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send 3rd a-level option help!!

I am genuinely struggling to officially decide my 3rd a-level option, I definitely want to do environmental science and geography but have no idea what to do for the third.

my choices that i've narrowed down (begrudgingly) are french, psychology and graphics (graphic communications)
french I consistently get 9s in but i've gaslighted myself into thinking that i only enjoy it because of my teacher and i just think that i'd find it boring
psychology my parents are kind of anti but i think i'd find it interesting - however how much maths actually is this
graphics i'd really enjoy i think but it feels kind of pointless bc of ai yknow but i think that's the one i'd enjoy the most on a guess

send help on what to choose so i can put my application in pls, and give opinions about my other subjects too :smile: x

Reply 1

Original post
by llilypads
I am genuinely struggling to officially decide my 3rd a-level option, I definitely want to do environmental science and geography but have no idea what to do for the third.
my choices that i've narrowed down (begrudgingly) are french, psychology and graphics (graphic communications)
french I consistently get 9s in but i've gaslighted myself into thinking that i only enjoy it because of my teacher and i just think that i'd find it boring
psychology my parents are kind of anti but i think i'd find it interesting - however how much maths actually is this
graphics i'd really enjoy i think but it feels kind of pointless bc of ai yknow but i think that's the one i'd enjoy the most on a guess
send help on what to choose so i can put my application in pls, and give opinions about my other subjects too :smile: x


Hey, I have only started year 12 recently so I'm not sure if I can be of much help but I did pick French and Psychology. Currently I am finding both of them really fun and interesting. I got an 8 in French so with a 9 I'm sure that you could do really well. At times I don't understand what is going on but I think it's relatively easy to fill in gaps. However French does require quite a lot of dedication so if you think that you might find it boring then perhaps its not the best option. I'm also loving psychology and learning about human behaviour and thoughts - it can come in handy in daily life. My teachers say that the only maths that appears in psychology is statistics and that it is fairly easy. I don't know much about grapphics but I know that if you're not sure about what degree you want to do then picking the a-level that you think you would enjoy the most might be the best option for you.

Reply 2

Hi!
I don't do any of these subjects, so I can't give any personal advice on them. My recommendation is always to do what you enjoy. You are going to spend two years studying and revising these subjects, and that becomes so much harder when you hate every minute of it.

French- if you think it's boring, then don't do it.

Psychology- talk to whoever is teaching psychology at your sixth form/email the college you're applying to and ask about how much maths is in it. (I did GCSE Psychology, and I can tell you that 1/7 topics we did was maths based, but it was median/mode/range, variables, that sort of basic sciencey maths- it wasn't too complicated. I can't imagine it's THAT big of a jump in A-Level, but 100% check.) I know quite a few people doing psychology who really enjoy it. If the maths is a deal breaker, maybe consider Sociology/Criminology?

Graphic Design- if this is what you want to do the most, do it. I totally get you on the AI aspect, I do English and Media, and it's very much a concern in this area too. I would like to think that there will always be a market for human creativity, because AI just isn't the same. I wish I could be more helpful, but I think a lot of people have the same reservations of you. I stand by the fact that you should do what you think you would enjoy, especially if it's just a third subject to do with the two you really care about

I hope that helps? Good luck!

Edit: Also, don't forget that you can always swap a subject if you don't end up liking it!
(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

Original post
by zufi17dutchduck
Hey, I have only started year 12 recently so I'm not sure if I can be of much help but I did pick French and Psychology. Currently I am finding both of them really fun and interesting. I got an 8 in French so with a 9 I'm sure that you could do really well. At times I don't understand what is going on but I think it's relatively easy to fill in gaps. However French does require quite a lot of dedication so if you think that you might find it boring then perhaps its not the best option. I'm also loving psychology and learning about human behaviour and thoughts - it can come in handy in daily life. My teachers say that the only maths that appears in psychology is statistics and that it is fairly easy. I don't know much about grapphics but I know that if you're not sure about what degree you want to do then picking the a-level that you think you would enjoy the most might be the best option for you.

Do you find the long form writing part of French difficult or have you not started that yet? Also out of curiosity what exam board did you do at GCSE? Thank you so much though!!!

Reply 4

Original post
by YourLocalNerd
Hi!
I don't do any of these subjects, so I can't give any personal advice on them. My recommendation is always to do what you enjoy. You are going to spend two years studying and revising these subjects, and that becomes so much harder when you hate every minute of it.
French- if you think it's boring, then don't do it.
Psychology- talk to whoever is teaching psychology at your sixth form/email the college you're applying to and ask about how much maths is in it. (I did GCSE Psychology, and I can tell you that 1/7 topics we did was maths based, but it was median/mode/range, variables, that sort of basic sciencey maths- it wasn't too complicated. I can't imagine it's THAT big of a jump in A-Level, but 100% check.) I know quite a few people doing psychology who really enjoy it. If the maths is a deal breaker, maybe consider Sociology/Criminology?
Graphic Design- if this is what you want to do the most, do it. I totally get you on the AI aspect, I do English and Media, and it's very much a concern in this area too. I would like to think that there will always be a market for human creativity, because AI just isn't the same. I wish I could be more helpful, but I think a lot of people have the same reservations of you. I stand by the fact that you should do what you think you would enjoy, especially if it's just a third subject to do with the two you really care about
I hope that helps? Good luck!
Edit: Also, don't forget that you can always swap a subject if you don't end up liking it!

Thank you so much for all your thoughts, it's been really helpful!! 😄

Reply 5

Original post
by llilypads
Do you find the long form writing part of French difficult or have you not started that yet? Also out of curiosity what exam board did you do at GCSE? Thank you so much though!!!


Sorryy I haven't actually gotten to the long firm writing part of the a-level but I have heard that its difficulty differs from person to person. If you have a broad knowledge of French vocab then its much better but ofc you can learn more vocab as you progress. I did aqa at gcse🙂
Original post
by llilypads
I am genuinely struggling to officially decide my 3rd a-level option, I definitely want to do environmental science and geography but have no idea what to do for the third.
my choices that i've narrowed down (begrudgingly) are french, psychology and graphics (graphic communications)
french I consistently get 9s in but i've gaslighted myself into thinking that i only enjoy it because of my teacher and i just think that i'd find it boring
psychology my parents are kind of anti but i think i'd find it interesting - however how much maths actually is this
graphics i'd really enjoy i think but it feels kind of pointless bc of ai yknow but i think that's the one i'd enjoy the most on a guess
send help on what to choose so i can put my application in pls, and give opinions about my other subjects too :smile: x

What are you wanting to do after a-levels?
I did geography a-level by the way, good choice.
Could you not start with 4, see how you go/what you think to both subjects and then drop one.

Reply 7

I definitely want to go towards geography!4 is an option that you have to do a special applicant interview and have all 7+ grades in at the college I'll go to, I am working 7+ on everything at maths so I don't think they'd consider me but I understand the logic, but I still think I'd be too indecisive after trying them to decide..

Reply 8

psychology doesn't actually have much maths, you only have to be able to draw scatter and bar graphs iirc, know how to do the sign test (easy), mean, median and mode, and standard deviation (basically just know if its skewed or not). I have dyscalculia and it's not that hard for me. it's really fun so if you're interested I'd recommend doing it! it also does have links to geography (not so much a level content but the subject in general) so that might interest you too

Reply 9

thank you!!

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