• Question: what a levels did you take and would you recommend it?

    Asked by anon-187901 to Warren, Shanti, Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine, Alex on 13 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      Hi thanks for your question. I took four: Art, Biology, Graphic Design and History. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at the time, but the things I learned in each help me to this day. They gave me a well rounded education at that stage I think. I would advise you to pick the areas that interest you the most, it is easier to learn when you are more engaged!

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 13 Nov 2018: last edited 13 Nov 2018 3:46 pm

      I took the American equivalent of A Levels (APs or Advanced Placements). I gave five: Psychology, Biology, English, European History and Economics.I would definitely recommend taking at least two science subjects if you plan to pursue any field of science after school- even if it’s not psychology. For my part- I kinda wished I had dropped Economics and taken on Statistics instead since it was far more relevant for me. English is good to have in general since it really helped me become a better writer which is something that influences my work every day. And European History was just something extra that was fun to learn!

    • Photo: Paul Matusz

      Paul Matusz answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      I took 3:
      – Mother tongue (for me Polish)
      – Foreign language (English)
      – a funny subject called Knowledge about Society; funnily enough, I changed to this subject from Biology a few months before the actual exams, as despite extracullicular courses I really was feeling like I wasn’t learning it well enough and it was possible I’d fail it. The other subject was something that I was “taking in ” much more easily, and I passed with an A!

      What I’d recommend – take those subjects that come to you easily – as in today’s inter-disciplinary world it is likely that one way or another you will “fall into” / steer your further training or career towards the thing that you liked. To me, writing was always something that I liked – but I knew I’d not like to study languages 100% and/or to become a writer. Through science, I found my way back to writing.. scientific articles. However, while there are mysterious ways in which people get to do certain types of science (I was never interested in the brain when I was in highschool!), these days it is important to be good in maths and things like programming. But as education scientists we are working on making learning them easier and more fun!

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