A/AS level IT

[Knoxville]

Seconded on History, if you find Nazi's/Hitlers rise to power as interesting as I do its a great subject if you don't mind putting the effort in. ICT is simple as Forrest Gump tbh Its all Excel and database work, I've actually done 2 projects for it so far cos I get bored in the one lesson a week I attend Ste what date do they have to be in officially?

[utdmleach]

History essay writing is good when you know what you're talking about.

[Kumagoro]

Well dont do the languages unless you are actually interested in them. language isnt something you can pick up from only lessons dont you think? is your location accurate? i.e in france?

Personally i would go for IT because if you like that sort of thing it will be a piece of piss you get a high mark and it looks good on your CV. The people hiring wont know that its crap probably and they will think IT hmm more useful than history most likely.

[utdmleach]

I'll do anything to avoid maths n sciences (yes im in France)

[Kumagoro]

Well i assume you are pretty good at french so seems like an obvious choice?

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

If your doing IT for the sake of it to fill up spaces and find computers come naturally to you, go for it - it's a free A Level. Boring but free.

On the other hand if your thinking of doing IT with a possible view to going to Computer Science or a related subject you will need some form of maths grounding. I haven't seen a straight computer science course anywhere that won't have Maths modules for probably about the first two years to go along side your Informatics.

Computer Science is heavily programming based and as such is forged on mathematical concepts such as algorithms. If maths isn't your thing Computer Science shouldn't really be a consideration as a by the by.

EDIT - Some dodgy spelling!

[Kezzer]

Yup, i'm studying Computer Science at the moment. It's heavily based on maths as you can mathematically prove how your code works. It's a heavy part of computer science as it's all to do with logic/maths/programming. As a compulsory you have to do maths for the first and second year

Also, don't expect there to be super cool units at uni. I have to do law and sociology as part of my degree!

[Kumagoro]

If you cant do maths def dont do electronics, the people who were poor at maths tended towards programming so its not that bad.

[Xaneden]

I hope to design electronics when I'm older, and in my school, you have to do 3 A Levels and 1 AS Level for 6th Form. I have been told by my physics teacher that I should do Physics, Maths and Electronic Theory, but I wondered if anyone could suggest a good AS level to compliment that?

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

I hope to design electronics when I'm older, and in my school, you have to do 3 A Levels and 1 AS Level for 6th Form. I have been told by my physics teacher that I should do Physics, Maths and Electronic Theory, but I wondered if anyone could suggest a good AS level to compliment that?

I'll assume your in 5th year doing GCSEs at the moment.

Maths - Definately, you basically can't go wrong with maths when it comes to applying for any sort of science especially a practical one like electronics. You'll be constantly using maths in electronics.

Physics - Another obvious choice. I'm just finishing up A2 Phyiscs at the moment and there is some useful Electronics stuff in there. Capactiors, Resistors and their theories. Electromagnetic Induction, electron physics, particle physics. Plus you've got the bonus of having experience using equipment such as voltmeters, ammeters, galvanometers, CROs, transformers, signal generators and the like.

Electronic Theory - Never heard of it as an A Level but yea, theory concerning electronics is bound to be good for an electronics course

As for another AS - I would say probably if you were capable of doing Further Maths I would go for it. I haven't done it personally but it would be a major help in the first few years maths modules at Uni. You would most likely want to take it on with a view to finish it as a full A2 but if you feel you aren't capable don't bother. You'll still be able to cope at Uni and you'd miss all the random Further stuff you don't need.

Basically with those three A Levels you'd get into most Unis with about BBB save say Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial or any of those stupidly high graded ones for electronics.

I'm hoping to go to Edinburgh next year and the only A Level they explicitly ask for in relation to Electronics is Maths. (I've applied for Computer Science And Electronics MEng)

[Kumagoro]

If you want to do electronics (what i did) then those suggestions do make sense.

the extra as though hmm you know you will do software programming in electronics you cant get away from it i suspect... I had to do ARM assembly, VHDL, C++, TCL TK.
This was me avoiding software buy the way as im rubbish at it. I basically did no programming before uni and i got left behind in software. In my exp the better people get the help and the ones poor at it get very little help. So a grounding in software even if VB would help as you will be able to keep up longer get through the first year then drop it.

[Xaneden]

Ok thanks guys.

[Matt1eD]

Doesn't matter, you haven't done GCSE IT, its v. basic.

[jinstom]

i am an a-level student who is planing to do my A2-level computing project in VB.Net. pls help me with desiding on my projects topic.

[CMC]

AS and A2 sucks... it is all database and crap like that...

[Matt1eD]

jinstom you're going to have to have some decent input processing output preferably with a DB backend.

Just think of any problems you or your school have - if it's imposed on you it's very difficuly to feel 'passionate' about it and consequently get all you want into it. Start with thinking what you're interests are?