How much harder is A2 than AS?
Discussion for A-Level students and for those choosing their A-Level subjects.
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?The gap isn't really too comparable because while the work is more similar from AS to A2 than from GCSE to AS, it becomes more detailed and more in depth.
You'll stay on top of the workload as long as you don't procrastinate or let yourself slack. Speaking specifically for Psychology the workload isn't too much as long as you stick to the goals you set for yourself and don't leave revision til last-minute! -
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Not as much of a jump as GCSE to AS. It is more difficult obviously but not as hard as you think, especially as you should have your revision techniques down by this point and have a good base of relevant knowledge. Can speak from experience re: Psychology - not too hard to jump. Learn all the studies as best you can (not necessarily the AS ones, I didn't use any of them but tbf I did only get a B) and practise practise practise AO2/3!!
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Maths or physics a level. We would always debate at my college which one was more difficult. I still hold my view that a level physics is the most difficult a level there is. Having said that i did get an A last year. And I'm hoping for an A come this Aug
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?I did psychology and sociology at A2 and I did notice a slight difference from AS. I don't know what exam boards you're with, but expect more content and depth. It's not really hard though!
One of the biggest mistakes I made was underestimating just how much I needed to remember for my psychology exams - don't leave it until the last minute! With psychology (and sociology) there are lots of pieces of research/researcher's names/key terms to know off by heart, so definitely plan well ahead
. Go through every past paper, examiner's report and mark scheme you can get your hands on too. Another thing I'd suggest is to make use of TSR! You'll find specific threads for your exam and the support and help you'll get from members is brilliant; everyone's in the same boat as you and it puts you at ease .
Last edited by SecretCircus; 28-07-2012 at 17:41. -
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Dude. Sociology has one of the lowest grade boundries. Ie 60% for an A. I remember doing a sociology as a few years ago. Got an A with just some last minute work lmao
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?I found A2 a lot easier because I dropped one of my subjects. Going from 4 subjects to 3 made a big difference as I had a lot more free time. The course content was similar in difficulty both years.
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?Clearly depends what subject.
P.E A2 is the same if not abit easier than AS IMO, the content anyway, the exam may be harder because you have to do longer questions in A2 (20mark questions) than in AS (10 mark questions).
However maths A2 is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy harder than AS. -
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?The only one I can answer for is English Language as I have just this year finished A2. The A2 exam is a lot harder than the AS exam, a lot of things that you need to learn for it, prepare early. As for the coursework, that's not so bad. You get a lot of time to complete it. This is for AQA btw. Just incase you like to know, at AS, I got an A in the coursework and a high C in the exam, and at A2 I got a low C in the exam but had to bring my grade back up by getting an A in the coursework. As you can see the exams are a bit of a pain (for me, anyway), so make sure you get good marks in the coursework and you should be fine. I already know my A2 grade, got a B overall. Good Luck.
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?(Original post by ChloeElizabeth)
Not as much of a jump as GCSE to AS. It is more difficult obviously but not as hard as you think, especially as you should have your revision techniques down by this point and have a good base of relevant knowledge. Can speak from experience re: Psychology - not too hard to jump. Learn all the studies as best you can (not necessarily the AS ones, I didn't use any of them but tbf I did only get a B) and practise practise practise AO2/3!!
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(Original post by ellieHA)
The gap isn't really too comparable because while the work is more similar from AS to A2 than from GCSE to AS, it becomes more detailed and more in depth.
You'll stay on top of the workload as long as you don't procrastinate or let yourself slack. Speaking specifically for Psychology the workload isn't too much as long as you stick to the goals you set for yourself and don't leave revision til last-minute!
Which exam board did you all do for Psychology? Im with WJEC. I've had a look at the specification, and PY3 seems pretty straightforward, but PY4 seemed like there is a lot of content to learn. I will deffo try and not leave Psychology revision to the last minute, I did that for the first module exam, and although I did okay, I could have done much better. Oh well, lesson learnt I guess!(Original post by SecretCircus)
I did psychology and sociology at A2 and I did notice a slight difference from AS. I don't know what exam boards you're with, but expect more content and depth. It's not really hard though!
One of the biggest mistakes I made was underestimating just how much I needed to remember for my psychology exams - don't leave it until the last minute! With psychology (and sociology) there are lots of pieces of research/researcher's names/key terms to know off by heart, so definitely plan well ahead. Go through every past paper, examiner's report and mark scheme you can get your hands on too. Another thing I'd suggest is to make use of TSR! You'll find specific threads for your exam and the support and help you'll get from members is brilliant; everyone's in the same boat as you and it puts you at ease .
Also, @secretcircus, which exam board were you with for Sociology? Im with WJEC. -
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?Im with AQA for English Language too. Although we do the exam module first, I've already started looking for ideas for my coursework. That's not going too well though, as I haven't got a clue what to base my coursework on :/(Original post by JakeE10)
The only one I can answer for is English Language as I have just this year finished A2. The A2 exam is a lot harder than the AS exam, a lot of things that you need to learn for it, prepare early. As for the coursework, that's not so bad. You get a lot of time to complete it. This is for AQA btw. Just incase you like to know, at AS, I got an A in the coursework and a high C in the exam, and at A2 I got a low C in the exam but had to bring my grade back up by getting an A in the coursework. As you can see the exams are a bit of a pain (for me, anyway), so make sure you get good marks in the coursework and you should be fine. I already know my A2 grade, got a B overall. Good Luck.
On a scale of 1-10, how much harder would you say the A2 exam is?
Thanks
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?Yeah I could've done much better (I think) if I'd started revising a bit earlier. Sorry, I was with AQA A for psychology and OCR for sociology.(Original post by rainbowdust)
Which exam board did you all do for Psychology? Im with WJEC. I've had a look at the specification, and PY3 seems pretty straightforward, but PY4 seemed like there is a lot of content to learn. I will deffo try and not leave Psychology revision to the last minute, I did that for the first module exam, and although I did okay, I could have done much better. Oh well, lesson learnt I guess!
Also, @secretcircus, which exam board were you with for Sociology? Im with WJEC. -
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?A2 definitely tends to be harder. Maths A-level is a particularly good example - C1 and C2 are a doddle compared to C3 and C4. For new subjects like Economics it's often more difficult too, as the AS year would have been an introduction to the subject, building up to a terrorising second year(Original post by rainbowdust)
Is the gap from AS to A2 bigger than the gap from GCSE to AS? The subjects I will be carrying onto A2 are English Language, Psychology and Sociology.
Also, tips on A2 workload and revision would be appreciated!
A2s are generally where you get properly stuck into a subject, but if you work it's all good. -
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Re: How much harder is A2 than AS?In my opinion, it is. I did physics maths bio in my A2 and the workload was so much heavier than AS's, things were so much more difficult as well! I was told that AS is slightly more harder than GCSE while AS to A2 is a big jump.(Original post by rainbowdust)
Is the gap from AS to A2 bigger than the gap from GCSE to AS? The subjects I will be carrying onto A2 are English Language, Psychology and Sociology.
Also, tips on A2 workload and revision would be appreciated!
My tutor's advice for revision of each AS subject is 4 hours per week while for A2 is 5.5 hours per week. I found this quite an useful guideline n hope it helps u
