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English Lit, History, or Classical Civilisation?

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(edited 9 years ago)
Choose English, English opens your university choices by a lot, with English you can go into most uni degrees excluding science degrees


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I'd go for History. It's not the content that you learn that unis care about, it's the skills you develop whilst doing the course and are assessed on in the exam. They're all essay subjects so pretty similar in the skills you develop from doing them. They are all analysis based, writing essays, being able to conclude, analyse sources and arguing.

The most interesting, hardest and respected are all subjective, there's arguments for and against. But they're all orientated around the same skills. Classic Civilisation, history, then english in order of how interesting they are, but if you enjoy reading and analysing books/poems go for english lit that's obviously more interesting for you. Universities loooooove history, it's definitely the most respected. Also- concerning your uncertainty about university course, for humanities you don't need any specific requirements, but sciences usually require prerequisites like that subject at A level, other sciences and maths. unis also love maths.

I think Classic civilisation would fuc*ing damn good, It sounds amazing. It'd probably be harder since you'd need to know a lot of background knowledge, but starting on a topic you don't know anything about would probably be really interesting.

To summarise ( in my opinion)

Most interesting Classic cilvilisation
Most respected History
Most hard Probably history, but I haven't done the other two so... All based on opinion. But in history you have two exams, english lit you have coursework and 1 or two exams


Lastly, geography isn't a respected A level. It's pretty easy, the essay skills are basic and the knowledge can be easily remembered as there isn't a lot of it. Do it if you enjoy it and are considering doing it at uni or something, but don't pick it because you think it's respected because subjects get a lot harder at A levels, it will be harder to motivate yourself to work and if you don't have an interest in that subject, your interviewer at uni will realise this and it won't look good on your behalf.
Reply 3
Original post by JackTheNerd
I'd go for History. It's not the content that you learn that unis care about, it's the skills you develop whilst doing the course and are assessed on in the exam. They're all essay subjects so pretty similar in the skills you develop from doing them. They are all analysis based, writing essays, being able to conclude, analyse sources and arguing.

The most interesting, hardest and respected are all subjective, there's arguments for and against. But they're all orientated around the same skills. Classic Civilisation, history, then english in order of how interesting they are, but if you enjoy reading and analysing books/poems go for english lit that's obviously more interesting for you. Universities loooooove history, it's definitely the most respected. Also- concerning your uncertainty about university course, for humanities you don't need any specific requirements, but sciences usually require prerequisites like that subject at A level, other sciences and maths. unis also love maths.

I think Classic civilisation would fuc*ing damn good, It sounds amazing. It'd probably be harder since you'd need to know a lot of background knowledge, but starting on a topic you don't know anything about would probably be really interesting.

To summarise ( in my opinion)

Most interesting Classic cilvilisation
Most respected History
Most hard Probably history, but I haven't done the other two so... All based on opinion. But in history you have two exams, english lit you have coursework and 1 or two exams


Lastly, geography isn't a respected A level. It's pretty easy, the essay skills are basic and the knowledge can be easily remembered as there isn't a lot of it. Do it if you enjoy it and are considering doing it at uni or something, but don't pick it because you think it's respected because subjects get a lot harder at A levels, it will be harder to motivate yourself to work and if you don't have an interest in that subject, your interviewer at uni will realise this and it won't look good on your behalf.


BULL**** is geography not a respected subject. Maybe not as hard as some but come on don't spread misinformation here.
I bloody hated Class Civ at GCSE. It's an amalgamation of ancient History and ancient Literature. Personally, though, I'd still take it at A-Level over the other two (well no not really I'd probably do all 3 + geography and French if I was doing A-Levels but that's a moot point), as the step up isn't that big and it's relatively easy to score high in. My friends doing CC all got 100% at AS.
Its just my opinion, but I think history would go better with your other choices and form a more cohesive whole than english or clas civ :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by JackTheNerd
I'd go for History. It's not the content that you learn that unis care about, it's the skills you develop whilst doing the course and are assessed on in the exam. They're all essay subjects so pretty similar in the skills you develop from doing them. They are all analysis based, writing essays, being able to conclude, analyse sources and arguing.

The most interesting, hardest and respected are all subjective, there's arguments for and against. But they're all orientated around the same skills. Classic Civilisation, history, then english in order of how interesting they are, but if you enjoy reading and analysing books/poems go for english lit that's obviously more interesting for you. Universities loooooove history, it's definitely the most respected. Also- concerning your uncertainty about university course, for humanities you don't need any specific requirements, but sciences usually require prerequisites like that subject at A level, other sciences and maths. unis also love maths.

I think Classic civilisation would fuc*ing damn good, It sounds amazing. It'd probably be harder since you'd need to know a lot of background knowledge, but starting on a topic you don't know anything about would probably be really interesting.

To summarise ( in my opinion)

Most interesting Classic cilvilisation
Most respected History
Most hard Probably history, but I haven't done the other two so... All based on opinion. But in history you have two exams, english lit you have coursework and 1 or two exams


Lastly, geography isn't a respected A level. It's pretty easy, the essay skills are basic and the knowledge can be easily remembered as there isn't a lot of it. Do it if you enjoy it and are considering doing it at uni or something, but don't pick it because you think it's respected because subjects get a lot harder at A levels, it will be harder to motivate yourself to work and if you don't have an interest in that subject, your interviewer at uni will realise this and it won't look good on your behalf.


Yes, Geography is piss, but it's also a very respected subject. This goes for any uni, including Oxbridge.


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Reply 7
Original post by algorithm
Im in year 11 and the deadline for A level choices is in a few weeks but i'm still having trouble choosing between these three subjects

My other choices are Economics, Geography and ICT (i know ICT is a soft one, which is why i'm looking for a third that is well-respected)

So English Lit, History, or Classic C? I think they're all quite similar and essay-based.

The thing about English Lit is that i do it now for IGCSE, I'm good at it and am predicted an A*, but i hate it! Lol I find it boring and it takes the fun away from reading

History, i'm quite interested in, i did the oct/nov IGCSE session and got a B and i find history really interesting. But at A level it seems really tough and rigorous, and i'm afraid that i might stop liking it cuz i am quite fickle lol

Classic Civ i've never done before but i looked at the syllabus and i think it would be very fascinating and challenging. i know its probably the least respected out of the three, but i think i would really love it

Which one is hardest? Which is the most interesting? Which is the most respected?

I'm also not quite sure what i want to do in uni, so which would keep my options open?


Doing both English Lit and Classics and gotta say they are my favorite subject!!!!!!!! Classics is less work tho i must say
Classical Civilization would be more suited for an Anthropology-based degree. Because you would explore how ancient civilizations lived and evolved too. So I personally think it's better than RS.

I did History, English Lit and Philosophy and Ethics. I definitely would have picked CC as a fourth subject!
I do English Literature and Classical Civilisation :smile: Personally, I hate English Literature but that's just me- some of my friend love it :smile: I adore Classical Civilisation but someone wrote they hated it before me so it's really up to personal choice! It also depends which bit you do- some schools focus on Ancient Greek, some on Ancient Rome. I did Roman Architecture and Cicero last year, this year we're doing Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius- the first year was a bit tedious but the second year has been great! Sorry for the long post! :smile:


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Original post by hannahsm
BULL**** is geography not a respected subject. Maybe not as hard as some but come on don't spread misinformation here.


Wtf, yes it is. It is a respected A-level. It's classed as a science in top universities

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