What are A-Levels?

A-Levels are qualifications that are offered by schools and colleges for students aged between 16 and 19. They follow GCSEs and generally focus on academic subjects. There are many different A-Level subjects that you can take, some will be subjects that you might have studied at GCSEs and others might be new.

A-levels are very highly valued by employers and universities so they can open up lots of doors to further study and careers.

Which careers require A-Levels?

Some careers require you to have a degree, and you need to have specific A-Levels to get a place on that degree.

Some common ones are:

• Veterinary Science which requires Biology and one or two subjects from Chemistry, Maths or Physics.
• Medicine which requires Chemistry, Biology and either Maths or Physics
• Dentistry which requires Chemistry Biology and either Maths or Physics

If you have a certain degree or career in mind it’s really important that you have a look at the entry requirements to those courses when choosing your A-levels. This will also be checked by the Sixth Form team as part of the interview process so do not panic!

Unsure on which career?

If you have no idea what you want to do next then you’re better off choosing a more general subject. There are some A-levels that help you to keep your options open; these are known as facilitating subjects.

The more of these subjects you choose, the more university courses you will find are open to you when you start applying, if you don’t have a certain degree or career in mind it’s definitely worth considering these.

What are the entry requirements for A-Levels?

Please see the subject specific entry requirements, but these are usually targeted at students achieving grade 6 and above at GCSE, although some subjects consider grade 5.