Congratulations on your excellent O level results.
Before I continue, I would like to remind you that the A level curriculum is among the toughest you would go through. You will need to put in almost five times as much effort for each subject compared to your O level days, to be able to have a decent score.
It will be a rush of excitement for the first few days of JC. But soon, you will need to choose your subject combination.
My Advice
Here’s some advice that I have given my students in the past when they asked me:
- Start from deciding what you think you will work as after you graduate from university. The job scope, the industry, etc. Your views and opinions may change in the future, but it is a good start. In addition, you may choose more than one.
- From the industry you think you will work in, find the university courses that will allow you to prepare you for the industries you have interest in. Research on the A level subjects needed as a pre-requisite to decide.
- From step 2, you will be able to then decide on the subjects you should be taking.
What happens if you do not know what industries you would like?
As an A level student, you should ideally have a rough idea what you will want to do. It is only a few years to graduation before you start work, so it is better to start thinking about it. You will be an adult soon, and will need to make your own decisions.
However, if you really have no idea, do not overly stress yourself. Choose the subject combinations that will allow you to have the greatest amount of university choices.
In this aspect, most students choose PCME, Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Economics, as it qualifies for majority of the university courses worldwide.
The other choice is BCME, if you decide that medical field is what you will likely be interested in.
Additional tips on deciding on the university courses
You may decide that you like a particular university course, but you will also have to consider the competition and your ability.
Which means, you need to consider how likely you will score well enough to qualify.
One way to do it, is to search on Google using the terms Indicative Grade Profile [the university you want to go to]. You will get the A level grade profiles of the 10th and 90th percentile of different university courses.
The 90th percentile is mostly all As, even for courses where the cut-offs are lower. This is because there are many students who choose courses based on their passions and interests. I am an example for this in the past. Having scored all As in my A level, I chose Electrical Engineering even though the cut-off is BBC/B. That’s because I love Physics, Maths, and programming in one package.
The 10th percentile is generally more useful. It gives you a guideline of the cut-off grade for entry into the course. If you go through the tables, you will realise that the more popular courses generally require all As as well.
Which means, you really need to work extremely hard to get your dream course.
If you need extra help or advice for your A level subjects after having chosen the subject combinations, feel free to contact us to schedule a consultation session.