Choose your A-levels wisely

As A-level results day looms near, news this week reveals that some students might not be offered a place at university - not because of their A-level results, but because of the A-levels themselves that they studied.

David Willetts, the minister for universities and science, stated this week that many pupils were studying A-levels that were unsuitable for their intended degree. He said: "There are people who do stay on for A-levels but they are doing PE, religious studies and geography, and they say they want to be an engineer."

Mr Willetts has called for better careers advice to pupils in Years 10 and 11 and more carefully considered input from teachers in order to help them select the A-level subjects that university admissions tutors would actively seek out.

Worryingly, he also said that "perhaps a quarter" of all A-levels studied by young people were "not valued" by most universities.

Although representatives from teaching unions have denied the claims, these are striking comments and that younger pupils should take on board. The lesson here? It's so important to research university admissions requirements properly when choosing which A-levels to study. If your child doesn't know what degree subject to study when they choose their A-levels, then they should find out which subjects are generally well-regarded by the institutions that they might apply to.