Selecting subjects for the final two years of school is not an easy decision. The combination of subjects has to interest the student and should make sense for selecting undergraduate courses later. When we discuss this with students, most of the time the conversation takes the direction of how hard or easy the subject is. In a world where academic grades matter the most, we understand the motivation to choose the easy way out. However, almost always, we nudge our students to opt for challenging subjects. Here’s why:

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Your Grades Matter, but in Context

Out of all your details in an application, like academics, extracurricular and super-curricular activities, your grades will be the topmost criterion for your university admission. However, admission officers will look at your marks in the context of the subjects you have chosen. For instance, if you take content-heavy subjects, they will not compare you with another student who has opted for easier subjects only based on grades. When you choose hard subjects, you provide evidence that you are capable of managing challenges and are ready for a demanding university course.

Subject Combination Matters

Your selection of subjects cannot happen in isolation or purely based on interest. It has to fit into the university’s criteria for different courses. For instance, studying medicine in the UK requires chemistry and biology, engineering needs maths and physics (often further maths), and economics/finance requires maths. You not only become eligible but also build a strong foundation to study university-level courses.

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Hard Subjects can be the Tiebreaker

When two applicants have similar grades and profiles, admissions officers look closer to break the tie. An A in a harder subject typically carries more weight than an A in an easier one.

Long-Term Skill Building

By choosing a harder path through your high school, you are developing a habit of doing difficult tasks. You are training yourself to juggle difficult things and manage time effectively. These are skills that will help you in university, where you will be in an unstructured environment, unlike school. You will be better equipped to manage your studies in a demanding setting. When you come across something challenging, you work on it repeatedly to grasp the concept or solve a question. This repeated effort builds resilience, a valuable life skill in an uncertain world.

Having made all these arguments for choosing hard subjects, we would leave you with a caution. You should choose a hard subject only if you have the aptitude to study it or have a real interest in it. Otherwise, you will struggle with keeping up with it. The goal is to build a few skills along the way and not choose something challenging for the sake of it.

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