Intermediate

Discussing what, how and where to study

Academic subjects
Lead-in

Work with a partner. Discuss the following questions.

• What’s the best subject to study at university? Why?

• What are the most popular subjects at university in your country?
• Do you think the most popular subjects vary from country to country? Why / Why not?

Vocabulary

1. Match each subject (1–10) to its correct description (a–j).

1. Art and design

a. The study of science
related to all life. Pronunciation:
Word stress
2. Biosciences b. The study of computing
and information In English, you do not
technology. stress every syllable in
3. Business and c. The study of artistic a word. Some syllables
management creations. are unstressed. For
studies example, we say
‘ART and deSIGN’,
4. Education d. The study of the
‘BIosciences’ and
working world.
‘BUSiness and
MANagement STUdies’.
5. History e. The study of teaching
and learning. Underline the main
stress in each of the
6. IT f. The study of the human subject words in the
mind and feelings. Vocabulary section.

7. Law g. The study of how Then practise saying

groups behave. them with a partner.

8. Nursing h. The study of caring for

the sick and injured.

9. Psychology i. The study of past

events.

10. Sociology and j. The study of the rules in

social studies a country.

2. Test your partner. Say a subject and ask for the description.

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 Intermediate
Discussing what, how and where to study
Academic subjects

Listening

1. Rank the subjects 1–10 according to how popular you think they are in your country.

• Do you think the popularity is different in the UK? How?

2. Listen to a talk on popular subjects in the UK. Order the subjects from Vocabulary according
to their popularity.

• Are you surprised by any of the results?

3. Listen to the talk again. Make notes about the following items.

Listening strategies:
The number of
courses and
When note-taking:
institutions
• Be as detailed as
possible.
• Include key reasons/
explanations.
The range of • Check your notes
courses soon after listening
to make sure you
can understand
them.

Newer
courses

Any reasons
for popularity

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 Intermediate
Discussing what, how and where to study
Academic subjects
Language

1. Look at this sentence from the lecture and answer the following questions.

According to UCAS, which is the Universities and Colleges Admission Service, there are over 37,000
undergraduate courses available in the UK.

1. The information between the commas is:

a. necessary for the sentence to be correct

b. extra information to help the listener.

2. We start the information between commas a relative pronoun (e.g. who, which,
where).

a. with

b. without

2. Here are notes from other parts of the lecture. Combine these into one sentence.

1. Biosciences (covers Marine Biology to Biochemistry) / ninth

2. sixth: Psychology / ahead of Education

3. Art and Design next / cover theoretical and practical disciplines

4. Sociology and Social Sciences / cover all courses on human behaviour / third most sought after

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 Intermediate
Discussing what, how and where to study
Academic subjects
Task

1. Work with a partner. Discuss the following questions. As you discuss the questions, make
notes.

• What other factors should be considered when choosing a course or career? Think of at least
three.
• What advice would you give to someone choosing a university course?
• How do you think the popularity of courses will change in the future?
• Some people opt out of going to university due to the increased costs. What other options are
available?

2. Summarise your discussion for another pair. Did you have any similar ideas?

Reflection

© British Council ARA_B1_01_I101CGL_HO_v1.0

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