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A Level Geography - GOOD or BAD?

I'm at the period where I need to choose my A Levels, and so far I have chosen History, French, and Spanish. I put my name down for an EPQ but looking ahead I really don't think I will have the willpower to do it along with my other 3 already quite arduous choices.

Instead, I was thinking of doing another A Level, and one that popped up is Geography. I haven't done it for GCSE, however I'm fascinated by human geography such as populations, cities, etc. and I think that I have quite a lot of common sense to do it already.

I was wondering if anyone has/is doing A Level Geography at the moment and has anything to tell me about it? The exam board is AQA. University courses I could see myself going into would probably be language/law related, and as far as I know Geography is very well regarded for both of those paths.

P.S. I know it seems weird that I am thinking of taking another A Level instead of an EPQ in the means of workload, however in an A Level you are actually taught about the subject matter and it also would come in useful for entry requirements when it comes to applying for uni, as an EPQ is something you can only mention in your personal statement.
Original post by george_c00per
I'm at the period where I need to choose my A Levels, and so far I have chosen History, French, and Spanish. I put my name down for an EPQ but looking ahead I really don't think I will have the willpower to do it along with my other 3 already quite arduous choices.

Instead, I was thinking of doing another A Level, and one that popped up is Geography. I haven't done it for GCSE, however I'm fascinated by human geography such as populations, cities, etc. and I think that I have quite a lot of common sense to do it already.

I was wondering if anyone has/is doing A Level Geography at the moment and has anything to tell me about it? The exam board is AQA. University courses I could see myself going into would probably be language/law related, and as far as I know Geography is very well regarded for both of those paths.

P.S. I know it seems weird that I am thinking of taking another A Level instead of an EPQ in the means of workload, however in an A Level you are actually taught about the subject matter and it also would come in useful for entry requirements when it comes to applying for uni, as an EPQ is something you can only mention in your personal statement.


Currently in Year 13 doing AQA Geography. Geography is a facilitating subject, so will be seen as 'good' by pretty much all universities.

In AS geography, there were two physical topics and two human topics, with Rivers being the core physical and Population being the core human. I found it rather GCSE like, such as I could easily get an A without serious revision in geography (not advocating this...). Case studies can be reused from GCSE, but then I had a lot of detail in mine.
If you do GCSE geography and are good at it, it won't really be that much more difficult. However A2 is much more difficult (be warned).

But yeah, geography does have some common sense in it, like any other subject to be honest.
I'm just a bit wary of telling you anything, because you'll have to do the new 2-year course from this September, which will probably be VERY different.
Original post by Peppercrunch
Currently in Year 13 doing AQA Geography. Geography is a facilitating subject, so will be seen as 'good' by pretty much all universities.

In AS geography, there were two physical topics and two human topics, with Rivers being the core physical and Population being the core human. I found it rather GCSE like, such as I could easily get an A without serious revision in geography (not advocating this...). Case studies can be reused from GCSE, but then I had a lot of detail in mine.
If you do GCSE geography and are good at it, it won't really be that much more difficult. However A2 is much more difficult (be warned).

But yeah, geography does have some common sense in it, like any other subject to be honest.
I'm just a bit wary of telling you anything, because you'll have to do the new 2-year course from this September, which will probably be VERY different.


That's what is annoying, no one has done the specification which I'll be doing next year, however looking at specimen papers compared to past papers shows that there isn't really that much difference, it's still along the same lines of human and physical geography.

Will I be able to cope if I have no GCSE in it, though?
One of my friends did AS Geography without a Geography GCSE and she got an A so it's definitely possible if you put the work in! She's doing really well in A2 now as well. Personally, I love Geography, and as a facilitating subject it's also well regarded by universities (I've applied for law).

Good luck with the languages! I do French and it's a killer
Original post by freefood
One of my friends did AS Geography without a Geography GCSE and she got an A so it's definitely possible if you put the work in! She's doing really well in A2 now as well. Personally, I love Geography, and as a facilitating subject it's also well regarded by universities (I've applied for law).

Good luck with the languages! I do French and it's a killer


Thanks, I'm so worried about French haha, I can read it and write it perfectly well but when it comes to speaking I always stutter and listening can be hard sometimes, but I'm predicted an A* so I should be ok!!
Original post by george_c00per
Thanks, I'm so worried about French haha, I can read it and write it perfectly well but when it comes to speaking I always stutter and listening can be hard sometimes, but I'm predicted an A* so I should be ok!!


Speaking is terrifying in A level! I'm doing AQA French and it's 15 minutes of speaking in both AS and A2 (with 20 minutes prep time for a stimulus card), most of which should be spontaneous, although a lot of preparation can be done.

It's pretty common for A grade GCSE students to go down to Es (happened to quite a few people in my school) so make sure you put all the work in!
Original post by freefood
Speaking is terrifying in A level! I'm doing AQA French and it's 15 minutes of speaking in both AS and A2 (with 20 minutes prep time for a stimulus card), most of which should be spontaneous, although a lot of preparation can be done.

It's pretty common for A grade GCSE students to go down to Es (happened to quite a few people in my school) so make sure you put all the work in!


Oh I will do, trust me!! Luckily we don't have AS level now so I won't have an actual exam in the first year meaning I can put in all of my effort doing the final A2 one. I'll be on AQA too, but the course itself looks fascinating and I can't wait to delve into the culture of France and Spain and much more :smile:
Personally I think Geography is a really good A level to take, but then I might be biased because it's one of my subjects haha! I know a few people that have done it at A level without the GCSE ans seem to have managed fine, but some of the topics would be different anyway so it doesn't matter a huge amount. I'm doing AQA and there's a nice mix of human and physical but you have to cover both for the exam so have a look and see realistically whether it's something you'd be interested in. It's a good subject though that can be applied to pretty much any degree course! :smile:

It would be a lot more work than EPQ though, I personally didn't enjoy EPQ that much but some universities do like it and will lower your entry requirements so it might be worth seeing if any of the ones you like the look of accept it and will give you alternate grades. (Sheffield offered me AAB or if I got an A in my EPQ then they'd lower it to ABB, but because I turned down their offer it didn't make any difference!)

Hope this helped, good luck with your choices! :smile:

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