The Student Room Group

Subject Workload and Advice

I am starting sixth form in a couple of days. I've chosen Maths (Edexcel), Further Maths (Edexcel), Physics (AQA) and Accounting (AQA). I wanted to know what everyone's individual experiences are with each of these subjects.

-How difficult did YOU find them?
-How was the workload?
-Were they enjoyable
-And your overall experience with the subject?

Thanks in advance.
First off, work hard from the start. With Edexcel Maths/Further Maths, they both require a lot of practice, but seeing you got into Further Maths in the first place I'm guessing you don't need much advice on them. The papers don't vary too much from year to year, so past papers should centre around your revision plan about 2-ish months before (that's what I did anyway). Wasn't too difficult with support from teachers when I was stumped. Workload wise, fairly decent. Maths is a subject you either enjoy or hate, and the former applies to me personally. Good solid subjects (Maths/Further Maths-not done the other 2 at A-Level). However, I did do Biology AQA at A-Level, and workload wise I imagine it wouldn't differ too much from Physics. Very content heavy, and you'll be doing Mechanics in Further Maths so that will inter-link with Physics. Accounting stands out as an outlier, though. What made you want to do Accounts? I did a module on it during my first year at University, and got 74% having never done it before, and you do need to spend a lot of time on it, just like Maths, it comes with practice. All the best.
i took AQA Phyics, and i'm not sure if it was just my teacher, but i was extremely bored 95% of the time in the lessons, and as i dont have a major passion for physics (my strongest subject is maths), i only really took physics because it complemented maths. the workload is not too bad, and if you put the time in and make sure you understand the concepts, you should be fine.
secondly, i took maths and further maths with AQA, but the two exam boards are not that different to my knowledge. since you took both maths and further, it shows you have some sort of passion for the subject, and if that is true, you should be fairly okay, if you're half decent at the subject. theres nothing in AS maths that is particularly difficult, but i could see why some people find A2 level fairly back breaking if they're not too good at the subject. as long as you put the time and effort in when you dont understand something, you should be fine
Very technical subjects you are doing, good luck
Reply 4
All easy, unless of course you're not naturally good in maths. Edexcel is a breeze of an exam board.

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Reply 5
Original post by Mr.Econometrics
First off, work hard from the start. With Edexcel Maths/Further Maths, they both require a lot of practice, but seeing you got into Further Maths in the first place I'm guessing you don't need much advice on them. The papers don't vary too much from year to year, so past papers should centre around your revision plan about 2-ish months before (that's what I did anyway). Wasn't too difficult with support from teachers when I was stumped. Workload wise, fairly decent. Maths is a subject you either enjoy or hate, and the former applies to me personally. Good solid subjects (Maths/Further Maths-not done the other 2 at A-Level). However, I did do Biology AQA at A-Level, and workload wise I imagine it wouldn't differ too much from Physics. Very content heavy, and you'll be doing Mechanics in Further Maths so that will inter-link with Physics. Accounting stands out as an outlier, though. What made you want to do Accounts? I did a module on it during my first year at University, and got 74% having never done it before, and you do need to spend a lot of time on it, just like Maths, it comes with practice. All the best.


Thank you! I picked accounting because I didn't really know what to pick for a fourth AS. I would've picked chemistry but that requires a lot of time and I don't want it to hinder my grades in the other three AS which are more important. Accounting isn't too hard an it's something new so I have it a go.
Reply 6
Original post by georgec123
i took AQA Phyics, and i'm not sure if it was just my teacher, but i was extremely bored 95% of the time in the lessons, and as i dont have a major passion for physics (my strongest subject is maths), i only really took physics because it complemented maths. the workload is not too bad, and if you put the time in and make sure you understand the concepts, you should be fine.
secondly, i took maths and further maths with AQA, but the two exam boards are not that different to my knowledge. since you took both maths and further, it shows you have some sort of passion for the subject, and if that is true, you should be fairly okay, if you're half decent at the subject. theres nothing in AS maths that is particularly difficult, but i could see why some people find A2 level fairly back breaking if they're not too good at the subject. as long as you put the time and effort in when you dont understand something, you should be fine


Could you rank C1, C2, S1, FP1, M1 and D1 in terms of difficulty?

How did you revise for Maths and Further Maths?
Original post by oneabdi
Could you rank C1, C2, S1, FP1, M1 and D1 in terms of difficulty?

How did you revise for Maths and Further Maths?


i didn't do s1 and fp1, but i've heard S1 is quite easy.

i'd say it goes

D1
C1
M1
C2

the first two are very close and the bottom two are very close, but its only a slight difference in difficulty. we got some resources from my college to revise, and i bought/borrowed a few revision guides for the modules i hadn't done since the start of the year, but mainly it's just grinding through past papers. theres 2 per year since around 05/06 and you're doing 6 modules so there's plenty to keep the material new and fresh, even if you start revising a good 2 months before your exams
Original post by georgec123
i didn't do s1 and fp1, but i've heard S1 is quite easy.

i'd say it goes

D1
C1
M1
C2

the first two are very close and the bottom two are very close, but its only a slight difference in difficulty. we got some resources from my college to revise, and i bought/borrowed a few revision guides for the modules i hadn't done since the start of the year, but mainly it's just grinding through past papers. theres 2 per year since around 05/06 and you're doing 6 modules so there's plenty to keep the material new and fresh, even if you start revising a good 2 months before your exams


Although D1's straight forward, it's stupidly easy to lose 15 odd marks over a couple of questions from minor errors.
Agree with the rest.
Original post by oneabdi
Thank you! I picked accounting because I didn't really know what to pick for a fourth AS. I would've picked chemistry but that requires a lot of time and I don't want it to hinder my grades in the other three AS which are more important. Accounting isn't too hard an it's something new so I have it a go.


That's good and well, but Accounting is seen as a weak and non-desirable A-Level for top Uni's. Consider alternatives, such as Economics (biased opinion because I study it at Uni myself yes, still a solid subject in which getting an A* is very realistic though).
Reply 10
Original post by Mr.Econometrics
That's good and well, but Accounting is seen as a weak and non-desirable A-Level for top Uni's. Consider alternatives, such as Economics (biased opinion because I study it at Uni myself yes, still a solid subject in which getting an A* is very realistic though).


I know Accounting is quite a weak A-Level for top unis, but they accept it as an AS because three of my other subjects are traditional, that's why I'm dropping it after my first year. I was thinking to do Economics but changed my mind the last minute to something a bit easier :frown:

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