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

To drop or not to drop?

Any comments or advice...choosing whether to drop OCR Philosophy + Ethics or AQA English Combined...any help whatsoever??? (Or do I keep both?)

Also, what's the change like from 33 and 17 mark questinos to 45 or whatever it is???

Thanks so much for any help xxxxxx

Reply 1

Jigglypuff

I do neither of those subjects (I did RS and English Lit A2 though) but would recommend choosing the one you enjoy the most (check out the A2 specifications) and/or the one you are best at. Looking at your signature, both subjects would be good for a language course. Perhaps English more so though?

Ultimately...go for what you like. You'll be more motivated to work at it.

Reply 2

Inspiron

Basically,do whichever one you enjoy most, or think you'll do best in. If you feel that doing both of them is plausible, without marks in either suffereing, then definitely go for both. But otherwise, choose one.

As you're applying for a language course, perhaps English may be looked on more favourably, but then i'm not sure.

And I can't really remember much about the OCR syllabus. I take it its the Phil/Ethics route through Religious Studies? If so aren't the A2 essays 45 minutes long?

Reply 3

jmj

I loved doing English Language A2 but there also wasn't a choice to do philosophy at my school except for philosophy of religion in RS. Is it possible for you to do both? Because after my ASs I thought about dropping either English Language or History and ended up taking them both on because I enjoyed them so much and did 4 A Levels... you do have more work to do, obviously, but I think it was worth it (at least I hope so lol) I reckon you should go with the one you like more :biggrin:

Reply 4

Ruthie_J

I did Theology and Philosophy (so a bit different) at both AS and A2 and enjoyed the course enormously (so much so i'm doing it at Uni next year). I carried all my AS subjects on, and it is possible to do so as long as you are confident that you can cope with the work load! Every subject gets a lot more time consuming at A2 and rather than focus on factual recall, your skill as a writer and your ability to analyse are tested. In my experience though, the courses get far more interesting.
The difference between the questions in AS and A2 isn't too great in terms of what you are being asked, but the level of answer expected increases considerably. Instead of splitting the questions into 17marks for analysis and 33 for evaluation, you are presented with a 45 mark essay question where you are expected to argue, analyse and evaluate. Its basically putting the skills you have honed in the 1st year into practice! If you had no trouble with the AS course and enjoyed it, you should love the A2 course and have no trouble engaging with it!!
Good luck in your results :biggrin:

Reply 5

Joce

ange de la nuit

I did RE- Philsophy and ethics OCR at A2 and there is alot to learn for the exam. Philsophy topics are Body and soul distinction, Life after Death, REligious Language, and Revelations. The ethics topic are Free will and Determinism, Conscience, REligious Ethics and Practical ethics which consist of SExual ethics, War and Peace and Environmental ethics. The synoptic is basicallly linking philsophy topics with the ethics topics which are mainly from the a2 course. Basically if you are looking for a subject where there is very little revision phil and ethics a2 isnt for you. There is so much to learn as you can see from the subject breakdown. As for the jump from the As breakdown to the A2 one, Its not that bad. YOu get 29 A01 marks (knowledge and understanding) and 16 A02 marks (evaluation and analysis) Basically you answer the question as you would for an As 33 marker but you then just have to remember to argue and evaluate all the way through. for the synoptic paper the questions are out of 60. In terms of time management you get 45minutes to answer a 45 mark essay. Unfortunately you also get 45 mins per essay on the synoptic even though its out of 60

On the whole I prefered the A2 course to the As (mainly because my as phil teacher didnt teach the class properly) but i think the topics are more interesting and a lot more in depth. Dont get me wrong it can be hard but if you enjoyed the subject at As i cant see why you wouldnt at a2.

I cant really help you out for english as i havnt done it but as others have said if you have to pick between RE-phil and ethics and english, pick the one you most enjoy and that you are good at. If you enjoy both, then there are not many reasons why u shouldnt do both.

Hope this helps xxxxxxxx

Reply 6

dreamqueen

I did both courses - same exam boards and everything. I would say that philosophy and ethics is a lot better at A2 than AS - you go into more depth which makes it more involving and more academic - you no longer have that 33 mark, 17 mark divide that at AS made it hard to write anything that was actually interesting. There are fewer topics and you study them in more detail, so you get to really think about the issues. English is also good, particularly the synoptic, as you get to look at such a huge range of stuff. The coursework (text transformation) is also great as it really gives you a chance to use your imagination. However transcript analysis plays a relatively big part in the A2 - it features in both examined papers and a lot of people (me included) find it fairly boring, but you still have to do it. Whereas in philosophy you always have a choice of questions in the exam so if you find one topic a bit dull (e.g. I didn't really like revelation) then you can skim over it. I would say both are great subjects so it really depends what you're interested in and what you want to study at uni - personally I would say do both! Feel free to pm me if you have any questions about either course

Reply 7

ange de la nuit

Thanks for all your help!

Ok, I want to do Modern Languages so obviously English sounds better, however throughout the year I did enjoy Philosophy more. English was just the lesson that I turned up for and I don't know really, just did without thinking much about it. However, when it got to revision for Philosophy I got so stressed because I left it to the last minute a bit and was thinking I hate this and there's no way I'm doing it next year! And in Philosophy I have no friends so I guess that kind of puts me off the lessons a bit!

So. That's the enjoyment. In terms of ability...in Philosophy I usually got 30+ marks out of 33 and 16 or 17 out of 17 and my teacher even said my esssays were comparable to those of an Oxford student (hmm lol!) and in English I usually got pretty high marks as well...But my problem is, in Philosophy to get the high grades I've always just needed to work really hard - read all the books, revise hard etc - whereas in English I either get it right or wrong, and I don't think I really know how to improve something that's not so good. Which is why I sometimes think doing Philosophy would be safer.

I think I would be able to cope ok with doing 4 A Levels but it is soooooo tempting the amount of extra free time I'd have if I dropped a subject, to concentrate on French and German. However, it is also tempting to try and get the full 4, if you get what I mean...it feels better, neater...lol!

If I knew who my teachers were next year I think I would be sorted, but all my Philosophy and English teachers are leaving :frown:

So I guess for now I wait until results (ahh I messed up on both Philosophy and English papers!) and look at some of next years work. My teacher also suggested starting both subjects and seeing which one I want to drop, if any. My problem with that is that once I've started one I don't think I'll want to drop it because it will feel like some kind of failure!

ANYWAY! If anyone at all bothered to read all that then thank you and sorry! I guess I am to indecisive and I think too much lol! I will see for now...

Reply 8

AlmostInsane

I'm trying to decide what to drop out of Philosophy & Ethics & English Lit. I love both but I kind of suck at English Lit & I hate the way it's taught at my school. I do Philos & Ethics at a different school in a really small group (like, 3 other people) & I really enjoy it. I think waiting until results day will be best really. I know what you mean about carrying on with 4 A levels, I wouldn't mind but dropping a subject would give me 9 frees a week & a lot more time to focus on my other subjects.

Reply 9

ange de la nuit

Wow, we sound similiar. How did you do? I got all As (WOOOOOOOOO) and Philosophy was my highest overall mark, and English my lowest...is that supposed to be the clue?

Reply 10

ange de la nuit

If anyone wants to know I decided to keep Philosophy :biggrin:

Have dropped English lol x

Reply 11

GRAZZY

I absolutelty loved Philosophy and Ethics at A level, U learn about Christian ethics, business thics, virtue ethics and apply them to situations such as fair trade etc