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Are A2's harder than AS's?

Hmm. A2's are more intensive (i.e. some weeks I was getting upwards of three essays) - but saying that ... I did extremely better at A2 grades wise and felt a great deal more free in answering essays at A2. I would say the jump from GCSE -> AS is much greater than that of AS->A2. IMHO at least.

Reply 21

BeesKnees

16

I feel a wee bit worried now. :frown:

Reply 22

--

3

Its better to work really hard at AS, when its easier, and get a high UMS score. Then, if for example you get a 260-280/300 then at A2 all you need is a B or a C to get an A. It really takes the pressure off.

Reply 23

xavier2k3

1

3232

Its better to work really hard at AS, when its easier, and get a high UMS score. Then, if for example you get a 260-280/300 then at A2 all you need is a B or a C to get an A. It really takes the pressure off.

I couldn't agree with that more, that was my original plan, but it didn't happen. It's because of that why when the students who had a's for AS at our college when our Psychology department flopped (and the students receiving grades from c to u in various papers for a2) still managed to get A grades.

regards
--marty

Reply 24

Katy200

13

BeesKnees

I feel a wee bit worried now. :frown:

Me as well, i found the GCSE to AS jump pretty big.

Reply 25

preparationH

people I've spoke to have said that economics is actually easier at A level than AS because you build on what you know from the previous year, unlike year 12 when its all new.

Reply 26

--

3

A2 isnt significantly harder, or at least i didn't think so. Anyway, it all depends on how much effort you put in, i taught myself the syllabus from scratch and revised for two of my sociology A2 exams within four days and still got good A's, so it cant be that hard! (I wouldnt recommend this method though, to say it was stressful would be a slight understatement)

Reply 27

kellywood_5

17

3232

Its better to work really hard at AS, when its easier, and get a high UMS score. Then, if for example you get a 260-280/300 then at A2 all you need is a B or a C to get an A. It really takes the pressure off.

I only got BBBE at A2 :redface:

but my AS marks pulled those grades up to AABC overall.

Reply 28

beach surf babe

14

The biggest leap for me from GCSE to AS was the languages. I got an A in French at GCSE and ended up with a D at AS but the rest of my subjects at AS stayed the same grade through to A2.

Reply 29

Marsh

preparationH

people I've spoke to have said that economics is actually easier at A level than AS because you build on what you know from the previous year, unlike year 12 when its all new.

Yeah it is abit easier, you get longer questions worth higher marks where you get more oppurtunity to evaluate and generally blabber on, which I for one personally find easier, AS Economics to me at least seemed to be alot of parroting, basically memorising definitions and writing them down in exams, doesn't really show that actually have any flare for Economics. After a while however the definitions and basic theories become second nature and the AS exams look like abit of a joke.

Reply 30

babe_kaz

I have to say, I hardly noticed a change between AS and A2. If anything A2 seemed easier because so much of the marks are for "commentary" which is where you can make up random things but as long as it is related to the question you would get marks for just putting in an opinion. Psychology was definitely easier at A2, as was Religious Studies. Sociology got harder but I came out of it with AAA, and had got AABC at AS. I think it depends on the subjects you take but overall I woulnd't worry about it. :-)

Reply 31

Mellie

1

I think the major jump is from GCSE to AS. I personally found it quite difficult. In English Literature, I was getting Ds and Es for essays and only predicted a D at AS, much to the surprise of my teachers and also my classmates (many of which had to resit papers just to hit the C grade, despite being predicted alot higher). I found this quite confidence-shattering because I'd always been "naturally good" at English, so to speak. I did actually get an A at AS in Lit and it made the jump to A2 so much easier. I still found the work hard, but I was more confident about what I was supposed to be writing about in essays and I came away with a decent A at A2.

If you really work at AS (rather than spend the time messing around etc, like lots of Sixth formers tend to do), it really sets up you alot better for the second year, especially if you don't want to have to resit anything. I had to resit a geography module from AS and I was like *EXPLODING* everywhere. It's alot of work and they ARE hard, I don't care what any journalist has to say on the matter

Reply 32

Kendra

2

AS's are easy, some of the examinations I sat, had such simplistic questions that they could have been done straight after GCSE (in my opinion).

A2's are harder compared to AS, but then you have far more time than you had for AS? (For AS we had two terms, for A2 we had the remainder of the third term as well).

Plus I dropped an AS as well, so that gave me an extra 5hours a week spare at school.

Reply 33

Grey

A2's are harder than AS, I have already started studying for my A2's anyway but I feel more confident about them because I have learnt from my mistakes in AS and I know how to deal with some subjects more effectively, for example English I am much mre confident I can do well this year (well atleast better than the B I got this year :frown:

) and with the sciences there is MUCH more detail but not too much.

I would say Biology is pretty much the same leap, A LOT of memorisation involved in Biology but it is manageable, with Chemistry is you have a "logical" mind once you understand the principles it should be fairly straight forward.

In fact I think Biology A2 is harder than Chem A2 from what I have studied so far anyway, but that oculd all change in three weeks time!
:p:

Reply 34

Serenity

1

Great. I'm scared now. I thought the jump from GCSE to AS was very big! But now it sounds like I'm in for a worse year. I'm just glad by UMS module scores in the subjects I got As in mean I only need to get a C in my A level exams to sustain them.. Which is making me feel slightly better but from this it sounds like you're in for a horrific time trying to even get a D or an E...

Reply 35

Realist101

13

A levels both years are hard, so work hard. you will see when everyone gets A level results the sheer amount of people who fall down 1-2 grades is quite extraodrinary, even if they have been predicted A/B grade for all subjects. it is not easy, no matter what subject you do, plus EVERYONE does at least 1-2 resits so that adds to the pressure.

Reply 36

--

3

Serenity

Great. I'm scared now. I thought the jump from GCSE to AS was very big! But now it sounds like I'm in for a worse year. I'm just glad by UMS module scores in the subjects I got As in mean I only need to get a C in my A level exams to sustain them.. Which is making me feel slightly better but from this it sounds like you're in for a horrific time trying to even get a D or an E...

I either sustained or even in one of my subjects bettered the UMS score i got at AS in my A2 modules, theres nothing to worry about. Just make sure you plan for a little extra time to study than you did at AS and youll be fine.

Reply 37

~Kirsty~

1

depends on the subjects taken. I did sciences and maths, and especially chemistry and maths i found the gap between as and a level very difficult. I found biology wasn't that much more difficult but there wasa lot more content covered. Also the synoptic papers where your tested on the full 2 years course is more challenging.

Reply 38

crafty bison

14

Yes, A2 is much harder, but you shouldn't need/expect so many marks in them! If you're looking for A grades overall you should have averaged 90% or so on your AS levels, leaving you only needing the bottom B grade in each A2 unit to finish with all A grades. The problem comes when people who scraped A in their AS levels want A overall... then they really do have to push themselves MUCH harder because they will actually need A in the A2 units. Moral of the story = max out as much as possible at AS, and you should handle A2 just fine.

Reply 39

AdrirDarklance

I believe that the percieved levels of difficulty are dependent on the subject, the student's natural ability and previous success in that field.

I didn't find the jump from GCSE-AS maths anywhere near as demanding as AS-A2. Bearing in mind I performed well at GCSE, recieving an A. However, mathematics as a subject does become very demanding. Especially with the advanced calculus and crazy trigonomotry. As I proceeded deeper into the subject, I began to struggle.

With D&T, GCSE-AS was huge. I believe this is because the volume of coursework we were expected to do and the ammount of knowledge we were expected to know were so much greater. However I was not as successful in my D&T GCSE as in maths. Yet, I did not percieve AS-A2 being much different. Possibly because I was constantly working at my best.

However, the leap from GCSE-AS in Chemistry was immense. Despite my recieving an A* in this subject. Therefore, I think that the syllabus was particulary demanding. On the ohter hand, AS-A2 was pretty straight forward. This is possibly because sciences are constantly increasing in difficulty throughout the course and perhaps I became accustomed to the constant rise of the bar.

AS Computing was quite a change from GCSE ICT as well, although they are fundementally un-alike, the jump in difficulty and content was large. However AS-A2 was un-noticable. Some of my friends complained of the coursework demands in A2 being greater however I found it was significantly less than AS D&T.

crafty bison

max out as much as possible at AS, and you should handle A2 just fine.

Just don't get lax - I got a really high A in maths at AS but ended up with an overall B.

Are A2's harder than AS's?

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