Philosophy and politics through clearing - never studied before?

Oh well done, glasgow is a really good university and those are both interesting subjects. I'm surprised they had Glasgow on clearing. I don't study those subjects so I can't help you. Out of interest what did you originally want to study and what were your grades?

It would be hard for them to do that as they know nothing about you - but what I would say is that the four year degree course in Scotland allows plenty of time to get to grips with new material - and even to change horses if you decide one or other subject doesn't suit you. Also, you will be studying other subjects in your first year or two and should be able to find something more familiar to you if you want to.

I know, I called up really fast so I'm lucky to get a place. My grades were ABC with one UMS off a B so I'm waiting for my remark I originally wanted to study psychology, but thats what I scored my C in, so I felt really put off

Oh those are pretty decent grades I say - you'll obviousy be able to cope with the course provided you put enough effort in. Words of advice though, don't do the course unless you're interested in both those subjects and want to put the effort in. Otherwise you may find yourself demotivated and in a right pickle. Take it from someone who went to university once and dropped out due to disliking the course, and had to start again. Dont listen to other people pressuring you to shoot off to university just to give your life some direction. You are only young and have plenty of time. I presume you're 18 or thereabouts. If its psychology you're really interested in then work hard at it, read lots, re-take and go on a gap year. Getting a job in the meantime and saving up can be good life experience in the 'real world out there'. It doesn't matter in the long haul if you dont go to uni at the same time as your friends. Having said that, if you're feeling this philosophy and politics thing I reckon you could cope with those grades at A Level, provided you put in the effort and are interested!! Good luck.

Hey there, I'm about to start studying Philosophy at uni and did not study Philosophy A-level. I studied Politics A-level as it happens, but you wouldn't need it to study Politics at uni either. I studied RS which is how I personally discovered my love for Philosophy.
Philosophy and Politics are subjects where no previous knowledge is assumed and so the first year is about bringing everyone to the same level. So what's important is your interest in the subjects. If you're interested and hopefully have a passion for them, perfect!

Thanks so much for your advice! Ive read up a lot on the course and both subjects have always been of interest to me. I've realised that the only reason I wanted to do psychology at degree level was because i (thought) was good at it, I always scored A*'s in my mocks so when I got the C it was a huge blow and I realised that I actually don't want to pursue a career in anything related to psychology. But I think you're right, as long as I put the effort in, which I fully aim to do, then I should be okay

See, my experience is that A Level exam papers and their markers alike are often iffy and unpredictable and as such your end result can be a poor reflection of your ability in a subject. You got a*s in your mocks for a reason, and it is also worth noting that a C grade does not imply total lack of ability, but rather suggests something went wrong and something needs tweaking.

Funny, because through my AS and A2 philosophy and ethics I've never scored below 26/35 in any mock paper (and we've done probably over 25 of them in those 2 years). I had 26 twice, and the rest of my marks were 26-30 at AS, and 30-34 at A2 all the time. Then the exams come - questions very similar to what we had in class, I studied hard and knew what the question was asking, what the theories were, different thinkers, evaluated all the claims, my spelling and punctuation was good.. I thought I did great (had an A at AS). Ethics had my two dream questions, on the topic I had 33/35 in class, so I knew perfectly well what to write and how.



Then results day comes, and somehow I get 15/35 average on my two philosophy questions, and 21/35 average on the ethics ones. D and C in A2 papers, barely scraped a B overall.


And then I read about people studying a day before the exam, half assing it and not knowing half of what they're talking about, and get an A.



If that's how the marking works... I'm glad I'll never ever have to go back to doing A levels again.

I can totally relate. Funnily enough I never had these issues in science A Levels where the answer can hardly be debated (or when it can be debated, not to such a great extent) however in the one humanities A Level I did, there were problems with essay marking. Frequently it is very hard to assess how good an essay is, I feel. Markers are often at a loss themselves. Adhering to the points on the mark scheme can be a very good pointer, as that's where the numbers come from and the numbers give the grade, but it sounds like you had an understanding of all the necessary aspects you had to include.

Exams can be a bit of a bitch like that, A Levels in particular. I'm sorry Philosophy didn't work out the way you planned when you were obviously talented and put in quite some effort. That can be very frustrating.

Funny, because through my AS and A2 philosophy and ethics I've never scored below 26/35 in any mock paper (and we've done probably over 25 of them in those 2 years). I had 26 twice, and the rest of my marks were 26-30 at AS, and 30-34 at A2 all the time. Then the exams come - questions very similar to what we had in class, I studied hard and knew what the question was asking, what the theories were, different thinkers, evaluated all the claims, my spelling and punctuation was good.. I thought I did great (had an A at AS). Ethics had my two dream questions, on the topic I had 33/35 in class, so I knew perfectly well what to write and how.



Then results day comes, and somehow I get 15/35 average on my two philosophy questions, and 21/35 average on the ethics ones. D and C in A2 papers, barely scraped a B overall.


And then I read about people studying a day before the exam, half assing it and not knowing half of what they're talking about, and get an A.



If that's how the marking works... I'm glad I'll never ever have to go back to doing A levels again.