Choosing Your Subjects

How Many A Levels or BTECs will you take?

Most students take three full time Advanced Level subjects, and you will be asked to choose three main subjects in your application.

You can add a fourth subject, which you may take as part of your course.

Whether you take three or four subjects will depend on your results at GCSE. You can see our general entry requirements for taking three or four Advanced Level subjects here.

The subjects you choose can be made up purely of A Levels, Vocational courses or a combination of both.

Choosing your course

You have a great choice of 40 Advanced Level subjects at Holy Cross, but it's important to choose the right ones.

We want you to enjoy your time here, and to give you the best chances of getting into your preferred career, university course or apprenticeship when you leave us.

When choosing a subject, try asking yourself these questions:

1. Have you been good at, and enjoyed, the subject in the past?
2. Do you have a strong interest in the subject and, if you haven’t studied it formally before, have you researched it and made sure it will suit your strengths and interests?
3. Do you need particular subjects to access a specific university or degree course? You’ll find details on UCAS and the university's websites, and staff here can also help you.
4. Do you have a particular course and university you are interested in? 
5. If so, have you checked that these subjects would be acceptable?

The last question may be of particular importance.

All our Level 3 qualifications are widely accepted by universities, but because there are some differences between our courses, there may be a small number of universities that will not accept specific qualifications for certain programmes.

If you have a particular university or course in mind, we recommend you research the requirements in detail on that university website, to check your subject choices are appropriate.

We encourage students to be proactive about this and expect them to take some ownership of this.

This is because the number of courses and related conditions are so varied, the College cannot be certain of all requirements.

Are you considering an application to Oxbridge?

It's always important to have discussions relating to the 'right advanced level subjects to take', particularly if you are thinking of an application to Oxbridge.

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, has a section on its website where they are quite explicit about the A Levels and qualifications they do and don't want.

Although every college at Oxford and Cambridge is slightly different, we'd encourage any students thinking about applying to a particular college to check its subject choice guidance, such as: Subject choice guidance | Lucy Cavendish (cam.ac.uk).

For further information on which subjects to choose for Oxford and Cambridge, please click here: Oxford and Cambridge

'Facilitating' subjects?

The Government has in the past referred to some subjects as ‘facilitating’ subjects. They are: Maths, Further Maths, English Literature, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Geography, History and Languages (Modern and Classical).

Russell Group universities, which are the most competitive, no longer use a list of ‘facilitating’ subjects in their subject recommendations, although it is sensible for students to look at https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk to help select the right subjects for them.

English and Maths GCSE

If you start at Holy Cross without a GCSE pass at grade 4 in Maths or English Language we will require you to re-sit the GCSE or take another appropriate qualification, as it will be important for you in later life and for university entries.  If however, you do not gain a grade 4 in either Maths or English Language, we reserve the right not to enrol you on a Level 3 programme and would discuss the posibility of a 'Progression Year' course with you. 

Useful Links

Russell Group of Universities

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