[Champagne Breakfast]

(Original post by Nuheen)
What about economics?

Off topic :I have bio, chem, maths,eco and planning to do FP maths as well. If I manage to get all A's will it be enough to get full tuition waiver in any decent uni?

Economics is pretty respected, but actually a surprisingly easy course.

[Comp_Genius]

Most: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics
Least: *. Studies

[sidekick]

I notice that the second post in this thread claims philosophy as not being respected I wondered how long it'd take to bring that up! I took both philosophy and religious studies for A level, and I would say that they certainly weren't doss subjects, as seems to be the common view. Fair enough, GCSE RS was ridiculously easy, but A level, if properly studied can be endlessly challenging, as can phil. I hate it when people say that they're easy because you can just make stuff up, or it's just your own opinion, because it's just not true. Certainly, the ability to waffle does help but still...

I also did latin and ancient greek - they seem to be respected, in that when I tell people what I did they tend to go ' no way!' But I doubt they're any harder than sciences, it's just a completely different discipline.

I agree though, the more traditional/academic subjects seem to be the most respected... (which is weird, because philosophy is like, the oldest subject!) dunno whether that's right or not though. Depends what you want to do with yourself I spose

[andy5788]

I love the way the sciences seem to be dominating the "respected" list here... As respected I would say:

Maths, FM, Physics, Chem, Bio, English, History, Foreign Languages and I'm not sure (for various reasons, not heard much about them, can't decide etc) Geography, R.E, Economics

[Elements]

OK this is just my opinion.

Most respected A-levels: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Foreign Languages, Maths, Further Maths, Geography and Philosophy And Ethics.

Least respected A-levels: Sociology, Psychology, General Studies, Media Studies, Theatre Studies, Film Studies and Business Studies.

[coldfish]

(Original post by SteveSparksFRS)
People who do further maths are usually (shown by statistics) gay.

They are? How interesting. Which stats are these?

[kizer]

Geography, politics, philosophy are not the most respected subjects.

Double maths, physics, chemistry, history, and maybe english are the most respected.

Languages are respected in that it's nice to have one, but are not the most respected - you can pick them up any time, and while the specifications SAY 'candidates develop understanding of culture/politics/whatever', The Ace Is Back is right - you can doss it very easily if you can speak the language well. Most people with more than 5 A-Levels pad it up with languages they speak at home (in my experience), which personally I don't respect as an academic endeavour that's meant to take 2 years.

[kellywood_5]

(Original post by kizer)
Languages are respected in that it's nice to have one, but are not the most respected - you can pick them up any time, and while the specifications SAY 'candidates develop understanding of culture/politics/whatever', The Ace Is Back is right - you can doss it very easily if you can speak the language well. Most people with more than 5 A-Levels pad it up with languages they speak at home (in my experience), which personally I don't respect as an academic endeavour that's meant to take 2 years.

Which is why it's extremely unfair when people take A-levels in languages they've been brought up to speak or of countries where one of their parents is from/they've lived for long periods of time etc etc. But for the rest of us, who take a genuinely foreign language at A-level with no relatives from the country, no having lived in the country and no other unfair advantages, it's just as much an 'academic endeavour that's meant to take 2 years' as a science, history or whatever.

[fatboy06]

(Original post by kellywood_5)
Which is why it's extremely unfair when people take A-levels in languages they've been brought up to speak or of countries where one of their parents is from/they've lived for long periods of time etc etc. But for the rest of us, who take a genuinely foreign language at A-level with no relatives from the country, no having lived in the country and no other unfair advantages, it's just as much an 'academic endeavour that's meant to take 2 years' as a science, history or whatever.

Fair point, but it's true for other subjects like music (knowledge of theory, standard on instrument etc...)

[fatboy06]

(Original post by The Ace is Back)
I don't quite see how I could have elaborated on my point - the person I was replying to was speaking ****e about the requirements of language A-Levels (politics, history.... what?).

If you speak French, go to http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/Da...h6MK6aWw7K.pdf and look at page 71 and try and find one question that you could answer without knowledge of french history, culture and/or politics.

If you don't, here are two questions off the paper (sorry for the dodgy translations)

"In your opinion, has the french youth created a specifically french culture (fashion, hobbies, music) or are they dependant on an "imported life". Give some specific examples".

" 'I like films, I love films!' How can you explain the passion in France for the cinema? Do you think that the cinema always maintains its priveleged position in french cultural life?"

[kellywood_5]

To be fair, the amount you need to know about the culture probably depends to a large extent on the exam board you're with. For Edexcel, you only need to know about one topic for the AS oral and two topics for A2 coursework if you do it.

[fatboy06]

(Original post by kellywood_5)
To be fair, the amount you need to know about the culture probably depends to a large extent on the exam board you're with. For Edexcel, you only need to know about one topic for the AS oral and two topics for A2 coursework if you do it.

Fair point, and the same applies for OCR as you can do coursework instead of the bitch of the writing exam. But still you need to know something even from doing the research...

[crankycaz]

(Original post by The Ace is Back)
Not really.

About the languages? Yes really. Orals are the bain of my life. For the essay unit you get marked on grammar, knowledge of the country's society, politics etc. The amount of crap I had to learn about German politics, windfarms and nuclear power stations etc. It is hard.

[chicky_dee]

i do french and spanish AS-Level, though many seem to perceive spanish as a doss language and i have no clue why, in my opinion its far more difficult than french. and to those who say that if you can speak a language well you can just drift through, i don't think thats true either because you can get away with slip ups and colloquialisms that you just can't get away with when you're writing an essay for example. although you do find that languages take up alot of your time in school what with extra conversation classes and extra curriculars like debate or exchanges.

[*lulu7*]

people say media studies is a mickey mouse subject !! it really isn't !! it is the most significant thing everyone's every day life!!!

[Swinely]

Most: Further Maths, Chemistry, Languages, Physics,Computing.

Least: General studies, Health and Social Care, psychology, phillosophy etc

[sidekick]

(Original post by Swinely)
Most: Further Maths, Chemistry, Languages, Physics,Computing.

Least: General studies, Health and Social Care, psychology, phillosophy etc

Philosophy?! There is no WAY you can class philosophy in the same league as health and social care, and general studies. (Psychology I'm going to leave out because I know people who do it and I think it's not that bad actually) I'm not a massive philosophy freak even though I did it for A level but really, do you even know what it entails? Just because it sounds waffly doesn't mean it is!

[darryl]

(Original post by Melana)
Least respected (though unfairly) Product design, Business studies, Sociology, General Studies and PE

Absolute balony. Business Studies Sociology

Business Studies, is a little easy I admit. But Sociology??!! Everyone just thinks it's easy!

Try: Media Studies, Film Studies, AVCE IT?

(Original post by Swinely)
Most: Further Maths, Chemistry, Languages, Physics,Computing.

Least: General studies, Health and Social Care, psychology, phillosophy etc

I dunno about respected but Computing is a f**king mission. Philosophy, you're joking right?

(Original post by *lulu7*)
people say media studies is a mickey mouse subject !! it really isn't !! it is the most significant thing everyone's every day life!!!

That's like saying Health and Social Care is respected because people go to hospital when they're ill... bo**ocks!

(Original post by kizer)
Geography, politics, philosophy are not the most respected subjects.

Double maths, physics, chemistry, history, and maybe english are the most respected.

I agree - Maths, Physics are definetely respected.

[harr]

Most respected: Maths, traditional sciences (esp. physics and chem., less so biology), languages, english lit and probably some others which I have forgotten (e.g. history probably makes it onto this list, but I forgot it until editing now 20 minutes after I originally posted).

Least respected: Most subjects with "studies" in the name, psychology (and other "soft" sciences), IT, new subjects such as helath and social care are all less well respected. To a lesser extent this is also true of law and english language (at least compared to english lit). I've probably missed some stuff from this list too.

[sjacob194]

just wondering....is Classical Civilisations a well respected A level?

it hasn't been mentioned yet, though that could be because it is less commonly studied subject....