A levels

[DJ_Martin]

As I am probably one of the younger ones on this forum (16) I have just finished my GCSEs/going onto A levels and to me it seems like this is the first really important choice for me regarding how the rest of my life will turn out.

With GCSEs you are still taking a lot of subjects and there is a lot of room for you to change around what you want to do, A levels on the other hand, you have 4 subjects (and in my school you are 'strongly advised' to drop one of them at the end of the first year and they make it pretty difficult for you if you want to keep them all).

I really still have no idea what I want to do, my strengths lie in physics and maths so naturally I have chosen those as two of my subjects, the third being computing and then because these three seem like a lot of work I went for Art as I enjoy it and it's a bit more laid back.

I was asked in my interview for 6th form what I wanted to do after A levels and I replied that it would be to do a computer science degree, I have since found that this is incredibly difficult to find a job from (apparently). My Dad's mate had a degree in computer science and he felt the need to do another in accountancy as he wasn't finding any jobs at all which obviously worries me.

The fact that I have to try and predict what will give me the best chance of getting a good job now quite scares me and I am not sure of the best way in which to approach it.

Maybe any of you could share your experiences with this. How much of an effect has A level choices had on your current job (assuming you did them) and has anyone had anything go wrong? Are the A levels I have chosen a good idea? Does anyone have experience with these A levels? I'm assuming a few will, this being a PC-forum.

Be nice GD, I'm attempting to join in

I did some forum searching to check that I wasn't making an identical thread and while there were one or two similar ones I think it's unique enough to warrant a new thread.

 

[DJ_Martin]

Well it was just maths then =P

Edit:

The requirement:

" A or A* grades in three relevant A level subjects (incl. Mathematics) and preferably one of the following: Further Mathematics, STEP or AEA Mathematics. "

A lot of contrasting opinions, I would have thought A levels would be the single most important thing when attempting to get into a university but then this is why I made the thread. The reason I quoted this post is that I don't know what STEP or AEA is?
Also in my school they do offer Further maths but only give the option to about 4 people in my year and then they get one-on-one tutoring.
I am good at maths and would be disappointed with anything less than an A* at GCSE when my results come back but they still don't see me as a worthwhile candidate for it.

 

[DJ_Martin]

If you like maths and physics then you could consider engineering. There are quite a few jobs out there for engineering as I have been told.
Anyhow, I am sad to say that the computing course is utter crap. It has far too much basic theory such as "What are input devices?", "what is the waterfall model". It is fairly useful because you will learn programming, but programming only makes up 2 hours out of 5 hours. Does your college do Electronics? As it's quite an enjoyable subject as it a lot of practical elements. Usually Universities will make offer from 3 subjects, two of them being maths and physics and another third subject. This is why I would recommend doing an easy third subject such as Electronics as these days you want an A* or an A for the third subject.

I am afraid not, it's not actually a college it's like an extension of the secondary school I went to. (Same classrooms and teachers used but you eat in a different building and have 6th form only areas. This means there aren't many of these 'easy' A levels available, computing is the only A level I can think of that isn't also offered at GCSE.

Oh also Film studies. Not sure that is at all helpful mind

 

[DJ_Martin]

Engineering is the same rate/just a bit higher than computer science atm. Still bad though.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ates-unemployed-amid-fragile-jobs-market.html

That link is quite interesting. It is a shame that I was never any good at biology. Always tended to be the science I struggled with and despite revising very hard for my biology GCSEs and not at all for physics in the 1st and 2nd modules of both I ended up with an A* for Physics and a low A/High B (I think I was on the borderline) for Biology.

I don't understand why Computer Science is so bad. What happened to "Computers are the future!"?

 

[DJ_Martin]

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I'm 16, have picked my A-Levels and I want to go on and do a CS degree at a Russell Group university. I've picked Maths, Physics, Economics and Chemistry. Chemistry is pretty much irrelevant to CS, I just picked it because I'm good at it and Economics is there because I'm interested in it and it's a more laid back subject (compared to maths/science). The most important ones there are Maths and Physics, I'm sure that both of these are popular choices among CS applicants and I know that Universities regard them as some of the harder A-Levels you can pick.

If you are still able to change or pick your A-Levels I'd recommend doing further maths. From what I've heard from other people doing CS, some of the first year is similar if not the same as A-Level Further Maths so knowing it in advance could reduce some of your uni workload. Unfortunately I can't change my options now but I might be able to drop Economics for A2 and pick up AS Further Maths if my AS Maths results are good enough. Don't be put off by the difficulty of Further Maths, good things rarely come easy in life!

According to the Guardians League table, people who attend the top uni's and take IT/Computer Science usually have around a 70-85%* chance at getting a job within 6 moths, so it's not all bad. If you come out from uni with decent grades you shouldn't have much trouble finding a job, especially if you get a 1st or 2:1 from a decent uni like Imperial or Oxbridge.

Any Idea where you might want to go for uni?

* Source

Well obviously I will be trying to get a job while at uni and pay my way as much as possible but my parents have said that there will be difficulty in paying for university and for a place to live so it looks like I will have to live at home, at least for the beginning of it. I don't fancy leaving uni with huge loans to pay off either so I was mainly looking at Cardiff University. I haven't looked into any facts but I have been told a few times that it is a good university.

Also I am unable to take further maths at my school as they only offer it to special cases.

 

[DJ_Martin]

Same boat OP, I have chosen Further Maths, Maths, Physics, Computing and Psychology.

I found connexions at my school very useful and so was the head of sixth form. I want to go into game designing because it is my passion but you have not stated what sort of goal you are aiming for after a degree.

I've been told that Computer Science, Maths or Physics at degree level will be great if you want to get into game designing and I am aiming to do a Computer Science degree at either Edinburgh or Oxford university. After doing a degree which would be useful I was planning on doing a 1 year course for game designing because doing a full course for game designing will teach you the stuff but that stuff you learn will be out of date quite quickly. Game technology changes so rapidly and most of the stuff you would have learned becomes out of date so you basically wasted your time.

You should set up a goal to aim for after university and build the foundations for that goal but make sure you leave a couple of doors open if you have a change of heart.

Maths and Physics will leave a lot of door opens for anyone so they are a very good choice.

How did you find Computing then? I'm thinking I will only end up with A levels in Maths, Physics and computing with the way my school works as it tries to make almost everyone only have 3 A levels in the second year (Lazy I suppose). People seem to be against Art but do AS levels even matter? I thought I would choose it as it would most likely be dropped and I could enjoy it in the meantime.

My end-goal was originally game design which is where the plans of a degree in computer science came from but it seemed more a US based industry, not that I am totally against moving countries but surely it would be difficult to get a job in america with UK qualifications and no experience?

I just want a job where I can be creative which has decent pay but doesn't overtake my life. I suppose that's what everyone wants but at the moment I don't really know what to aim for.

Actually I am unsure if you meant you have already done A levels or you are at the same stage as me?

 

[DJ_Martin]

Well I don't have any experience. I can use HTML and CSS reasonably well but something tells me that these don't count

I attempted to learn C++ for myself a few times but I think I really need the guidance of a teacher to start me off which is a little strange for me as I am normally quite good at teaching myself things. With C++ I would just go through a tutorial of how to make a certain thing, get to the end and then think to myself "What have I actually learnt here?"

 

[DJ_Martin]

Was the same in GCSE ICT.

I didn't put in any effort for the Microsoft Access coursework and my database did not even function properly.

But with a couple of hours of making fake screen shots and writing down the theory which I knew I got an A*

I've ended up with an A for my ICT at GCSE. That is, unless the moderators see what an absolute **** my IT teacher has been in marking and give me about 5 marks

[Rant]ICT in my class seemed to be who could suck up to the teacher most. One of the people who have now got an A* had to ask me things like how to change the text colour in Microsoft Word and I am fairly sure she won't have got above a C in any of the core subjects like maths, sciences and english which really ****es me off. I got an A* in the Graphics unit easily and an A* in the E-safety unit (Basically using all of the Microsoft office programs to produce a range of products.) What messed me up was the game design unit. It was the one I had looked forward to most. This is until I found out we would be making our game in missionmaker, if you are not familiar with this software it is the most tedious program I have ever had the displeasure of using, glitched horrendously all of the time to the point I had to remake my game a few times. At the end I was told by my teacher that I hadn't included enough elements to my game (I made it an FPS and he wanted it to be some kind of puzzle games too using all of the **** tools of missionmaker that I could) Anyway I achieved one of the lowest marks in the class for my game despite the fact when he made his year 7 class test the games. Mine was rated in the top 3 for fun factor. [/Rant]

Anyway yeah, I thought that computing would be a step away from the ICT way of doing things. Maybe if I just BS my way through like many others have I will have an easier time and a better mark.

I still think computing would be more useful than chemistry for an A level to get into a computer science course as I am still not put off that idea yet.

 

[DJ_Martin]

I'm going to have to resit my AS year, frankly. My grades will be shocking. Further Maths completely wrecked me and I couldn't cram all the time in to get everything done before the exam, and FP1 just didn't sink in at all. I did Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. So hopefully I'll be able to to Maths, Physics, Economics and Biology next year. Anyone found Biology easier than Chemistry?

This was another thing I was worried about, while some people are suggesting further maths and chemistry, I will be the first two admit that I am not the hardest worker and I am the type who handed in my English essays a few days late each time etc. because I found it hard to apply msyelf to the task unless I was under pressure. My English teacher would just tell me to bring it in next lesson so in my mind I would be thinking "What is the point of doing it now?"

I know I am going to have to get my ass into gear for A levels but I still don't think that something that requires a hell of a lot of work, especially outside the class is my type of subject

 

[DJ_Martin]

If you have a mediocre degree in Computer Science, you may well struggle to find a decent job.

If you get a good degree from a good university, you will be fine. There is a shortage of good quality computer science talent out there at the moment.

I suppose. I was actually surprised when I looked at numbers when it says that it's hard to find a job with a CS degree and then the number is at 85% of people in employment? It is probably my own naivety but I would have thought this would be a decent percentage. You would generally be considered in the bottom 15% to not get a job?

Anyway my original plan was to look at Cardiff with it being so close and after I was told it was pretty good but it looks pretty low down on here. Would Cardiff be one of these bad universities you are talking about then? Bristol seems the closest one that is pretty high up but then if I am going to have to move away I suppose it doesn't really matter how close I am to home. Oh well, I am at least a bit more confident in my choices, I'll go look at the qualifications needed to get into some of those top ones in a second. If computing is never mentioned then I will look into changing a suppose but I don't really want to and as far as I know, cannot do further maths. Also computing does seem like quite an easy A level even if you don't learn all that much.

 

[DJ_Martin]

Alright, I'm probably looking a bit too far into the future or maybe not but still, looking for a little guidance on how this works. I found the UCAS site which seems to just be a site with all the courses at all the universities and information to go with it. Anyway as I had just looked at Bristol I went there first and found my way here. I'm struggling to see how all of the qualifications work as it is quite a long page. It tells me I will need a GCSE in Maths and English Language but not the grade needed. If it is just a pass then that's easy enough but if they are looking for A/A* I am not sure I can deliver on the English Language side.

Also Where it says A level qualifications it just says AAA including maths. Does this mean if I had an A grade at A level maths and then an A in any other random subjects it would be OK? I ask this because at least in Wales we do a thing called Welsh Bacc. Basically we are told that universities see it as an A grade A level but something makes me think that they just see it as a load of bull**** as most of the current 6th formers have said they basically do **** all in Welsh Bacc lessons.

Also would this course be seen as more impressive than the previous one linked because it takes an extra year?

 

[DJ_Martin]

We don't have a choice as far as welsh bacc goes. I assumed it was compulsory for all the welsh schools but I could be wrong. I suppose it doesn't really hurt my chances even if it doesn't help them to get it. Apparently other than community service and 20 hours of Spanish. You do nothing really