A Level choices- English or Latin
Poll
Which subject should I do to AS Level?
So, I'm having a really hard time trying to decide between these two subjects.
Basically, at the minute I have English down, but my parents and my brother think I should do Latin.
I am definitely doing double Maths, Biology and Chemistry, with the intention of studying Medicine. So the final subject I would do for 1 year and then drop.
I prefer English and I feel that I'd find the Latin set texts hard, as I found it fairly difficult to learn even the GCSE set texts- it took me a long time to learn them
However, my brother (who does Latin) says that I would find Latin easier as I wouldn't have to do essays every week, and since we do a lot of the AS vocab list for GCSE the language side won't be as difficult. Also, I would be able to get an AS grade.
My school is changing to Pre-U English next year, so I won't have a grade to put down if I do English. However, I feel that I'd enjoy the content more, as we are doing Chaucer/Shakespeare/Milton etc, and there is a Personal Investigation bit where I can choose whatever book I want- since I read a lot, this is appealing to me.
Could anyone with experience of either or both subjects help me out here?
Basically, at the minute I have English down, but my parents and my brother think I should do Latin.
I am definitely doing double Maths, Biology and Chemistry, with the intention of studying Medicine. So the final subject I would do for 1 year and then drop.
I prefer English and I feel that I'd find the Latin set texts hard, as I found it fairly difficult to learn even the GCSE set texts- it took me a long time to learn them
However, my brother (who does Latin) says that I would find Latin easier as I wouldn't have to do essays every week, and since we do a lot of the AS vocab list for GCSE the language side won't be as difficult. Also, I would be able to get an AS grade.
My school is changing to Pre-U English next year, so I won't have a grade to put down if I do English. However, I feel that I'd enjoy the content more, as we are doing Chaucer/Shakespeare/Milton etc, and there is a Personal Investigation bit where I can choose whatever book I want- since I read a lot, this is appealing to me.
Could anyone with experience of either or both subjects help me out here?
(edited 10 years ago)
You've got to live or die, succeed or fail on your own terms.
I personally think Latin is the better subject, but if you secretly want to do something else, and you make a mess of Latin, it would have been someone else's choice. No matter what happens with English it would have been your selection.
I'd say it would be different if your family were advising you on something that was remarkably different (they might say superior) - such as Latin over ICT - but that's not where you are.
I personally think Latin is the better subject, but if you secretly want to do something else, and you make a mess of Latin, it would have been someone else's choice. No matter what happens with English it would have been your selection.
I'd say it would be different if your family were advising you on something that was remarkably different (they might say superior) - such as Latin over ICT - but that's not where you are.
I do both. You do write essays in Latin, once a week for me in one term at least (sorry!), although they are less formal than English essays. I would say that AS Latin is not a big jump at all from GCSE in terms of the language, but you will have another couple of set texts to do, more than you did at GCSE. The format of the literature exam is similar, though, just expanded. I'd say of my AS-levels last year it was the one I was most confident on, because not that much had changed. Someone in my class also took those A-levels and Latin as a fourth AS; he's applied to Medicine, and the workload isn't too much to be distracting if you're confident on literature.
Having said that, there's also someone with a Medicine offer in my English class, who really enjoyed the contrast with her A-levels. For me, studying it doesn't get tedious and Latin texts can definitely be tedious to me (however if you get something like Cicero, Virgil or a decent bit of Ovid you'll probably enjoy most parts of it). I don't know anything about the Pre-U so I can't comment on that, but it sounds like having the Latin grade might be more reassuring when you apply.
I'd say it's up to you on what you'd like out of the course. AS Latin will be pretty similar to GCSE, so you're in quite a good position to judge whether you'd like to repeat that for a year, with added literature. I was in a similar dilemma as to whether to take Chemistry or English last year (English because I like it and Chemistry because it would've opened more doors) and took English in the end, reversing my earlier decision to take Chemistry on the first day of sixth form, and don't regret it at all because it was what I really wanted to do. Sorry I'm not much help but I do think it's a decision you have to take, not your parents, in the end, and I say this as someone who basically resorted to flipping a coin before I stopped dodging the question!
Let me know if you have any questions about the Latin syllabus though.
Having said that, there's also someone with a Medicine offer in my English class, who really enjoyed the contrast with her A-levels. For me, studying it doesn't get tedious and Latin texts can definitely be tedious to me (however if you get something like Cicero, Virgil or a decent bit of Ovid you'll probably enjoy most parts of it). I don't know anything about the Pre-U so I can't comment on that, but it sounds like having the Latin grade might be more reassuring when you apply.
I'd say it's up to you on what you'd like out of the course. AS Latin will be pretty similar to GCSE, so you're in quite a good position to judge whether you'd like to repeat that for a year, with added literature. I was in a similar dilemma as to whether to take Chemistry or English last year (English because I like it and Chemistry because it would've opened more doors) and took English in the end, reversing my earlier decision to take Chemistry on the first day of sixth form, and don't regret it at all because it was what I really wanted to do. Sorry I'm not much help but I do think it's a decision you have to take, not your parents, in the end, and I say this as someone who basically resorted to flipping a coin before I stopped dodging the question!
Let me know if you have any questions about the Latin syllabus though.
Hi there,
Thanks both of you for your replies
SixteenHundred, you find Latin texts tedious, does that include your GCSE texts? I didn't enjoy set texts, and I'm worried that if I do Latin, I'll just be unhappy and unenthusiastic about the literature, which is obviously a large part of it...
What sort of things do you do at AS level Latin then?
Also, could I ask, what other subjects does your English+Medicine friend do? And do they find that English adds a lot of extra work or do they cope fine? As my brother thinks that I would just have a lot of work if I do English, combined with my extra-curricular activities
Yea, I think that it should be my choice, but my mum (who's really pushing me to do Latin, think Asian parent :P [which she is]) says that in this I should listen to her and do Latin.
Do you think that workload should be a factor? Considering that my teachers say that I'll be able to get A*s in either and I'm predicted straight A*s at GCSE.
Thanks both of you for your replies
SixteenHundred, you find Latin texts tedious, does that include your GCSE texts? I didn't enjoy set texts, and I'm worried that if I do Latin, I'll just be unhappy and unenthusiastic about the literature, which is obviously a large part of it...
What sort of things do you do at AS level Latin then?
Also, could I ask, what other subjects does your English+Medicine friend do? And do they find that English adds a lot of extra work or do they cope fine? As my brother thinks that I would just have a lot of work if I do English, combined with my extra-curricular activities
Yea, I think that it should be my choice, but my mum (who's really pushing me to do Latin, think Asian parent :P [which she is]) says that in this I should listen to her and do Latin.
Do you think that workload should be a factor? Considering that my teachers say that I'll be able to get A*s in either and I'm predicted straight A*s at GCSE.
Original post by tuy
Hi there,
Thanks both of you for your replies
SixteenHundred, you find Latin texts tedious, does that include your GCSE texts? I didn't enjoy set texts, and I'm worried that if I do Latin, I'll just be unhappy and unenthusiastic about the literature, which is obviously a large part of it...
What sort of things do you do at AS level Latin then?
Also, could I ask, what other subjects does your English+Medicine friend do? And do they find that English adds a lot of extra work or do they cope fine? As my brother thinks that I would just have a lot of work if I do English, combined with my extra-curricular activities
Yea, I think that it should be my choice, but my mum (who's really pushing me to do Latin, think Asian parent :P [which she is]) says that in this I should listen to her and do Latin.
Do you think that workload should be a factor? Considering that my teachers say that I'll be able to get A*s in either and I'm predicted straight A*s at GCSE.
Thanks both of you for your replies
SixteenHundred, you find Latin texts tedious, does that include your GCSE texts? I didn't enjoy set texts, and I'm worried that if I do Latin, I'll just be unhappy and unenthusiastic about the literature, which is obviously a large part of it...
What sort of things do you do at AS level Latin then?
Also, could I ask, what other subjects does your English+Medicine friend do? And do they find that English adds a lot of extra work or do they cope fine? As my brother thinks that I would just have a lot of work if I do English, combined with my extra-curricular activities
Yea, I think that it should be my choice, but my mum (who's really pushing me to do Latin, think Asian parent :P [which she is]) says that in this I should listen to her and do Latin.
Do you think that workload should be a factor? Considering that my teachers say that I'll be able to get A*s in either and I'm predicted straight A*s at GCSE.
I say sometimes, not always tedious - I chose to take it to A2 so I do find it interesting most of the time! Last year I did Cicero, which was pretty fun, and Ovid's Amores, which was amazing in parts but there were certain poems which weren't that interesting due to the slightly odd selection on the syllabus. Then the usual language (which I prefer and am also a bit better at). For GCSE, I only studied a portion of the Aeneid, which, to be fair, was brilliant to analyse, but felt just a bit isolated without reading the rest. It was a while ago now though so I can't give you a proper idea of what I thought about it at the time.
She took English, Maths, Chemistry and Biology at AS and now takes English, Chemistry and Biology. She was also a straight A* GCSE student and I think at AS she found the workload was no problem. If it's going to cause issues with your parents, that's probably another factor worth considering more than workload!
You've picked some solid subjects there, why not if you're sure you'll drop it pick the subject you enjoy? Don't think about whether it'll benefit you or not but pick it because you enjoy doing it
Original post by SixteenHundred
I say sometimes, not always tedious - I chose to take it to A2 so I do find it interesting most of the time! Last year I did Cicero, which was pretty fun, and Ovid's Amores, which was amazing in parts but there were certain poems which weren't that interesting due to the slightly odd selection on the syllabus. Then the usual language (which I prefer and am also a bit better at). For GCSE, I only studied a portion of the Aeneid, which, to be fair, was brilliant to analyse, but felt just a bit isolated without reading the rest. It was a while ago now though so I can't give you a proper idea of what I thought about it at the time.
She took English, Maths, Chemistry and Biology at AS and now takes English, Chemistry and Biology. She was also a straight A* GCSE student and I think at AS she found the workload was no problem. If it's going to cause issues with your parents, that's probably another factor worth considering more than workload!
She took English, Maths, Chemistry and Biology at AS and now takes English, Chemistry and Biology. She was also a straight A* GCSE student and I think at AS she found the workload was no problem. If it's going to cause issues with your parents, that's probably another factor worth considering more than workload!
Haha yes, sorry, I didn't mean it that way
Hm so I should find out what texts my school's doing next year...
Oh, we're doing the Aeneid, its a bit from Book 12 (I think)- the death of Turnus. I didn't not enjoy it, but I wouldn't say I particularly enjoyed it.
Is that single maths?
Ah ok, that's encouraging. My brother, although probably not intentionally, makes it seem as if I'll be completely inundated with work...
Thing is, I'm already conceding on the Maths front- I'm definitely doing double to A2, whereas I was considering doing the same as your friend, with English instead of double Maths. They're so frustrating
And how many essays do you do in English?
@SharminaSyeda, thanks, that's what I feel too, its just a matter of persuading my parents that...
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