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Psychology or philosophy and ethics a level?

hi! im debating what to choose for my 3rd a level and idk if I should go for psychology of p&e... could somebody let me know how hard it is to achieve good grades in those subjects, whether exam questions are easy and all? obviously I'm aware that its not "easy" since its a level but IDK.. btw I'm genuinely interested in both but I need to choose one because my current selection is:
English lit, history + [p&e OR psych]
I want to go into law ^^

THANKSS
Original post by vivvie
hi! im debating what to choose for my 3rd a level and idk if I should go for psychology of p&e... could somebody let me know how hard it is to achieve good grades in those subjects, whether exam questions are easy and all? obviously I'm aware that its not "easy" since its a level but IDK.. btw I'm genuinely interested in both but I need to choose one because my current selection is:
English lit, history + [p&e OR psych]
I want to go into law ^^

THANKSS


I can't speak for philosophy, even though it's an interesting subject that you have to read a lot for (en par with English Lit I think).
I had a much easier time with psychology than I did with English Lit for example, and I personally enjoyed it more. However, I think that's just me though. Do note, psychology is more about the research methods and the individual academic psychological studies than actual debate on psychological theories, which was what I kind of was hoping for when I did the course.

Having said that, top end unis for law tend to prefer the more academic subjects, and philosophy is more likely to fit the bill a lot more than psychology. You will need to check the entry requirements of the specific degrees to see if this is the case though.

For most law degrees, it shouldn't matter whether you do psychology or philosophy.

What I would recommend doing is to go through some of the A Level material through various online sources and look through the specs for both subjects for their specific exam boards. If you like the content of the A Levels and the specs, then you're likely going to enjoy both.
I would also look at the exam papers as well as the mark schemes for those papers. If the mark schemes look like they aren't stingy with mark allocations, then you should be OK with the A Level at your college. if the exam papers have questions that are generally straightforward, even for the harder questions, then you should be OK with the exam board and the A Level.
Reply 2
Original post by MindMax2000
I can't speak for philosophy, even though it's an interesting subject that you have to read a lot for (en par with English Lit I think).
I had a much easier time with psychology than I did with English Lit for example, and I personally enjoyed it more. However, I think that's just me though. Do note, psychology is more about the research methods and the individual academic psychological studies than actual debate on psychological theories, which was what I kind of was hoping for when I did the course.

Having said that, top end unis for law tend to prefer the more academic subjects, and philosophy is more likely to fit the bill a lot more than psychology. You will need to check the entry requirements of the specific degrees to see if this is the case though.

For most law degrees, it shouldn't matter whether you do psychology or philosophy.

What I would recommend doing is to go through some of the A Level material through various online sources and look through the specs for both subjects for their specific exam boards. If you like the content of the A Levels and the specs, then you're likely going to enjoy both.
I would also look at the exam papers as well as the mark schemes for those papers. If the mark schemes look like they aren't stingy with mark allocations, then you should be OK with the A Level at your college. if the exam papers have questions that are generally straightforward, even for the harder questions, then you should be OK with the exam board and the A Level.


thank you so much! i’ll definitely look through mark schemes and the various a level topics and take into mind your advice! i’ll also ask some of my friends who are currently doing a levels and ask what they think of p&e and psych. thank you once again and have a good day 🫶

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