The Education Blog

19th January, 2022

Choosing GCSE, A-Level and IB options

Our University and Careers Advisor, Sarah, shares her advice for parents helping their teenagers choose their options for GCSE, A-Level and IB this year

It’s that time of year when many students are making decisions about their GCSE, A Level or IB subject choices. We know that these can be daunting decisions to make, especially if your teenager is uncertain about what they want to do in the future.

With this in mind, we wanted to share some common concerns and advice from our Careers and University Advisor, Sarah, on how best to best approach these decisions.

My child has no idea about the future or is strong across the board: how should we choose A-Level or IB subjects?

Despite the reduction in subjects studied, at A-Level we can still look to study subjects across the skills range. There are a few career and degree areas from which students can be excluded without the required subjects; with a multi-talented but undecided student, we want to try to confirm whether we need to keep any of those options open. These are things like Engineering; Medicine; Art; Veterinary Science and Architecture, to name a few.

Where your teenager is unsure about their next steps, the key is in trying to keep as many doors open as possible and to work out if subject-specific careers such as Medicine and Engineering might need to remain options.

When it comes to the IB, this situation poses fewer issues as the IB facilitates a wide-ranging skills base, so for students who are strong in arts, humanities and STEM subjects, the IB will allow them to study all of these. The key is to consider which will be Higher Level and which will be Standard Level and that is where we would look to discover some favourites from the student and drill down in to careers or degrees which they are certain they do or don’t want to follow.

How do I work out what interests my teenager?

To support your son or daughter in this decision, be sure to have conversations not just around the school subjects they enjoy, but also things seemingly far removed from school! Something as simple as an interest in crime dramas or Japanese manga cartoons have been known to reveal a passion for Law or Oriental Studies. We can really help by digging down into these outside interests and even specific interests within existing school subjects.

What about subjects not previously studied; how do I know if my teenager will enjoy them?

It is a common concern that students usually know little about areas such as Law, Engineering, Architecture, Anthropology and so on…things which are not traditionally taught at school. The best way through this is active exposure through discussion with teachers and advisors but also through reading appropriate and interesting books, listening to podcasts and even watching documentaries.

The key is to encourage clarity and understanding of the difference between a degree in a subject and a career in a subject. For example, students who want to practise law do not need to study law, and students who want to study law do not need to become lawyers!

Still unsure about which subjects to choose?

Get in touch to arrange a consultation with Sarah to discuss subject choices and career options. A Cambridge Law graduate, Sarah has worked in independent schools since 1997. She currently works as a Further Education consultant and Careers Advisor, supporting many of our students with their school, university and career journeys.

Discover more

Years 7-9

How we support our students in the early years of secondary school

GCSEs

Support in building knowledge, developing passions and and developing great learning habits

A-Level, Pre-U, IB

Empowering students to develop their abilities in critical thinking & independent learning

Get in touch

We’d love to discuss how we can help your family’s learning journey. Call us or email to arrange a meeting in our Knightsbridge headquarters.