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Chemistry or Psychology A-Level?

I'm currently doing my GCSE's and I want to go to sixth form and do my A-Levels. I want to study Biology, Psychology (or chemistry), French and IT. I'm worried that the workload with biology and psychology together would be ridiculous, but I know I would find chemistry challenging (I'm roughly B grade at GCSE). I enjoy biology, french and IT so I will probably take them. Has anyone here got a B at GCSE in chemistry and still went on to study it at A-Level? Or studied biology and psychology together at A-Level? I would gladly read what you have to say. Thanks.
Reply 1
Hi welcome to

How are you finding your GCSEs?

You might want to check out the GCSE Help forum. There you will be able to make threads about your current studies. If you need help with a specific subject, you can also visit the Study Help forum.

There are also plenty of learning resources that you can use to help you study. These resources are made by students, for students to use Or if you just want to relax, you can head to the Chat forum, or even spend some time playing the Forum Games.

If you have any questions about using the site, let me know.

About your question, I got an A in Triple (further) Chemistry at GCSE and went on to do it at A-level, but found it a bit challenging. But then again, we were doing the hardest exam board (OCR B Salters) so you might have a different experience :h: In general, the workload of 4 subjects shouldn't be too much for AS, but you'd probably need to drop one if you wanted to get fantastic grades at A2 :cute: Hope this helps! :biggrin:
I knew from the start I wanted to do Psychology and ended up picking Biology as one of my other subjects too. Within the first two weeks of Sixth Form I also changed one of my courses to Chemistry.

Some people in my class did Psychology at GCSE so already knew some of the stuff however the people who didn't were not at a disadvantage because they didn't study it. Psychology was a new subject for me and honestly out of all of my subjects it's the one I enjoy the most, it's so interesting but there's a lot of key studies to remember.

Biology is okay, I managed to get an A at GCSE however I'm just scraping a C in tests we've done in class. There's also a bit of content to remember but it's just building on things from GCSE.

Chemistry is the one I'm struggling with. I got an A at GCSE though that was basically self-teaching myself from a textbook. I'm still getting E's and D's right now even though I spend a lot of time doing independent study, I still can't get my head around it.

Biology and Psychology together, in my view, isn't too bad. They're probably my favourite subjects I'm taking.
Btw- think about the workload in each subject and don't think about whether you currently enjoy it at GCSE.
MY STORY--- I chose A Level Spanish because I enjoyed it at GCSE BUT A Level Spanish is completely different to GCSE. I really don't like A Level Spanish and a language at A Level gives you a huge pile of workload. Within 3 weeks of starting AS Spanish I got sooo much work. Anyways back to the point, I would personally take psychology because i wanted to pick it but it wasn't taught in my sixth form and its an extremely interesting subject BUT if you want to become a doctor or something similar then take 2 A Level Sciences....PS- Make the most of 6th form taster days and visits to different 6th forms. I regret not going to those taster days and now I'm stuck (I just started AS Levels 2 months ago) :frown: Hope this helps and the rest is up to u !!!! :biggrin:
Thanks for the replies!
Our school doesn't offer psychology at GCSE, so it's a new subject for anyone in my school at AS/A2. Our school is on the WJEC exam board accept for the IT course which is on the OCR exam board. I would probably drop chemistry at the end of AS. I want to do a course in biomedical sciences, or a course in microbiology or even nursing even though it's exceptionally competitive. I like the idea of psychology and I'm not bad at remembering things plus I really like biology. I will have to see what I get at GCSE in chemistry. Sometimes I find chemistry challenging at GCSE let alone a level. Is the maths hard in chemistry a level?
Hello. :smile: Hopefully what I have to say will be of some use to you. I am in year 12, so I've just began my A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and German. I haven't ever studied Psychology, but I can tell you that Chemistry is difficult.

I got an A last year, but this year Chemistry has quickly become my least favourite and most difficult subject. When making your decision, it's definitely worth remembering that Chemistry and Maths are considered the 'hardest A Levels'.

I wouldn't worry about the work load of both Biology and Chemistry as they are complete different subjects in terms of A Level. From what I have gathered so far, Chemistry is more about your understanding of the topic - there is much less content. Whereas with Biology, there is far much more content but it's a little less about your actual understanding (although of course you still need to understand it).

Obviously I can only speak for myself when I say that Chemistry is practically Satan's spawn on a plate but perhaps I can advise you to only take it if you are 100% sure that you will be able to handle it! I wasn't completely sure it was for me, yet I went ahead and took it anyway which is most probably why I am struggling. It's definitely a bigger jump up from GCSE than my other subjects.

On another note though, it makes me happy to hear you're taking French. It saddens me that many people overlook taking a language at A Level, when in reality they are (in my opinion) so rewarding as well as being a lot of fun!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to message me - I hope this has been useful to you! :smile:
Original post by andrew_williams
Thanks for the replies!
Our school doesn't offer psychology at GCSE, so it's a new subject for anyone in my school at AS/A2. Our school is on the WJEC exam board accept for the IT course which is on the OCR exam board. I would probably drop chemistry at the end of AS. I want to do a course in biomedical sciences, or a course in microbiology or even nursing even though it's exceptionally competitive. I like the idea of psychology and I'm not bad at remembering things plus I really like biology. I will have to see what I get at GCSE in chemistry. Sometimes I find chemistry challenging at GCSE let alone a level. Is the maths hard in chemistry a level?


Personally I find the maths side easiest, I'm struggling with the theory and applying and understanding the content. The maths side is not too difficult though that may just be as I take maths alongside. Anybody at my school taking a science and who hasn't chosen to do a level Maths must also do an hour of Core Maths a week to help them. So far I'm finding the maths is very basic and easy to understand however I'm on OCR, not quite sure what the other exam boards are like though I assume they are similar.
Thank you so much!
I'm not 100% sure whether I should take it or not. I find chemistry one of the harder sciences at GCSE. I think I will probably take psychology because it seems to be a much more fascinating subject. I knew there wouldn't be as much work as biology for example, but I was worried more about the actual content and how easy it is to understand. I know how it feels to be that one person who struggles and at A Level l, I'm pretty sure I would hate it with a passion. I was going to take it with my friend who wants to be a doctor and is a genius in science. Anyway, thanks for the advice!
Reply 8
Original post by andrew_williams
I'm currently doing my GCSE's and I want to go to sixth form and do my A-Levels. I want to study Biology, Psychology (or chemistry), French and IT. I'm worried that the workload with biology and psychology together would be ridiculous, but I know I would find chemistry challenging (I'm roughly B grade at GCSE). I enjoy biology, french and IT so I will probably take them. Has anyone here got a B at GCSE in chemistry and still went on to study it at A-Level? Or studied biology and psychology together at A-Level? I would gladly read what you have to say. Thanks.



I got a B at GCSE Chemistry, 1 UMS of an A (still very annoyed about that). I still went on to do it at a level, and I'm enjoying it a lot more than at GCSE. I get the same grades, if not better than people who got A's and A* at GCSE so don't worry if you get a B at GCSE, as long as you put in the effort you will be fine at a level. It's challenging but I find a lot of the parts of the course interesting, maybe that's down to my specification (OCR). TBH I was thought chemistry at a level would be incredibly difficult but it's actually a lot better than I thought. I take History, Eng Lit, Chem and Bio for GCSE and I never thought I would say this but I actually am enjoying chemistry the most! Biology is also quite interesting but there is a lot of complex vocabulary and sequences that take some time to get your head around! However there are some parts of the biology a level course that we learnt about at GCSE so it makes things a lot easier to understand. Hope this helps a bit, good luck in your GCSE's!
Original post by andrew_williams
I'm currently doing my GCSE's and I want to go to sixth form and do my A-Levels. I want to study Biology, Psychology (or chemistry), French and IT. I'm worried that the workload with biology and psychology together would be ridiculous, but I know I would find chemistry challenging (I'm roughly B grade at GCSE). I enjoy biology, french and IT so I will probably take them. Has anyone here got a B at GCSE in chemistry and still went on to study it at A-Level? Or studied biology and psychology together at A-Level? I would gladly read what you have to say. Thanks.


I got a B in chemistry GCSE, and got a B in A-level overall. My advice would be to take chemistry, even though it's very difficult, it's worth it in the end. But if you're going to do it, do it properly, don't take it on a whim and then not put the work in because that just won't work.

Also, if you do take chemistry, work your a*** off in your first year to get top grades, because the second year is hell.

Hope this helps :smile:
Original post by andrew_williams
I'm currently doing my GCSE's and I want to go to sixth form and do my A-Levels. I want to study Biology, Psychology (or chemistry), French and IT. I'm worried that the workload with biology and psychology together would be ridiculous, but I know I would find chemistry challenging (I'm roughly B grade at GCSE). I enjoy biology, french and IT so I will probably take them. Has anyone here got a B at GCSE in chemistry and still went on to study it at A-Level? Or studied biology and psychology together at A-Level? I would gladly read what you have to say. Thanks.


I did Biology, Chemistry and Psychology (+Maths) for AS. Between Chemistry and Psychology, even though it was harder, I much preferred Chemistry - although that might just be because I prefer more science-y subjects.

Psychology at AS was really not that difficult (I did AQA A) because you just learn key studies and key terms and regurgitate them in your exam answers where appropriate.

Biology was also pretty good for me - although you do have to pay attention to what's being said and make sure your notes are complete after lessons, it is most definitely manageable alongside Chemistry or Psychology.

Chemistry (OCR A) was easily the most rigorous of my subjects - out of my AS class of 10, 4 of us got As, 1 person got a B, another got a C and the remaining 4 failed the course entirely - and we'd all got A*/As in our sciences at GCSE so it's definitely important to keep that in mind. You have to keep on top of your notes, make a lot of revision materials and do practice papers until you've done every single available one at least twice.

Basically, if you're looking for a smaller workload, Psychology is your best bet. Having said that though, you're going to have a pretty large workload whatever you decide to take but that shouldn't deter you from taking something you've looked into and really think you'd enjoy. If you actually want to do a subject, chances are you're more willing to put the effort in to get a good grade in it.
Thanks for the replies!
It's quite tempting to take the plunge and do it at a level, because even though I would only study it for year 12 (unless I enjoy it) it would open more doors than psychology. I have done some research and I have seen that some people with lower grades at GCSE somehow get the higher grades at a level? I haven't done C2 yet, I'll be sitting it in probably June next year. I find C2 hard, but manageable in a way. It just a takes time to recognise patterns and fully understand it all. I find biology much easier, but physics is not my friend! I'm more worried about the difficulty of the course more than anything but many say it's like studying a completely new subject at a level, whether I will like it more or hate it, I don't know.
Hello,
I have exactly done this aha. B for Chemistry at GCSE and continuing into A-Levels along with Psychology and Biology.
At GCSE I got a B in Chemistry and A in Biology (both OCR). I liked Biology and wanted to do another science at A-Level so I also chose Chemistry along with Psychology and Philosophy.
At my school we do OCR Chemistry and AQA Biology and Psychology (and Philosophy).
Biology was particularly challenging for me. I started to hate it throughout AS but somehow came out with an A grade. It took a lot of revision and practicing a lot of how science works questions. My tip for Bio is to really get to know the mark schemes for AQA because a lot of the questions they ask for content are similar but just in different contexts and also do all of exam pro for the units. The Biology ISA was pretty good for me I got a B for it. I thought that Biology was the most draining and boring for me to revise for.
I thought that Psychology was okay because it was literally remembering a load of studies and theories. But if you're not motivated to do this then I wouldn't recommend it. Then again it also depends if you're particularly interested in studying it.
I thought that it was my easiest AS level (though A-Levels are hard but out of my subjects it seemed the easiest to get a good grade in)
Chemistry was hard but I enjoyed revising for the exams it but I blame my ISA's for bringing my potential A grade in Chem for a B (I HATE CHEMISTRY ISA'S but maybe it's because I make stupid mistakes)
At the end of AS I received:
Psychology A
Biology A
Chemistry B
Philosophy B
I dropped Philosophy at A2 because I want to study Biomedical Science and they mostly require Bio, Chem and an additional subject so Psychology because I got an A. I dislike Biology but I'm good at it (it's quite sad). Chemistry is my favourite subject now. Psychology is in between, it's interesting for me but is a lot to revise for. Plus, A2 content is far more interesting than AS in my opinion.
I have applied for Biomedical Sciences at King's, York, Durham, Surrey and Lancaster University
I have so far received a conditional offer from King's for the grades AAB at the end of A-Level (A's in Bio and Chem)
Hi, I got a B at GCSE chemistry and went on to do it at a level along with both biology and psychology (I'm in year 12 now).
Obviously it's up to you with what your strengths are but for me, I'm finding that chemistry is a lot more difficult than psychology. Chemistry involves quite a lot of calculation and short answer questions where as psychology involves long essay questions using case studies.
I hope this helps and I wish you luck in whatever you choose to do, I'm sure you'll do great!

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Right, bottom line, you've already got one soft subject in there (IT) so I wouldn't pick another. Do Chemistry. If you want to do psychology, drop IT, no one likes IT, it will get you no where in life.
I studied both psychology and biology and got two As at AS! I would recommend the two together because there are quite a few things that cross over, evolutionary psychology for example was massively easier for me because I'd studied the concept at AS biology! Psychology is a pretty easy a level, as long as you look at the mark schemes and learn what they want you to. The same questions crop up, so there's a lot of revision material out there. Same goes for biology tbh, past papers and mark schemes are gold dust!


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I'm currently doing Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Psychology.. And Psychology is by far my worst subject. It focuses a lot on studies, and there are A LOT of them, making it hard to remember all of them - which you need to do to get the highest grades.


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