First advice to all teenagers: don't take subjects because you do / don't like the teacher. Schools change teachers (or teachers leave and get replaced) all the time, so this can lead to nasty surprises.


But on to the question itself: you CAN study engineering without having studying A level physics (or maths), lots do, but it will make it harder to get your head around many of the concepts. Another sideways thought about this, when you enter the world of work you have to work with, and for, many people who you won't like (or at the very least wouldn't necessarily want to go to the pub with). So at some point you have to learn to cope with this - and part of the point of teenage years is learning key steps in coping with other people.


Personally I got on brilliantly with my A level physics teacher, but most definitely did not with my A level maths teacher. I'm sure I would have got much better grades in my A levels if I had got on better with him, but equally I still got through it and would have found my degree much harder if I hadn't..


Typical contact time at A level is (very roughly) 170 hours a year, which is (roughly) the same as working alongside someone for 4.5 weeks in a day job. Not necessarily pleasant if you really don't get on, but quite survivable. And besides, often they don't turn out as expected, it's very common to find teachers behave quite differently to sixth-formers to the way the behave to Y10-11 students. (With apologies to your son, I have to say that I have sympathy with them: as a volunteer going into schools I find Y10-11 by far the hardest to deal with. Lots of hormones, and the impending threat of having to actually get a job at some point is not yet real enough to tame them   Whereas with sixth-formers it's much easier to talk to them as adults.) 


So I certainly advised my children to go for the subject, not the teacher. And they both had a great time in sixth form - at least as far as that point goes - and learned a lot along the way about dealing in an adult way with people and problems.


Yes, I do think a good university would question why an engineering candidate hadn't studied physics at A level (most engineering after all is the application of physics), and he would need a really good reason for why he positively chose the subjects he did choose rather than negatively not choosing physics "because I didn't like the teacher".


Cheers,


Andy

First advice to all teenagers: don't take subjects because you do / don't like the teacher. Schools change teachers (or teachers leave and get replaced) all the time, so this can lead to nasty surprises.


But on to the question itself: you CAN study engineering without having studying A level physics (or maths), lots do, but it will make it harder to get your head around many of the concepts. Another sideways thought about this, when you enter the world of work you have to work with, and for, many people who you won't like (or at the very least wouldn't necessarily want to go to the pub with). So at some point you have to learn to cope with this - and part of the point of teenage years is learning key steps in coping with other people.


Personally I got on brilliantly with my A level physics teacher, but most definitely did not with my A level maths teacher. I'm sure I would have got much better grades in my A levels if I had got on better with him, but equally I still got through it and would have found my degree much harder if I hadn't..


Typical contact time at A level is (very roughly) 170 hours a year, which is (roughly) the same as working alongside someone for 4.5 weeks in a day job. Not necessarily pleasant if you really don't get on, but quite survivable. And besides, often they don't turn out as expected, it's very common to find teachers behave quite differently to sixth-formers to the way the behave to Y10-11 students. (With apologies to your son, I have to say that I have sympathy with them: as a volunteer going into schools I find Y10-11 by far the hardest to deal with. Lots of hormones, and the impending threat of having to actually get a job at some point is not yet real enough to tame them   Whereas with sixth-formers it's much easier to talk to them as adults.) 


So I certainly advised my children to go for the subject, not the teacher. And they both had a great time in sixth form - at least as far as that point goes - and learned a lot along the way about dealing in an adult way with people and problems.


Yes, I do think a good university would question why an engineering candidate hadn't studied physics at A level (most engineering after all is the application of physics), and he would need a really good reason for why he positively chose the subjects he did choose rather than negatively not choosing physics "because I didn't like the teacher".


Cheers,


Andy