Choosing A levels at sixteen involves making decisions about a version of yourself you have not met yet. It is genuinely difficult, and the standard advice (“pick what you enjoy”, “keep your options open”) is both true and not especially useful on its own.
Here is a more practical way through it.
Work backwards from any fixed points
Some university courses have non-negotiable requirements. Medicine needs chemistry almost everywhere, and usually biology. Engineering needs maths and physics. Economics at competitive universities often needs maths. If any of those are even a possibility, check the requirements now rather than in Year 13, because these are the doors that close early.
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If nothing is fixed, that is fine, but say so explicitly rather than drifting. A deliberately broad combination is a strategy. An accidental one usually is not.
Be honest about what you are good at, not just what you like
Enjoyment matters, because you will spend two years on these subjects and interest is what carries you through the difficult middle section. But A levels are a significant step up from GCSE, and the step is steeper in some subjects than others. Further maths, physics and chemistry all move quickly. Essay subjects demand far more independent reading than most students expect.
A subject you love and find hard can absolutely be the right choice. Three of them at once is a harder proposition.
Watch for hidden overlap, and hidden gaps
Some combinations reinforce each other. Maths and physics, history and politics, biology and chemistry: in each case the second subject makes the first easier. That is worth having.
Others quietly demand the same thing from you at the same time. Three essay subjects means three sets of coursework and revision that all reward the same skill, which is efficient if you are strong at it and punishing if you are not. Four heavily quantitative subjects can leave you with no practice at extended writing, which matters more at university than students tend to expect.
Do not pick a subject to please someone
This includes parents, and it includes teachers who are keen to keep good students in their department. It also includes friends. Following a friend into a subject is one of the most common reasons students end up switching in October.
Know that it is not irreversible
The first few weeks of a course are a legitimate time to change your mind, and a good college will help you do it rather than making you feel awkward. Some students also transfer between institutions after an unsatisfactory first year, or take a one year intensive route to make up ground. The range of provision is wider than most people realise, as the A level options at MPW London illustrate, with two year, one year and transfer routes running alongside each other.
The question that actually helps
If you are stuck, try this one: which of these subjects would I read about voluntarily if nobody was assessing me? It will not answer everything, but it is a better guide than a league table, and it tends to point at the subjects you will still be motivated by in the spring term of Year 13.
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