With GCSEs less than six months away for the current cohort of Year 11s, most pupils will be focusing solely on their most imminent set of public exams. But now is also a key time to think beyond them and decide what to study in the sixth form. Here are some things to consider to help with choosing your next steps.
In an ideal world, you would do the subjects that you love the most – which happen to be the subjects you’re best at and are the subjects that keep the most options open, while targeting your long-term goals. Easy!
However, most pupils need to think more carefully. Not all subjects are necessarily available at your school or college, or they don’t work in the ‘blocking’ system. There are also numerous new and exciting courses that are well worth a look. Now is the time to ask the Year 12s and 13s, go to taster sessions, research a few university courses and speak to the teachers.
Your choices may be offered as A-levels, T-levels, IB or diplomas, but the rules on choosing subjects are pretty much the same for all.
General principles: what to consider when choosing
Do what you enjoy
It might seem an obvious thing to say, but this is important. If you like certain subjects and are good at them, you will do much better. You’re narrowing down to study fewer things in greater depth, so this is the time to pick the ones that excite you. You might need to study a supporting subject that isn’t necessarily a favourite but that’s OK, as it has a purpose.
Good combinations/supporting subjects
You need to make sensible choices. It’s important to ensure that you have at least two or three subjects that go together and are co-supportive, plus one that can be a bit different for diversity or pleasure.
For example, you might choose English, history and maths, or maths, physics, chemistry and English. These are good choices because you’d have at least two that support each other, plus another useful/enjoyable subject. But a combination like D&T, Greek and economics would be tricky to blend as they don’t support one another, and it’s hard to use them to work together to strengthen an application to university for any of them.
Three or four subjects?
Good question. Most universities are happy with three main subjects. A fourth subject, when it is offered by your school, can be really useful when you:
- Want more options if you want to drop one at some stage
- Are unsure which three of the four you like and want to try them out
- Need more depth in an area (such as maths and further maths)
- Would like to do something else, like an AS, an EPQ or sports leadership qualification
- Want to do something for pure pleasure, like art, music or PE
Teachers
It is very tempting to choose a subject because you like the teacher, but it is important to bear in mind that as you move up your school or college, you will almost certainly have two or more teachers for a subject and, crucially, you might not get the teacher you like. So always check in with yourself and make sure it’s the content of the subject you like, not just how it’s taught. Remember, the opposite could be true – you might be glad to get a new teacher for a subject.
School results
A little controversial, but this is a bit of tactical advice, especially if you’re changing schools. Before you sign up for a subject, have a look and see what the school or college results for that subject have been for the past couple of years. Ultimately, you’re trying to get the best grades you can, and so you need to target the subjects in which your school has a good track record. Or you might need to consider extra coaching.
The specifics: requirements for certain university courses
Broadly speaking, if you want to do a ‘traditional’ academic subject at degree level, such as geography, history, English, a language or two, maths or physics, or a creative subject such as art or music, you will be expected to have it as one of your sixth-form subjects, usually with a supporting subject (see above).
Many university courses don’t have any specific subject requirements (law*, anthropology, and criminology are good examples) – you just have to convince them why you’re interested, probably through activities outside the classroom such as work experience, a job or volunteering.
But if you have any of the following in mind, it’s worth knowing that to make the transition more likely, you’ll need to have studied certain subjects. This list is not exhaustive, and not all universities are as strict as others, but here are some general guidelines:
Architecture
Art or D&T, usually plus maths. Some top institutions prefer Art to D&T.
Business
Anything you like, although if it’s with accounting you may need to offer maths to at least AS level.
Computer science
Maths, maths and more maths! The more maths you can do, the better. Computer science studied in sixth form is rarely a requirement, but it can show enthusiasm if offered at your school.
Economics
Maths (plus further/higher maths for ultra-competitive courses). Not all schools offer economics, but where they do, it is helpful.EngineeringMaths (plus further/higher maths for ultra-competitive courses) and physics. If you have a specific engineering course in mind, you should consider, for example, D&T for design engineering, biology for bioengineering and chemistry for materials or chemical engineering.
Medicine/Veterinary/Dentistry*
Chemistry is the big one, followed by biology at most too. After that, another science (maths or physics) is helpful, and some universities like to see something contrasting, such as religious studies or English.
Psychology
For a Bachelor of Arts (BA) course, there are no specific requirements, but for experimental psychology or Bachelor of Science (BSc) courses, then biology and another science (including psychology, if offered) would be advisable.
Sport
For sport management, no specific subjects are required (just work experience), but for sports science, biology and/or PE are useful, and psychology can help if offered at your school.
Final word: It has to be said at this point that the better you do in your GCSEs, the more options will be open to you. Most schools and colleges will have a minimum grade you’ll need to be allowed to take a subject.
And lastly, when it comes to looking at university courses, bear in mind that some have a minimum grade for English and maths – usually a 5 or 6 at GCSE, especially if you’re not selecting that subject at sixth-form level.
Good luck choosing!
*These subjects usually require a separate aptitude test
Anna Rogers is an independent universities adviser with over 20 years’ experience helping and guiding pupils to make excellent, effective university applications. She can be contacted via email: annalchrogers@hotmail.com, mobile: 07810 437089 or her website: