A level choices

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

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Amber
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: A level choices

Post by Amber »

I did Biology, English Lit and German, which back in the day was a bit 'out there'. Very glad I mixed them up though and can still remember a lot of the Biology, even ended up teaching it to GCSE a couple of years ago.
stroudydad
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Re: A level choices

Post by stroudydad »

piggys wrote:
stroudydad wrote:DS1 is doing 4, sciences & maths he didn’t fancy any of the other routes the school gave them like 3 +epq, so stuck with the straight 4 alevels. He is finding chemistry the hardest.
A lovely boy I tutored for GCSE has just switched from chemistry to English literature A level......you know it makes sense..... :lol:

Are you claiming that switching to English lit makes senses? Or that the subject of English lit does??
I’m afraid, in my case, it’s a case of “no, noway, and never - in that order” :-)
piggys
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Re: A level choices

Post by piggys »

It's true that there is a lot of interesting stuff in Sociology but I hope, for completely biased reasons, that she keeps English lit (and did well in her essay).

Dd is in one of only two state schools in the borough of Barnet which offers Latin at A level; it's one of her favourite subjects and because of this, her options for 6th forms were very restricted. We are close to Woodhouse College which offers masses of A level subjects, including ClassCiv - but no Latin :( I wish more schools did it but dwindling numbers and austerity are causing all state schools to look critically at what they can afford to offer. Latymer had to drop Latin A level recently, and HBS has had to drop a couple of subjects too. What a great shame. Thank you Tories. :twisted:

Back in the day I did English lit, History and Constitutional Law which was interesting in parts and dull in others!
Daogroupie
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Location: Herts

Re: A level choices

Post by Daogroupie »

How many in her class this year?

Does HBS has a policy for courses not being able to run if there are not enough wanting to do it?

Classics for All offers funding to help state schools do Latin. I went to a very inspiring presentation last week from a state school in East London when the Head of English retrained to teach Latin and it has been a great success, though at the moment it is still in the lower years but working its way up the school.

A level Latin is a wonderful course and it is a great shame that more state school students do not get access to it. It is challenging and 4 papers is a lot, especially if you have other A levels with more than two papers. DG
Tinkers
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Location: Reading

Re: A level choices

Post by Tinkers »

piggys wrote:It's true that there is a lot of interesting stuff in Sociology but I hope, for completely biased reasons, that she keeps English lit (and did well in her essay).

Dd is in one of only two state schools in the borough of Barnet which offers Latin at A level; it's one of her favourite subjects and because of this, her options for 6th forms were very restricted. We are close to Woodhouse College which offers masses of A level subjects, including ClassCiv - but no Latin :( I wish more schools did it but dwindling numbers and austerity are causing all state schools to look critically at what they can afford to offer. Latymer had to drop Latin A level recently, and HBS has had to drop a couple of subjects too. What a great shame. Thank you Tories. :twisted:

Back in the day I did English lit, History and Constitutional Law which was interesting in parts and dull in others!
Ive PMed you but I’ve no idea which one she will pick. She needs to think about what’s best for her. She knows what she needs for her uni choices and for her favourite, they ask for at least one, preferably two, to be from their list. All four of hers are on that list.
doodles
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Re: A level choices

Post by doodles »

Back in the day I did English Literature, History, Latin and Sociology A levels and I'm still trying to work out how I got a child who is doing Further Maths, Maths, Physics and Chemistry and at the start of this term gave Biology a go too......he surely can't really be mine :lol: :lol:

I went on to do a Sociology degree and loved every minute of it, it's a very interesting subject even if some don't hold it in the highest regard, but like all courses at Uni you really need to get a handle on what the course content is.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
loobylou
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Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: A level choices

Post by loobylou »

doodles wrote:Back in the day I did English Literature, History, Latin and Sociology A levels and I'm still trying to work out how I got a child who is doing Further Maths, Maths, Physics and Chemistry and at the start of this term gave Biology a go too......he surely can't really be mine :lol: :lol:
.
I have one planning English Lit, History and Politics and the other planning French, History and Politics. I did Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. Dh did Maths, Physics and Geography. I'm not sure how that happened!
Middlesexmum
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Re: A level choices

Post by Middlesexmum »

Daogroupie wrote:
Knowing what I know now I would not have wanted my dds to go to a school which forced students to do 4 A levels.
Interesting DG, I have just posted a new thread about number of A Levels. Dd is worried about the amount of work and pressure involved doing four.

Do you know what QE Boys do, for comparison's sake?
Middlesexmum
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:54 am

Re: A level choices

Post by Middlesexmum »

piggys wrote:It's true that there is a lot of interesting stuff in Sociology but I hope, for completely biased reasons, that she keeps English lit (and did well in her essay).

Dd is in one of only two state schools in the borough of Barnet which offers Latin at A level; it's one of her favourite subjects and because of this, her options for 6th forms were very restricted. We are close to Woodhouse College which offers masses of A level subjects, including ClassCiv - but no Latin :( I wish more schools did it but dwindling numbers and austerity are causing all state schools to look critically at what they can afford to offer. Latymer had to drop Latin A level recently, and HBS has had to drop a couple of subjects too. What a great shame. Thank you Tories. :twisted:

Back in the day I did English lit, History and Constitutional Law which was interesting in parts and dull in others!
Dd wants to do Class Civ and RS A Levels, neither of which HBS offer! She is strongly considering a move.
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: A level choices

Post by doodles »

Middlesexmum wrote:
Daogroupie wrote:
Knowing what I know now I would not have wanted my dds to go to a school which forced students to do 4 A levels.
Interesting DG, I have just posted a new thread about number of A Levels. Dd is worried about the amount of work and pressure involved doing four.

Do you know what QE Boys do, for comparison's sake?
It really doesn't matter what any other school does your dd really needs to do what is best for her. At DS' GS they start with 4 and some give up one at the end of year 12 and remember university offers are based on 3 A levels.

I can see the logic of starting with 4, ds1 started with 4 and gave up one at the end of year 12 and we were amazed at the one he gave up, it was the one I would have put money on him continuing with. Starting with 4 gave him flexibility to give up subject that he was no longer enjoying and concentrate on the remaining subjects.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
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