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A Level Choices

What A Levels do I pick??

I'm definitely picking Maths and FM because I know most of pure maths and I think FM will challenge me well, and physics because it goes nicely as a combo and also I like mechanics and space. As a career I wanna go into astrodynamics.

Right now I'm soo conflicted between Comp Sci and French

I've been quite set on CS for a few years because I've always been quite good at it but I'm just not sure if I want to dedicate so much of my effort when I'm not even that interested in half of it (the paper 1 content). However, I just know that if I didn't pick it that I'd regret it really quickly

French I've always enjoyed because I like languages, but it grew significantly more fun to me around last year and I don't even know why 😭 Im Like 90% sure that I'd be happier doing French than comp sci (because the type of people in computer science class at my school are sort of creeps), and if I could take 5 a levels id definitely take both

I have good grades in all of the subjects I'm considering so those aren't very important in making the decision, but I don't know if I should prioritise how much it will help my interests or how much I will enjoy it for 2 years

If anyones doing these subjects please help!!!

Reply 1

Galaxy5107

Hiya! I'd defo recommend going with French. Depending on your school/college, most people can drop a subject at the end of Y12. If your gut is saying to do French, do French!! I'm in Y13 now, and a lot of my friends who take CS kind of regret it only because of the amount of course work and commitment. Don't get me wrong, French has so much as well, including your independent research project coursework, but in my opinion, I'd personally go with French also because its different from your other choices? I loved French A-level when I took it, it is a lot of memorisation, but was so worth it! It's a whole different way of thinking.

On the other hand, if you're dead set on doing astrodynamics, CS might be a good one as there could be a lot of programming or coding. It's always a good skill set to have, and if you enjoy it/you're good at it, then go for it.
However, in sixth form/college, a lot of students change their career goals. In that case, having French might be an asset due to it's skillsets and associated skills.

haha looking back that's not actually too helpful, I think it depends on how much work you're willing to do, and how set you are on astrodynamics! Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 2

YSJ_Alex

Official Rep

Original post

by Isa1088

What A Levels do I pick??
I'm definitely picking Maths and FM because I know most of pure maths and I think FM will challenge me well, and physics because it goes nicely as a combo and also I like mechanics and space. As a career I wanna go into astrodynamics.
Right now I'm soo conflicted between Comp Sci and French
I've been quite set on CS for a few years because I've always been quite good at it but I'm just not sure if I want to dedicate so much of my effort when I'm not even that interested in half of it (the paper 1 content). However, I just know that if I didn't pick it that I'd regret it really quickly
French I've always enjoyed because I like languages, but it grew significantly more fun to me around last year and I don't even know why 😭 Im Like 90% sure that I'd be happier doing French than comp sci (because the type of people in computer science class at my school are sort of creeps), and if I could take 5 a levels id definitely take both
I have good grades in all of the subjects I'm considering so those aren't very important in making the decision, but I don't know if I should prioritise how much it will help my interests or how much I will enjoy it for 2 years
If anyones doing these subjects please help!!!

Hello Isa1088!

That's a tough decision - picking between what you feel is right, and what you're most interested in.

When thinking about CompSci, consider whether you think it would be invaluably helpful for your degree - at the end of the day, 3/4 of your chosen options are dedicated to equipping you for what you want to study at university (presumably!). However, different universities may have different requirements for different courses, so it might be worth having a look at what some of your aspirational universities are asking for.

For example, is there a decent amount of coding in their modules? Would computer science knowledge put you that edge above the rest? Or do they teach a very minimal amount of computer science content? Do they teach the content with the expectation that you already understand CompSci, or do they teach it from the ground up?

Most of these questions you can answer by doing a bit of research on different university courses and seeing what they expect. Some might outright state they want CompSci, some might not mention it at all. I know it's an intense prospect to be thinking about university already, but working your way backwards from the degree's expectations might be a helpful process here.

Once you have come to the conclusion about how important you think CompSci is to your degree chances, you might feel a little differently about French. Maybe you'll feel so relieved that CompSci is not so important, and you can fulfil your preference of taking French. Or maybe you'll see it's 100% important, and that you may need to reconsider.

Personally, if CompSci is not super important to your prospects, I'd go with French. How interested you are in a subject is (in my experience) directly linked with how often and how intense you want to study, which affects your performance. Don't dedicate yourself to something for two years if you think it's totally boring! It completely screws with your perception of education and can make you fall out of love with it (trust me, coming from someone who took political science at A-level and regretted it!)

Best of luck making your decisions :smile:

Alex
Student Ambassador

Reply 3

Confused-moose

It's good that you are 100% on maths, FM and physics since you're right they do go very well together and especially for an astrodynamics related degree.

In all honesty I think its quite obvious that computer science would be the most beneficial but I completely understand that its difficult to give up a subject you are genuinely passionate about.
Definitely look at university modules you are interested in and see how much of a coding element they will have to try and gauge how beneficial computer science will be for you.

Although, I think it's important to remember that A-Levels aren't the be all and end all of education! For whichever one you decide not to pick you will be able to join an online class or do something related to it outside of school.
You might start the subjects and realise that at A-Level it isn't really your cup of tea! In yr12 I picked maths, FM, chemistry and biology because I wanted to do microbiology but when I started them I absolutely hated biology so ended up dropping it and completely changed my goals.

Only you know how dead set you are on astrodynamics so do lots of research and see what's useful and where, but don't forget that there will always be other opportunities to learn! If you did go down the computer science route then you can join French modules at university. - Good luck!