A-Level Option Trawl Help!

I do these GCSEs: Further Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Psychology, German, Music and did my maths GCSE in year 9.
In my Year 10 and 11 mocks, I got all 9s (except for further maths)
I want to go into like Economics and Finance/ Business and Economics (in like Bocconi Uni or any other really good economics unis) or a field like that, but I also want to keep some sciences in case I want to go into medicine or dentistry because I am thinking of that career path as well.
I was thinking of doing Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Economics but I'm not too sure because I feel like they're very demanding subjects. I was thinking of potentially dropping one of them to make sure that I can get top grades in all of them, instead of picking 4 and getting Bs instead of picking 3 and getting As.
Can anyone help me?

I do these GCSEs: Further Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Psychology, German, Music and did my maths GCSE in year 9.
In my Year 10 and 11 mocks, I got all 9s (except for further maths)
I want to go into like Economics and Finance/ Business and Economics (in like Bocconi Uni or any other really good economics unis) or a field like that, but I also want to keep some sciences in case I want to go into medicine or dentistry because I am thinking of that career path as well.
I was thinking of doing Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Economics but I'm not too sure because I feel like they're very demanding subjects. I was thinking of potentially dropping one of them to make sure that I can get top grades in all of them, instead of picking 4 and getting Bs instead of picking 3 and getting As.
Can anyone help me?

Hey there @doryy1356789,
How are you? It great to see you're aspiring very high for A-Level studies.
Like you mentioned above, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Economics together are content heavy and difficult subjects. Especially since you're studying 3/4 subjects in immense detail during A-Levels in comparison to 11 subjects in less detail for GCSE's - it's something to definitely consider. You could always start off by studying all 4 and in your 2nd year drop one, if it feels too heavy.
The thing is, only you will know how it goes studying all 4, so when you begin you should make the decision right for you so you don't become burnt out or immensely stressed and affected. I hope it does go well for you, and good luck making your decision. Don't rush your decision but do what feels best for yourself 🙂
~Zaynab
University of Bradford

You need to check whether F Maths A level is needed for Economics - some unis do.

I do these GCSEs: Further Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Psychology, German, Music and did my maths GCSE in year 9.
In my Year 10 and 11 mocks, I got all 9s (except for further maths)
I want to go into like Economics and Finance/ Business and Economics (in like Bocconi Uni or any other really good economics unis) or a field like that, but I also want to keep some sciences in case I want to go into medicine or dentistry because I am thinking of that career path as well.
I was thinking of doing Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Economics but I'm not too sure because I feel like they're very demanding subjects. I was thinking of potentially dropping one of them to make sure that I can get top grades in all of them, instead of picking 4 and getting Bs instead of picking 3 and getting As.
Can anyone help me?

I was thinking of Bocconi Uni in Italy or LSE. I wouldn't really want to do Further Maths A-Level though. What do you think?

https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/undergraduate/bsc-economics#entry-requirements
'Further Maths is desirable'

For top uk unis further maths is required or preferred by quite a few.
Check whether econ is required.
Also you dont NEED biology AND chem for dentistry and medicine, check some entry requirements because whilst taking both keeps the most options open, taking just chem for example would still keep the field open to you.
Basically my advice is to check entry requirements for courses your interested in and then go from there 🙂

I do these GCSEs: Further Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Psychology, German, Music and did my maths GCSE in year 9.
In my Year 10 and 11 mocks, I got all 9s (except for further maths)
I want to go into like Economics and Finance/ Business and Economics (in like Bocconi Uni or any other really good economics unis) or a field like that, but I also want to keep some sciences in case I want to go into medicine or dentistry because I am thinking of that career path as well.
I was thinking of doing Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Economics but I'm not too sure because I feel like they're very demanding subjects. I was thinking of potentially dropping one of them to make sure that I can get top grades in all of them, instead of picking 4 and getting Bs instead of picking 3 and getting As.
Can anyone help me?

Personally I'd suggest you take further maths instead of economics.
For context, I'm a y13 applying to econ courses this year predicted 3A*s but didn't take further maths. I didn't realise the importance of further maths for top econ courses until it was too late. Cambridge and LSE basically requires it even though they only state it as preferred on their websites (I think something like over 90% of successful applicants have FM? I will try and find a source for this). I read on imperials website that their applications to places ratio for their econ course is 35:1, so again even tho they claim FM is 'not essential' you should realistically be taking it. I'm not too bothered by this since I was was never aiming for these unis anyway but if these are the 'top unis' you are speaking of, just be warned that you will likely be rejected if you don't take FM (even if you have perfect grades and personal statement).
Even though technically only chemistry is required for most medical schools, most would probably prefer biology as well (and top unis probably require it). You should research this information yourself because I don't know much about medicine, but since medicine is so competitive I don't think its worth the risk taking just chem. A level economics isn't required by any uni for economics so I personally don't think its worth the extra work taking it as a 4th (it's a great subject though, I do it and I love it 😁).
Since you're unsure on whether you want to do econ or medicine, taking maths, bio, chem, and FM keeps the most options open and you will have access to all the top unis for both. If you decide to do econ you can drop one of the sciences for a more manageable workload. Similarly, if you decide on medicine you can drop FM. Do research into admission statistics now and see if you would need FM to realistically have a chance for the econ courses you're intersted in. Don't make the mistake I did and leave it till it's too late. Btw it isn't impossible to get into top unis without FM but due to how competitive econ is at top unis, it certainly isn't worth the risk.
Sorry for the long rant. 😅 I'm not trying to scare you

Thank you so much!! I’m just not the strongest at further maths but I’ll definitely consider it!! This was very informative so I’ll also definitely look into the top units as well 🙌🏼 and I do want to do economics so maybe I should drop a science and do fm instead?

If you have decided on economics then yeah, you could take economics instead of one of the sciences. Probably a good idea actually, 4 STEM A levels sounds like hell now that I think about it. 😅
Again FM isn't actually a firm requirement, but you will most likely rule out Cambridge and LSE if you don't take it. I'd suggest you at least attempt it in y12, if you struggle with it you can always drop it or just take it as an AS level. You could look at Oxford E&M, Warwick, and UCL. They're all still great unis for econ but are less bothered about FM than LSE/Cambridge. Most other unis will not be too bothered if you don't take FM either (unless its something like maths + econ or econ + stats you apply for), so it isn't the end of the world if you don't take it

Thank you so much!! I’m just not the strongest at further maths but I’ll definitely consider it!! This was very informative so I’ll also definitely look into the top units as well 🙌🏼 and I do want to do economics so maybe I should drop a science and do fm instead?

Yea honestly I was thinking like Oxford, or like Bocconi (Italy) or Amsterdam/ Erasmus (Netherlands) or Harvard/ MIT (US). Like the top econ unis around the world and not only the UK. So yea I am not sure if these require or recommend FM. Do you have any idea if they do?

You dont need to finalise your choice now, when i applied to sixth form i applied to 5 or 6 courses and then we finalised out choice on results day. If youre considering econ or medicine at uni and are set doing econ a level then best option (assuming that you dont prefer biology over chem for any reason) would be double maths, chemistry and economics. If you prefer biology then take that instead of chemistry by all means.

Check all the entry requirements for these courses

The thing is that it's really vague. The non-UK unis don't specify that they want any specific ones at all. (And honestly I am kind of trying to run away from FM because it was never my consideration unless I want to go to like LSE or Cambridge, which I don't really). So do you think doing 4 (Maths, Bio, Chem, Econ) will reduce my chances of getting A* and As in comparison to if I took 3 (Maths, Bio/ Chem, Econ)? Do you think it will help my application if I do have 4 A-Levels compared to 3?

The thing is that it's really vague. The non-UK unis don't specify that they want any specific ones at all. (And honestly I am kind of trying to run away from FM because it was never my consideration unless I want to go to like LSE or Cambridge, which I don't really). So do you think doing 4 (Maths, Bio, Chem, Econ) will reduce my chances of getting A* and As in comparison to if I took 3 (Maths, Bio/ Chem, Econ)? Do you think it will help my application if I do have 4 A-Levels compared to 3?

Okay, so if youre not aiming for Cambridge/lse and are not keen on taking further maths that’s absolutely fine! There’s no point pushing yourself toward a subject that you dont feel passionate about because it’ll make your life a lot harder.
If you do 4 subjects you’ll have more homework (and you can get about 5 hours a week at a level depending on the teacher/subject) and less free/study periods. These differences make it harder to get the same high grades with 4 subjects compared to 3. For example, say if you did 3 subjects you might get 10 hours per week non-class (free/study period) time and 15 hours of homework. So if you worked all the time at school you’d have 5 hours of homework to do outside of school. If you did 4 subjects you’d have say 5 hours of frees/study periods and 20 hours of homework so 15 hours outside of school. Obviously it will vary how many study periods and how much homework you get depending on your sixth form but that’s just to give you an idea of how it affects timings!
I do both biology and maths for a level and what i will say is that biology has an insane amount of homework and content! It’s only a term into year 12 and i have over 1000 flashcards already for Biology alone if that helps you put it in context. Maths is less of a struggle because i already know a lot of the content from fsmq which i did in year 11 but you do need to dedicate time outside of lessons to do practice questions regularly or you will just forget how to do stuff. If you’d like to know anything else about maths/bio let me know 🙂
My advice would be to plan to take all 4 and see how the rest of year 11 goes. You might study a topic in biology/chemistry later this year which you hate and decide that its not for you, or you might do the opposite and love a new topic which edges one science over the other. Ultimately, the rest of year 11 will likely be a test of how much you enjoy your subjects because when you really have to put the hours in you’ll start to know which subjects are better for you than others. Even if on results day youre still not sure about what subject to take, you could start year 12 with all 4 and then drop one when you’ve got an idea of how the subjects are at a level or once you’ve made a decision about what degree youre more passionate about.
When i was in year 11 i was undecided between astrophysics or something in biosciences so i took some online courses and watched some documentaries which lead me to decide I preferred biosciences over physics and wanted to pursue that (keeping learning about space and astronomy as a hobby!). So I decided not to do further maths to save myself some work! Over the next few months or the year 11 summer it might be worth doing the same with econ and medicine and seeing if it helps you to decide.
Unis dont care whether you’ve done 3 or 4 subjects unless almost everyone in your sixth form has done 4 and you do 3.
Hope that helps 🙂