What feels easy, what opens doors

Direction is a conversation that runs for years, not a quiz. Pip notices which lessons make time pass quickly, which homework never gets done, and where grades and enjoyment do or do not line up. Then, at each decision point, it says plainly which choices keep which doors open.

Which A levels do I need for medicine?

Nearly every medical school wants Chemistry and Biology, with Maths or Physics often helping too. That's the pattern across UK med schools (Medical Schools Council: entry requirements).

As a concrete example, Manchester's Medicine course asks for Chemistry or Biology plus one more from Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Psychology or Maths, offer AAA, GCSEs at 6+ in Maths, sciences and English (Manchester, 2027 entry). Just one sample school, others vary.

Is medicine something you're seriously considering, or one option among a few you're weighing up?

A real reply from Pip in mentor mode to a Year 11 student in England, 7 September 2026. Links in the original go to the Medical Schools Council and the university's own page.

Year 11, thinking about medicine

A student who likes biology asks what medicine would need. Pip answers with the pattern across UK medical schools, links the Medical Schools Council page it came from, gives one real course as a worked example with its published offer, and then asks a question instead of delivering a verdict.

The same conversation in Year 9 starts differently: which lesson does time fly in, which homework do you least want to do, have you ever thought about what you would like to do later. Only then do subjects come up.

Ease, not just grades

From practice, weak spots and what the student says, Pip keeps an ease signal per subject. When "feels easy" and "scores well" disagree, that is the conversation.

Doors, with sources

Which A Levels medicine, engineering, economics or law usually need, from the Russell Group's Informed Choices and the Medical Schools Council. Linked every time.

The Year 10 constraint, early

Most sixth forms want a 6 or 7 at GCSE before you take a subject at A Level. Pip says so in Year 10, against the student's own grades, not in Year 11 when it is too late.

Real courses, honestly labelled

Published entry requirements from universities' own pages, shown as examples with the link, never as a complete list. A shortlist the student keeps.

What parents see

You see the subjects, grades and the shortlist a student chooses to share in the weekly report. The conversations about who they want to be stay theirs.