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A level choices

Hey yall so im in year 11 and we have to pick our choices for a levels but like im panicking. I know what a levels i want to do but i dont know if they go together nor my grades are really wierd

The a levels i want to do are

Biology
Pyschology
English literature
Geography
Epq

Here are my predicted/recent grades

Biology: last mock i got 5 im aiming for 7
Pyschology: i dont do it for gcse but i need a 5 for maths,biology and english ( im getting 4's in maths )
English literature: im getting strong 6 but in my last one i was one of an 8 and now i am doing well in english and i already loved it since a young age and might want to pursue it for a career but not 100 percent.
Geography: last mock got a 4/5 (I WAS ONE MARK OFF EACH GRADE IN EACH PAPER) i love this subject very much and i want a 9 but i will take a 7

I actually suck at exams and im the biggest procrastinor you will ever read but im working on it, i dont know if these subjects go well together but i am interested in them very much but my grades are average, so yea

Reply 1

s.m1

Original post by Liamgriff18

Hey yall so im in year 11 and we have to pick our choices for a levels but like im panicking. I know what a levels i want to do but i dont know if they go together nor my grades are really wierd
The a levels i want to do are
Biology
Pyschology
English literature
Geography
Epq
Here are my predicted/recent grades
Biology: last mock i got 5 im aiming for 7
Pyschology: i dont do it for gcse but i need a 5 for maths,biology and english ( im getting 4's in maths )
English literature: im getting strong 6 but in my last one i was one of an 8 and now i am doing well in english and i already loved it since a young age and might want to pursue it for a career but not 100 percent.
Geography: last mock got a 4/5 (I WAS ONE MARK OFF EACH GRADE IN EACH PAPER) i love this subject very much and i want a 9 but i will take a 7
I actually suck at exams and im the biggest procrastinor you will ever read but im working on it, i dont know if these subjects go well together but i am interested in them very much but my grades are average, so yea

Hi,

What you say is 'weird' combinations doesn't matter, just because it isn't a common combination does not mean you shouldn't do it. Personally I think these subjects go pretty well together anyways. In fact I know people who has done those combinations and did well.

What is more important is this: There is 2 important things when considering A-level subjects:

1- What career do you want to pursue?
Choose subjects that you need and/or are helpful for what you want to study at uni/have a career in.

2- What you enjoy and are good at?
If you enjoy and do well at a subject, in this case for you is english, definitely go for it. A-levels in general are pretty hard and different to gcses and people tend to do well in what they enjoy so if your not sure on what you want to pursue, then this is the thing to think about.

Also geography is a wide ranged subject, you learn so many things, one day you learn about tectonics and the next you learn about global cultures so if you don't know what you want to do, this is a nice subject.

Speak to your teachers and see what they recommend as they must know you well (this does not mean you have to listen to them though, but their advice should be valuable).

(just to note, epq is usually taken alongside 3 a-levels, it is not really recommended to do 2 a levels and an epq although theoretically you can do this but it might impact you when you apply to unis)

Make sure you work hard for gcses that you know you need for the A-levels you want to do! Good Luck

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 2

Liamgriff18

Original post by s.m1

Hi,
What you say is 'weird' combinations doesn't matter, just because it isn't a common combination does not mean you shouldn't do it. Personally I think these subjects go pretty well together anyways. In fact I know people who has done those combinations and did well.
What is more important is this: There is 2 important things when considering A-level subjects:
1- What career do you want to pursue?
Choose subjects that you need and/or are helpful for what you want to study at uni/have a career in.
2- What you enjoy and are good at?
If you enjoy and do well at a subject, in this case for you is english, definitely go for it. A-levels in general are pretty hard and different to gcses and people tend to do well in what they enjoy so if your not sure on what you want to pursue, then this is the thing to think about.
Also geography is a wide ranged subject, you learn so many things, one day you learn about tectonics and the next you learn about global cultures so if you don't know what you want to do, this is a nice subject.
Speak to your teachers and see what they recommend as they must know you well (this does not mean you have to listen to them though, but their advice should be valuable).
(just to note, epq is usually taken alongside 3 a-levels, it is not really recommended to do 2 a levels and an epq although theoretically you can do this but it might impact you when you apply to unis)
Make sure you work hard for gcses that you know you need for the A-levels you want to do! Good Luck

Thank you im doing loads of revision and hoping to really improve ny gcse's especially maths as i need a 5 in order to 2 of my a-level courses aha but im currently barley a pass but i am going to get the 5

Reply 3

neptune_

hi! i'm in year 13 doing combined english, geography and biology and i find that it's quite a good mix of subjects. apologies that i can't give any insight on psychology but...

following on from what s.m1 said, where do your strengths in exams lie? you might want to consider if you're strong with essay writing (english & geography) or if you're better suited to shorter but more in depth questions (e.g. biology). if neither is greatly weighted over the other, taking an essay subject like english alongside more science-y subjects can always be good as it breaks the examinations up - i like the fact that biology has more questions that are shorter and more application based whilst english are my long essay exams!

also consider what exam boards you're on for all the subjects and what texts you'll be studying for english. aqa biology has an essay on one of the papers which i did NOT want to do (i thankfully am on ocr), and my combined english course meant that all my texts were within time periods i was more comfortable with, rather than randomly being from the 1300s or something. if you have text preferences, do see what texts the place(s) you're looking at do as you will need to read them and know them and their context inside and out so you're gonna have to like them to some extent.

i would definitely recommend taking the epq alongside 3 other subjects too! i got an A in mine and found it very useful for hard skills - i would suggest doing it even more if you're looking to apply to uni!!

all in all, you wanna pick 3 subjects you know you can stick with for two years. you go into them in a lot more depth than at gcse and there is a lot more content for each course (especially biology), even though you're only doing three subjects. if you have any more questions, do feel free to ask. otherwise, best of luck choosing your subjects!!

Reply 4

depriveofsocial

Original post by Liamgriff18

Hey yall so im in year 11 and we have to pick our choices for a levels but like im panicking. I know what a levels i want to do but i dont know if they go together nor my grades are really wierd
The a levels i want to do are
Biology
Pyschology
English literature
Geography
Epq
Here are my predicted/recent grades
Biology: last mock i got 5 im aiming for 7
Pyschology: i dont do it for gcse but i need a 5 for maths,biology and english ( im getting 4's in maths )
English literature: im getting strong 6 but in my last one i was one of an 8 and now i am doing well in english and i already loved it since a young age and might want to pursue it for a career but not 100 percent.
Geography: last mock got a 4/5 (I WAS ONE MARK OFF EACH GRADE IN EACH PAPER) i love this subject very much and i want a 9 but i will take a 7
I actually suck at exams and im the biggest procrastinor you will ever read but im working on it, i dont know if these subjects go well together but i am interested in them very much but my grades are average, so yea

You can have completely different A-Levels. It may help if they are similar, for example English Literature and History, but they don’t need to be similar. I know people doing STEM subjects and Humanities subjects.

I’m doing English Literature and it’s a great A-Level! I would definitely recommend doing it if you enjoy it at GCSE. For your other subjects, try going to a college open day and seeing what the course offers. Don’t worry about if the choices are too different.

Reply 5

BradfordRep

Official Rep

Original post by Liamgriff18

Hey yall so im in year 11 and we have to pick our choices for a levels but like im panicking. I know what a levels i want to do but i dont know if they go together nor my grades are really wierd
The a levels i want to do are
Biology
Pyschology
English literature
Geography
Epq
Here are my predicted/recent grades
Biology: last mock i got 5 im aiming for 7
Pyschology: i dont do it for gcse but i need a 5 for maths,biology and english ( im getting 4's in maths )
English literature: im getting strong 6 but in my last one i was one of an 8 and now i am doing well in english and i already loved it since a young age and might want to pursue it for a career but not 100 percent.
Geography: last mock got a 4/5 (I WAS ONE MARK OFF EACH GRADE IN EACH PAPER) i love this subject very much and i want a 9 but i will take a 7
I actually suck at exams and im the biggest procrastinor you will ever read but im working on it, i dont know if these subjects go well together but i am interested in them very much but my grades are average, so yea

Hi @Liamgriff18 ,

I hope you're okay 🙂 The A-Levels you're thinking of seem good. You also have to consider whether you enjoy the subjects and whether they are linked to what you might want to pursue in the future. So if they will help you progress then sure go for them.

One thing to note though is just because you may like them at GCSE, it doesn't mean you'll feel the same way at A-Level. I'm saying that from experience and many people around me in college went through the same.

For example, I absolutely loved English Literature, and got an 8 at GCSE level - I thought because I liked it I would feel the same at A-Levels but that was far from the case. I didn't enjoy it at A-Level at all and obviously the subjects are taught more in depth, so that has to be considered too.

Look at possible Sixth Form/College's you might want to go to and the modules/sub-topics they will teach for the A-Levels you're interested in. If they seem interesting to you that's a good sign, but keep your options open. Best of luck with whatever you decide to go through with 🙂

~Zaynab
University of Bradford