The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Biology or Maths A-Level; which if any is easier?

I contemplating studying either Maths, Biology or both @ A-Level.
Which if any are easier?

I am open to all opinions :smile:

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Avatar for ThumbsUp
ThumbsUp
8
the real question is, which are you better at?
Reply 2
Avatar for Mikes143
Mikes143
There both hard but hmmm... I'll say Biology is easier
Reply 3
Avatar for Saoirse:3
Saoirse:3
19
If you are good at maths, the A Level can be easyish to get a good grade in - 40% get A or A* each year. Biology has suffered problems recently, both with exam paper errors and controversies to do with the practical assessments. If all other factors (your ability, the usefulness of the subject for your proposed career/degree) are equal, I'd edge for Maths because of this.
Maths is like 100000 times easier than A-level biology. Unless you really really love all parts of biology!
Cuz with maths if you understand and do plenty of practice, it is easy to get an A. But the A* requires a bit more hard work in maths. However in biology you will need to like work like a bitch if you want that A, and even then you may not get it because of ridiculous questions and mark schemes.
Original post by CLS94
If you are good at maths, the A Level can be easyish to get a good grade in - 40% get A or A* each year. Biology has suffered problems recently, both with exam paper errors and controversies to do with the practical assessments. If all other factors (your ability, the usefulness of the subject for your proposed career/degree) are equal, I'd edge for Maths because of this.


It is higher than 40 most of the time! The lowest it has ever been was about 40 for an A in june/jan 2010, only because that paper was just ridiculous and it was the new spec of application and how science works questions! Then on it has been like > 65% for an A/A*. On the new exams I'v been doing it has been 70% + for an A in most units and higher for an A*.
Original post by _OliviaTheOwl
I contemplating studying either Maths, Biology or both @ A-Level.
Which if any are easier?

I am open to all opinions :smile:


AS - maths, it's practically GCSE. A2 - biology, maths gets hard. I would say though that biology is probably easier to guarantee a good mark by putting in some work, maths kind of requires some natural ability. Do both!
Original post by CLS94
If you are good at maths, the A Level can be easyish to get a good grade in - 40% get A or A* each year. Biology has suffered problems recently, both with exam paper errors and controversies to do with the practical assessments. If all other factors (your ability, the usefulness of the subject for your proposed career/degree) are equal, I'd edge for Maths because of this.

Its actually 30 and thats only because most sixth forms ask for an A at GCSE.

Biology has high quantity, but if you can conquer key concepts in Maths early, little revision would be needed.
Original post by joker12345
AS - maths, it's practically GCSE. A2 - biology, maths gets hard. I would say though that biology is probably easier to guarantee a good mark by putting in some work, maths kind of requires some natural ability. Do both!

Mechanics 1 is a much harder than GCSE at parts
Reply 9
Avatar for RadiantA
RadiantA
1
Just do maths. You need maths no matter which science you do.
Original post by _OliviaTheOwl
I contemplating studying either Maths, Biology or both @ A-Level.
Which if any are easier?

I am open to all opinions :smile:


Currently doing both at A2.

Maths: The main difficulty lies in the concepts, but once you understand them, there's not much in terms of workload. The concepts get a lot harder at A2.

Biology: Pretty much the opposite to maths- the hard part is learning all the content; although it's easy to understand, there's tons of it. At A2, there's even more content, and you'll need to spend some time perfecting exam technique as well (something you don't really have to do with maths).

I'd say maths is more enjoyable, but the jump between AS and A2 is a lot larger compared to biology. With biology, the difficulty stays roughly the same, but there's way more to learn. Also, maths is more versatile if you want to apply to uni.
depends on your exam board.
i do bio with ccea and AS wasn't challenging but you have to learn a lot of stuff and A LOT of "fancy" scientific words. A2 is a bit complicated and it's not that simple recall questions anymore as it was in AS.
i do maths with edexcel and AS was a bit like further extension of GCSE and add maths. i loved mechanics (however everyone hated it with passion) and core 1 and 2 are pretty manageable. A2 was shock and horror - C3 was absolutely brutal until i revised it for exams and it all became clear. C4 is hard and S1 is quite easy, a bit more of add maths.
you must consider the teachers you are likely to get - you need good notes for bio and at A2 stuff needs to be properly taught because dna and respiration are hard to grasp. you need a decent teacher for maths but it can be polished by doing more questions.
You need to have an ability in maths, but bio can be learnt, i have friends who are not that scientific but do bio. although it is a stuggle for them they do pretty good - they get As and Bs.
Original post by multiplexing-gamer
Mechanics 1 is a much harder than GCSE at parts


Agreed, but you can do S1 or D1 instead which are pretty easy.
Original post by joker12345
Agreed, but you can do S1 or D1 instead which are pretty easy.


By the time i'll have finished my AS Further and A2 Normal i have done D1(got 92% already) M1(next June) and S1 (this month) :P D1 is so much easier than stats as long as you can follow and remember instructions.
Maths is easier except the integration part of core 3, i'm doing AS bio this but A2 maths and i find the maths easier. But then again i found AS maths easier than GCSE Biology so i'm sort of biased....
maths you need to sit and practise, biology is a lot of memorising - I do both at AS level

The question is...are you better at numbers or remembering facts?
It really depends. Some people find maths really hard, even with basic maths. But i find maths easy.

Just sort out if you're alright with numbers and A level maths or not. Coz if you're not, it's difficult to improve. It generally comes naturally, it's either you know or you just don't get it or you have to work your *** off.
Then doing Bio will be easier, coz it's about understanding and remembering facts, which isn't that difficult unless you hate it. =='
I found Maths hard because I wasn't interested in manipulating numbers and values, though I found statistics, data collection and graphs interesting; I prefer the organic nature of Biology and how it is the foundation of Psychology. It really depends on which subject you like because how you perceive the workload governs how hard a subject truly is. Both are intrinsically hard in concepts.

What are your other subjects?

Original post by epicnerd
maths you need to sit and practise, biology is a lot of memorising - I do both at AS level

The question is...are you better at numbers or remembering facts?

lol, that's not the case. It sounds to me that a) you've never studied A Level Biology or b) you took A Level Biology because you wanted an A in it and didn't necessarily enjoy it. Biology is about knowing and understanding the facts. Memorising them is great for exams but you're going to leave with nothing (bar a grade) in which case you're not a good example of the true nature of Biology.

Every subject can be reduced down to 'a lot of memorising'.
(edited 11 years ago)
always maths
Reply 19
Avatar for Seatbelt
Seatbelt
9
Maths is easier in my opinion, In biology you can get a variety of answers (i had to write the answers the way aqa wants...), in maths, theres only one definite answer. Just have to solve it like a little puzzle :3

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you