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Rank your subjects in order of difficulty

This thread is a complete robbery of an existing thread for A-Level subjects.

Are you in fourth year? Fifth year? Sixth year? Left school? Rank the subject you are/were studying in order of difficulty!

5th year: Hardest
-Higher English
-Higher Chemistry
-Higher Biology = Higher Maths
-Higher French
Easiest

6th year: Hardest
-AH Chemistry
-AH Biology
-AH Maths
-Higher Physics
Easiest

(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1

dufc_gurj

This year:

Hardest
AH Chemistry
AH Maths
H Modern Studies
Easiest

Last year:

Hardest
H English
H French
H Biology
H Maths
H Chemistry
Easiest

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

Armaros

I'm 6th year, and for me it probably goes:
Higher History > AH Chemistry > AH Biology

For me, chem's the most difficult in terms of content (followed by bio), but the workload of history blows the AHs out of the water interestingly enough.

In 5th year it went:
H Maths = H English > H Chemistry > H Admin > H Biology

Reply 3

john4994

5th Year:
H English > H Chem > H Maths > H Physics > H Geography

6th Year:
AH Chem > AH Physics > AH Maths

Reply 4

Mr Dangermouse

From hardest to easiest:

H English
H Accounting
AH Maths
H Economics.

Reply 5

legion99

5th Year:
Hardest
-H History
-H Business Management
-H German
-H Physics
-H Maths
Easiest

6th Year so far:
Hardest
-AH German
-AH Physics
-AH Mechanics
-AH Maths
Easiest

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

hollieeilloh

I'm in fifth year, and I'd say...

Hardest
H Physics
H English
H History
H Art
H Maths
Easiest

Reply 7

animelover123

Original post by legion99

5th Year:
Hardest
-H History
-H Business Management
-H German
-H Physics
-H Maths
Easiest

6th Year so far:
Hardest
-AH German
-AH Physics
-AH Mechanics
-AH Maths
Easiest

Business Management 2nd hardest....really? Did you crash it?

Reply 8

legion99

Original post by animelover123

Business Management 2nd hardest....really? Did you crash it?

Yeah I crashed History and Business Management in 5th year so I found it pretty difficult to get up to speed with the rest of the class. I also didn't like the fact that you had to write so much for so few marks and I kind of lost interest towards the end of the year making it difficult for me to actually go and revise it.

Reply 9

Mr Dangermouse

4 Advanced Highers? Crazy. Unless maybe you're going to uni in England.

Reply 10

animelover123

Original post by legion99

No wonder, because if you had done it before you would have found it much eaiser. Business Management tends to be very boring, just beacuse of the nature of the subject: no practical at all with just loads and loads of theory.And guess what, i'm doing it this year... but i actually like the subject alot, one of my favourites.

Reply 11

Electronica

Hardest

AH chemistry
AH physics
H french
AH maths

Easiest

Reply 12

kred

Hardest
AH Maths
AH Chemistry
H History
Easiest

Last year
Hardest
H English
H Maths
H Chemistry
H Biology
H Music
Easiest

Reply 13

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by DontJudge

what does H stand for?

H is short for Higher.
AH is short for Advanced Higher.

Reply 14

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by DontJudge

which ones better. And which one am i doing. I'm just doing a levels.

Depends if you're at AS or A2. Advanced Higher is better, that should be obvious...yeno...Higher and Advanced Higher...

AS Level in terms of how deep the knowledge base goes is about equal to Higher.
Advanced Higher in terms of how deep the knowledge base goes is a bit beyond A2.

But this thread is specifically for Scottish qualifications, if you want to talk about your A-Levels go here. :smile:

Reply 15

emmasaur

I'm in 5th year :smile:

Hardest

Higher History
Higher Physics
Higher English
Higher French
Higher Maths

Easiest

:smile:

Reply 16

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by DontJudge

lol true. I've check i'm doing advanced higher, yey i'm clever...i think. :s-smilie:

but who does just higher, never came across it, i thought that was degree. I ain't doing sco-ttish a levels-but i thought it'd be the same why does it differ?

I honestly can't tell if this is a troll so I'm treating it seriously to be safe:

They differ because each country thinks that the other countries' ways of doing things aren't that good, so Scotland thinks things should be done one way, England thinks things should be done another way.

Scotland and Northern Ireland are primary devolved governments, meaning we have control over things like education, housing, health and environmental matters. Us Scots think that the English system for A-Levels isn't perfect so we've come up with our own system (I personally think that all UK and Irish qualifications and the general education system needs an overhaul)

So I'll break it down bit by bit!
Primary Education in Scotland and England are pretty much the same, so for Year 1 - 7 (We call it P1 - P7 in Scotland) we're all doing the same thing.
But it's high school where things change.

(S1 is short for First year, S2 is short for second year, S3 is short for third year, and so on...)

Year 8 and 9 would be called S1 and S2 in Scotland, this is the two years where we do stuff that's like KS3 and very early GCSE.

Year 10 and 11 would be called S3 and S4 in Scotland, and during these two years we'd do what we call Standard Grades (And maybe subjects called Intermediate 1s and 2s, I'll add a wee footnote at the end as to why we have Intermediate qualifications*) and these are equivalent of GCSEs, an Int 1 is like a GCSE from grades Low C - U, an Int 2 is like a GCSE from grades A* - High C.
In Scotland we do 8 subjects in S3 and S4 and these would be Standard Grades, the most basic qualification. And for Standard Grades you're awarded in numbers. 1 being the best, 8 being the worst. To draw comparison to GCSE and SGs let's say:

SG - GCSE
1 = A*
2 = A
3 = B
4 = C
5/6 = Low C-D
7 = Fail
8 = U
(This is just my opinion and not an official comparison)

In Year 12 and 13, you'd go to a sixth form college, we stay at the same school and do S5 and S6. (We have the option to leave school after S4 if we want though, to go to college, or get a job or an apprenticeship.)

In S5 we get the chance to do a combination of five subjects, at one of three levels: Int 1, Int 2 and Higher (And in exceptional cases; Advanced Higher)
Int 1s are usually only taken when the school doesn't offer anything else of any worth in that choice column, talented students will study 5 Highers, average students will take a mixture of Int 2s and Highers, and low-ability will take a mixture of Int 1s and Int 2s.

A Higher can be said to be roughly equal to an AS, give or take either way. So while yous usually do 3 or 4 (and sometimes 5) AS subjects, we'd do 4 or 5 Higher subjects. I have to reiterate that AS level and Higher level are about equal.

After S5, most pupils go into S6 (We can leave after S5 if we want too) this is where we'd do Int 1s, Int 2s, Highers, and Advanced Highers.

Int 1s are for low-ability students in S6, Int 2s are for students who don't have any background in the subject (For example, someone in S6 might do Int 2 Chemistry because they've never done a science before), Highers are the usual leaving qualification, and Advanced Highers are for students who have a high-ability and want to take their knowledge or qualification of their subject further. Advanced Highers aren't well-employed by schools, for example. In my year, only 4 people are studying Advanced Highers. I'm one of those people and I'm doing 3 of them, the other 3 are doing 1 Advanced Higher each. But in other schools you get entire Advanced Higher classes of 20 for a subject. It's one of those things that depends what school you go to, because of where I go I have to go to 2 different schools to study all the subjects I want. One school for AH Maths and H Physics, and another for AH Biology and AH Chemistry.

An Advanced Higher is beyond A2 Level, Advanced Higher is described as being the equivalent of the first year at a Scottish University. So a B/C at Advanced Higher would be the equivalent of an A/B at A2. An A at Advanced Higher would be the equivalent of an A* at A2 level and some University level knowledge.

I think after this discussion I'm going to create a thread for the comparison of the UK education systems....

*As for why we can do a mixture of Standard Grades and Intermediates, think of it how in England you get 3 different exam boards - AQA, Edexcel and OCR. Well in Scotland we have one exam board, the SQA. The SQA offer two kinds of qualifications: National Qualifications (NQs) and Standard Grades. NQs include Access 1, Access 2, Access 3 Int 1, Int 2, Higher, Advanced Higher and such. So since Int 1/2 and Standard Grades are of the same level, the knowledge required for such qualifications is quite equal. What is different is the exam. For example, in Maths:

Standard Grade a 1 or 2 pass would require the same knowledge base as an Int 2 pass. But in Standard Grade the exam is split into two types of questions. Knowledge and Understanding, and Problem Solving. With the Int 2 exam, it's 100% Knowledge and Understanding

Reply 17

TheUnbeliever

Original post by Hype en Ecosse

I think after this discussion I'm going to create a thread for the comparison of the UK education systems....

Rep if you don't :p:

Reply 18

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by DontJudge

Dear scottish dude, :eek:

very shocking to see the difference. But i think you lots is better, because it persuades you to stay in education for longer. But tbh, it is better if you do it the way england does as thats the most similar around th country-would you agree? ...... Me a troll? Like in :troll:

lol

. And btw you should definatly make a thread as you have lots of knowledge in this area-let it all out for the world to see. But it is a bit mind boggling. :yes:

Yeah, England, Wales and NI all do it a similar way. But we're Scotland and we like to be different :tongue:

"It's easier to understand" should not be a reason to compromise what you believe is right. The SQA believe there is a different way of doing things and it does make it a little harder to understand other systems, and for other systems to understand us. But that's no reason for it to not exist! It's really not that difficult to wrap your head around, just need a wee bit of knowledge :smile:

Back when England had O Levels and A Levels, Scotland had them too. But when GCSEs were introduced, Scotland thought they could do better and introduced the new system (might have differentiated even earlier!). Now as I'm leaving in the next few years SQA will be changing things again making Highers and Advanced Highers even more unlike A-Levels, and introducing new qualifications to replace Standard Grades and NQ qualifications except for Higher and Advanced Higher. The qualifications replacing Standard Grades, Int 1s and Int 2s are being called "National 4" and "National 5" (Nat 4 and Nat 5, for short.) Standard Grade 5-6 level is being abolished and made part of the previously existing Access 3 course.

According to the SQA website... "the new National 4 and National 5 qualifications will be introduced in 2013/14, as will the new Access qualifications. The new Higher will follow in 2014/15, while the new Advanced Higher will be available from 2015/16 onwards."

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 19

Semple

Last year:
-Hardest-
H English
H Maths
H Modern Studies
H Computing
H Biology
-Easiest-

This year:
-Hardest-
AH Biology
H Physics
H Chemistry
H Admin
-Easiest-