Introduction to the Sixth Form

We expect that most of you will study four subjects in the Lower Sixth. Some of you however may attempt three; a few may aim at five for the first year of the Sixth Form course. The system of AS and A2 examinations – with the AS qualification available at the end of the Lower Sixth, and the A2 qualification available for those who continue with a subject for a second year – means that there is a significant number of courses on offer.

You should consult carefully on your choice of subjects. You are in the fortunate position, not enjoyed by pupils of previous generations, of not having to reduce your choice to three. So you may find that your choice of four is an easy and obvious one to make: you may find that you have a clear idea of three which fit together – say Maths, Physics and Chemistry – but would like also to continue your studies in a foreign language as well; you may even find that narrowing the choice down to four will be difficult. Whatever your thought-process on this issue, it is important that there is a thought-process involved in making the selection, and that you are prepared to listen to the advice available from subject teachers, Heads of Academic Departments, Housemaster or Housemistress, and from the Director of Studies and his academic team. We are all concerned to find the choice of courses which is right for you individually and, since this choice is such an important one, it is as well not to rush into it, nor to choose simply on the basis of where you expect – or indeed achieved - your best GCSE results.

In fact, when choosing your courses, it goes without saying that you should select subjects which you think will maximise your potential with regard to final grades. Often these will be subjects you enjoy or subjects where you have shown a particular aptitude. If you can, you should also bear in mind the university and career options you may wish to pursue beyond school and you should check your proposed courses against these plans. Alternatively you may wish to keep open a variety of options, and so you may wish not to close off too many possibilities through the subjects you select. Your A Level courses will be assessed on what is called a modular basis. You should not worry too much about the jargon: essentially a modular course is one which is assessed not simply by examinations at the end of the course but one which is assessed by examinations, or through the submission of coursework, at various points during the course. In practice most AS modules will be taken in June of the Lower Sixth year, although some will be taken in January; in the second year, A2 modules will be taken in some subjects in January and in all subjects in June. Again you should not be too concerned about the detail at this stage: but you should remember that you are effectively working directly towards examinations and coursework from the very beginning of your Lower Sixth courses.

The options shown in the four blocks below need some explanation. Each subject listed will be available as a full A Level over two years and also as an AS Level over one year. You will not need to decide until August 2013 whether you wish to continue with each chosen AS subject to a full A2 Level in June 2014 (however, you should be aware that each member of the Upper Sixth is required to complete three academic courses during the second year of the Sixth Form). So, at the start of the Lower Sixth Form, it would, for example, be possible for you to choose four subjects (one from each block) and then:

 •   Continue with three subjects to A2 Level, leaving the fourth as an AS Level qualification.
 •   Or continue with all four subjects to A2 Level.
 •   Or continue with two subjects to A2 Level and take a new AS Level with Lower Sixth classes during the year.

 

BLOCK A	BLOCK B	BLOCK C	BLOCK D
Art*	Biology	Biology	Business Studies
Business Studies	Business Studies	English Literature	English Literature
Chemistry	Chemistry	German	French
Economics	Classical Civilisation	Government/Politics	Government/Politics
French	Design	History	Latin
Geography	Economics	Mathematics	Mathematics
History	English Literature	Philosophy of Religion	Furthur Mathematics
	Music	Physics	Physical Education
		Spanish	Drama/Theatre Studies

 

(Please note that Art, marked *, is offered as the Cambridge Pre-U Certificate syllabus, rather than the standard A Level course. The Pre-U qualification offers the equivalent of an A Level in the eyes of universities, but the non-modular nature of the course, and the more imaginative syllabuses in this subject, allow for a better experience of the subject at Sixth Form level. More detail on this course is offered in the subject descriptor, and is available from the Director of Art.)

Further Maths is usually taken as a “double” A Level by someone who is very strong in Maths. Thus we generally expect that anyone who takes Further Maths will opt for only two other courses but, very occasionally, three courses may be taken. Further Maths is taken in both Blocks D and E (see below) and thus, if you opt for it, you will not then be able to take a two-year AS Level in Block E.

If a particular subject appears in more than one block, it makes no difference in which block you choose to take it. It is possible that some pupils will need to be reallocated to the same subject in a different block in order to balance set sizes. We naturally attempt to satisfy the desired combination of courses you make but we are not able to guarantee you a combination which does not appear here.

In addition, to maintain as much breadth as we can in the options open to you, four AS Level courses, to be studied over two years instead of just one, will be available. You can opt for one of these two-year AS Level courses as an alternative to choosing a subject from one of the four blocks above. It will be possible to choose any two-year course irrespective of the combination of other subjects selected (apart from Further Maths – see above).

Geology AS
Greek AS
History of Art AS
Italian AS
Further Mathematics
You can therefore opt for:

 •   Four AS subjects, one selected from each of the main four blocks (A-D)
 •   Four AS subjects, three selected from the four main blocks (A-D) and one two-year AS course
 •   Five AS subjects (only on the advice of the Director of Studies in consultation with a pupil's parents and Housemaster/mistress), consisting of four selected from the four main blocks (A-D) and one two-year AS course from Block E.

As the first year of the Sixth Form course passes and you work towards AS modules in each of the subjects you have chosen, you will perhaps begin to recognise that it will be best to focus on three rather than four courses in the second year (we have found in the last few years that most of our pupils are best advised to study three A2 courses in the Upper Sixth). This sense may well be reinforced by how your thoughts about university are tending, as particular university courses may well demand qualifications at A2 in some of the subjects you are studying rather than in others. The academic staff at Cranleigh, your personal tutor, and the Senior Tutor, who runs university applications, will be of considerable use at this stage of your Sixth Form career. Again the best advice is that you are ready to ask for and consider their suggestions and comments.