Which subject is a big jump from GCSE to A level?

TheAlphaParticle

In my experience it will be chemistry but I heard physics is a even bigger jump but I don't do physics.

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

You can also find the Exam Thread list for A-levels here and GCSE here. :dumbells:

Just quoting in Puddles the Monkey so she can move the thread if needed :h:

Spoiler

Reply 2

Wonder_land

Honestly, it depends on how well you can adjust to the courses. It can be difficult but within a few weeks you'll get used to it but the biggest and most important thing is to keep up with all your work - AND REVISE AS YOU GO ALONG!

Reply 3

Laurenafenete

Original post by TheAlphaParticle

In my experience it will be chemistry but I heard physics is a even bigger jump but I don't do physics.

Its chemistry for the jump between AS and A level but not for GCSE to AS
I found it to be maths although yes physics will be quite a shock but not that bad if you have a good teacher

Reply 4

AdamCee

I found history and German to be a massive jump up from GCSE just because they completely change in structure.

With history we went from 9 mark "essays" all the way to a paper with 2 25 markers, and trying to adjust to that I found really difficult

Also with German firstly going from being able to prepare all your speakings and writings in advance to nothing, and it having a much larger grammatical basis

Reply 5

BirdIsWord

Maths.
For smallest jump i'd say MFLs like Spanish (though still hard)

Reply 6

Vikingninja

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KBKXu3Kg4yg

Reply 7

Lord Kitchener

Original post by AdamCee

Essay based subjects just change their expected structure, whereas in GCSE one size fits all. It's a lot harder to hit criteria in A Level if you don't manipulate your essays well.

Reply 8

username2133313

Original post by TheAlphaParticle

In my experience it will be chemistry but I heard physics is a even bigger jump but I don't do physics.

Personally, I would say Chemistry- certain methods you used in GCSE Chem are disowned when it comes to the A level aspect of it. Also, analytical and application skills are tested to another level.

Having said that, its concepts are relatively straightforward to learn I guess (well, I think it is anyway) and as long as you practice some qs from each topic, you should do fine.

Hope that helped :smile:

Reply 9

shaf6565

Any of the sciences or maths - these subjects at a-level and uni separate the smart from the ordinary in my experience

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Reply 10

Gold-Confetti

I've found history to be a massive jump up. The workload is literally like taking 2 seperate A-Levels. The quality of essay they expect from you is much higher as well. It takes a while to figure out what they truly want from you. I started the year on Bs and low As, but I now get 20+ marks out of 25 at least. Source questions in particular change quite a bit.

However, English lit is definitely the worst. This year I've had to endure a full play, 2 lengthy novels and 28 stupidly long poems. It's also much harder to do well in. I'm unsure as to whether it's my teachers' marking or what, but I was one of the best English students in the year in my secondary school, yet everyone in my a level class cannot get above a B in marked essays no matter how hard we try to improve. I went into A-Levels with English Literature as one of my favourite subjects, and it's now my biggest regret in terms of subject choice.

I've also heard that the sciences and maths in particular are a sizeable jump up.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

Lychee628

Physics was a huge jump:O

Reply 12

QPRTeags

Original post by Gold-Confetti

However, English lit is definitely the worst. This year I've had to endure a full play, 2 lengthy novels and 28 stupidly long poems.

Woah what exam board is that? I'm with AQA and my teacher chose for us to do 2 plays, a novel and 4 poems, Lit was probably my easiest subject this year (others maths and psychology) because there was barely any content

I dropped out of History after a week, could not see myself doing that for 2 years!

Maths is very manageable from GCSE to AS if you are genuinely interested in it, probably the same for other sciences too.

Reply 13

ozzie2

Maths for me but that was mostly because I knew hardly any GCSE stuff, tbh I'd say you should worry more about the jump from AS to A2 which I found worse than from GCSE to AS

Reply 14

saskiaxalana

Original post by BirdIsWord

Maths.
For smallest jump i'd say MFLs like Spanish (though still hard)

I study maths, biology, psychology and Spanish... for me, Spanish definitely has the biggest jump of them all. I think it's because there is just so much grammar to learn, I do enjoy it but the jump was massive.

Reply 15

Gold-Confetti

Original post by QPRTeags

Woah what exam board is that? I'm with AQA and my teacher chose for us to do 2 plays, a novel and 4 poems, Lit was probably my easiest subject this year (others maths and psychology) because there was barely any content
I dropped out of History after a week, could not see myself doing that for 2 years!

Maths is very manageable from GCSE to AS if you are genuinely interested in it, probably the same for other sciences too.

My sixth form is with edexcel. Worst A Level ever. I swear to god, everyone I know, even the STEM people feel sorry for our class. It's a nightmare. Plus one of the books is Mrs.Dalloway- which if you aren't familiar with it, is the most boring book in existence. There is practically zero plot, and everything is written in the form of a stream of consciousness. I hate it so much.

Edexcel also chose 28 post millenium poems which no exam board has ever used before so there are no resources on any of them and at least 5 of them are roughly 4 pages long.
The exam board laughably recommended that 30 minutes analysis in class for each poem is enough!
It takes that long just to frickin' read them all 😤😒

All in all, not good. I adore history, law is a walk in the park and psychology is pretty straight forward as well, despite the masses of content in all. I love those 3 so I take no issue with them.
But for literature, it used to be my favourite, and next years Shakespeare unit looks like a dream, but the lack of hertiage, classical works in this AS year has all but put me off for life. It's also seeming impossible to succeed. Despite including everything I know about context, theatrical form and different meanings (which is a lot especially considering I can take my history knowledge and apply it in American literature units) and critics in my assignments (everything my teacher asks for) I've only gotten one A this year.

I literally give up on English.

And yes, the pun was intended 😂

Reply 16

Oiseaux

In my opinion, History. Going from 7-ish mark answers to 70 mark essays that need to have a specific structure was tough. AS Chemistry was a big jump too.