A level decisions

[clueless]

I'm in year 11 now and its come to that time when I should start thinking about what to do after school. I've pretty much decided I'm going to stay at my school for sixth form but I'm having difficulties deciding what to do.

I have 5 main like options I have witled it down to, obviously I can only do four. These are:

art, history, photography, media and maths

and the physcology is my backup.

Basically until recently history and art have been my DEFINATES and history still is. But recently ive been reconsidering whether to do art, I don't feel I'm good enough and its A LOT of work

aswell i want to do both photography and media and i thought all of them 3 will limit my options, plus I want to do maths.

But then photography and media might look a bit like 2 doss subjects and I think I might regret not taking art as i do love it

but then im having trouble picking between photography and media as i love media, i really do
but then recently ive started to think about future careers and I was thinknig photography.
I've always been interested in it and im asking for a digital SLR for christmas but idk if its just a phase or whatever.

And then maths, i dont really want to do it but im good at maths and i think its a good a level to have so i might aswell make the most of it.

In total im really confused!

Any of you got any ideas or recommendations?

[PriceTags]

By the sounds of it, I think your best option is to take Art, Maths and History, then pick between Media and Photography.

[Virgin Mary]

Hey chick, xxx
think of it this way:
Do you need an A level to know how to take photos?

[PappaLou]

I'm in year 11 now and its come to that time when I should start thinking about what to do after school. I've pretty much decided I'm going to stay at my school for sixth form but I'm having difficulties deciding what to do.

I have 5 main like options I have witled it down to, obviously I can only do four. These are:

art, history, photography, media and maths

and the physcology is my backup.

Basically until recently history and art have been my DEFINATES and history still is. But recently ive been reconsidering whether to do art, I don't feel I'm good enough and its A LOT of work

aswell i want to do both photography and media and i thought all of them 3 will limit my options, plus I want to do maths.

But then photography and media might look a bit like 2 doss subjects and I think I might regret not taking art as i do love it

but then im having trouble picking between photography and media as i love media, i really do
but then recently ive started to think about future careers and I was thinknig photography.
I've always been interested in it and im asking for a digital SLR for christmas but idk if its just a phase or whatever.

And then maths, i dont really want to do it but im good at maths and i think its a good a level to have so i might aswell make the most of it.

In total im really confused!

Any of you got any ideas or recommendations?

unless your VERY good at maths, you don't take it at A-level, my girlfriend got an A* in maths at GCSE but struggles at A-Level

i'd do psychology, i'm doing it as part of my sports science btec national and its really good to know

[JackBuddy]

Even if there is alot of work involved, just do what subjects you enjoy and find most interesting.

Don't listen to the above, psychology isn't interesting.

[Throne Sofa]

History's very hard at a level by the way, much harder than at GCSE level, the difference is evident and I dropped it after a couple lessons this year. From what i've heard, there's a lot involved in the art course too and you've got to produce lots and lots of work. Photography, well it's up to you, but I would have thought there were more academic options that were better, but it's up to you if you think it'll be useful. Media's quite good, slightly easier than some others and i've just started with Psychology, it is interesting and it's a subject that if you revise a lot for you'll do well in.

Good luck, and I would say at the end of the day do the stuff you enjoy and bare in mind you'll be able to change these.

[Plank]

By the sounds of it, I think your best option is to take Art, Maths and History, then pick between Media and Photography.Agreed. Don't do both media and photography if you're going to uni, just choose one because they are both 'blacklisted' by most universities.

[Tristan]

Wouldn't do Psychology if you can't even spell it right, lol. :P
I think you've really got to look over things... You've got far too many different sorts of subjects going on and you really need to open a road for yourself. Take a look at courses that you'd want to do in Uni on websites and check their requirements.
Art could only be linked to Photography. Photography could be linked to Art and Media Studies slightly. History... Don't have a clue. Maths, I guess it is good to have an academic subject down but don't know about how it links in. Psychology, don't know.

You've got to look at paths that you want to go on, as such a mixture won't really get you anywhere in terms of meeting requirements.

Like me, I want to do something to do with Sports. I want to go to College so I'm planning on taking Sports Science. Or Sports Psychology.
My courses:
Physical Education
Human Biology
Psychology
Media Studies

Requirements for Sports Science is a passing grade at PE & either a science (Human Biology for me) or Social Science (Psychology for me). Sports Psychology is about the same.
Media Studies is something useful and varied.

You get it?


EDIT: In my college you could take five... :S but owell.

[Kardan]

A-Level Maths is dependent if you're good at is - I wouldn't say it was as hard as it's been made out to be though - I did my A Level Maths a year early.

[Throne Sofa]

I disagree Nani, it's better to keep options open at the moment and not do 4 subjects focussed on one possible career path.

[Holofoil]

Art - Just do a drawing every single day and that's 365 drawings in a year. That's exactly what I did, and believe it or not I got an A* in GCSE lol. Anyhow Art is so fun in A level, i even consider it a free period because I draw in my spare time anyway.

Maths - I'm doing maths, I got A* GCSE but it's really hard in A level. So it does require a hell of a lot of effort. Unless you're really good at it anyway that is...

Photography - Like VirginMary said, you don't need an a level to take good photos.

Media - it's seen as a complete doss by a lot of Universities, but I don't do it so I don't know.

History - If you're interested and are able to do weekly essays then yes take it. I would have but i can't handle all the essays :P

Psychology - Also pretty hard but it's seen as a good A level I think.

[Throne Sofa]

By the way, I wouldn't really look into "it's seen as a good a level and stuff" too much, because if you do, you'll find you've suddenly picked boring and hard subjects... for what? So it looks good for university? I personally wasn't prepared to sacrifice 2 yrs of my life for them harder ones.

[Tristan]

I disagree Nani, it's better to keep options open at the moment and not do 4 subjects focussed on one possible career path.

Totally disagree with that.
What's the next real step from College? University.
It's certainly time to think about what you want to do in life and University really is the key. But to get into University courses you've got to meet the requirements.
Of course not one career path, but two then sure.
But you've got to start to go down the path that you want with your A levels because otherwise you won't be able to do anything.

[Barmi]

Totally disagree with that.
What's the next real step from College? University.
It's certainly time to think about what you want to do in life and University really is the key. But to get into University courses you've got to meet the requirements.
Of course not one career path, but two then sure.
But you've got to start to go down the path that you want with your A levels because otherwise you won't be able to do anything.
From someone who's "been there, done that", I agree with Throne Sofa and sadly not yourself.

I am only where I am today because I took varied A-levels. As long as you stick with mainly academic courses, you can take whatever you fancy, and whatever you enjoy. Whatever you study at university will be something you are going to enjoy, so there will be some correlation between that course and your A-levels anyway.

The only thing you need to keep an eye on is that if you don't know where you want to go next (after college), completely disregard what Nani has said and spread your subjects. If you want to go down the sciences route, you must take a science at A-level though.

An A-level in Mathematics is highly regarded. At times it might frustrate you, but if you put in the extra time to understand and remember everything, it will pay off.

Ditch the photography. If you were eager, you could do evening courses in photography. It's not the most inspiring subject on your CV unless you are going to an A&D college after your A-levels, or an artsy degree.

Psychology is one of those subjects that you will hate unless it is genuinely interesting for you. Read up on the course specifications. Try taster sessions if you can. During my time at college, so many people dropped out of their psychology course.

Media Studies is more of a 'release' subject. It's not a bad subject per se, but balance it with other subjects like Maths, History (for the sake of argument), and English Literature (for the sake of argument).

Hope any of this has been of some help. :)