Should I take Biology at A Level?

I figured this was the most appropriate board to post this on :P I'm currently choosing my A levels and I was thinking of taking either Biology or Psychology in addition to English Language, German and Computing. I was hoping someone could give me some advice as to what sorts of things Biology AS involved, or direct me to a decent source that will tell me as such.

Edit: Okay, I'm currently thinking of taking English Language, German and Biology to A2 and dropping Computing at AS. Any thoughts? I'm also slightly interested in taking Maths, not sure if at AS or A2. I took my Maths GCSE early and got a B, would I be able to cope with AS Maths? And is Computing seen as a soft subject? Thanks for all your advice so far, it's been really helpful :smile:

Edit 2: I've decided that I definitely want to take Biology! Thanks for all your help everyone :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

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Reply 1

michael clayton

Is there a degree course in particular you have been looking in to/ are hoping to study?

Reply 2

Maths Freak!!!

Original post by Xylophonic

I'm doing biology at A-level and it's HARD!!! SO HARD!!! I would'nt recommend anyone taking that subject as a LAST CHOICE.
It really depends what exam board your going to do? ... if it's AQA then your doomed.
But if your an science person then i gues you can tackle it.
Psychology is much easier to Biology (easy A) all my friends do it and they love it.

Reply 3

int_applicant

Original post by Xylophonic

if you are a non science person, then dont take biology....it is tedious and requires a lot of work.... if you are a science person , then go for it.

Good luck

Reply 4

inspiringsoul

Biology involves a lot of learning, condensing notes, analysing graphs, etc... U need to work a LOT for it.
U can opt for it, if u enjoy learning science and interested in the subject. So which board r u planning to take?

Reply 5

Tateco

Forgive me but your A-level choices seem a bit random? What are you planning to do at university?

Reply 6

Jon2k11

Don't bother, from the look of your soft other subjects, Biology would be too hard for you mate

Reply 7

The Polar Dude

I do AS Edexcel Biology and Unit 1 was fairly easy but UNIT 2 is :s-smilie:

atm but it should get better after i read my notes this half term

if u wanna do biology, get used to describing graphs and applying your knowledge to new situations and of course learning complicated words and spelling them correctly :tongue:

Reply 8

PurpleNinja

I'm doing it at the moment (but I'm on the WJEC exam board).
It's a really good subject but it helps to have a good background knowledge. What are your predicted grades as of the moment? (I wouldn't recommended anyone without a B in it at GCSE to take it- as pointed out above, it's hard!)

You've got an odd mix up there, but a good biology grade will make your application (to whatever course) stand out. In all truth Psycology is seen as a "soft" subject, and you've already taken subjects (English Language, Computing) that can be seen as "soft", so biology would balance it out for you.

Just make sure you're prepared to work for it!

Reply 9

Zottula

I personally really enjoyed A-level Biology. A few people struggled with it in my class though, especially if they weren't very sciencey people. I wasn't so keen on Psychology. It felt a bit too much like memorising loads of studies and not a lot else. Biology is a harder option, which may be beneficial to you as some of your options are a bit "soft".

Reply 10

cptbigt

Original post by Xylophonic

Simply, if your interested in it, then do it :smile:

if you enjoy biology then you won't find it hard at AS/A2, and to be honest no a-level is hard if your prepared to a bit of effort in.

Reply 11

Xylophonic

Original post by kbountra

Is there a degree course in particular you have been looking in to/ are hoping to study?

To be honest, no. I'm not really sure what I want to do yet. I used to be really interested in Law but that has sort of dwindled away. I really enjoy languages so I was thinking maybe that or Linguistics. I just want to keep all my options open with my A level choices in case I change my mind later.

Reply 12

tonythekaala

It is difficult but if you're up for it, go ahead!
As its your last choice, you could drop it after AS. In that case do it. :smile:

Reply 13

Xylophonic

Original post by PurpleNinja

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure which exam board I would be taking it on. Does the board make much of a difference to the content?
Predictions at my school are all over the place and no one really has any official ones, but I'm hoping for 3A* 5A 3B, including As in Science and Additional Science.
I was thinking of taking a Science subject at A level because I'm aware that my other subjects could be seen as soft. I'm not too sure about Psychology any more, I've been looking up the syllabus and I'm not really sure if it's for me. I'm leaning towards Biology today but I'm not really that much of a science person so I'm not sure if I'd be able to cope with it. I'm definitely prepared to work though!

Reply 14

Gregory House

I'm currently doing A2 AQA biology and I'm loving it! Oh and for the people talking about how hard AS is ... wait till next year! *evil laugh* The only reason I enjoy it is because I want to do medicine and plus I like the sciences, but people I know who just put it down as a random choice like you're planning to do are really either struggling or just not enjoying it. Well actually both of those two things.

So if you like science and you're strongly thinking about a biology related uni course, then go for it. If not, I'd advise against it. If you want something to add breadth, I'd suggest maths, maths is pretty much used everywhere. Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 15

Xylophonic

Original post by tonythekaala

It is difficult but if you're up for it, go ahead!
As its your last choice, you could drop it after AS. In that case do it. :smile:

It wouldn't be my last choice, I think Computing probably would be. I just meant that I hadn't decided them all yet :smile:

Reply 16

Xylophonic

Original post by cptbigt

Simply, if your interested in it, then do it :smile:

if you enjoy biology then you won't find it hard at AS/A2, and to be honest no a-level is hard if your prepared to a bit of effort in.

This is great advice, thanks! I'm interested in it and I need 2 Bs in Science and Additional Science to study it at A level (I'm aiming for As though) so logically that should mean I'm able to cope with it, and I'm definitely willing to put a lot of effort in.

Reply 17

tonythekaala

Original post by Xylophonic

It wouldn't be my last choice, I think Computing probably would be. I just meant that I hadn't decided them all yet :smile:

Ohhh okay

Good luck in making your decision :biggrin:

Reply 18

Xylophonic

Original post by tonythekaala

Ohhh okay

Good luck in making your decision :biggrin:

Thanks, I'm going to need all the luck I can get, I'm awful at making decisions :P

Reply 19

Valindrius

I won’t outright recommend Biology as I have no desire to accidentally mislead you, but I was in a similar position in terms of diverse course selection and not being sure as to what I wanted to study at university. I’ve found that Biology is a thoroughly interesting subject that covers many concepts relevant to current affairs, human behaviour, cognition, environmental responsibility, politics, the fallibility of human senses, and the true rigorousness of science.

In particular, AQA’s focus on evaluation of conclusions, awareness of experimental conditions, validity of results, etc has increased my capacity for general logical deduction and filtering out flaws. Whereas other things are simply downright interesting, like the cycles of photosynthesis and respiration. I can’t speak for the other exam boards but I expect that they’re relatively comparable.

Personally, I’d suggest that Biology is perfect for a person that has an interest in every facet of existence and will appreciate the wondrous nature of even the most basic, remarkable facets of an ecosystem or an organism rather than treating it as another tedious name to be remembered. Similarly, if you’re the type of person that can conceptualise yourself as a kind of ‘bystander’ looking down on events and the intertwined causes and effects existent in a given situation then you’ll really do well.

On top of that, I think it gives you vital cognitive skills that are transferrable to other areas of life or academia. Sorry if this seems like silly waffle but I hope it somehow manages to help. Good luck irrespective of what you choose, I’m sure you’ll excel if you’re being so proactive and rigorous in your choices.