Tips for choosing A-level subjects

14th April 2020

Maybe we often heard about British A-level exams, but what is A-level and how is it different from the exams in mainland China or Hong Kong Macau? We will learn more about A-level together this week. A-Level stands for General Certificate of Education Advanced Level. Similar to the Gaokao in China and HKDSE in HK, A-level is administered at the completion of a three-year secondary education, allowing students to gain admissions to undergraduate courses at local universities. If you have plans for studying abroad in the UK, you can take a look at the following.

The length of the A-level courses is two years. The first year is called AS (Year 12). Students usually choose the 3 or 4 subjects that they are best at and interested in, and they will get an AS certificate after passing the exam. The second year is called A2 (Year 13). Students will drop one of the AS subjects and choose the remaining three others that they feel more confident in to continue their studies with. After passing the exam, they will then get an A-Level certificate. A-Level exams are generally held in May-June and October-November each year, and results will be announced in August and February of the following year respectively.

Did you know how A-level has changed in the new system? Under the old system before 2015, the results of the original AS course at the end-of-year exam accounted for 50% of the A-level scores. However, under the new system after 2015, AS exam results are no longer included in the total score of A-level! Therefore, the A-level test can be said to be “determining your success or failure in one go”. Students should carefully plan their future university courses before choosing AS courses.

(Covid 19) A-level special arrangements:

Due to the pandemic, UK schools have been suspended since mid-March this year, so what about the A-Level exam now? According to the British government guidelines, all public examinations are cancelled, which means that A-level examinations will no longer be taking place this year. Can we then say that all A-level students’ two years efforts are in vain now? Not at all! First, the examination boards will evaluate your non-exam results, such as your homework assignments, mock exams, etc; second, each student can be ranked in the same order in each subject, that is, even if you have the same score level as another student in the same subject, the student who ranks first will have the highest score, and so on; third, the report submitted by the head of each learning institution, such as the school ’s report based on your past learning performance, can also be used as scoring standard. Therefore, it is not only the A2 exam that is the most important. When you are facing extreme situations like this, your overall performance during your school year is of the utmost importance.

You can choose a wide range of subjects for your A-level courses, and all of these subjects include a variety of disciplines, such as mathematics, biology, geography, computer, politics, media, art and so on. As A-level courses can be closely related to your University major studies, it is a common concern of parents and students to decide which courses to pick for their A-level courses. We have summarised a couple of tips to help you consider how to choose the A-level course that is most suitable for you (view the common subjects in A-level at the end of the article):

Direction 1: if you already know which university major you want to study in

Your A-level courses should be aligned with your university major and future career goals. Some universities may even strictly require that your A-level courses must include particular subjects in order to match their admission criteria. For example, if you are applying for medical schools, you must have studied biology and chemistry for your A-level. For some business or social sciences majors, universities may have no strict A-level subject requirements; however, students will only be admitted when they have met the required grades. Therefore, it is important for students to choose their A-level subjects carefully by learning more about the admission requirements of their preferred undergraduate studies in advance. Use the following tool to check what A-level subjects your major usually covers: https://university.which.co.uk/courses

Direction 2: if you are not sure about which major to choose, but you know which subjects you are interested in

Your A-level grades basically determine which university that you might possibly secure offers from, therefore you may want to make sure you choose at least one or two subjects that are more advantageous to you and are of your interests. If you like maths, physics, chemistry and other science courses, and these subjects are not relatively challenging for you, you may want to consider choosing the science-related courses. There are also other art or humanity subjects such as law, psychology, sociology and history. After knowing what subjects you enjoy studying, you can then try the following tool to see which major may suit you: https://university.which.co.uk/a-level-explorer

Common subjects in A-level：

  • Art & Design
  • Biology
  • Business Studies
  • Chemistry
  • Chinese
  • Computing
  • Design & Technology
  • Economics
  • English Language
  • English Literature
  • General Studies
  • Geography
  • History
  • Mathematics
  • Further Mathematics
  • Music
  • Physics
  • Physical Education
  • Psychology
  • Theatre Studies

We hope that you have learnt more about A-level and how to choose your favourite subjects through the above tips. To learn more information about KnewSTEP Education and our consultancy services, feel free check out our website.

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