I've picked this exact combo for a-levels too! 😀
Original post by meoow
I am finalizing my A-level options, and I was wondering if anyone who does these a-levels could give me some insight into the workload and overall how interesting they are/ any other details.
English Literature (OCR)
History (AQA)
Psychology (AQA)
English Literature (OCR)
History (AQA)
Psychology (AQA)
Hello I’m in year 13 and do English literature!
English is very content based and you must genuinely enjoy writing and reading to succeed.
The difference from between GCSE and A level in my opinion is mediocre because there are pros such as having the texts in front of you for the exams so not needing to memorise quotes but cons such as wayyy more books and a lot of context and critics to memorise not mention the aching hands from pages of writing.
But I enjoy essay base subjects so if you do then you will love it because you get to be personal almost like diary writing and like a food critic by critiquing the authors methods which get you high marks!
English is hard and in year 12 I was getting Ds because the style of writing from GCSE to A level is more mature and you will read more mature books and as you are around 17/18 your writing style will become more mature so realising that your no longer going to use PETA or PEEL like you did in GCSE and having a lot more freedom in your writing is one of the benefits of doing this alevel
Original post by meoow
I am finalizing my A-level options, and I was wondering if anyone who does these a-levels could give me some insight into the workload and overall how interesting they are/ any other details.
English Literature (OCR)
History (AQA)
Psychology (AQA)
English Literature (OCR)
History (AQA)
Psychology (AQA)
OMG HEY this is my exact A Level combo, I'm in year 13 now! Be warned, 3 essay subjects is a lot of content
Psychology: My favourite subject and is the most interesting however it is very content heavy. There are so many theories, names, key dates and studies to remember so it does get difficult at times but because I love it so much I don't mind
. I have applied to do it at university too!English Literature: Slightly different to GCSE but is overall the same idea/subject. Depending on the options your sixth form/college picks your books / novels / coursework may be different but a lot of the assessment objectives are assessed towards A03 (contexts and how it shapes the novel). There are some questions where you are asked to analyse language, form and structure but what makes it different from gcse is that some questions don't assess it at all and instead look at different interpretations of texts (critics + readings), and drawing connections between other texts.
History: Very different to GCSE and the subject I find the hardest. I initially LOVED history at gcse and it was one of my best subjects where I got 9s in every exam/test. I felt like gcse history had a lot of content but the jump from gcse to a level is INSANE. The content level and knowledge of each paper (there are 2) is so so immense; I do Cold War and Stuart Britain so each are 100 years. Being honest, I was thinking about dropping history at the start of year 12 and I wish I would have done because revising it for me is soooooooo painful because there's just so much to know and the questions are really specific. I went from a 9 (A**) at gcse to getting only 50% and a C in my first mock and essays😬
But these are just my experience and I hope I have not scared you off hahaha. If you have any more questions let me know! Look forward to seeing your reply
Original post by rrstar
Hello I’m in year 13 and do English literature!
English is very content based and you must genuinely enjoy writing and reading to succeed.
The difference from between GCSE and A level in my opinion is mediocre because there are pros such as having the texts in front of you for the exams so not needing to memorise quotes but cons such as wayyy more books and a lot of context and critics to memorise not mention the aching hands from pages of writing.
But I enjoy essay base subjects so if you do then you will love it because you get to be personal almost like diary writing and like a food critic by critiquing the authors methods which get you high marks!
English is hard and in year 12 I was getting Ds because the style of writing from GCSE to A level is more mature and you will read more mature books and as you are around 17/18 your writing style will become more mature so realising that your no longer going to use PETA or PEEL like you did in GCSE and having a lot more freedom in your writing is one of the benefits of doing this alevel
English is very content based and you must genuinely enjoy writing and reading to succeed.
The difference from between GCSE and A level in my opinion is mediocre because there are pros such as having the texts in front of you for the exams so not needing to memorise quotes but cons such as wayyy more books and a lot of context and critics to memorise not mention the aching hands from pages of writing.
But I enjoy essay base subjects so if you do then you will love it because you get to be personal almost like diary writing and like a food critic by critiquing the authors methods which get you high marks!
English is hard and in year 12 I was getting Ds because the style of writing from GCSE to A level is more mature and you will read more mature books and as you are around 17/18 your writing style will become more mature so realising that your no longer going to use PETA or PEEL like you did in GCSE and having a lot more freedom in your writing is one of the benefits of doing this alevel
Thank you for your reply it was very helpful (:
I am kinda unsure how to phrase this question but I was wondering for English lit a-level, how is it possible that you have to write even more eloquently then you do at GCSE? I feel like grade 9 at GCSE is already pushing yourself and thinking of different analysis that is more unique, so how do you push even farther than that for the a-level since I do struggle sometimes with thinking of unique things to write about. Do you get help thinking of top level answers or do you have to make it up by yourself? Thanks!
Original post by amber.05!
OMG HEY this is my exact A Level combo, I'm in year 13 now! Be warned, 3 essay subjects is a lot of content
Psychology: My favourite subject and is the most interesting however it is very content heavy. There are so many theories, names, key dates and studies to remember so it does get difficult at times but because I love it so much I don't mind. I have applied to do it at university too!
English Literature: Slightly different to GCSE but is overall the same idea/subject. Depending on the options your sixth form/college picks your books / novels / coursework may be different but a lot of the assessment objectives are assessed towards A03 (contexts and how it shapes the novel). There are some questions where you are asked to analyse language, form and structure but what makes it different from gcse is that some questions don't assess it at all and instead look at different interpretations of texts (critics + readings), and drawing connections between other texts.
History: Very different to GCSE and the subject I find the hardest. I initially LOVED history at gcse and it was one of my best subjects where I got 9s in every exam/test. I felt like gcse history had a lot of content but the jump from gcse to a level is INSANE. The content level and knowledge of each paper (there are 2) is so so immense; I do Cold War and Stuart Britain so each are 100 years. Being honest, I was thinking about dropping history at the start of year 12 and I wish I would have done because revising it for me is soooooooo painful because there's just so much to know and the questions are really specific. I went from a 9 (A**) at gcse to getting only 50% and a C in my first mock and essays😬
But these are just my experience and I hope I have not scared you off hahaha. If you have any more questions let me know! Look forward to seeing your reply
Psychology: My favourite subject and is the most interesting however it is very content heavy. There are so many theories, names, key dates and studies to remember so it does get difficult at times but because I love it so much I don't mind
. I have applied to do it at university too!English Literature: Slightly different to GCSE but is overall the same idea/subject. Depending on the options your sixth form/college picks your books / novels / coursework may be different but a lot of the assessment objectives are assessed towards A03 (contexts and how it shapes the novel). There are some questions where you are asked to analyse language, form and structure but what makes it different from gcse is that some questions don't assess it at all and instead look at different interpretations of texts (critics + readings), and drawing connections between other texts.
History: Very different to GCSE and the subject I find the hardest. I initially LOVED history at gcse and it was one of my best subjects where I got 9s in every exam/test. I felt like gcse history had a lot of content but the jump from gcse to a level is INSANE. The content level and knowledge of each paper (there are 2) is so so immense; I do Cold War and Stuart Britain so each are 100 years. Being honest, I was thinking about dropping history at the start of year 12 and I wish I would have done because revising it for me is soooooooo painful because there's just so much to know and the questions are really specific. I went from a 9 (A**) at gcse to getting only 50% and a C in my first mock and essays😬
But these are just my experience and I hope I have not scared you off hahaha. If you have any more questions let me know! Look forward to seeing your reply
Thank you for your reply! it was very helpful for me (:
I was wondering for A-level history is it difficult solely due to the amount of content or the content itself (or both)? Since at my school the topics are The American Dream and The Tudors which both are genuine interests of mine but I'm guessing you have to meticulously look at each part of them for the time periods given. Also do you have to just state facts in essays or do you also have to conceptualize things? Thanks!
Original post by meoow
Thank you for your reply! it was very helpful for me (:
I was wondering for A-level history is it difficult solely due to the amount of content or the content itself (or both)? Since at my school the topics are The American Dream and The Tudors which both are genuine interests of mine but I'm guessing you have to meticulously look at each part of them for the time periods given. Also do you have to just state facts in essays or do you also have to conceptualize things? Thanks!
I was wondering for A-level history is it difficult solely due to the amount of content or the content itself (or both)? Since at my school the topics are The American Dream and The Tudors which both are genuine interests of mine but I'm guessing you have to meticulously look at each part of them for the time periods given. Also do you have to just state facts in essays or do you also have to conceptualize things? Thanks!
I was told by many teachers and tutors that a grade 9 in GCSE is equivalent to a C in A level. I received a grade 8 and at the beginning of year 12 I was getting Ds because I was writing how my GCSE English teacher taught me how to quote, analyse and it’s all very basic level if you think about it. It took me about half a year with my English teachers guidance and advice and now I’m achieving As and A*s. The ideas in a level are more nuanced and detailed , we delve really deep into the writers craft and analysis as to why exactly the writer does what they do and what effect does this have contextually and on us as readers.
For me, when your given a questions in a level I think it’s important to plan at least 15 minutes. Splurge eveyrhing you can think off. Then it’s about choosing the best ones that will get you the high marks for YOU, which point to believe more passionately about to debate your opinion. Choose quotes that have high level 4 analysis such as motifs symbols and semantic fields for ao2.
For level 5 answers you need to critic your writers work which we didn’t do in GCSE. For example in one of the Rossetti poems I spoke about how her poem was about feminism and her wanting females to reach equality however if she really wanted to portray that message then she should have evenelt distributed her verses for females and males to show equality ( because the female verse was shorter) showing her doubts and perhaps caution of speaking out about feminism during the Victorian era which women are seen to be complacent. Here I’m critiquing her work I’m almost telling her what she could have done better to portray her perhaps message and I’m using nuanced language “perhaps” “maybe” because we have no idea what’s going on inside the writers head for all we know we could be crackhead wrong but as long as we have strong evidence to support our arguments we hypothetically can’t be wrong.
As I’m writing essays because I’m so passionate in what I’m writing ideas come to me as I’m writing and the same should happen to you where you suddenly say “maybe this could also be a reference to slavery” or whatever and I believe that the on the spot ideas are way more top notch than your planning ideas.
If your struggling with coming up with your own then you can look for inspiration by watching videos on other people’s ideas which isn’t a crime by the way as long as you make it your own as well as this my teachers often provide us with notes and their own ideas and this leads us to our own ideas an interpretations.
I hope I helped …
Original post by meoow
Thank you for your reply! it was very helpful for me (:
I was wondering for A-level history is it difficult solely due to the amount of content or the content itself (or both)? Since at my school the topics are The American Dream and The Tudors which both are genuine interests of mine but I'm guessing you have to meticulously look at each part of them for the time periods given. Also do you have to just state facts in essays or do you also have to conceptualize things? Thanks!
I was wondering for A-level history is it difficult solely due to the amount of content or the content itself (or both)? Since at my school the topics are The American Dream and The Tudors which both are genuine interests of mine but I'm guessing you have to meticulously look at each part of them for the time periods given. Also do you have to just state facts in essays or do you also have to conceptualize things? Thanks!
ermm it’s a bit of both! There is so much more content to learn and it is in much more depth than at GCSE. For example, for like knowing different treaties or wars or any info really you have to know the consequences afterwards and the significance of it to be able to use it well in an essay. It’s not enough to be able to just state the evidence, it has to be evaluated and curated to answer the question.
Yes you would be looking at both in great depth! At my college we do Cold war as a depth study and Stuart Britain as a breadth one, both are 100 years study however Cold War you have to know the events and dates and everything in much more detail. This will likely be the same for one of the 2 topics and the other a breadth study.
Essays are difficult the jump from GCSEs to A levels. You find your first few essays are described as too ‘narrative’, which is where u find yourself just stating and ‘fact dumping’. But A level essays and information used like u asked have to be conceptualizad and curated for the question to prove/disprove whatever the prompt is. You need to come up with an overall argument and be able to use evidence and analyse it to be able to showcase your judgement.
One thing I forgot to mention is that at A Level you are expected to be doing wider reading outside of your topic/subject. That makes A Level history more advanced as the more you read books and articles about certain topics / bits the higher marks your essay will be as you are applying highly perceptive and substantiated judgements.
Hope that helps, again lmk if any questions
Original post by rrstar
I was told by many teachers and tutors that a grade 9 in GCSE is equivalent to a C in A level. I received a grade 8 and at the beginning of year 12 I was getting Ds because I was writing how my GCSE English teacher taught me how to quote, analyse and it’s all very basic level if you think about it. It took me about half a year with my English teachers guidance and advice and now I’m achieving As and A*s. The ideas in a level are more nuanced and detailed , we delve really deep into the writers craft and analysis as to why exactly the writer does what they do and what effect does this have contextually and on us as readers.
For me, when your given a questions in a level I think it’s important to plan at least 15 minutes. Splurge eveyrhing you can think off. Then it’s about choosing the best ones that will get you the high marks for YOU, which point to believe more passionately about to debate your opinion. Choose quotes that have high level 4 analysis such as motifs symbols and semantic fields for ao2.
For level 5 answers you need to critic your writers work which we didn’t do in GCSE. For example in one of the Rossetti poems I spoke about how her poem was about feminism and her wanting females to reach equality however if she really wanted to portray that message then she should have evenelt distributed her verses for females and males to show equality ( because the female verse was shorter) showing her doubts and perhaps caution of speaking out about feminism during the Victorian era which women are seen to be complacent. Here I’m critiquing her work I’m almost telling her what she could have done better to portray her perhaps message and I’m using nuanced language “perhaps” “maybe” because we have no idea what’s going on inside the writers head for all we know we could be crackhead wrong but as long as we have strong evidence to support our arguments we hypothetically can’t be wrong.
As I’m writing essays because I’m so passionate in what I’m writing ideas come to me as I’m writing and the same should happen to you where you suddenly say “maybe this could also be a reference to slavery” or whatever and I believe that the on the spot ideas are way more top notch than your planning ideas.
If your struggling with coming up with your own then you can look for inspiration by watching videos on other people’s ideas which isn’t a crime by the way as long as you make it your own as well as this my teachers often provide us with notes and their own ideas and this leads us to our own ideas an interpretations.
I hope I helped …
For me, when your given a questions in a level I think it’s important to plan at least 15 minutes. Splurge eveyrhing you can think off. Then it’s about choosing the best ones that will get you the high marks for YOU, which point to believe more passionately about to debate your opinion. Choose quotes that have high level 4 analysis such as motifs symbols and semantic fields for ao2.
For level 5 answers you need to critic your writers work which we didn’t do in GCSE. For example in one of the Rossetti poems I spoke about how her poem was about feminism and her wanting females to reach equality however if she really wanted to portray that message then she should have evenelt distributed her verses for females and males to show equality ( because the female verse was shorter) showing her doubts and perhaps caution of speaking out about feminism during the Victorian era which women are seen to be complacent. Here I’m critiquing her work I’m almost telling her what she could have done better to portray her perhaps message and I’m using nuanced language “perhaps” “maybe” because we have no idea what’s going on inside the writers head for all we know we could be crackhead wrong but as long as we have strong evidence to support our arguments we hypothetically can’t be wrong.
As I’m writing essays because I’m so passionate in what I’m writing ideas come to me as I’m writing and the same should happen to you where you suddenly say “maybe this could also be a reference to slavery” or whatever and I believe that the on the spot ideas are way more top notch than your planning ideas.
If your struggling with coming up with your own then you can look for inspiration by watching videos on other people’s ideas which isn’t a crime by the way as long as you make it your own as well as this my teachers often provide us with notes and their own ideas and this leads us to our own ideas an interpretations.
I hope I helped …
yes this is so true!! This is also the same of history from gcse to a level, a grade 9 at gcse is equivalent to a D 😬So the step up really is insane!
Original post by meoow
I am finalizing my A-level options, and I was wondering if anyone who does these a-levels could give me some insight into the workload and overall how interesting they are/ any other details.
English Literature (OCR)
History (AQA)
Psychology (AQA)
English Literature (OCR)
History (AQA)
Psychology (AQA)
hi!
im doing AQA history - tsarist and communist russia 1855-1964, britain wars and welfare 1906-57
the workload can be a bit full on sometimes but I absolutely love the subject so definitely worth the extra effort !!! as im sure you are aware, there is an NEA for history too but this is only like 20% of the overall course. if you have any more questions or want some advice, feel free to pm me
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