Data scientist
Statistics, Computer Science and Mathematics at GCSE, then a Level 5 apprenticeship or a degree.
the nearest apprenticeship standard, two steps above A levels · 3 standards and 10 school subjects share ideas with this job · Skills England, ESCO, DfE subject content
Level 5 — England’s qualification levels run 1–8: GCSE is 2, A level is 3, a bachelor’s degree is 6.
Which subjects build towards it?
Bar — strength of the overlap relative to the strongest subject (1.00); not a grade or an entry requirement.
DfE subject content · matched to the apprenticeship standards below by sch.today
Statistics leads because the job and the course share the same ideas: format selection, outlier, mean, standard deviation.
All subjects and shared ideas10
| Subject | Match | Shared ideas |
|---|---|---|
| GCSE Statistics | 1.00 | format selection, outlier, mean, standard deviation, qualitative data |
| GCSE Computer Science | 0.94 | data structure, algorithm, testing, integer, string |
| A level Mathematics | 0.84 | perform data cleansing, outlier, data distribution, standard deviation, data presentation |
| GCSE Biology | 0.55 | data extraction, peer review, presentation, accuracy |
| GCSE Mathematics | 0.55 | integer, mean, outlier, chart |
| GCSE Geography | 0.53 | mean, chart, qualitative data, quantitative data, presentation |
| A level Geography | 0.49 | mean, qualitative data, quantitative data, data quality, data presentation |
| GCSE Psychology | 0.40 | mean, qualitative data, quantitative data, non-verbal communication |
| GCSE Business Studies | 0.31 | chart, qualitative data, quantitative data |
| GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition | 0.27 | cost, presentation |
Which apprenticeships lead here?
Apprenticeship standard — the official list of what an apprentice in one job must know and be able to do; the level says how advanced it is. Level 3 can start straight after GCSEs.
Skills England, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0
Where are these subjects taken most?
Secondary schools with at least 30 pupils in Year 11, ranked by the share taking Statistics, Computer Science and Mathematics, weighted by how strongly each subject leads here.
Ranking — shows what pupils study, not how well a school prepares them for the job.
DfE subject entries
More schools9
What the job is
Data scientists find and interpret rich data sources, manage large amounts of data, merge data sources, ensure consistency of data-sets, and create visualisations to aid in understanding data. They build mathematical models using data, present and communicate data insights and findings to specialists and scientists in their team and if required, to a non-expert audience, and recommend ways to apply the data.
Occupations and their descriptions: ESCO classification of the European Commission, © European Union.
This is a model of overlapping content, not careers advice or entry requirements, which employers and training providers set. Occupations and their descriptions: ESCO classification of the European Commission, © European Union. Apprenticeship standards: Skills England, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. School subjects and entries: Department for Education. Links between them are made by sch.today. Methodology.