AS-Level - Physics or Chemistry

OP

Original post by champ_mc99

Physics consists of fewer topics and is more condensed. So depends if you prefer it this way.

I think I may have enjoyed chem a bit more but did better in physics (I found optics boring).

Yh, I think i'd prefer less content.
Thank you

Reply 4

Chemistry is so fascinating when you really take interest in it, but it requires so much hard work. You're good at maths so naturally you'll find physics okay but again it takes so much work and I personally found it more boring than chemistry. Don't get me wrong some of the content is interesting for physics, but I did AQA new spec and learning and revising for the exams ruined that for me because it was just absolutely awful exam wise like so much harder than chemistry imo. Chemistry is a lot more predictable exam wise I think (aqa Chem), whereas physics at least when it comes to aqa they leave you in the dark quite a bit but that's the fun of doing new spec lol 😬 I did find physics took away a lot of unnecessary time from my other subjects because of how much effort was needed. I've just dropped physics now and I'm keeping Chem 😋 hope this helps a bit.

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Reply 5

OP

Original post by 98matt

Just finished yr12 doing maths, fm, phys and chem. I found chemistry a lot harder, much more of a step up from gcse imo. Physics was less memory work also and to me it seemed like less overall content.

I much preferred physics going into yr12 however, so I naturally found it more enjoyable to study. You have to pick the subject that you think you will enjoy more - look at the content in both courses, which interests you more?

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I checked them both and i feel the same about both. Do you think working every day from day 1 will make physics easy. Like is the content hard to understand? or is the memorisation amd maths the problem?

thanks for the reply

Reply 6

OP

Original post by michaela__

Chemistry is so fascinating when you really take interest in it, but it requires so much hard work. You're good at maths so naturally you'll find physics okay but again it takes so much work and I personally found it more boring than chemistry. Don't get me wrong some of the content is interesting for physics, but I did AQA new spec and learning and revising for the exams ruined that for me because it was just absolutely awful exam wise like so much harder than chemistry imo. Chemistry is a lot more predictable exam wise I think (aqa Chem), whereas physics at least when it comes to aqa they leave you in the dark quite a bit but that's the fun of doing new spec lol 😬 I did find physics took away a lot of unnecessary time from my other subjects because of how much effort was needed. I've just dropped physics now and I'm keeping Chem 😋 hope this helps a bit.

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Doesn't physics have less content? And what did you get in both, if you don't mind me asking?

Reply 7

Chemgawd99

9

I did AS Maths , Physics, Chemistry and Further maths(retaking) and got AAAC respectively. I found AS Chemistry easier in a sense where the content wasn't as hard to understand as physics, however I personally found it very content heavy and had to memorize a lot. The AS Chem exams are easy but easy to make mistakes so to get an A involves a lot of revision, practice and precision. AS Physics I found a lot harder to understand but my interest in the subject made me willing to go that extra mile to understand the content. With the physics exam, it is very hard because you have to apply knowledge to very random situations. As a result low grade boundaries. Oh yeah and being good at maths doesn't make you good at physics.

But chose what you enjoy more. If you are having second thoughts about physics that is a good reason not to do it. physics is lyf lol. Good luck in September, hope this essay helped

Reply 8

Original post by AdeptDz

Doesn't physics have less content? And what did you get in both, if you don't mind me asking?

I got an A in chemistry and b in physics both AS.(bear in mind I don't even do AS maths lol). Physics has less content yes, but it's applying it, that's the hard part. Why don't you take up both subjects and drop the one you don't like as much after a few weeks. That way you're safer I think and you know for sure which one you like more?

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Reply 9

OP

Original post by Chemgawd99

I did AS Maths , Physics, Chemistry and Further maths(retaking) and got AAAC respectively. I found AS Chemistry easier in a sense where the content wasn't as hard to understand as physics, however I personally found it very content heavy and had to memorize a lot. The AS Chem exams are easy but easy to make mistakes so to get an A involves a lot of revision, practice and precision. AS Physics I found a lot harder to understand but my interest in the subject made me willing to go that extra mile to understand the content. With the physics exam, it is very hard because you have to apply knowledge to very random situations. As a result low grade boundaries. Oh yeah and being good at maths doesn't make you good at physics.

But chose what you enjoy more. If you are having second thoughts about physics that is a good reason not to do it. physics is lyf lol. Good luck in September, hope this essay helped

Thanks, and yeh i find them both quite interesting and willing to work for hours evert day.. but which would you say was less stressful, just don't have another choice, i wanted to do biology but i can't. So its physics, chemistry soicology art pe or photography and i really don't want to do the last 4. But yeah, ill practice and that i'm just wondering if like it is hard to understand? or with time and effort is it easily understandable

Reply 10

OP

Original post by michaela__

I got an A in chemistry and b in physics both AS.(bear in mind I don't even do AS maths lol). Physics has less content yes, but it's applying it, that's the hard part. Why don't you take up both subjects and drop the one you don't like as much after a few weeks. That way you're safer I think and you know for sure which one you like more?

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I wish I could but in my situation its not ideal, and i doubt my school would let me even try 5 lol. And cool, but with time and effort applying becomes easier right? as you practice more and more. I just need to get AAAA as i got like 4A* 6AS 1B at gcse (there good but i wasn't very happy) so i want to make up for it.. and i have to choose one of them , my schoool :angry:

Reply 11

OP

Original post by michaela__

I got an A in chemistry and b in physics both AS.(bear in mind I don't even do AS maths lol). Physics has less content yes, but it's applying it, that's the hard part. Why don't you take up both subjects and drop the one you don't like as much after a few weeks. That way you're safer I think and you know for sure which one you like more?

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And great results, how much time did you spend on both? and from when did you start revising ..
thanks for replying btw

Reply 12

Yua

14

physics no question given the a-levels you are doing

Reply 13

OP

Original post by Yua

physics no question given the a-levels you are doing

Guess i'll start trying to do the summer task now, wasted my time doing biology and can't even do it :/

Reply 14

Original post by AdeptDz

I wish I could but in my situation its not ideal, and i doubt my school would let me even try 5 lol. And cool, but with time and effort applying becomes easier right? as you practice more and more. I just need to get AAAA as i got like 4A* 6AS 1B at gcse (there good but i wasn't very happy) so i want to make up for it.. and i have to choose one of them , my schoool :angry:

You should be happy with your grades, like you said they are good☺️ aw that's annoying. Yes, applying it gets easier but the exam situation is so unpredictable for physics and they give you some really dodgy questions and I know you're thinking well don't all exams do that, no not in the way physics do it😂 there was really low grade boundaries this year as well due to how hard it was :frown:

if you're good at memory stick with chemistry imo and if you're good at logic etc and don't mind a challenge then pick physics. ☺️

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Reply 15

Anonymouuuuus

1

Definitely do physics

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Reply 16

Ash8991

15

Original post by AdeptDz

Which do you find harder? More boring?
Doing Maths FM and Econ, but i need one more out of physics or chemistry, i know most people will say physics because of maths and fm but can you give other reasons too?

I did both at A2 and honestly, it's very personalised. Physics has a lot more application than Chemistry does at A level (You get to learn about circuits and nuclear power stations etc). However, I just found my Chemistry course to just be so much nicer to do than Physics so I guess it depends on your exam board (I was AQA for Physics and OCR for Chemistry). I don't know if it's the same with other exam boards but in OCR Chemistry, you'll find yourself doing a lot of identification which I personally found to be quite fun. For instance, you're given the H1 chemical shifts for a compound and you have to identify it. Plus, drawing a Benzene ring is so much fun!.... :colonhash:

But make sure that you pick the subject which you know will be more enjoyable to do out of the two. Trust me, if you're doing something you find boring, you will not want to revise for it and will then begin to prioritise the more fun subjects.

And, props for doing maths and further maths! I wish you the best of luck with whatever you end up doing :smile:

Reply 17

OP

Original post by michaela__

You should be happy with your grades, like you said they are good☺️ aw that's annoying. Yes, applying it gets easier but the exam situation is so unpredictable for physics and they give you some really dodgy questions and I know you're thinking well don't all exams do that, no not in the way physics do it😂 there was really low grade boundaries this year as well due to how hard it was :frown:

if you're good at memory stick with chemistry imo and if you're good at logic etc and don't mind a challenge then pick physics. ☺️

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Thanks for the support, and i prefer low grade boundaries because more room for error, and that mustve been annoying, a B is still good though (especially for one of the hardest subkects) Ill try it for a few weeks, if i dont like it ill choose chemistry, but then if i dont like chemistry, I can't go back to physics :/

And tbh i'd say im equally good at both, so i dont know, im leaning towards physics a bit though

Reply 18

Original post by AdeptDz

And great results, how much time did you spend on both? and from when did you start revising ..
thanks for replying btw

Thank you! Physics I'm not even kidding I've been revising since the first week😂 I found it so hard and I felt so much worse than everyone else so I really worked hard because i was intimidated especially with all the boys in my class/people doing further maths. Chemistry I was also revising all year but chemistry doesn't pull together until the end. Like I got a D in my Christmas mock lol, then worked even harder, did all the past papers 3+ each times, even the ones from like 2005 lol. I spent the most hours on physics definitely and second most hours on chemistry. Both I worked so hard for so there's no way out of that but obviously one will be more enjoyable than the other 😋 if you take M1 unit in your maths then that'll help you so much with mechanics! I struggled with that the most but obviously I didn't do maths 😛 mechanics is a lot of applying and practice, as is electricity. Particle physics is the mostly memory part and most fun imo 😛

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Reply 19

OP