Which is easiest to get A - Geography or History?
My daughter is struggling to decide between Geography and History (both Edexel in case that matters) as a compliment to Biology and Chemistry A levels
She enjoys both and did okay at GCSE (8 Geography, 9 History)
My sense is History is harder to get an A at A level compared to Geography - more reading, more work, more complex exam questions
Wonder what others think?
She enjoys both and did okay at GCSE (8 Geography, 9 History)
My sense is History is harder to get an A at A level compared to Geography - more reading, more work, more complex exam questions
Wonder what others think?
Original post by ChiefBrody
My daughter is struggling to decide between Geography and History (both Edexel in case that matters) as a compliment to Biology and Chemistry A levels
She enjoys both and did okay at GCSE (8 Geography, 9 History)
My sense is History is harder to get an A at A level compared to Geography - more reading, more work, more complex exam questions
Wonder what others think?
She enjoys both and did okay at GCSE (8 Geography, 9 History)
My sense is History is harder to get an A at A level compared to Geography - more reading, more work, more complex exam questions
Wonder what others think?
It depends on the person.
Which subject would you say she enjoys more? The more she enjoys the subject, the more motivation she will find to put in the work required to get at least an A.
I would suggest she looks at exactly which options her sixth form has picked for history to see if said areas interest her or not.
the topic areas this year are both interesting to her, its really hard to pick a winner - that's why I wondered about grade
Right now she is planning on doing both which seems like a risk as most Unis only really seem to care about your first 3 grades, AAA looks better than AABB
Right now she is planning on doing both which seems like a risk as most Unis only really seem to care about your first 3 grades, AAA looks better than AABB
(edited 7 months ago)
Original post by ChiefBrody
the topic areas this year are both interest interesting to her, its really hard to pick a winner - that's why I wondered about grade
Right now she is planning on doing both which seems like a risk as most Unis only really seem to care about your first 3 grades, AAA looks better than AABB
Right now she is planning on doing both which seems like a risk as most Unis only really seem to care about your first 3 grades, AAA looks better than AABB
I agree it would be best to pick between them, rather than take both (unless of course she decides to take both in lieu of either chemistry or biology). She could try taking all four subjects and drop whichever one she enjoys the least if and when the workload becomes too much.
Having taken geography for all of 2 weeks (I dropped it to get out of having to complete a 20-mark essay question as homework lmao), my experience with it is that there is a fair bit of essay writing and even some maths (statistics, though most of this is stuff she will have done in her GCSE maths course) involved. With the exam board I would have been with (AQA), there would have been a fieldwork NEA accounting for 20% of the final mark, though I’m not quite sure how the NEA works with Edexcel - I’d look into it and see how your daughter feels about it, as she may prefer a course assessed entirely by exam.
NEA is a good point - we talked about her doing an EPQ instead of #4 A level but the idea of open ended project work that has to be self managed didn't appeal to her at all, she prefers deadlines. NEA could be similar
From what I can see Geography (pre covid) had a pass rate of about 98% but I cant find any data for As and A*s. Whereas History was 81% pass rate, only 5% A*s - so statistically History seems harder and Geography the obvious choice.
But its more complicated than that because if she hates NEA and enjoys the history more she would likely do better . . . and I go round in a circle again, aargh!
From what I can see Geography (pre covid) had a pass rate of about 98% but I cant find any data for As and A*s. Whereas History was 81% pass rate, only 5% A*s - so statistically History seems harder and Geography the obvious choice.
But its more complicated than that because if she hates NEA and enjoys the history more she would likely do better . . . and I go round in a circle again, aargh!
Original post by ChiefBrody
My daughter is struggling to decide between Geography and History (both Edexel in case that matters) as a compliment to Biology and Chemistry A levels
She enjoys both and did okay at GCSE (8 Geography, 9 History)
My sense is History is harder to get an A at A level compared to Geography - more reading, more work, more complex exam questions
Wonder what others think?
She enjoys both and did okay at GCSE (8 Geography, 9 History)
My sense is History is harder to get an A at A level compared to Geography - more reading, more work, more complex exam questions
Wonder what others think?
I think geography complements her other A level choices more, and there will be some common content (eg biodiveristy, ecology, chemical erosion, statistical testing, etc.). Both subjects will have similar workloads and, depending on exam board, both will have an NEA component. You've not mentioned future plans, but geography would also be a good choice for natural science degrees, environmental and earth sciences, etc.
(edited 7 months ago)
aspiration is Bio Sciences / Life Sciences - so again Geography seems the logical choice
Original post by ChiefBrody
NEA is a good point - we talked about her doing an EPQ instead of #4 A level but the idea of open ended project work that has to be self managed didn't appeal to her at all, she prefers deadlines. NEA could be similar
From what I can see Geography (pre covid) had a pass rate of about 98% but I cant find any data for As and A*s. Whereas History was 81% pass rate, only 5% A*s - so statistically History seems harder and Geography the obvious choice.
But its more complicated than that because if she hates NEA and enjoys the history more she would likely do better . . . and I go round in a circle again, aargh!
From what I can see Geography (pre covid) had a pass rate of about 98% but I cant find any data for As and A*s. Whereas History was 81% pass rate, only 5% A*s - so statistically History seems harder and Geography the obvious choice.
But its more complicated than that because if she hates NEA and enjoys the history more she would likely do better . . . and I go round in a circle again, aargh!
Here are the Edexcel grade statistics from June 2019
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Grade-statistics/A-level/grade-statistics-june-2019-final-a-level-advanced-level.PDF
The more important statistics for you to consider
Overall A* - E (pass) rates:
History: 99.0%
Geography: 98.4%
Overall A* - A rates:
History: 21.2%
Geography: 23.6%
Overall A* rates:
History: 4.9%
Geography: 5.2%
Bear in mind that history was a more popular subject in 2019 than geography as it had circa 1600 more entries
you beat me to it, thanks for the stats 
So, anecdotal evidence is that Geography is easier (it makes the top 10 easiest A levels lists all over google) but the stats show little difference in pass rates
So, anecdotal evidence is that Geography is easier (it makes the top 10 easiest A levels lists all over google) but the stats show little difference in pass rates
Hi,
I take both subjects at A-level (alongside English) and I personally find geography to require less work to get the same grades although both are very content heavy. I agree that geography compliments her other two subjects more but if she enjoys history more it could add a bit of variety. Both subjects have NEAs (geography involves undertaking individual fieldwork while history is an essay) if that's what she's looking for. However, obviously what really matters is which subject she prefers- a-levels are hard and it's important to enjoy the subjects you take. I'm loving both subjects and find both to be very rewarding
I take both subjects at A-level (alongside English) and I personally find geography to require less work to get the same grades although both are very content heavy. I agree that geography compliments her other two subjects more but if she enjoys history more it could add a bit of variety. Both subjects have NEAs (geography involves undertaking individual fieldwork while history is an essay) if that's what she's looking for. However, obviously what really matters is which subject she prefers- a-levels are hard and it's important to enjoy the subjects you take. I'm loving both subjects and find both to be very rewarding
Original post by ChiefBrody
NEA is a good point - we talked about her doing an EPQ instead of #4 A level but the idea of open ended project work that has to be self managed didn't appeal to her at all, she prefers deadlines. NEA could be similar
From what I can see Geography (pre covid) had a pass rate of about 98% but I cant find any data for As and A*s. Whereas History was 81% pass rate, only 5% A*s - so statistically History seems harder and Geography the obvious choice.
But its more complicated than that because if she hates NEA and enjoys the history more she would likely do better . . . and I go round in a circle again, aargh!
From what I can see Geography (pre covid) had a pass rate of about 98% but I cant find any data for As and A*s. Whereas History was 81% pass rate, only 5% A*s - so statistically History seems harder and Geography the obvious choice.
But its more complicated than that because if she hates NEA and enjoys the history more she would likely do better . . . and I go round in a circle again, aargh!
NEA can act as a cushion if she flops on an exam. I got a 6 in GCSE Geography. I did okay in my NEA and I was 10 marks off an A overall. If I was that close with my GCSE grade being a 6. I have complete faith your daughter can get an A or above.
(edited 7 months ago)
Adding to above. I did Biology and Chemistry too (OCR A) with Geography (Edexcel) and they all compliment each other well. There’s crossovers in biology and geography when talking about plant succession, carbon cycle, etc. It really does work well. I didn’t study from the beginning of my A-Levels and I left it very late but I got ABB in my A-Levels this year and this is on the foundation of 776 at GCSE. If I can get ABB in those subjects with those GCSE grades then your daughter has the capabilities of getting at least AAA. As long as she puts the work in as A-Level is significantly harder than GCSE.
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