Should I take English Lit. or Psychology as my fourth A-level?

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Wow, you might be my twin.. I chose Biology, Chemistry and Maths for AS, and couldn't decide between physchology and english. I would definitely describe myself as a 'science person' but I enjoyed english and was reasonably good at it. I picked english in the end and it was definitley the right choice for me. Quite a few friends did physchology and they all hated it and dropped it at the end of the year (i think 70% of people dropped physchology for A2, though this probably had quite a lot to do with the teacher). Most people in my English enjoyed it and got an A or a B at AS (I got an A, which I don't think I would have got if I chose physchology). I liked the reading and even the essay writing, wheras I've been told physchology has a lot theories and ideas but not a lot of science (which was what drew me in in the first place). I do think physchology would benefit an application to uni for science slightly more and the brain is very interesting, though english lit is a respected academic subject and essay writing is a skill admissions tutors will admire... So my recommendation would be english lit, but good luck whatever you choose

Reply 21

anon_aberstudent

I enjoyed psychology a lot but there are a LOT of studies to memorize. My fav part about psychology was how it taught me to evaluate arguments, there's a lot of criticizing studies involved for "AO2 skills" which helped me out a lot with history.

Reply 22

amberskye

Difficult question, I do both at A2...If you're good with workload then do Eng Lit. The coursework is a killer (just handed mine in today yessss). Having said that, Psych is harder than people think, and a lot of people do badly in AS because they underestimate it. But it's mainly ensuring you learn all the studies and thoroughly understand the theory (it's not impossible to get 200 UMS :wink:

) I'm kind of biased because I've chosen to do psych at uni, but in my opinion it's more interesting than eng lit, simply because for me it feels more relevant. I can't comment on its suitability for your other subjects because I don't know anything about that field, and I'm not really one for having perfectly matching subjects anyway.

Reply 23

underestimate

I took Biology,Chemistry, Maths and English Literature this year, I feel like English Lit requires less revision from the other subjects as it is not content heavy like Biology and the other two. But Lit still requires revision but a lot of it also lies on developing writing technique, I feel like it is a break from the sciences and I can still study enough for Lit while still prioritizing my main subjects,

Reply 24

amberskye

Original post by EllainKahlo

I definitely disagree with the above. But it depends on the exam board, research that before you pick. The exam board I do psychology on is murder, the work content is nothing I have ever seen before. No other essay writing subject can match it, but it is difficult to understand or learn, just write and retain. English on the hand is more enjoyable for me because the work load is so much less. But you have to pick depending on the syllabus as well as the work load so I recommend you look it up and see which one has more points on interest.

Both will benefit you in the long run, psychology is respected as a subject at uni, English is a traditional subject you can't go wrong with picking.

What exam board are you on?

Reply 25

EllainKahlo

Original post by amberskye

What exam board are you on?

For Psychology, WJEC. For English Literature AQA, I think.

Reply 26

Gnomes&Knights

You're doing 3 hard subjects so you might as well Chill with the 4th one. Psychology is easier that English Literature and is more of a better fit to the other 3.