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A-levels: More school pupils opting for science and
maths to boost job prospects
Read the following passage and answer the related questions
As more than 300,000 students got their grades, a growing trend emerged towards sub-
jects prized by employers.
Savvy school pupils are moving back to more traditional subjects in a bid to boost their
career prospects, A-level results showed today.
As more than 300,000 students got their grades, a growing trend towards science and
maths emerged – subjects prized by universities and employers.
Mark Dawe, chief executive of exam board OCR, said: “Choices are often influenced by
the degree they want to do and job they want to do.
“Universities are being very transparent about what they expect.
“It’s not just the grades, it’s the type of subject they expect students to take. It’s employ-
ers saying ‘this is the degree we’re looking at’.”
There were almost 24,000 more entries for the sciences this year compared to 2009 and
19,000 more for maths, the Joint Council for Qualifications said.
Biology, chemistry and physics accounted for 17.8% of entries, up from 17% last year and
15% in 2009.
And 12% of entries were in maths or further maths, up from 11.5% last year and 9.8% five
years ago.
Economics also saw a surge in popularity with 26,139 entries – up by a massive 50% since
2007.
Neil Bentley, deputy director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said: “It’s
clear students are being savvier in the face of higher degree costs and a tougher labour
market, by taking subjects which maximise their future job chances.
“Higher take-up in science and maths is good news, given the critical skills gaps in key
sectors, like manufacturing and engineering.”
However, it meant more modern subjects, such as communications studies and critical
thinking faced massive drops.
Interest in PE, design and drama plunged and examiners said they were concerned about
a slump in students taking foreign languages.
German was down 11% and French nearly 10%. Spanish bucked the trend – up 4% on last
year.