Finishing your GCSEs feels like a real weight has been lifted off your shoulders. However, in the summer months after you’ve finished with your GCSE revision book and completed your exams, you may find a couple of nagging doubts weighing on you. One of these is what your results will be. This is completely understandable, but come August you’ll finally get your results.
The other little thing that can gnaw away at people after GCSE revision and exams are over is the question of what A Levels (or BTECs or other qualifications) to choose for the next school year. Some people really fret over this, and rightly so: it’s a big life choice to make.
But you shouldn’t let it spoil your summer, and the fact that you have to make a choice doesn’t mean it is one that you need to worry about making. Instead, with the right attitude it’s a decision you can make calmly, comfortably and in your own time.
Look back at the final months of GCSES
A starting point for helping you tackle the question of A Level choices is how well your GCSE revision went. Quite often people find their relationship with some subjects changes completely when it comes to the crunch of doing those final GCSE exams. Subjects that they had loved for the last two years can start to seem a bit boring, while others unexpectedly become a joy to revise for or all the bits about them that didn’t make sense before all click into place. So don’t just assume you’ll go on to study the subjects that you had in mind before you started your GCSE revision; reevaluate what you thought of all your GCSE subjects based on how you felt about them over the last couple of months.
Look more into the content of A Level subjects
Another way of helping you decide about A Levels is to look forward to what the subjects will involve. Now, you may have attended talks by teachers at your school, or open days at local colleges, or you may have even got advice from parents and older siblings or friends. But one really good way of finding out what a subject would have in store for you at A Level is to look at the study materials for it. On our site, for example, we’ve got some great A Level revision guides. Have a look at them. If the topics they cover really capture your imagination, then it’s a good sign you’d enjoy studying that subject at A Level.
Don’t be rushed into making a final decision
The final piece of advice we’d like you to keep in mind is that you don’t have to make a final decision right now. If you’re feeling anxious about one of the A Level choices that you’ve already made, take it as an opportunity to see that you don’t have to study that subject when the new school year starts, rather than seeing everything as a done deal. The time off from studying that you’ll have over the next month or two now that GCSE revision is over will give you the chance to get some perspective on the provisional A Level choices you may have made earlier this year. If that time away makes you think differently about some of those choices, act on the feeling by looking into your options and talking it over with friends, teachers and family rather than burying it down.