Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

What AS subject should I drop!?....

Hey, I have a problem :frown:

. I'm in year 12 and I've just finished my AS level exams. I study:
English Lit,
Philosophy & Ethics,
Biology and
Maths...

And I DESPISE both Maths and Biology :mad:

. It's really awful.

(Expect a rant - sorry)

During GCSE's I loved maths, I was in the top class with all of my friends getting taught by the best Maths teacher in the school. :yep:

I managed to get an A, so naturally, I took it at A-level... But, when i arrived for my first year of 6th form, i discovered that that year (unlike previous years) the maths teachers had decided to have two A-level maths classes as opposed to one. One was taken by a very decent teacher, and the other.. well, not so much.
When they started calling out names for the classes, i found that all the students who got A/A* at GCSE were put in the better teacher's class. Well, all except me that is :frown:

...
ALL of the A/A* students got in that class (and even one B student! :mad:

) and are expecting great A-level results.
I, on the other hand got put in the other class and am awaiting my U's. The teacher is so bad that most people in my class refused to go to revision classes with him, fearing that he would teach the wrong stuff and mess us up before the exam.

Pretty similar story for biology...I got an A in science and really enjoyed it so, I took biology. At AS, We started with 2 teachers (one amazing one, and one awful one) but one of them left for another school after 2 months (guess which one :frown:

)... We got left with the awful teacher and a cascade of pathetically inept substitutes.

I HAVE to drop one of these subjects and although i am expecting better results in biology than maths there is a change in teachers next year. The maths class is being pushed into one, and is being taught by the great teacher (from GCSE). Whereas in biology, we get another year with the thickest scientist I have ever known. I know most people will say that 'if you can't pass AS maths, there's no way you'll cope with A2'... But i am hoping that the new teacher can re-teach all the AS stuff so i can re-sit the exams...

WHAT SHOULD I DO? :woo:

btw - if i go to uni i will take english (which I can easily get an 'A' in)... so bio or maths doesn't really effect it.

Thanks!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

abbii

i found that biology is better at A2, maths is worse
but with what youve said about teachers i would probably go with maths (if you can garantee youll get the good teacher), maths modules are easier to resit as the content of A2 builds on AS but i would strongly advise learning the AS over the summer or (however good the teacher) you wont understand C3 and C4 (you will have to be able to differentiate/integrate from the first lesson and if you cant take bio), while im sure your maths teacher will help you i doubt he/she will be able teach you the AS especially not in class time as most of the others will be from the good class, i cant advise you much on bio unless its AQA as theyre so different but i found A2 easier than AS and so much of the exam is not content based that so long as you can read a graph and give moral implications you could get a C/D without knowing a lot, also are you sure your school will let you continue maths if you get a U?

Reply 2

Mighty Moe

The best piece of advice you can be given is to wait until August 19th and see what results you have achieved.

Reply 3

username392640

Mighty Moe

The best piece of advice you can be given is to wait until August 19th and see what results you have achieved.

what this guy said

Reply 4

pennyyyy

I can't advise on the subject content, because I'm not doing either, but good luck with the English :wink:

Honestly, based on your situation I'd ditch Maths, but wait for the results first :smile:

Having a good teacher's only one part of it, you've got to be motivated to do wider work yourself. Biology also helps with A2 Philosophy.

Reply 5

d123

Wait and see what results you've achieved. I'd recommend that if there's not much difference, do maths even if you do marginally better in biology, due to the teaching problems you mentioned. If there's a big difference, it's probably better to do biology. However, resitting any AS maths modules is always a possibility - I honestly think it's best to decide which to do on results day. If you need to make a provisional choice to tell the school, say you'll continue with maths.

Reply 6

jusjes

Drop them all, runaway and join th circus.
I don't know how you expect strangers to tell you what to do.
Ask your teachers what they think and look at your results, then decide.

Reply 7

c2010

Liam_G

Hey, I have a problem :frown:

. I'm in year 12 and I've just finished my AS level exams. I study:
English Lit,
Philosophy & Ethics,
Biology and
Maths...

And I DESPISE both Maths and Biology :mad:

. It's really awful.

(Expect a rant - sorry)

During GCSE's I loved maths, I was in the top class with all of my friends getting taught by the best Maths teacher in the school. :yep:

...
ALL of the A/A* students got in that class (and even one B student! :mad:

btw - if i go to uni i will take english (which I can easily get an 'A' in)... so bio or maths doesn't really effect it.

Thanks!

I would wait and see how you did, but bear in mind, maths A-level is the hardest thing I have done in my life, and I got an A at iGCSE, so similar to you. :s-smilie:

Reply 8

Ramjams

Liam_G

And I DESPISE both Maths and Biology :mad:

. It's really awful.

Are you crazy? Those are the two good subjects on your list! Drop English for god sake! :P

But if you really must decide between maths and biology, I'd wait and see, but just take the one you enjoy more at the moment and hope it's the same next year :biggrin:

Or just keep them all on and see how it goes, you can always choose to drop one later.

Reply 9

alexandragazi

I would say do Maths. Because of the teacher thing, but because maths can be applied to anything, whereas as you're not going to study science Biology is a bit pointless. And I'm doing C1 and C2 now :frown:

and yeah, I know it's hard. But maybe over the summer, try to get a bit of a headstart in maths for next year by doing like 30 mins of revision everyday. It will help, honestly.

Reply 10

Conorrr9

Maths fits in the least :smile:

so drop that?

Reply 11

Samantha_Kay

I'm having the same problem with maths! I had crap teachers this year and im expecting D/E in it, but next year we are having the really good teachers. SO i'm staying on for maths and just retaking and dropping one of my other subjects!

But to be honest either drop biology or philosphy and ethics! :smile:

Reply 12

ihaterealitytvshows

wait till you get your results and drop the one you did worst in oh and dont blame your teachers for your own failure teach yourself-that's what i do that isnt a valid excuse and certainly not one any of your uni interviewers will listen to also i recommend moving colleges thats what imna do so i dont have to work my but off

Reply 13

haithere

I'd also advise waiting until you have your results. Then, drop the one you've done worst in/dislike the most. If that happens to be the same subject, great. If not, I think you have to weigh up your options- decide if you can do better next year/get over not liking it depending on the subject.

Reply 14

hazzypants

Liam_G

WHAT SHOULD I DO? :woo:

btw - if i go to uni i will take english (which I can easily get an 'A' in)... so bio or maths doesn't really effect it.

Thanks!

Get your results. what did you get in january for core and and biol 1?

Reply 15

Genocidal

Well I only take biology but that is the subject I'm dropping. It's more like graph class than biology. -_-

Reply 16

heureux

I took both biology and maths at AS. I absolutely DESPISED biology and didn't like maths very much. I dropped biology and it was the best thing to do, so I would advise you to keep maths. At least with maths there isn't too much to learn as such.

Reply 17

Liam_G

Thank you soo much for the replies!

TBH I hadn't even thought about revision over summer, so i guess i could revise maths like crazy (my school is signed up to 'MyMaths'... that may help)

Philosophy and ethics - although some may say it's not the best of subjects (and the exam was AWFUL) its still one of my favourite lessons...

During GCSE i was so mathematically minded.... but alas, education has ruined me...

Reply 18

Liam_G

jusjes

Drop them all, runaway and join th circus.
I don't know how you expect strangers to tell you what to do.
Ask your teachers what they think and look at your results, then decide.

Firstly, I can't join the circus... i don't know where it is and i can't do any tricks :rolleyes:

Secondly, It's not like i'm walking up to strangers and asking them, I'm trying to contact people who may be in similar situations or who have more experience with these A-levels. :yep: