What makes A-levels so hard?

There's a lot to learn.
If you're like me and leave everything until the last minute (revision-wise) you're pretty screwed.

Other than that, I don't think A-levels are that hard. honestly.

Reply 24

OP

AnonyMatt

Why not?
Most colleges let people at least try 5 A levels to decide which 4 they'd like to do, and they can drop 1 about a month after the start.

Just... don't drop it!

Also maths is very self teachable anyway.
You can take AS maths and self teach A2 maths, and then take AS further maths in your second year while teaching A2 further maths.

Just incase you want to. :p:

I think if people didn't scream about how further maths is 'so hard' (when it isn't, it's just people who can't do GCSE maths that think it's horrific) then more people would be inclined to take it. It's really very interesting, compared to maths which is just downright boring before you get to C3.

You could always just take further maths AS either in first or second year too.

I wish I was allowed. I'm a very able student (yeah the most clever girl according to people in my year and one of the most naturally clever person according to one of my teachers had met so that was really nice) although I'm not a straight A/A* student so they probably wouldn't allow me. I don't see how straight A/A*'s prove how good you are at a subject which I think is wrong. For most places I applied to was different. You could choose for A-levels and you have to drop one in the 2nd year (though I hope I don't have to do that). In some places you could choose critical thinking + general studies as a 5th AS only.

But you know what, it won't hurt to ask about 5th A-level! Cos I do love maths. I was supposed to do AS maths with 2 other students but that never happened... one thing I am looking forward to do is maths at A-level it sounds so cool! And all the science ones, I have only looked into an AS physics book so far cos we were studying something off syllabus a few months ago and it seemed awesome lol! Besides a maths/physics type of career could be like a back-up for more. Thanks for inspiring me! :smile:

Reply 25

OP

Mangaartist

If you decide on French you would be doing the same subjects I did this year (though I'm only going to take AS French next year and pick up an other A level as well)

The tip I would give you (something I wish I believed at the beginning of the year): Put the effort in it and do the work. A levels require more self-motivated learning than GCSEs. I never really needed to do lots of work for GCSEs so I assumed I'd do the same for AS: not a good idea. Just doing the homework is also not enough (although a good start) because there isn't really much homework at all, so you need to find things to do for yourself (e.g. copying class notes, reading relevant sections of the book, etc) It's really not hard, but it's easy to fall into the trap of taking it lightly.

Thanks, yeah I decided to do that cos even in GCSE's it does help if you revise a few weeks for an exam especially if you have lots of science topics to learn... probably wouldn't sound much to you... but I have to learn 20! 22 At first but I already did one exam so that's okay. What is A-level French like? And what is GCSE French like? I only did an NVQ Business French Level 1 & 2 in it. That's the only thing my school offered. :confused:

Reply 26

OP

sermon

I found AS levels easier than GCSE, to be honest.
This is because you are only doing four subjects, and they are subjects you really enjoy and are good at. There is more workload in each subject, and there is probably more work load over all, but you are not spending hours trying to understand a subject which you have no interest in doing ever again.
So it depends on you as a person.
Naturally, A2s are a big step up again but I'd rather do three A2's than 11 GCSEs any day.

Lol cool.

Yeah I am so glad I won't have to do so many subjects I don't like! :woo:

Reply 27

OP

ArchedEdge

A-levels so hard?

First part: learning that jumping through hoops didn't end with GCSEs, but in fact just begins.

Second part: Learning the content to help you jump through the hoops.

Sounds complicated lol I'm not too sure what you mean. :o:

Reply 28

OP

Vivisteiner

A levels are piss easy. Just learn the stuff and do the papers.

Wow the first person I heard saying that. :smile:

Reply 29

OP

forsaken_earth

There's a lot to learn.
If you're like me and leave everything until the last minute (revision-wise) you're pretty screwed.

Other than that, I don't think A-levels are that hard. honestly.

I used to be like that - not any more. I am a super organized person now. :smile:

Reply 30

brunty93

A-levels are ******* easy. I got AAAa with minimal effort. They really don't prepare you for a degree.

Reply 31

Vivisteiner

Sparkly-Star

Wow the first person I heard saying that. :smile:

Lol. Tbh, if you're clever enough, the stuffs not very advanced at all. Compared to stuff at University. I'm doing Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry - and most of the stuff is fairly low level.

I'm also very disorganised. I'm pretty much an absent-minded professor. Very clever but no common sense. Thankfully you don't need common sense to pass exams!

Reply 32

ArchedEdge

Sparkly-Star

Sounds complicated lol I'm not too sure what you mean. :o:

Well, GCSEs are all about getting the right exam technique

And when you get to A levels you feel that that's all in the past, but in actual fact A levels are all about jumping through hoops just like GCSEs, but even more so because it's actually hard :sad:

Reply 33

sundogs

2

GCSEs are just really really bad for us

Reply 34

AnonyMatt

Sparkly-Star

I wish I was allowed. I'm a very able student (yeah the most clever girl according to people in my year and one of the most naturally clever person according to one of my teachers had met so that was really nice) although I'm not a straight A/A* student so they probably wouldn't allow me. I don't see how straight A/A*'s prove how good you are at a subject which I think is wrong. For most places I applied to was different. You could choose for A-levels and you have to drop one in the 2nd year (though I hope I don't have to do that). In some places you could choose critical thinking + general studies as a 5th AS only.

But you know what, it won't hurt to ask about 5th A-level! Cos I do love maths. I was supposed to do AS maths with 2 other students but that never happened... one thing I am looking forward to do is maths at A-level it sounds so cool! And all the science ones, I have only looked into an AS physics book so far cos we were studying something off syllabus a few months ago and it seemed awesome lol! Besides a maths/physics type of career could be like a back-up for more. Thanks for inspiring me! :smile:

I'm glad I questioned you about it. :p:

What is it you want to do?
I chose my A levels aiming for either medicine or maths. It's clear to me now that medicine is not right for me (maybe after my undergrad maths degree :p:

) so biology is kind of useless to me. I'm either going to take all 5 to A level, or I'm going to drop biology and take up AS and A2 economics. :p:

I 'lied' on my college application, because my school didn't really give predicted grades, because, well, it was a crap school. I put all A*/A except for art, and ended up with almost that. :p:

In my opinion, further maths would be well worth your time!
So, either take biology, chemistry, physics and maths in first year, and then chemistry, physics, maths and further maths (AS) in second year, or see if you can do all 5.

In fact, something you might consider is doing the above, while self teaching AS further maths (i.e. FP1 and 2 'easier' applied modules such as any statistics modules) and then instead of further maths AS in second year, you could join an A2 further maths class.

In my college, we do AS maths, half of A2 maths, and half of A2 further maths (wierd huh?) in the first year, so C1 C2 C3 S1 S2 S3. However, I've self taught C4, FP1, and some FP3 in the last few months, so next year I can skip laods of classes. :p:

It's very do-able, and not even 'nerdy', because if you have a natural flair for maths, you'll pick it up.

If you want to know more about the subject at A level, to decide whether you want to pursue this or not, try the 'patrickJMT' youtube channel and look up stuff like matrices, partial derivatives, and hyperbolic functions. The first topic is an easy further maths topic, while the latter are a little harder.
You probably won't understand any of it without having first done A level maths, but you'll appreciate it all the same. :p:

Reply 35

xmarilynx

18

I think A Levels are only hard if:

1. You choose the wrong subjects. Plenty of people I know chose a subject that would look good, rather than one they were genuinely interested in. Consequently, they didn't enjoy it, found it difficult to motivate themselves to put the work it and just generally struggled.

2. Choosing subjects with a lot of coursework. ICT is the main example here - I've had friends taking this threaten suicide at times! :p:

Make sure if one subject has a lot of coursework, it's balanced out by the other subjects.

3. Obvious, but - if you lack the motivation to work. Revision isn't much help when you have nothing to revise from as you've done sweet FA all year, and the teachers aren't there to chase you up and give you detention if you fall behind like at GCSE.

Reply 36

AnonyMatt

Sparkly-Star

Wow the first person I heard saying that. :smile:

In terms of maths and science (possibly with the exception being biology, for which the exam papers are always waffly ****. Seriously, 62% for an A? wtf?) they're totally right.

Maybe not 'piss-easy', but once you understand, it's really easy to score high marks on a paper by doing past papers and getting model answers from mark schemes. :smile:

Also, sorry for replying to your thread so much lol, I must be bugging you.

FURTHERMATHSFURTHERMATHSFURTHERMATHSFURTHERMATHS.

Reply 37

Ewan

A levels aren't hard :indiff:

Really it depends on the person & which options you chose.

Reply 38

Luca118

From my point of view, I am doing my GCSE's this year but I take an AS course in General Science by OCR, and to be honest it's detail, and a bit of further knowledge.

I had my AS exam yesterday, revised 2 hours before it, and 3 hours the night before and I'm hoping for an A.

They are not that hard, and I understand I do a mixed science subject so it is nowhere near as specific as the separate sciences, but I still get the general idea that the answers require more detail, and when you look at past papers, simple stuff such as defining respiration will get you 2 marks, but you need to give a more insightful answer then what you would at GCSE.

As for A-Level maths, all the people at school say its either impossible and they are going to fail, or they are going to get an A..

Reply 39

OP