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Changing an AS subject

Hi, having taken maths, physics, art and English literature at AS level, I'm now a week into all of these subjects. The reason for such a strange and diverse choice is because I want to do a degree in architecture, and English Literature was mainly to fill a 4th subject space for a year. I chose English Literature mainly due to the fact that I received a high A* at GCSE.

I'm now regretting that choice; I feel now that being strong at the subject isn't as important having a passion for the subject, which those in my class clearly have. Although I enjoy reading, I rarely find time for it, and therefore I don't often read, which I feel is a major problem.

I also feel that English Literature won't be overly respected by universities, and personally, I struggle to see the end result of taking a course in English Literature; and to a certain extent, I now realise that it feels like a very dry subject, without much meaning other than to interpret texts, and poems. I also feel that the strong contrast between my subjects is a problem; when doing homework, I struggle to zone in and out of each subject due to their diversity.

I therefore considered changing to History AS, which I considered that I might enjoy more due to the fact that I love delving deeper into things than what is assigned, and prefer a factual basis of knowledge that I can then interpret. I generally think I would enjoy it more, due to the sense that it has a greater end result.

The only draw back is that I only received an A at GCSE overall ( despite improving dramatically in my second year of the course, where I received almost full marks in both exams ) in History. So I'm really not sure whether to change or not, and it is really worrying me now as I don't want to have to go too far to realise that I can't turn back. What are your opinions, considering I want to become an Architect?
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Avatar for Alxndra
Alxndra
10
I doubt your fourth subject will hinder you when applying to architecture. Many universities have one or two A Levels that they require all applicants for that course to have and you've most likely got that with art and maths.

You can always drop English lit after the first year as unis generally ask for 3 A levels so it's not the end of the world if you didn't perform well in it. As you said, you've only done the subject for a week so you may get into it more as you go along (this happened with one of my subjects). However if you're really not enjoying it then it might be worth trying to change onto AS history. Having an A at GCSE won't mean you won't do well :tongue: you definitely need to put in the work for history (as with all A Levels) but I didn't even do GCSE history and I took it at A Level so go for it if that's what you want.

Good luck with whatever you decide :smile:

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