Taking the supposedly 4 hardest A-Levels

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I'm currently doing Maths Physics and Bio at A2 (English Lit last year) and I still love my social life; I've had time (but maybe not money) to go out 3 nights a week all year and work 2 jobs.

Don't worry about not having enough time since if these are the subjects you enjoy/are good at then that will be the biggest determining factor in your success than their relative difficulty!

Physics.

Got my chemistry AS level tomorrow, there isn't a day i regret taking it. Very hard subject to get a grasp of.

Reply 163

Pi/2

I wouldn't say that those are the four hardest subjects... Obviously it's Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Biology is just a memory game, there's barely any application of logic, it's essentially a game of "Smart Ass".

Reply 164

Rigster122

Original post by Samii123

In September I will be starting A-level maths, physics, chemistry and biology. Pretty much everyone who I have talked to have said that these are the hardest subjects I could have took and how I will have such a phenomenal workload that I won't be able to have a social life but is it really THAT vigorous and THAT difficult?

I'll say this much, Media sure is a piss in a bucket compared to the difficulty of Maths. Biology and Physics have some of the highest fail rates too

Reply 165

twhiddy

Is history actually that bad? God I'm scared now :frown:

Reply 166

Rigster122

Original post by twhiddy

Is history actually that bad? God I'm scared now :frown:

History was really difficult for me, not because of the content but rather the exam technique and 2nd unit being absolute ass hat

Reply 167

izpenguin

I did biology, chemistry, maths and Spanish at AS and I found Spanish the hardest. To be honest sciences/maths don't have that much work, because you don't have to write essays and there isn't too much coursework. You just need to do a lot of revision. Good luck!

Reply 168

Gold-Confetti

Original post by twhiddy

Is history actually that bad? God I'm scared now :frown:

Hey don't worry. It depends what you like tbh. Only about 500 people in the country take my course on the Angevin kings, and I love it so much studying is easy because it doesn't feel like a chore. I'm not too keen on US history though, so that's where I feel the strain.

I won't lie, it feels like you're taking 2 A levels because of the content, but if you like history, you'll enjoy it.
Agreed the exam technique does change a lot, and I struggled to understand what the examiner wants from me at first. But around halfway through the year the penny dropped and I've been getting full marks for a while now. Plus my teacher is known to be a really harsh marker.
Don't be scared, history at A Level is great- so much better than GCSE.

Reply 169

twhiddy

Original post by Gold-Confetti

I'm more scared because I didn't take it at GCSE - but I've always been intrigued by the subject. I'm afraid of the workload I might get because I haven't done History for a while and I've missed GCSE (even though people say GCSE History wasn't much of a help at A Level, but I'm still nervous)

Reply 170

WillRose

Yeah Maths is fine, if you work you'll get an A or A*. Physics i think is trickier, the A2 course is soooo large

Reply 171

Gold-Confetti

Original post by twhiddy

I would agree that GCSE probably doesn't help much. I took GCSE history in year 9, so it had been 2/3 years since I'd even studied history when I started this year. My friends took it last year so skills like source analysis and argumentative essays were fresh in their minds, but I still did consistently better than them. If you listen to your teacher and put the work in, not having done the GCSE or whatever won't matter (I certainly don't remember stuff from when I was 13 ahah) plus feel free to message me if you want any help with history when you start it. I'm keeping it on next year so I, and probably lots of other people, would be willing to help you. Don't worry about it- you'll be fine! 😊

Reply 172

United2810

I'm doing 5 A Levels: Maths, FM, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. I love Maths, and from unofficial mark schemes, got 190/200 marks for my GCSE. So essentially, Maths and FM could become one subject if I find them "easy"?

Anyone have any advice? I was told to take 5 by me, and by the sounds of it, I'm the only one. :/

Reply 173

ColossalAtom

My cousin got A*A*A*A* for all those A levels you mentioned. Now she's doing medicine at Oxford. I'm planning to do the same thing as well, but I'm not sure how I'll do with a part time job.

Reply 174

Samii123

Original post by Jagraj16

I got that much on maths too or thereabout, do you do edexcel?

Reply 175

unknowntsr

Original post by twhiddy

I didn't take History for GCSE but am doing it for A Level and although my teacher said that only one person did that last year and lasted 3 days, honestly you are on a level playing field. There is nothing from GSCE that helps them at all in AS, althought A Level Coursework may be a bit unusual for you :/ But yh, I'm doing fine (A/A*) so it cool

Reply 176

Berny1998

I'm doing exams for maths further maths economics chemistry and physics atm, from the subjects you want to take I can assume you are academic and have a good understanding of the sciences, in which case you should be able to get through the year by simply attending every lesson and doing homeworks, none of the subjects require much memory (other than biology that ur doing) and so the understanding Should be there when you are taught so I find these subjects should allow you more free time than your friends who have content based subjects. If the understanding is not there then trying to memorise methods and apply memory based knowledge will get you a U in the exams, I'm looking at straights As and A Stars this year and next and have got a lot of free time. You will find it the same or the polar opposite if you don't have scientific understanding.

Reply 177

Samii123

Original post by Berny1998

I understand topics as good, if not better, than I memorise them. I am likely to swap biology for further maths anyway because I enjoy maths more and maths is a really good subject for me because for GCSE I didn't have to do much revision because I could always fully understand topics after going over them once or twice. I also enjoy chemistry and physics because that also involves more understanding rather than memory.