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A Level choice / 2nd year

I'm sorry in advance if this gets a bit confusing, I'll try make it make sense aha.

So I finished my 1st year / AS courses and I'll be moving into my second in September.
My problem is I only took history and geography exams and skipped my sociology ones.
I know that's not the brightest thing to do but I just didn't like sociology and it wouldn't have worked out anyways.
My college has a policy where you need 3 A levels minimum, I don't think the WBQ qualification is included as its mandatory (I could be wrong). I'm in Wales.
Ideally I only ever wanted to take geo and history but obviously that's not an option.
This leads me to my current problem, I'm still deciding what course to take, but this means I'll have finished my 2 years for geo and history and won't be finished for the other one if I take it to A Level.
Do I just take it and get the AS qualification rather than the A Level qualification for the third subject? That way I get (hopefully) the 2 A Levels I wanted and then just the AS on the side?
My other concern would be that if I take the third to the A Level I'm technically not a full time student, so I'd have to choose another 2 again? I'm not sure how that works really.

I never have any intention of going to uni, that's why I don't really want to do the 3 required because I don't necessarily need them.

Thank you!
Original post by aertra
I'm sorry in advance if this gets a bit confusing, I'll try make it make sense aha.
So I finished my 1st year / AS courses and I'll be moving into my second in September.
My problem is I only took history and geography exams and skipped my sociology ones.
I know that's not the brightest thing to do but I just didn't like sociology and it wouldn't have worked out anyways.
My college has a policy where you need 3 A levels minimum, I don't think the WBQ qualification is included as its mandatory (I could be wrong). I'm in Wales.
Ideally I only ever wanted to take geo and history but obviously that's not an option.
This leads me to my current problem, I'm still deciding what course to take, but this means I'll have finished my 2 years for geo and history and won't be finished for the other one if I take it to A Level.
Do I just take it and get the AS qualification rather than the A Level qualification for the third subject? That way I get (hopefully) the 2 A Levels I wanted and then just the AS on the side?
My other concern would be that if I take the third to the A Level I'm technically not a full time student, so I'd have to choose another 2 again? I'm not sure how that works really.
I never have any intention of going to uni, that's why I don't really want to do the 3 required because I don't necessarily need them.
Thank you!

Hey @aertra 👋

It sounds like you are in quite the predicament, but try not too worry too much! There are plenty of options available.

I see that you have expressed that you aren't interested in going to university. What are your plans after you finish college? is your future career goal likely to expect 3 A-levels? I would start by conducting research into the field you're interested in and seeing what qualifications are expected/required.

I also went to a Welsh sixth form and I was required to complete 3 A-levels as well as Welsh Bacc, so I assume that it does not class as one of your 3 levels in your college, as you assumed.

Personally, I think if I was in your position, I'd choose to do History and Geography as normal and pick up an AS level to do on the side too. If you enjoy the course, you could always continue it and gain an A-level qualification, but just an AS level is also likely to suffice. Again, this depends on what your future career goal is though.

As for which subject to take - again, this is dependent on your career goal and interests. If you'd like to share some more information about your plans after college and specific interests, I'm more than happy to try to come up with some subject ideas with you 😀

Lauren
WrexhamUniReps
Reply 2
Original post by WrexhamUniReps
Hey @aertra 👋
It sounds like you are in quite the predicament, but try not too worry too much! There are plenty of options available.
I see that you have expressed that you aren't interested in going to university. What are your plans after you finish college? is your future career goal likely to expect 3 A-levels? I would start by conducting research into the field you're interested in and seeing what qualifications are expected/required.
I also went to a Welsh sixth form and I was required to complete 3 A-levels as well as Welsh Bacc, so I assume that it does not class as one of your 3 levels in your college, as you assumed.
Personally, I think if I was in your position, I'd choose to do History and Geography as normal and pick up an AS level to do on the side too. If you enjoy the course, you could always continue it and gain an A-level qualification, but just an AS level is also likely to suffice. Again, this depends on what your future career goal is though.
As for which subject to take - again, this is dependent on your career goal and interests. If you'd like to share some more information about your plans after college and specific interests, I'm more than happy to try to come up with some subject ideas with you 😀
Lauren
WrexhamUniReps

Hi Again!

I dont necessarily have a career goal, I have no idea what I want to do. I've already been working for 3 years with 2 jobs in the same workplace. I also have a side summer job that pays a couple hundred over the August month.
Weirdly, I don't have a specific thing I'm interested in enough to really want to study something to lead me to it. Which I imagine is quite unusual. My plan really is to just take it as it goes. See what the day brings and hopefully that shapes a future. This has always been the problem for me since Yr 11 when we had the career advisors talk to us. We never really were able to figure anything out.

I'm thinking maybe I'll do Media? It's the other subject I took at GCSE and did well in and it's relatively straightforward (For me). But again, this is only because I already know the subject so I'm trying to make it easy pickings.
Original post by aertra
Hi Again!
I dont necessarily have a career goal, I have no idea what I want to do. I've already been working for 3 years with 2 jobs in the same workplace. I also have a side summer job that pays a couple hundred over the August month.
Weirdly, I don't have a specific thing I'm interested in enough to really want to study something to lead me to it. Which I imagine is quite unusual. My plan really is to just take it as it goes. See what the day brings and hopefully that shapes a future. This has always been the problem for me since Yr 11 when we had the career advisors talk to us. We never really were able to figure anything out.
I'm thinking maybe I'll do Media? It's the other subject I took at GCSE and did well in and it's relatively straightforward (For me). But again, this is only because I already know the subject so I'm trying to make it easy pickings.

Media seems like a good option to choose! A lot of the content you learnt at GCSE is likely to apply to AS level too, which will hopefully make things a bit easier. It then also gives you a diverse range of options when it comes to finding a career in the future.

I was in a similar position to you when I was completing my A-levels, and even when I embarked on my university journey to be honest. I decided to study business studies at A-level, and then completed a business management degree as I felt that it would give me a lot of options in the future because it covered a range of topics - marketing, finance, economics, HR, etc - which is useful knowledge that can be applied to almost any company.

Media and business are very different, however. Media will allow you to put your creativity skills to use and if it is an easy choice as you assume it would be due to you already having experience, you will be able to focus on your history and geography A-levels more closely.

Best of luck with the option you choose, and if you'd like support with any other queries that crop up, let me know 😀

Lauren
WrexhamUniReps

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