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Maths A'level
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm choosing A'levels at the moment, and so far I've got French, Spanish, History and Photography, but my parents are telling me that it would be incredible foolish of me not to do maths.
I want to study French and Spanish at uni, then I'm thinking about journalism as a career.
Do I really need a maths A'level? I'm good at maths, but I really really hate it, and five AS'levels is quite a lot of work.
I want to study French and Spanish at uni, then I'm thinking about journalism as a career.
Do I really need a maths A'level? I'm good at maths, but I really really hate it, and five AS'levels is quite a lot of work.
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Comments
You're right, 5 A Levels is a lot of work... I don't do them, but my sister is and she started off doing 5 and then dropped one... Maths actually. Its so much better to do 3/4 well... than attempt to do too much.
You sound like you'll get a good mark at GCSE which is all you really need. From your career plans, it sounds like maths isn't too necessary.
Worth seeing someone at school about it? Careers advisor or whoever?
I did all arts subjects for A level, it's not necessary to do a mix unless you need it for your future career plans.
Is this right?
I can see where she's coming from, but when I've spoken to my tutor at school, he just told me to opt for my four best subjects (French, Spanish, Maths and English) whether I like them or not, and I didn't agree with that.
GCSE maths pass is all most jobs require (along with a pass at English) unless you are going for something specifically maths related in which case an A level would be asked for. In most cases, most jobs overlook GCSE results once you have A level passes because you are able to specialise much more at this level. Which brings me full circle, although there is nothing wrong with keeping your options open at A level (in terms of keeping a balance between arts and science) it is by no means necessary to do this. A levels are for specialising for learning the skills you will need later on in life (be that at Uni or in a job). If you already have an idea of what you want to do and maths doesn't come into this don't do it and overwork yourself just for the sake of pleasing those around you.
[edit] and I've just re-read your initial post which states you do plan to go to Uni - once you have a degree employees look at this in the first instance, as long as you can prove you are numerate (which you obviously can through your GCSE grade) then you will not encounter any problems in terms of getting interviews/jobs.
French, Spanish and History are all "hard" subjects in there... so I don't really see the problem with doing photography. Especially since Grace wants to go into journalism... AND she enjoys it. And Maths A level is a massive step up from GCSE. No one can get it "without too much of a fuss". I'm sure you could do it if you wanted to Grace, but err... you don't.
Most of the time unis only disallow general studies and sometimes critical thinking.
Did a quick google....
Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies - Cardiff University 3rd out of 87.
You may wanna check out UCAS Course Search, have a look at the entry requirements for the sort of coures you're interested in.
All the best xxx
Depends what kind of level you're aiming for though. If you're looking at top universities, then you're not going to appear to be as strong a candidate with Photography as one of your three A levels compared to someone who has take three traditionally academic subject. That means if you're looking at high calibre courses, your committing yourself now to drop Photography and not leaving yourself with much choice.
I'm a firm beliver that you should study what you enjoy, and what you need to to develop yourself, but that you shouldn't mix education with hobbies without thinking very hard first.
I ended up with AAAB in French, History, Spanish and Politics and that got me to where I needed.
However, it seems that journalists believe otherwise.
It can have a negative effect on the rest of your studies, but equally some people just get through it. I realised that actually I didn't really like history after about 6 months of starting, and I wasn't able to drop it / change it and erghhhhh it was so hard to get better, because I didn't *want* to work on it.
I think you're doing the right thing by asking around, check with unis directly. Even some teachers get it wrong! When I was applying (for medicine) all the teachers were telling me I need Maths at higher level... You have to be REALLY GOOD at Maths to do it @ HL, and I'm not
All the best Grace.
In my experience, once you have A levels no one gives a shit what GCSEs you have, once you get a degree no one gives a shit about what A levels you have, and once you have a few years work experience, even your degree becomes less and less important.
French, Spanish and History are all good, solid, respectable subjects, and personally I think Photography on the side would be a nice balance. Don't let people bully you into taking subjects you don't like or need. I did, and have regretted it ever since.
I was forced to do Chemistry for my first year of IB and I hated it and almost failed because of it. I had to completely retake the year (rechoosing all my subjects because eugh).
Do what YOU want to do, Grace, not what your parents want you to do.
:yes: As long as you choose subjects relevant to your career path; I don't get the issue here. You need to do what you think is right for you.
You may find, as a lot of my friends did, that while you love art/photography that doing it for A Level is a complete killer on all your other subjects because of the completely disproportionate amount of time it takes up.
So, if you are good at maths already (and on the flipside, if you didn't like / get maths at GCSE then its probably going to be hell), it's probably easy UCAS points and in a good subject - and if nothing else it does nicely adorn your CV. Unless you have something better to be doing, why not take it as an extra AS as Scary Monster says?
Also, rough workload estimate:
AS level = 4 hours in class, 4 hours out of class*, per module, per week.
A2 level = 5 hours in class, 5 hours out of class*, per module, per week.
*The 'out of class' work is whats generally recommended by teachers but I never did that much, I just did what I needed to... (which isn't a great deal in Maths, maybe 2hrs a week to go over what you did / do the problems, even at A2).
:eek: Oh man, I wish I did A Levels.
Without wishing to sound like an educationary snob, I would agree with this. As someone who took three "hard" A Levels (including Spanish & French), I would argue that three "hard" A levels looks better than three hard ones and a soft option but that might just be me.
Incidentally, what are the Spanish & French set texts for A Level? Might be able to help you out since I have an A level in both and a degree in the former.
Im one of these weird people, I couldnt pass an exam at A level for french, but with my basic working knowledge, and recoverable french skills that have suffered at the hands of skill fade, parachute me into paris for a few week and I would more than just survive.
Education has value for its own sake, and since grace is doing 3 other more traditional subjects, it might be fun and enjoyable to additionally take one that is just for fun. Why not? It will be just as pointless to her as the maths A Level would be, but a damn sight more enjoyable, I would imagine.
In my opinion, Grace, if you had come on here and said I'm thinking of doing A Levels in Sociology, Media Studies, Photography and Drama, I would have advised against it as that would have looked bad and like you were picking soft options that employers and higher education institutions wouldn't respect.
But if you're doing French, Spanish and History then you've chosen three traditional subjects that are recognised as academically demanding, so I don't see the harm in taking Photography just for fun.
Oh, and if you're planning on going to university anyway then it really doesn't matter. No one cares what A Levels you took once you've got a decent, respectable degree, and all anyone cares about with respect to maths is that you've got a GCSE in it.
To be fair there are plenty of jobs where they specify they either want an A level in maths or a numerate degree.
Well of course, in the same way that they specify you need a degree in Medicine to be a doctor. But unless it's a requirement of the job, then no one cares about it. No one has ever asked me about my A Levels, apart from perhaps wanting to know the grades. I don't include the subjects of my GCSEs and A Levels on my CV any more, just the grades.
It's not in the same way though, its because for some jobs, there are that many applicants, that they are simply raising the bar to entry to either a numerate degree or an A level in Maths. It's not a requirement of the job, just another way they have found of sorting the wheat from the chaff.
Exactly this. At the risk of sounding a bit laissez-faire about it all: if someone doesn't enjoy a subject, then I find it difficult to see any point in studying it - especially if you know from the off that it's not something you enjoy. Learning should be something that gives you a buzz, and if it isn't doing that, then the learning ain't right.
Depends on the job. From the other subjects Grace is taking, I'd imagine she'd go down an arts/humanities type career path, and maths isn't generally seen as an advantage in these areas. On the other hand, if she does plan to look into journalism later on, there's an obvious link with photography.
I work in an editorial/creative field, and the only comment anyone's ever made about my Maths AS is that it seems like it was an odd choice considering my skill set. It hasn't helped further my career in any way, shape or form, despite the insistence from my parents that it would. I only wish I hadn't let them shame me into taking a 'proper' subject at the time.
:yes:
it's also worth remembering Grace that A levels are damn hard and you have to have a strong interest and enthusiasm for what you are doing if you want to get a good grade.
It's something to bear in mind though, as someone who has been keenly scouting the job markets of late. Graduates with maths or numerate degree would seem at the current time being to be more in demand than those without. Of course it depends on the job, but that's missing my point that there are an increasing number of jobs where for new graduates they are saying some analytical / numerate focus in either the degree or A levels is important.
I know plenty of people who didn't take something and got on just fine, doesn't meant to say it won't be an asset if they had though. In your case that might not have been what happened, but like I say - the increasing number of recruiters who are mentioning or asking about it means it's something to at least bear in mind.
I'm not choosing my A'levels (except maths) on the basis of their ability to get me a job, I know photography as an A'level won't look that good, but I enjoy it a huge amount, it being the only subject where I'm really allowed to do what I want.
I think I'm going to start off with 5, and just drop maths if I can't do them all, regardless of whatever my parents say.