Choosing A Levels

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CalumE5

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It's coming to that time of year where Year 11s across the country are having to choose their A Levels, so I thought we could have a thread where people can ask for advice, or give general feedback, etc.

So I'll start it off! I want to go into finances, and am thinking of taking:
Maths
Further Maths
Politics
History

Do those sound like suitable options? The careers woman at my school said as long as I have the Maths and Further Maths, it shouldn't matter.
 
Physics would go well with Maths and Further Maths.
 
Planning on undertaking an accountancy degree at university after? Might look into the key modules of the course and see if there are any A-Levels you could replace Politics and/or History for which would better prepare you.
 
I'm in year 12 so have just started A levels now. Obviously for you the maths and further maths are good for you for financing, do you think though you will get an A* for GCSE? Pretty vital if you're gonna do further maths. How about economics instead of history? I do history and it's good but it doesn't really go with those subjects, although none of my subjects go with history either! But remember that if you don't enjoy the subjects you can always change at the start of year 12
 
If you have general knowledge of politics and how the political system is run in the Uk [And later on US] then go for it. A few people jumped in without any knowledge and find it hard to work out the legislative and judiciary headings of the subject, so keep that in mind. Not trying to put you off it, but chose them wisely.

I do Maths too, difficult, but if you got an A at GCSE, I see no reason why you can't at AS and A level.

Havent been in History for 3 years :)

I do, Maths, Politics, ICT, Media and English Lit, all subjects it shouldnt be too hard to get good grades in and tie in with my future options.

English at A level involves alot of writing, but overall isnt too hard. Poetry is the hardest part, which in fact, isnt too hard at all.

Im in AS, btw, which is why Im doing 5 atm.
 
French
German
Spanish
English

Now you can go on a European tour should we qualify again.
 
Joel` said:
Physics would go well with Maths and Further Maths.
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Physics is my 5th choice at the moment, but I've been told you should only really take it if you are really into physics, which I'm not to be honest.

Billy said:
Planning on undertaking an accountancy degree at university after? Might look into the key modules of the course and see if there are any A-Levels you could replace Politics and/or History for which would better prepare you.
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Accountancy/Maths/Acturial Science are the top 3, but Maths would be better generally. My reasoning behind politics is that a lot of teachers say I'm quite which could be a problem when applying to top universities, so it would consist largely of debating and help me speak out more. I shall have a look though. Plus, there's a trip to Washington DC on politics :P
 
You only need an A to do Further, and the basic algebra, indices and graphical skills are the main transferable ones. And just to add, Physics courses show an ability to think at a higher level and 'outside the box' so it's well worth looking in to.
 
Good luck with your GCSE's but just going to warn you from what my friends have been saying that both maths and further maths has a lot of work and if you don't do much independent study then you may fail and as someone has said above, change history to economics and your lucky you get to do politics as my school didn't have that choice :'(
 
We take the IB at our school, and we have 2 GCSE's this year, so, I have a vague idea of what I'm taking for IB :)
 
Jak 16 said:
I'm in year 12 so have just started A levels now. Obviously for you the maths and further maths are good for you for financing, do you think though you will get an A* for GCSE? Pretty vital if you're gonna do further maths. How about economics instead of history? I do history and it's good but it doesn't really go with those subjects, although none of my subjects go with history either! But remember that if you don't enjoy the subjects you can always change at the start of year 12
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I'm probably top of my class in maths so I should be fine! (Modesty at its finest!!!) And economics my school doesn't offer, but the girls school across the road does, which wouldn't be practical, plus I've heard that you just go over the stuff you learn when training for your job anyway.

Irish Scouse said:
If you have general knowledge of politics and how the political system is run in the Uk [And later on US] then go for it. A few people jumped in without any knowledge and find it hard to work out the legislative and judiciary headings of the subject, so keep that in mind. Not trying to put you off it, but chose them wisely.

I do Maths too, difficult, but if you got an A at GCSE, I see no reason why you can't at AS and A level.

Havent been in History for 3 years :)

I do, Maths, Politics, ICT, Media and English Lit, all subjects it shouldnt be too hard to get good grades in and tie in with my future options.

English at A level involves alot of writing, but overall isnt too hard. Poetry is the hardest part, which in fact, isnt too hard at all.

Im in AS, btw, which is why Im doing 5 atm.
Click to expand...

You took 5 AS levels? What's the workload like? And I do have an interest in politics, stayed up til 4am on election night and even wrote my own manifesto :L
 
I was got an A in Maths at GCSE and am doing Maths at A-level (good subject to have). I wouldn't say it's that hard so far. C1 is like the top end of GCSE and Mechanics is like physics. There is a fair bit of trigonometry in Mechanics (well the stuff we have done so far anyway)
 
I'm in the same boat.
Thinking of:
History
Goverment & Politics
Sociology
Media

Went for an open evening at the best college around, the other day. Need mostly A's and B's, but my targets are all A's, muhahah :P
 
You get to do Mechanics? :( I was forced into Statistics and Decision as my options, so boring :(
 
Shay Given said:
Business studies would be a huge help going into finance.
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I'm interested in that, but I've been told it's not one that's recognised by many universities. Also, I heard you just go over the stuff you learn in business when training for a job anyway.
 
I did in Year 12

History - B
English Literature - B
Sociology - A
Psychology - B

I dropped Psychology at the end of year 12.

I'm looking into doing Sociology at University and I want to go into either Social Care or Journalism.

------

I'd advise looking on the internet to find out the subjects that best suit your future career aspirations, but usually you'll change your mind a dozen times, so just choose A-levels you think you'll enjoy + be good at depending on GCSE grades!
 
My college offers a pure accountancy course, do you have one like that maybe? Would definetly be useful to finances :)
 
Don't do politics at A-level. Try to stick to base subjects like Physics, Maths, English etc. Universities prefer these subjects in comparison to Politics, Business Studies, Accounting.

If you want to go into finance your probably best doing:
Further Maths
Phsyics
(Whatever, I'm guessing you like History)

Also if you're really looking to go into finance, doing a degree in Mechanical Engineering may be an option you would like to look into, employers love people with engineering degrees, especially finance employers.
 
CalumE5 said:
I'm interested in that, but I've been told it's not one that's recognised by many universities. Also, I heard you just go over the stuff you learn in business when training for a job anyway.
Click to expand...

I'm doing Business at GCSE, it's boring & annoying as ****. Still, couldn't hurt.
 
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