AS-Level Geography or History?

My German A-Level and Chemistry clash, so i have to drop German :frown:

My other subjects are Maths Stats and Biology
My only good choices I have are Geography or History (bearing in mind I didn't take any for GCSE :colondollar:

)
I get good grades though A*-B, and I think I could handle it
What are the pros and cons to both???
Thanks :biggrin:

Reply 1

brightbulb

Geography would probably be more suited to your subjects, particularly biology.
Although it also depends on what you want to do at uni :biggrin:

Reply 2

ThumbsUp

how will your school let you take a core subject for a level if u didnt study it at gcse? Geog and History are both subjects that require a solid gcse foundation, because the basic principles are not always recapped, sorry to break it to you..

Reply 3

becky96

Original post by ThumbsUp

Yeah no

Reply 4

lukas1051

I think Geography would be better. It's by no means easy (neither are) but it's not conceptually difficult to pick up from the beginning (whereas with History the skills you learn at GCSE will be more necessary), and parts of Geography tie in with Biology and Statistics; if you're scientifically minded, physical geography will be quite easy and a lot of human geography is common sense.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

ThumbsUp

Original post by becky96

Yeah no

Well i took my geog a2 exam this year and one of the topics i had to learn was development and globalisation, which is in 100 times of detail than the development and globalisation i learnt at gcse, we were expected to fully comprehend all the basic principles before, and we were for rivers, coasts and population.

But obviously your 'yeah no' point is so well constructed and supports a theory that a levels are easy which you have foolishly adopted. You obviously know the answer you want to hear and so my sensible and rational point is of no use anyway...good luck because you're going to desperately need it

Reply 6

becky96

Original post by ThumbsUp

-.- I do not think a-levels are easy. I understand some topics will be harder but i can learn past stuff from teachers and friends. The school aren't not going to ban me from the subjects. And with History, it even says on our prospectus people that didn't take GCSE are accepted on merit

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

tans8701

history will make you more of a all rounder fully developing your essay writing skills however should you now be interested in a arts based degree i would say history but both are just as good in terms of rigor and enjoyability

Reply 8

Clare~Bear

Original post by ThumbsUp

Neither 6th form round here requires you to have done the gcse to do the A-level in geog of history.

OP, it depends on what you want to do. On one hand it would be good to have a proper essay subject like history, but even in geography (ocr) you have to write a 25 mark essay on each of the 2 AS papers and a couple of 30 mark essays on the A2 paper. And have you found out which topics you cover? I loved the gcse history topics, but I think I would be soo bored with the ones at a-level. And at a-level geography, you can cover new and interesting topics like cold environments which include glaciers and arctic regions. There tends to be a lot of overlap with your science subjects and (physical) geography, so that would fit with them better in my opinion. But at a-level it is 1/2 and 1/2 human and physical geography but its more geared at issues and management. So even with the physical topics, it's a lot about how humans affect/manage those areas with a bit on natural processes.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

Starsong

We're not required to have taken History at GCSE, just Maths & English, although it does help. I loved A level History, maybe more because my teacher was a dear and hilarious...but still! Because it's so essay based, if you can tackle a 24 mark (AS) & 45 mark (A2) question you can do ANYTHING and it definitely helps with other subjects.

Geography might work better with Biology o' course.