to understand common mistakes and misconceptions associated with each question and keep some record of questions you’ve lost marks on. This could be done by making flashcards out of the question on one side and the mark scheme on the other.
9. Enjoy yourself and don’t overdo it. You will not succeed at GCSE or A level if you compromise your health and wellbeing.
Thank so much for taking your time bro type the advice given.
Some points you’ve stated validates what she is already doing and set in place for her GCSES I.e time table, taking breaks.
The exam board she is with for GCSES is AQA
So, she is keen on taking biology , chemistry and psychology she has a keen interest to either do medicine, dentistry or optometry ( she’s not entirely sure yet) also , she enjoys geography and languages but narrowed it down to the top three, though she is good at maths, shes not entirely confident with it currently been getting Grade 7 when she can get higher 8/9 ( from teachers feedback , in her performance in class) however in math exams this has not come through
Would the three subjects above, be eligible for entry requirements with the type of field she may like to go into as I see many have maths as A level with two sciences ?
Original post by Purples1
Thank so much for taking your time bro type the advice given.
Some points you’ve stated validates what she is already doing and set in place for her GCSES I.e time table, taking breaks.
The exam board she is with for GCSES is AQA
So, she is keen on taking biology , chemistry and psychology she has a keen interest to either do medicine, dentistry or optometry ( she’s not entirely sure yet) also , she enjoys geography and languages but narrowed it down to the top three, though she is good at maths, shes not entirely confident with it currently been getting Grade 7 when she can get higher 8/9 ( from teachers feedback , in her performance in class) however in math exams this has not come through
Would the three subjects above, be eligible for entry requirements with the type of field she may like to go into as I see many have maths as A level with two sciences ?
Some points you’ve stated validates what she is already doing and set in place for her GCSES I.e time table, taking breaks.
The exam board she is with for GCSES is AQA
So, she is keen on taking biology , chemistry and psychology she has a keen interest to either do medicine, dentistry or optometry ( she’s not entirely sure yet) also , she enjoys geography and languages but narrowed it down to the top three, though she is good at maths, shes not entirely confident with it currently been getting Grade 7 when she can get higher 8/9 ( from teachers feedback , in her performance in class) however in math exams this has not come through
Would the three subjects above, be eligible for entry requirements with the type of field she may like to go into as I see many have maths as A level with two sciences ?
Okay, Chem/Bio/Psyc should be a reasonable combination for medicine/dentistry/optometry, depending on the university.
I would urge her to look at a range of university websites for these respective courses and make her judgement based on the stated entry requirements. I would also note that in addition to requiring a particular set of A levels and achieved grades, some universities may have GCSE requirements, often meaning she would need to exceed certain grades in the sciences, maths and english language.
It’s been a while since I did my GCSEs and so I can’t remember every resource I used. Physics and maths tutor (linked in my other post) was probably the main thing I used, so that would be my main recommendation.
Original post by TypicalNerd
Okay, Chem/Bio/Psyc should be a reasonable combination for medicine/dentistry/optometry, depending on the university.
I would urge her to look at a range of university websites for these respective courses and make her judgement based on the stated entry requirements. I would also note that in addition to requiring a particular set of A levels and achieved grades, some universities may have GCSE requirements, often meaning she would need to exceed certain grades in the sciences, maths and english language.
It’s been a while since I did my GCSEs and so I can’t remember every resource I used. Physics and maths tutor (linked in my other post) was probably the main thing I used, so that would be my main recommendation.
I would urge her to look at a range of university websites for these respective courses and make her judgement based on the stated entry requirements. I would also note that in addition to requiring a particular set of A levels and achieved grades, some universities may have GCSE requirements, often meaning she would need to exceed certain grades in the sciences, maths and english language.
It’s been a while since I did my GCSEs and so I can’t remember every resource I used. Physics and maths tutor (linked in my other post) was probably the main thing I used, so that would be my main recommendation.
Fantastic, thank you!
Quick Reply
Latest
Trending
