What to think about when choosing school subjects

You need to weigh up a few things when choosing your school subjects. It's not just about what you enjoy – though that's important to consider, as you're likely to put more effort into the subjects you enjoy – but also about what subjects will be useful to you in the future.

Here are some tips to help you make a decision about what school subjects to choose.

Know your options

Each school is likely to offer different subject options. Some of the options you can take may also depend on your timetable at school, and subjects like maths and English may be compulsory.

Think about your abilities and interests at school

When you are deciding on what subjects to take, ask yourself questions like:

What subjects am I good at or not so good at?
Am I a good writer, good with numbers, a practical person?
Which subjects have I enjoyed studying?
Which subjects do I dislike and why?

Thinking about these sorts of things will help you figure out what subjects you could do and what jobs you could pursue in the future.

Andrew Purvis is taking Year 11 science and Year 12 computing to help him reach his goal of becoming an information systems officer in the Army.

"I chose these subjects because computers are turning up everywhere, in so many jobs, so you want to be able to do at least some of the basics when you start working. I was thinking about the future. That’s why you pick subjects – to help enhance your future, not just because your friends are taking them."

Andrew Purvis, Student

How will your choices affect your future?

When making subject choices, you need to think about how your choices will affect your future career options and/or your future tertiary training options.

Find out more about the careers that interest you to get an idea of what secondary subjects are recommended. Each job summary on our website includes information about recommended secondary subjects in the ‘How to enter the job’ section.

Search for information about jobs you are interested in

You can also use these tools to help you find out what subjects and careers might suit you.

Keep your career options open

Most people change their minds about what they want to do in the future. Your interests and abilities will change over time, or you might find out about new careers that you had never heard of before.

If you’re unsure about what job you want to do, try to study a wide range of subjects at school. This will give you more options later on.

Keeping a broad range of subjects may give you better options in the future, particularly if your plans change. After six years as a pharmacy technician, Nora Parore realised she'd found her passion and enrolled in a pharmacy programme. But she wished she'd kept up with science at school.

"For a lot of students coming into first year health science, it was a small stepping stone from Seventh Form. I thought that if I went to uni, I would do business or accounting, so I took Fifth Form science and that was it.

"If I could recommend to anyone, I would say do science - persevere through. Don't view science as being scary – it's not!"

Nora Parore, Community Pharmacist

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