[jjbristol]

Hi. I am about to start A2 next year. I am not dropping a subject so i will have philosophy, politics, economics and law all to do. Today though i recieved a letter from my college inviting me to enrol for AS critical thinking during my A2 year. Now this is a subject i've always wanted to take and at my college to be ''invited'' to take it during A2 you have to be one of the best students so i'm quite pleased. however with 4 A2s i akm not sure if i should be taking on a 5th subject. Has anyone any experience of this they could share as i need all the help i can get to make a decision. cheers

[Castelbajac]

Well it won't take up nearly as much time as your other A Levels so I don't think that would be much of an issue. If you choose to do it at my school then it's only one lesson a week.

It will probably help you with forming a cohesive argument, so may be worthwhile since you take a lot of essay based subjects.

I would say go for it You can always drop it if it gets too much.

[jjbristol]

okay thanks. that helps a lot.

[coolh5000]

One word of warning: I go to a very good school (league tables wise) and we were told in year 12 (just gone into year 13) that we would all be taking it. Then as the progressed we were told we had the option. We were basically advised to take it because they told us it would look good for those that were applying to Oxbridge or for medicine/vet science/law etc. Then suddenly a month or two before exams we were told that no one should take it and everyone had been withdrawn.

The reasons given were that people just hadn't done well in it previously. There were students who would get four As and D or lower in Critical thinking. The school finally talked to a Cambridge admissions tutor who they have links with and were told that they preferred to see a student with three As and without critical thinking than a student with a low critical thinking grade. So basically it wasn't worth the risk.

I suppose your situation is different though. You are doing it in year 13 which means unis will know you are taking it but not what grade you get until it is too late. I completed the course even though I didn't take the exam and it could benefit you with forming arguments and essay based subjects. However if you are someone that likes to get really good marks in everything you do then keep in mind that it is a bit of a hit and miss subject. I would agree with the advice that you should try it and see how you get on with the workload/

[mj2]

Critical thinking is not as bad as it sounds and it definitely does not take up as much time as other subjects. I think it will go well with philosophy, and as coolh5000 said, if your interested in Oxbridge, this will definitely help.