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Taking the supposedly 4 hardest A-Levels

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Original post by Samii123
I will have such a phenomenal workload that I won't be able to have a social life


I have a friend that takes all of those. Given that he has friends, I'm gonna say this statement is false. Maths isn't even that hard, I've found my French AS to be much harder than the maths.

While I don't take them myself, I have heard that the new physics and chemistry specifications are hellish

Original post by k.m.b
doing the exact same but switch physics with french
my friends have told me im ruining my life

French does ruin your life can confirm
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Samii123
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Original post by Retired_Messiah
I have a friend that takes all of those. Given that he has friends, I'm gonna say this statement is false. Maths isn't even that hard, I've found my French AS to be much harder than the maths.

While I don't take them myself, I have heard that the new physics and chemistry specifications are hellish


French does ruin your life can confirm


I've heard that the new specifications were made to be harder. Since only one year is taking them so far I don't really know how much harder they are from before.
Original post by moshe015
People saying Biology is just memerising havent done the new course. Its much harder now just like all the sciences.

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Nope, Biology is still just memorising, still an easy science but harder than people think

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Original post by Samii123
I've heard that the new specifications were made to be harder. Since only one year is taking them so far I don't really know how much harder they are from before.


The new specs for physics and chemistry (on AQA at least) are either a lot harder or being taught really badly at my school. I'm guessing it's the former, but it could be a combination. Lots of people claiming to be doing really bad on exams set in class and the like, but perhaps that will translate to low grade boundaries. Hard to say.

Biology, which I take, is apparently harder to some degree but it's the easiest science and I feel my first bio exam went pretty well. As others have said, a lot of it's memorising, but there is the odd bit of weird maths (put this in standard form because why the **** not) which won't be problem if you do A level maths. There's also been some pretty weird application questions on the specimen papers we've been given which need some serious mental gymnastics but if you've managed to memorise the relevant concepts they're usually fine.

Spoiler

I think it depends what grade you want, for example if you wanted all A*s then yes you would likely have no social life, but if you only want Cs then you will probably be fine.
Original post by Retired_Messiah
French does ruin your life can confirm


Thanks for the confirmation, great confidence booster that

Spoiler

Honestly I think it really depends what you're good at. I don't take STEM subjects personally, I take essay subjects/ arts, but I have several friends taking the subjects you named.

As far as workload goes, honestly, I am more often drowned in work than my science friends. However, their work is more concept based than memory based. Half the time once they understand something they don't have to spend hours hammering it in like I have to do in order to memorise every tiny detail, they just do quick refreshes before tests on method and process etc.

Any a level combo is going to destroy your life if you want to do well and have straight As, but if you are good at the subjects you're taking then my advice to you is not to worry, you'll be fine.

One of my closest friends takes maths, further, chemistry and CompSci, and he is doing really well across the board despite doing basically nothing in most of his frees. If you play to your strengths then you will most likely succeed.
Good luck!
Original post by k.m.b
Thanks for the confirmation, great confidence booster that

Spoiler


I'm an AS student, I haven't done my french AS exam yet.
Original post by Retired_Messiah
I'm an AS student, I haven't done my french AS exam yet.


Ah, bonne chance, j'espere que l'examen va bien pour tu!
what degree can you get at university if you do Biology and Physics at A Level but not maths?
I think it really depends what you like/dislike, if you didn't like the subject at GCSE I'd definitely wouldn't advise taking it at a level even if you are good at it, just because I've found that if I'm interested in the subject, I spend more time revising it and it isn't such a drag. I took the three sciences and maths, dropping physics at A2 since it got significantly harder and I didn't particularly like it. People say the sciences are hard and they definitely are challenging at times but I'd personally find essay based subject a lot harder since I'm not a great time keeper in exams and I'm just not as interested in history/english etc as I am in the sciences. I also think taking the sciences together is a good option as again they are similar kind of learning and exam style I.e. predominantly shortish answers instead of essays as I think a mix of essays and recall learning can be difficult to time manage, for me atleast anyway.
Reply 151
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ZL123
Hope I won't completely die from doing Further Maths, Music, Music Tech, and German...
Music AS is extremely hard too :smile:
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ZL123
Original post by nataliemoore__
Music AS is extremely hard too :smile:

Is it though? What do you actually do in it? I've heard that whichever board we're doing (I think it's Edexcel) will be changing their syllabus next year. Anyway I think I'm pretty good at Harmony -- what else is there?
Original post by Samii123
In September I will be starting A-level maths, physics, chemistry and biology. Pretty much everyone who I have talked to have said that these are the hardest subjects I could have took and how I will have such a phenomenal workload that I won't be able to have a social life but is it really THAT vigorous and THAT difficult?


Original post by surina16
I'm almost going to be taking the same as you:
Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology (and an EPQ :colonhash:)

Shitting myself because I've heard the same - apparently Chemistry is a killer :redface:


Original post by siamesedaffodil
at least you're not taking english lit lol
english is worse than bio, chem and maths

Good luck with your subjects! you'll be fineee :bigsmile:


Original post by _Xenon_
SAME except that I'm taking 3 A levels without Biology!

I heard same


Original post by homeland.lsw
yay! In the exact same boat as you mate! :five:


I'm sure all of you will do alright.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Moeen_Nawazish

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4398668/Teenager-gains-22-A-levels-in-12-months.html

[video="youtube;EbH_dWWIE1Q"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbH_dWWIE1Q[/video]
Original post by Audrey18
I'm sure all of you will do alright.
ew he got a B
in loo,kitchen table anywhere always read your biology notes its very helpful
Original post by Audrey18
I'm sure all of you will do alright.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Moeen_Nawazish

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4398668/Teenager-gains-22-A-levels-in-12-months.html

[video="youtube;EbH_dWWIE1Q"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbH_dWWIE1Q[/video]


HOW.
Original post by Samii123
In September I will be starting A-level maths, physics, chemistry and biology. Pretty much everyone who I have talked to have said that these are the hardest subjects I could have took and how I will have such a phenomenal workload that I won't be able to have a social life but is it really THAT vigorous and THAT difficult?


Yes. Work hard from day 1 even when you feel like you're on top of the workload. Do every homework and ask as soon as you find you're stuck on something. It is so easy to slip behind.
Original post by Samii123
In September I will be starting A-level maths, physics, chemistry and biology. Pretty much everyone who I have talked to have said that these are the hardest subjects I could have took and how I will have such a phenomenal workload that I won't be able to have a social life but is it really THAT vigorous and THAT difficult?


Look it's not that they are extremely hard, they are meant to be studied but it's the amount of workload that will fall on you that is massive, especially Biology has endless pages of plant cells and ecology (which bore the human soul out of you) and there's just so little human biology which is the actual interesting part. I am guessing you are interested in medicine but i have heard many unis don't mind not having chemistry so if you can drop chemistry or physics and substitute them with something more practical like mathematics I think you will be better off

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