Choosing A Levels - a different perspective please

dora37

Hi,

Not posted on here before - so hi :hello:

DS is nearly 16 and will be having a sixth form college interview for 2 different colleges this evening and in a couple of weeks time - however he is struggling a little on deciding what to study and as me & OH didn't do A levels, I wondered whether anyone could give me their perspective.

DS is a diligent hard working student, bright, though not naturally (ie gets his results through studing well.) He is taking GCSE's in English,Maths,Spanish,History,Religious Studies,French,Double Science and ICT (o.5 of a GCSE!). He is predicted to get 3A*,3A & 3B.

He definitely wants to take Maths,Chemistry & Spanish (All A*/A predictions) and definitely doesn't want to take any of the others.

When we 'encouraged' him to consider another science he didn't want to carry on with Biology and ummed and aahed regarding Physics. So our other suggestion was Computing as he has quite a logical mind - which he took on board.

Yesterday he said he doesn't want to do Computing and is now considering Physics. Whilst I do not have a problem with Physics, I do not want him to pick it, just so he doesn't have to do Computing.

Any suggestions at to what else he could consider as there are obviously other subjects available at A level that he hasn't done at GCSE.

If you haven't done the subject before - how do you know you will be any good at it or will enjoy it?

My worry is that should I let him go down the Physics route, even though his heart may not be it, with it being such an intense subject (as well as studying Maths & Chemistry), that he may regret choosing it.

Sorry for the long post - sometimes fresh eyes make all the difference and we want to advise him correctly.

sockospice

What are his career plans? Does he have anything particular in mind that he wants to do? If so he needs to look at what qualifications he needs. If he isn't sure sticking to core academic subjects looks pretty good on uni qualifications.

At A level you can study things like Psychology, Sociology, Critical Thinking, is there anything in his prospectuses that interest him? Likelihood is whatever qualification, someone here will have done it!

janine22

Hi!

I take it your son has no particular career in mind? For example if he had his eye on medicine I believe all three sciences are required.

Other than this type of career, I don't think that your choice of A Level subject matters that much. When considering Law as a degree/career, I was advised NOT to take A Level Law and instead to do History, English Lit etc.

Perhaps IT, Business Studies etc? Sorry I can't really help as I was always more arts than science. I did, however, study Biology at AS Level and found it quite easy, and I really enjoyed Psychology (this may be an interesting option to explore for your son)

janine22

Beat me to it Sockospice!

dora37

sockospice wrote:

What are his career plans? Does he have anything particular in mind that he wants to do? If so he needs to look at what qualifications he needs. If he isn't sure sticking to core academic subjects looks pretty good on uni qualifications.

At A level you can study things like Psychology, Sociology, Critical Thinking, is there anything in his prospectuses that interest him? Likelihood is whatever qualification, someone here will have done it!

He doesn't really know what he wants to do - it would make it easier if he did, so at least we had a direction to guide him into.

We have looked at the prospectus' for both colleges and both do similar subjects - but it is still quite hard to suggest something he hasn't studied before!

We also do not want him to feel overloaded studying too many intense subjects.

DS is a methodical thinker who likes a bit of structure - so any suggestions welcomed!

Diminutive

Does he want to go to university? I think that is the main question beyond the "what career path".

If he's aimming for university, then it might be an idea to take a look at the prospectus's of a few university... which might sound crazy. And if I was still year 12, I'd be saying that looking at university right now is crazy etc etc. However, when I got to year 13 I found I was screwed because of my A level choices! (Though did eventually manage to get the perfect course at the perfect univesity for me!) Even if he doesn't know which course he wants to do, if he knows vaguly which universities interest him, looking at the entry requirements might help.

As for computing, its a horrible horrible subject... and thats from someone who loves computers, programming etc. The course content is just horrible and badly thought out. You wont actually learn anything worth learning in computing A level. If he doesn't want to take ICT, then computing is definitely not for him!

I think you might be right with the sciences... they are very heavy subjects. Having more than one is usually not advised unless the degree they are thinking of demands it.
I would recommend something along the lines of business studies. You don't need any prior knowledge for business studies and if he's mathematically minded then he should do well. I managed to get an A business despite not having a GCSE in it.

I haven't been much use so would recommend taking a look on http://www.thestudentrooms.co.uk, probably the best student forums and theres a sub forum for every A level subject and a lot of discussions about which a levels to take.

A levels are meant to be something you enjoy And at most colleges/schools you take 4 AS levels but only 3 A level, so he should consider that he might be dropping one for A2.

Rikki

My son is in his final A level year and I have only ever encouraged him to choose the subjects he enjoys.
Your sons choices of Maths,Chemistry & Spanish are all good choices. If Critical Thinking is avaliable up to AS level, is good to have.
He will take 4 AS levels and then follow 3 up to A level.

kittiwoz

Further Maths? If he enjoys maths and is a logical and methodical thinker it might be a good choice. A-level maths is much more interesting than GCSE maths and it would be a welcome qualification for a lot of courses because of the required problem solving skills.

I'd be tempted to suggest Latin if it is on offer because it is a very structured, logical language but I don't think he could do that without Latin GCSE.

It is really hard to make any suggestions without knowing what A-levels are actually on offer at the colleges he is applying to. Also it isn't right to think that only science and maths subjects are intense at A-level. I did English Lit and that was a very intensive course and extremely analytical. I also found it immensely enjoyable but I also really enjoyed my maths A-level.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but have you or your son tried to contact subject teachers in the subjects he might be interested in at college to discuss them? I went to a school with a sixth form so it was easy to do that and in fact there were organised sessions. I can see it must be much more difficult when you are transferring between institutions but they must have open days and I would think you could arrange to speak with some teachers if you rang up to make an appointment. It was certainly very helpful to me in choosing my A-levels. I was good at maths at GCSE but found it boring and wanted to drop it but a teacher explained that maths is much more interesting at A-level and more to do with ideas rather than pretty much just arithmetic like at GCSE and I was persuaded by his enthusiasm.

Helix

I took both Computing and ICT for A-Level and I found ICT to be much more enjoyable. I even managed to do the A2 year without a teacher and get a B.

Computing is a lot harder and it does get rather boring although I don't know if thats just my teacher. Computings really if you want to know how computers work (Processors, Programming, Binary etc.) whereas ICT is the actual use of computers (Spreadsheets, Websites, Databases etc.).

lipidicman

Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Ah, thinking back to my A-Level days. They complement each other nicely. If he wants to do maths and chemistry I cannot imagine him not enjoying physics. Tough combination to do, though if you have the aptidude it can be easier than writing essays for other 'easier' subjects.

tr3mor

If he's doing maths then he should definitely do physics, there's a lot of crossover in parts of the subject.

Otherwise maybe he could do something to make him a bit more rounded, say Economics or something.

It all depends on his character and what he wants to do afterwards.