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french or history a-level?

Hi, I have just chosen my a-levels, which are:
Maths, physics, economics and french.

But im thinking of changing french to history. ive spoken to my gcse his teacher and he says that i'll do well but im not sure because history seems quite hard, althought i really like history. so can anyone please give me some advice on what history/french is like, and is history really hard? btw im thinking of doing the 'faith in the sword' history course (its sort of the tudors from 1558-1603, i think!)

thanks for any help :smile:

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Reply 1

rc18

law@leics

just would like to let you know, a-levels are quite hard plus youve chosen difficult subjects as it is. you sure they are the right courses you would like to do?

yeah i think so, i chose those subjects because i enjoy them and i think im quite good at them (for my mocks i got a* in maths/phy/fre and an a in his)

Reply 2

rc18

Hopefull investment banking. Do you do french/history?

Reply 3

Basil Hallward

I'm doing both History and French at A2, I find History easier to do well in.

Reply 4

Stace-is-Ace

I did both French and History for AS...and I hated French with passion!

I'm from Northern Ireland so our exam board is different so the exams wouldn't be exactly the same....I just found French so hard even though I was good at it for GCSE...it ended up really stressing me out and meant I couldn't concentrate on my other subjects at all.

On the other hand, it is good to have a language to as high a level as possible. It looks well on CVs and suchlike.

I loved History...I always have...that's probably why I enjoyed it so much more. Only study it if you're interested in the past...because if you're not interested it'll only drive you crazy! Another good thing about History is that it tends to be taught in bigger "chunks" than French so it should leave you with more time for your other subjects because I know my friends who do Maths and Physics have lots of work on a regular basis whereas for History I only had an essay every so often.

So...my advice is to do whichever one you prefer most/feel you'd be most interested in. Make sure you don't rule out any future career choices such as a year abroad in France or something.

I hope this helps! Good luck =]

Reply 5

Stace-is-Ace

I also did Economics! <3 hehe!!

Let me know if you need any help anytime =]

Reply 6

dandan

Do French, language skills are in great demand, History is considered an easy degree by employers and universities alike.

Reply 7

Stace-is-Ace

Ahem! History is SO not easy!

He can always learn to speak French some other time...French A Level is about much more than just speaking the language...there's the literature/topical issues in France etc. that have to be covered aswell!

Reply 8

chickadee297

i took french this year n ive been wanting 2 drop it ever since so i could take history instead because it sounds soo much more interesting!
if i could go back id definitely take history instead & do french in my spare time for fun at evening classes or something
xxx

Reply 9

leeds4eva

i've chosen to do history because it think that it is more interesting but its up to you which one you do. have you tried speaking to universities about which one would be best or perhaps emailing companies which they think that would be best. if you've got a higher mock grade in french then you might want to go with that but its whether you think that you would want to do it a a-level.

Reply 10

dark<>horizon

rajchahal18

let me just clarify...French is not easy at A-level, esp when you reach your A2 year.

Reply 11

tomoli

If it helps, I did History and French at AS (along with Physics and Economics) and dropped French because it was so much harder (even though I got an A in both, I had to work a lot harder in French than I did in History).

Reply 12

rip9

Languages are very well respected as they are difficult to master.
However if you enjoy History more than French then choose that, it's not worth choosing something you will get bored of.

Reply 13

dark<>horizon

rip9

Languages are very well respected as they are difficult to master.
However if you enjoy History more than French then choose that, it's not worth choosing something you will get bored of.

;lttd;

:vector:

Reply 14

*River

I did German and History at A Level. Don't underestimate the jump between GCSE and AS Level, and again to A2. The teaching was horrendous though, so that may have contributed to how much I hated German. I'd go with History just because I think it's much more enjoyable, and infinitely less stressful.

Reply 15

Jacket Potato

Surely investment banking takes place sometimes on an international scale therefore I think being able to speak french could be the cherry on the cake in your future career. Saying this, french AS is difficult-even if you get a better grade for french that you do for history at GSCE do NOT take this into consideration (unless you do really awfully) because an A* in french doesn't seem to hold much water at AS level :frown:

Reply 16

Greatleysteg

SSSAAAUUUDDD

let me just clarify...French is not easy at A-level, esp when you reach your A2 year.

*begs to differ*. If you're naturally good, you'll do fine - it's fairly easy. If you worked for the A*, chances are, you'll have to raise your game.

Reply 17

rotor

French for me is really hard, but if you enjoy it and am good at it go ahead!

Reply 18

dark<>horizon

Greatleysteg

*begs to differ*. If you're naturally good, you'll do fine - it's fairly easy. If you worked for the A*, chances are, you'll have to raise your game.

to succed in languages, you dont have to simply be "naturally good" - some language exams, e.g. the essay-based ones, require nothing but exam technique and "structure" - something which even the best linguists can lack.

Reply 19

Ani*

I'm doing History and French for A2 at the moment and I personally think that it's easier for a broader range of students to do well in history, while you have to have some sort of linguistic flare to reach the top marks in French.