Choosing A-Level Subjects: The Three Questions That Matter

Every year I get sent the same emails from worried Year 11 students. They have been told by school that they need facilitating subjects. They have been told by their parents to pick what they enjoy. They have been told by a YouTube video that maths and further maths "open every door". They are paralysed.

Here is what fifteen years of advising Year 11s has taught me.

Question one — what do you want to study at university?

If you know, the choice is largely made for you. Medicine wants chemistry and at least one of biology, maths or physics. Engineering wants maths and physics. Most economics courses want maths. Computer science programmes vary, but maths helps everywhere. Read the entry requirements for the three universities you would most like to attend, not the league-table top three.

Question two — what did you actually enjoy in Year 11?

The honest answer here matters more than the prestige answer. If you loved English literature and would dread three years of mechanics, please do not take physics A-Level because someone told you it was harder. The grade you get matters more than the subject you got it in. Universities prefer A-Level A grades to A-Level C grades in "harder" subjects, and so do employers.

Question three — what is the workload of the combination, honestly?

Maths, further maths, physics and chemistry is a famous workload combination. So is English literature, history, French and Latin. So is a triple sciences plus maths. If you are also doing competitive sport, performance music, or any sustained extra-curricular, you need to be honest with yourself about whether four heavy subjects will leave room for the things that keep you well.

Three subjects taught well will get you everywhere reasonable in the UK. The fourth subject is almost always optional, and is rarely worth a year of being tired.

The quiet rule

Pick a combination that contains at least one subject you find easy. Not boring — easy. A-Levels are a long slog and you will need at least one paper where you sit down knowing you will do well. That subject is what keeps you walking back into the next one.

If you take the three questions seriously and obey the quiet rule, the rest is detail.