How I Chose My A-Level Subjects

Choosing A-Level subjects can be extremely difficult; there are so many different subjects to choose from, and finding a combination that will work well for both personal revision and UCAS application purposes is undeniably challenging. So, I thought I’d write a post about how I chose my A-Levels to give any students who are struggling an idea of what the thought process behind your choices might look like.

First off, I was lucky to have a rough idea of what I wanted to study at university, which was something in the visual arts (ultimately I chose Fine Art). Therefore, I knew I wanted to study at least one art-related subject at A-Level – which, in my school, was A-Level Art and Design. If you don’t know exactly what you want to study at university, consider what general fields appeal to you – for example, are you more interested in sciences or humanities?

Entrance into visual arts courses at university tend to more dependent on the quality of your portfolio rather than your grades/subject choices, so I was in a unique position where I could choose the remainder of my subjects based on my own interests rather than any future requirements.

Therefore, after Art and Design, English Literature was my next choice. I had achieved an A* in both English Literature and English Language at GCSE, and my teacher at the time had encouraged me to keep it on. I’d always found English to come quite easily to me, and the texts that we were going to study (Silas Marner and Othello) were two I wanted to know more about. Furthermore, it contained a large coursework component at A-Level, which definitely appealed to me: I knew it would take a bit of the pressure off my grade during the final exams in May/June of Year 13 (or Year 14 in Northern Ireland, where I was from).

A-Level Economics was my third choice. My older brother had studied it and loved it, and I thought that the content looked really interesting. I also thought it might be good to have an essay-based subject that still retained some mathematical components, as it would provide something different to English Literature.

Although many students to do study three A-Level subjects (and that’s all universities require), my college recommended that students study four in the first year, and then drop their weakest subject halfway through first year/at the start of second year. This was so that if one of your initial three A-Level choices didn’t really work for you (e.g. material wasn’t interesting/too time-consuming/changed your mind about possible degree choices), you had a subject you could fall back on.

Unfortunately, this fourth choice was by far the hardest to make. I initially chose Business Studies A-Level, as I thought it would work well with Economics. However, I was told by a few individuals over the summer that some universities don’t always like that combination as they’re seen as too similar, so I decided to swap it out when I started my A-Levels in September. I was torn between Maths and Chemistry - two STEM subjects I had achieved an A* in at GCSE - but ultimately chose Chemistry. Luckily, I ended up loving Chemistry, and didn’t drop it all.

My final subject combination – Art and Design, English Literature, Economics and Chemistry – was a bit strange, but it really worked well for me, and I ultimately achieved A*A*AA.

Hope this was helpful, and good luck to anyone currently choosing their A-Level subjects! :smile: