• Question: Which GCSEs/ A levels would you recommend doing if you want to be an engineer? Did you take any that you didn't think would help that were quite useful?

    Asked by hannahgrimes to Alex, Chris, Harriet, Jed, Ken on 13 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by charlottie, chlooee, emilyg.
    • Photo: Alexander Zacheshigriva

      Alexander Zacheshigriva answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I did Maths, IT and Physics at the A-levels, which is very standard for engineering.

      I think for any engineering degree most important A-Level is maths and I would suggest doing further maths if you feel up for it. Not only this is important for securing a place but will help you in the studies.

      Other subjects that are relevant and useful: physics, chemistry, IT, Design and Technology

      There are a few subjects that by no means are essential to all engineers, but could be relevant to a specific field, which you may choose to work in the future. So if you enjoy any of the following think of doing them:
      Biology, Geology, Music, Geography, Languages (always useful), Photography

    • Photo: Jed Ramsay

      Jed Ramsay answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I think Alexander has covered the main ones to think about. In my job geography is really useful as I work on rivers and so you can learn a lot about how rivers change the land around them and are also affected by people.

      Maths is pretty key – I didn’t do maths at A’level and recently I did a 3 year course in River Engineering – for which I had to do extra maths courses.

    • Photo: Ken Gibbs

      Ken Gibbs answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      @hannahgrimes: Excellent question but one which requires a very detailed answer. Alex has got the general direction absolutely right but the courses which you need to take will depend on the college or university you hope to attend and the specific type of engineering you aim to do.

      As I come from Africa where I was educated, the requirements were rather different from what is required in the UK (or Europe) today. I took Maths, Additional Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English, French and Latin for my matric. In the same situation today, I would drop the Latin and replace it with another live language such as Spanish or Chinese or Arabic. Also, in today’s world, you will be needing IT and CDT.

      You should remember that it is always possible to add to a basic engineering course and that it isn’t always essential to have to get a qualification for – say – another language providing you can speak and write it fluently. Or IT if you can handle the sorts of computer programmes essential to your work.

      Some of the most interesting people I have met have studied something outside their technical area, so that you might want to think about what interests you rather than only what should appear on your curriculum vitae.

    • Photo: Harriet Fletcher

      Harriet Fletcher answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      There’s a theme to the other answers and I agree with that so I will answer the second part of your question.
      I did economics A-level just because I fancied it and it turned out to be really interesting. I think it has helped me understand the mechanics of money and money is very important in engineering solutions but I wouldn’t say it has been directly useful. I guess what I am saying is it is worth pursuing some things just because you are interested because all knowledge, no matter how random is useful for your thought processes.
      I didn’t do chemistry A-level and that would have definitely come in very handy in my chosen field. But I have managed to catch up most of the chemistry I need so you can always pick stuff up later on if you need it.

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