A Levels

At A Level, some subjects will be the same as GCSE and some will be new.  As with GCSEs, A Levels have undergone significant reform. A Levels are largely linear, which means exams take place at the end of the 2 year course rather than after each module. Some subjects will still have coursework if it has been decided that certain skills in the course cannot be assessed in an exam.

Some A Level subjects are essential for entry to certain degree courses whereas some degree courses do not require study of a specific subject.  If you have a specific degree in mind visit www.ucas.com for entry requirements.  Universities may also have GCSE requirements for certain courses, e.g. a grade 5 in Maths and Science is sometimes required for a degree in Psychology.

There are some A Level subjects that are required more often than not, these are called ‘facilitating‘ subjects and are: Maths, Further Maths, English, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, History, Geography and a Modern or Classical Language. 

"In 2019, this list was scrapped to reflect the value of creative arts like drama and music, and as a way to highlight that these subjects are not the only ones that are considered valuable by top universities. However, this doesn’t mean they aren’t useful. Here are four situations in which facilitating subjects still may be beneficial for you:

• If you’re not sure what you want to study
• You’re planning to do an apprenticeship or a degree apprenticeship
• If you’re applying to very competitive universities
• Because you’re interested in facilitating subjects"

Taken from 'Are facilitating subjects still useful?' - for the full article, please see the Know-how library on Unifrog.