Choosing A Levels

IceBus said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography

It's basically learning about the way in which history itself is studied, i.e. the theories and approaches that historians apply. To give a politics comparison, it was like us reading Marx, Plato, Realism, Constructivism etc. to give us a background on how the study of politics has evolved.
Click to expand...
Wow I really don't fancy that, what a horrible sounding course!
Theophany said:
British Government & Politics is one I did. Encompasses a history of British politics, government and how it works. We also did supranational bodies (i.e. the EU, it's workings etc) the USA (it's workings etc).

Very comprehensive subject and something of a misnomer. Thoroughly enjoyable subject - much more than the garbage they teach at University which has rarely ever felt like more than Philosophy 101.
Click to expand...
Really like the sound of this, on my final list of subjects now.
Saetia said:
Just to re-iterate what I've already said, please do sensible subjects such as maths and science. No matter what field you choose to go into you will be using these skills frequently.

If you're interested in computing or economics, A level maths is going to be far more of a help than the actual A level course in that subject will be. When you get to university they will assume no previous knowledge of the subject, but will expect familiarity with mathematics.
Click to expand...
I am poor at maths and will be lucky to get a C at GCSE, in addition I am not doing GCSE Sciences. I am however thinking of taking an English Course of some sort, will decide on this after speaking further with my teacher on the matter. :)

My final list of subject at the moment is :
Sociology
Geography/English Language (Subject to teacher feedback)
History
British Government & Politics
Thoughts please. :)
 
But you're going to encounter maths throughout your entire life and almost any degree will require some maths for research. Avoiding it now is an easy option but you'll regret it later (In my opinion)
 
I'm choosing my A levels fairly soon was wondering how hard I would find, and how good these are: Maths, Physics, computing and chemistry. May end up even doing further maths instead of computing. Are these too much work do you reckon? I'm mainly on A*'s at the moment in GCSE. I've also been offered a chance to do an extended project (5000 word essay and a presentation etc) by the college I want to go to. Would that be a waste of time or actually worth doing. You get some UCAS points iirc. Any recommendations? I'm thinking about either comp-sci or mechanical or some other form of engineering at uni, providing I get there.

I don't want to pick stuff that will be too difficult for me, hence why I will more than likely avoid further maths. :p How hard are chem and phys?
 
Saetia said:
But you're going to encounter maths throughout your entire life and almost any degree will require some maths for research. Avoiding it now is an easy option but you'll regret it later (In my opinion)
Click to expand...
I am terrible at it though.
 
Macky said:
I'm choosing my A levels fairly soon was wondering how hard I would find, and how good these are: Maths, Physics, computing and chemistry. May end up even doing further maths instead of computing. Are these too much work do you reckon? I'm mainly on A*'s at the moment in GCSE. I've also been offered a chance to do an extended project (5000 word essay and a presentation etc) by the college I want to go to. Would that be a waste of time or actually worth doing. You get some UCAS points iirc. Any recommendations? I'm thinking about either comp-sci or mechanical or some other form of engineering at uni, providing I get there.

I don't want to pick stuff that will be too difficult for me, hence why I will more than likely avoid further maths. :p How hard are chem and phys?
Click to expand...

Seems like solid choices to me. I finished my A-levels 2 years ago with: Maths, Further Maths, Physics + Chemistry and Photography AS-levels.

If you can, study Further Maths. From the sounds of it your looking to do a science based degree, and in all disciplines of science (maybe not biology) AS-level further maths will be of great help. Taking 5 AS-levels isn't easy, but it is possible (I did, I didn't get as good GCSEs as you, and did well)

As for physics, if you have a scientific mind, and are good at A-level maths, it will be one of the easier A-levels. If you struggle at maths it will be difficult.
Chemistry is a HARD A-level. Lots of things to learn and understand, but it is highly respected, and Degrees in chemistry are in high demand ( Also, have very few applicants relative to the other sciences, so easy to get in on).

Hope that helps
 
Being both an ICT and Computing teacher at a sixth form I think I can shed a bit of a valued opinion on this.

ICT - not a wasteful A-level at all. Correct you do learn a lot skills in Access and Excel, but these teach you the fundamentals and advanced skills in both pieces of software. Outside of teaching, I am very pleased I have these skills on a daily basis. The A-level is heavy on the coursework but does reward hard work. It is not seen as a soft subject by Universities.

Computing - great IF you are good at Maths and willing to dedicate a lot of time outside of lessons learning to program. A brilliant course, very relevant but it is not for everybody. Would only look at this if you ae considering studying Computing University or want to work in Computing (e.g apprenticeship). Again, rewards hard work but requires a logical brain.

Both are good choices for the right person. We often advise people to take ICT as a choice if they are doing a lot of exam based subjects. Helps to break the year up a bit.
 
Judgeneo said:
Seems like solid choices to me. I finished my A-levels 2 years ago with: Maths, Further Maths, Physics + Chemistry and Photography AS-levels.

If you can, study Further Maths. From the sounds of it your looking to do a science based degree, and in all disciplines of science (maybe not biology) AS-level further maths will be of great help. Taking 5 AS-levels isn't easy, but it is possible (I did, I didn't get as good GCSEs as you, and did well)

As for physics, if you have a scientific mind, and are good at A-level maths, it will be one of the easier A-levels. If you struggle at maths it will be difficult.
Chemistry is a HARD A-level. Lots of things to learn and understand, but it is highly respected, and Degrees in chemistry are in high demand ( Also, have very few applicants relative to the other sciences, so easy to get in on).

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

Physics, Maths and Chemistry will give you the best advantage in life.
I personally disliked Chemistry at GCSE but you have the upper hand from doing those subjects.
Maths A level is very easy,it is just practice.
Physics quite a bit harder because of wordy questions and Definition type questions.
 
TomWilko said:
Being both an ICT and Computing teacher at a sixth form I think I can shed a bit of a valued opinion on this.

ICT - not a wasteful A-level at all. Correct you do learn a lot skills in Access and Excel, but these teach you the fundamentals and advanced skills in both pieces of software. Outside of teaching, I am very pleased I have these skills on a daily basis. The A-level is heavy on the coursework but does reward hard work. It is not seen as a soft subject by Universities.

Computing - great IF you are good at Maths and willing to dedicate a lot of time outside of lessons learning to program. A brilliant course, very relevant but it is not for everybody. Would only look at this if you ae considering studying Computing University or want to work in Computing (e.g apprenticeship). Again, rewards hard work but requires a logical brain.

Both are good choices for the right person. We often advise people to take ICT as a choice if they are doing a lot of exam based subjects. Helps to break the year up a bit.
Click to expand...
Since when was maths needed that much in Computing?
I am an As student and Relatively speaking Maths is not that much of a requirement and neither is time outside of lessons needed to Program.
You can get by nearly the whole course with Just basic GCSE Maths, I would like to see anyone try and get through Physics A level with a small mathematical ability.
 
I would have recommended economics. Surprising little maths involved, lots of writing about your point of view in economic sense to solve problems. If you can argue it well, then they will give you marks, even if it is wrong. Really sad that more schools do not do it any more. Another fairly heavily writing based subject is Philosophy. God knows what it is about but a lot of guys and my secondary school did it.

You can then come to civilisation, leave the valleys and study for a PPE at a redbrick university.
 
Chives said:
I honestly can't see how it is the right thing for me to do, I am struggling to get a C at GCSE let alone A level, it is by far my weakest subject.
Click to expand...

No time like the present to improve :) That site is brilliant and if you want to do any serious economics or political science later, you may need basic quant skills to do statistics.
 
IceBus said:
No time like the present to improve :) That site is brilliant and if you want to do any serious economics or political science later, you may need basic quant skills to do statistics.
Click to expand...

May need is an understatement, unless you manage to avoid all modern statistical analysis (it is possible my dissertation was a glorious theory bible), most of my undergraduate modules (politics course but I bailed on IR as it hurt me emotionally) needed some stats ability (or at least basic maths)
 
They all a waist of time and money,get earning.Get earning n look to self employment gain some wealth and skills then get the hell out of this country before you have a family...Good luck
 
I think you will want to add at least 1 of maths, chemistry, biology or physics.

At my school it was obligatory to do Maths + a science
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom