A-Levels

Sol · Post by **Sol** » January 9th, 2007, 20:40

Aww, isnt he cute? A youg'un?

Anyway, it has come for me to make A-level choices, as i a planning to stay on to 6th forms

My *ideally* chosen subjects are Music Tech, Maths, Physics and possibly ICT.

Now i'm all set on Music Tech, Maths and Physics (I want to be a sound engineer

) but ICT i'm not so sure on... Obviously this isn't a: LOL MAKE MY DECSISION FOR MEE KTHXX thread, it's just that is it really worth taking?

It's either take ICT (Computing, programming), Applied ICT or biology as my fouth subject i am considering. It may be a case that i only take the fourth subject as an AS rather than an A-level so i have more time for study, etc.

I was wondering if anyone would shed any light on the options, as i'm not sure what would help benifit me, with hopefully, sound engineering prospects.

It's all so confusing. I shall me talking to the head of 6th form and stuff, but i want your views!

Cheers

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 9th, 2007, 20:47

A levels mean nothing, never got them. don't matter what you take is the number of them if you want to goto uni.

Wiggy · Post by **Wiggy** » January 9th, 2007, 21:01

Having done them both, I can say that Maths and Physics are fucking difficult. As is Chemistry. And AS-level German. You thought your GCSE coursework was bad? Think again.

/melodramatic

EDIT: BTW, I got C's in Maths and Physics, D in Chemistry, B in German.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » January 9th, 2007, 21:06

I'd adise you that ICT unless you really into it, will bore the nuts off of you. I did it as a GNVQ, and I honestly could have slept through quite alot of the lessons.

Post by **fabyak** » January 9th, 2007, 21:06

Wiggy wrote:Having done them both, I can say that Maths and Physics are fucking difficult. As is Chemistry. And AS-level German. You thought your GCSE coursework was bad? Think again.

/melodramatic

EDIT: BTW, I got C's in Maths and Physics, D in Chemistry, B in German.

this man speaks the truth (about Physics and Maths, can't speak for the others) but they are bastard hard, but if you're good at that kind of thing they go very well together

shot2bits · Post by **shot2bits** » January 9th, 2007, 21:17

id say do computing if your into programming or want to learn it and dont mind a few very boring lessons, there ok for me as my teacher makes loads of jokes and stuff, the applied ICT sounded really boring to me when they told me about it and they wouldnt let me take it as they said i would get too bored of it as its just using applications such as word and powerpoint to make presentations and learn about communication, so it just sounded like a class for people who dont know how to use windows applications properly

Gunslinger42 · Post by **Gunslinger42** » January 9th, 2007, 21:39

I'm taking Advanced/Further (whatever they're calling it now) Maths, Computing, and initially was also taking physics. Physics bored the hell out of me (though I blame the teacher) so I dropped it. Further Maths is fucking difficult, the normal maths A level wasn't too bad considering I had to squish it into one year rather than two. Computing is a big pile of wank as well, I went into it expecting it to be more about programming than database shit. I'd been led to believe Computing = Programming stuff, ICT = Database stuff. In computing we did a little bit on programming then tonnes of boring stuff.

*revises for Maths exams coming up in a week or so*

Post by **FatherJack** » January 9th, 2007, 22:16

Maths (Pure with Mechanics, not Stats) and Physics will give you a good basis of stuff you'll be expected to know if you want to study sound-engineery-type stuff further at Uni, beyond that consider stuff you're genuinely interested in, as it's probably the most critical period of education as far as self-motivation is concerned.

Electronics or Computing wouldn't be poor choices, given their overlap into the world of sound techs these days, and Engineering's one a lot of technical institutions like.

Media Studies, Psychology or Archaeology are options if you they float your boat, or if you just want another subject on the CV without doing much work. ICT sounds a bit like the ECDL, which is, umm...not the most highly valued IT qualification around.

Post by **ProfHawking** » January 9th, 2007, 22:40

i liked physics, and i liked maths mechanics, but not pure or stats.
anyway, i didnt do ICT but everyone i know who did it said it was stupid. plus i know more about computers than any of them

not that thats too big a thing, the people who did ICT were the ones that couldnt do sciences but needed something more useful than geography or french

Post by **fabyak** » January 9th, 2007, 22:48

Stats module 1 = win! easiest one of the lot

Lee · Post by **Lee** » January 9th, 2007, 23:01

I started out doing Computing, Maths, Physics and Electronics. I was forced to drop electronics in favour of biology since the teacher was going to be off sick for at least 3 months. Maths I dropped in favour of chemistry since it was frustrating me and I didnt feel like spending 2 years with a headache. And physics I dropped in favour of biology for the same reasons as Gunslinger, we were in the same class.

Biology is farly easy, its mostly just remembering facts but chemistry is rather hard. I got two As and a B for biology AS level but only two Es and a D for chemistry A level, I'm needing to resit those this year.

I'm in gunslingers computing class aswell and as he says its not what I was expecting. They didnt tell you that you'd spend both years making two seperate databases for coursework, both of which are very similar. Alot of the stuff they teach is either outdated or not completely correct aswell. Some of it is completely pointless such as database normalisation, something I automatically do in my head in one step anyway, no need for the overcomplicated methods they teach.

Anyway, that turned more into an A level rant than anything helpful

In summary, A levels are either hard, boring or not what you'd expect

Post by **Joose** » January 9th, 2007, 23:02

I didnt do ICT, but a few of my mates did. By all accounts, its pretty fucking useless. If you are interested in such things, they probably wont teach you anything you dont already know. If you aren't, it'll bore you shitless.

Maths and Physics are a good combo, as there tends to be a fair bit of crossover. Plus, as it has been said, would be very usefull if you go on to do some sound engineering type degree (or any other type of engineering or computer related thing, for that matter). If you can do maths with mechanics (like I did) then large amounts of it is *exactly the same* as physics, you just have to remember less.

I can also second the notion that the jump in difficulty from gcse to A level is fucking stupid.

As far as random things to take as an extra (maybe AS): Go for something you have an interest in. What you dont want is for it to become hard. If its something you enjoy, it wont eat into the time you spend studying the other stuff, as it wont actually feel like work. I did the entire Media Studies two year course in one year, with much pissing about, and still did reasonably well because it was something I was already interested in.

If you want a really silly one, that can be quite fun and interesting, see if you can do Ethics. It was only available as an AS at my college, but it essentially involved sitting about for a year arguing with each other, writing an essay about how Immanual Kant was a fucking idiot, and then going "hurrah! I got a B".

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » January 9th, 2007, 23:19

Joose wrote:If you want a really silly one, that can be quite fun and interesting, see if you can do Ethics. It was only available as an AS at my college, but it essentially involved sitting about for a year arguing with each other....

Ah, so that's why you are so bloody good at arguing then

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » January 9th, 2007, 23:21

Joose wrote:
Maths and Physics are a good combo, as there tends to be a fair bit of crossover. Plus, as it has been said, would be very usefull if you go on to do some sound engineering type degree (or any other type of engineering or computer related thing, for that matter). If you can do maths with mechanics (like I did) then large amounts of it is *exactly the same* as physics, you just have to remember less.

This is what I'd agree with most.

I'm doing Maths Physics Electronics and some crazy extra maths at the moment (A2s, ditto Gunslinger, exams in a week). I took AS history last year, while I didn't do all that great, it was a good laugh, mainly because I got sat next to a very good looking girl; and we went out for a bit. So I didn't do much learning after that (amazingly she still got an A, damn them and their multi tasking skills). But I'd recommend doing something like that, choose a 4th Alevel where you'll meet a different kind of person, (ie. girls). Because beleive you me, there won't be any in your classes at the moment. Well maybe music tech?

Uni's pretty much ignore the 4th Alevel (unless you're an oxbridge wannabe), so do something a bit more fun with it.

Fear · Post by **Fear** » January 10th, 2007, 0:10

I did Maths, Physics, IT and General Studies at A Level.

I would recommend Maths, it opens a lot of doors for you at uni. It simply isn't true that number of A Levels is all that matters - especially with everyone trying to get into uni now. Physics is a good one also, and isn't that hard IMO, it is just application of maths meets a bit of cramming.

ICT I would imagine is an OK one, but I wouldn't expect to learn anything useful, just how to format Excel spreadsheets. My IT A Level was a joke, it was just doing things like memorising the data protection act. None of the Unis seemed impressed by it particularly either. They were much keener to know about my maths and physics abilities.

In the end I got accepted into all 6 Uni's - and I think that had a lot to do with my maths A level. So regardless of what else you do - do maths!

Pixie is kinda right with the girls things - do psychology for that. It was something like 29 girls to 1 lad at my college. You will get the nerdy ones in Maths tho. They tend not to talk, except if the teacher asks something.

In the end I went on to do Electronics and Communication Engineering at university. Maths and Physics were pre-req I think.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 10th, 2007, 0:40

You are all a bunch of educated cunts, I left school at 16 and am only now going to uni at 23 after drinking for the last few years.

Post by **Joose** » January 10th, 2007, 7:39

MIkkyo wrote:You are all a bunch of educated cunts, I left school at 16 and am only now going to uni at 23 after drinking for the last few years.

wait...you spent the last few years drinking, then your going to uni? What exactly do you think people at uni do?

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 10th, 2007, 8:31

Assuming you're going for a technical course at uni (B.Sc or B.Eng), maths will definitely be useful. All electronics is physics based and it involves a metric shitload of maths. I did a B.Eng, and the maths aspect (which I failed) was so complex that not only did I not see a number in the entire course, I didn't even see English letters - they were all in Greek. The tutor had one of those flip whiteboards and he was constantly baffled by flipping it over only to find himself facing the beginning of the formula he'd been working with.

I started with a GNVQ, so I never did A levels, but I got the impression that the subjects weren't as important as the fact you actually passed them.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » January 10th, 2007, 8:37

All I can add to this is that I took 3 A Levels, PE, Maths & Business Studies.

Only 3 months before the final exams they chucked me off the P.E. course to make the stats better as they knew I wouldn't pass, in Maths there were 12 people taking the subject, and only one person passed with a G I think, and Business Studies I got a D because I actually bothered to do a tiny bit of coursework.

The only reason I took A-Levels was because I didn't know what to do, all my mates were staying on in the sixth form, and it turned out to be some of the funniest years I have ever had.

I wouldn't change a thing, as I then went out pro-actively looking for jobs in IT and got one on the basis I did an NVQ in computer studies which any one of us could get blindfolded after using a PC for over a year.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » January 10th, 2007, 8:51

Key thing is to do something you enjoy (insofar as you can enjoy work) or at least are vaguely interested in. I hated maths, never worked at it, and got a D. Took history, loved it, got a B. Did history at Uni to and got a 2:1. Most jobs I want to do really couldn't care less which A levels or degree I have as long as I have one.