Don’t know where to start with your subject choices? Whether it’s your first or last time selecting subjects the whole process can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
Researching your subject choices can even help you find out more about yourself and what you want to do in the future. If you already have a set career in mind then make an appointment with your careers advisor at school to help ensure that your choices suit the job that you have in mind.
Finding the right subject for you
Don’t have a plan or career in mind? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. You don’t need to know the specific career you want to pursue to choose your subjects. The solution is actually quite simple: choose what you enjoy, keep your options open and see where it takes you.
Consider what you like doing in your spare time and look for a class which uses similar skills. If you are struggling to recognise your abilities and talents, the best way to discover them is to ask your family, friends or teachers for insight. People close to you can always pinpoint your strengths much easier than you can yourself.
Choosing your subjects doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom, you can have fun with it too. Go to the SQA website to view the wide range of different subjects available in the ever-growing list and have a flick through any which sound intriguing to you. Your school won’t teach all these subjects, so make sure that you check which ones your school offers and speak to your teachers about possible networking opportunities if the subject you want to take is provided at a nearby school.
Sometimes there can be too much choice, so it’s good if you speak to people who have previously studied the subject you are considering like siblings or other students. Remember that nothing is fixed and if a certain subject doesn’t work out for you once you start you can request a change.
Finding the right career for you
When choosing subjects, it’s a good idea to look into the careers that these subjects could lead to and consider whether these options could interest you. Another great way to start thinking about potential careers is through taking online personality tests. The UCAS careers quiz matches your personality traits with jobs which would best suit you and provides a list of courses that previous students completed to get that specific job. You might match with a job that you have never even heard about but discover that it would be perfect for you.
Once you have an idea of the career path or area that you would like to venture into, look up the required subjects for your selected course or job. Adding these subjects will immediately fill up a lot of your choice sheet, so that you will only have a few subject spaces left to ponder. Hopefully these subjects interest you as much as the area, but if they don’t just envision where you want to be after it and know that your hard work will pay off in the long run.
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