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A-Level choices

Hello again,

I've posted an outrageous amount of "A-Level help!" threads and I do apologize. Anyway, so I'm most certainly doing:

English Literature

Philosophy

History


but I'm stuck on the fourth AS. This would be the AS I drop in Year 13 if everything goes to plan. I'm choosing between Economics and Sociology. I'm not concerned about the essay-writing involved in either. Sociology is obviously less respected, but it looks a tad more interesting than Economics.

If it's any help, I plan to do English Literature at university. So, which one - Economics or Sociology?

P.S I do neither at GCSE.
Original post by laylarose
Hello again,

I've posted an outrageous amount of "A-Level help!" threads and I do apologize. Anyway, so I'm most certainly doing:

English Literature

Philosophy

History


but I'm stuck on the fourth AS. This would be the AS I drop in Year 13 if everything goes to plan. I'm choosing between Economics and Sociology. I'm not concerned about the essay-writing involved in either. Sociology is obviously less respected, but it looks a tad more interesting than Economics.

If it's any help, I plan to do English Literature at university. So, which one - Economics or Sociology?

P.S I do neither at GCSE.


I'd say that because you intend to drop this subject in year 13 anyway, it would be good to choose whichever you think you will enjoy more! This is a) because you are more likely to do well in something you enjoy but also b) if you find that you actually don't like one of the three you've already chosen and wish to drop that in year 13 instead, you can continue this fourth AS. Out of interest, why is it you intend to drop it? :smile: You may find that you want to carry on all 4, in which case you definitely need something enjoyable.

I'd suggest that because you'd like to do English Literature, sociology might become more useful in the long term; I have just finished a History A Level and know that sociology would be complimentary, but also for literature it could improve understanding of context etc.

At the end of the day, i'd go with whichever your gut is drawn to, but in my personal opinion i'd go for sociology! With the view to continuing all four and only dropping if you don't think you can manage!
Reply 2
Original post by hannahlsmith
I'd say that because you intend to drop this subject in year 13 anyway, it would be good to choose whichever you think you will enjoy more! This is a) because you are more likely to do well in something you enjoy but also b) if you find that you actually don't like one of the three you've already chosen and wish to drop that in year 13 instead, you can continue this fourth AS. Out of interest, why is it you intend to drop it? :smile: You may find that you want to carry on all 4, in which case you definitely need something enjoyable.

I'd suggest that because you'd like to do English Literature, sociology might become more useful in the long term; I have just finished a History A Level and know that sociology would be complimentary, but also for literature it could improve understanding of context etc.

At the end of the day, i'd go with whichever your gut is drawn to, but in my personal opinion i'd go for sociology! With the view to continuing all four and only dropping if you don't think you can manage!


I intend to drop it because I doubt I'd manage with four A-Levels, but who knows? :biggrin:

Thank you for your advice - I think I'll go with Sociology. I like the idea that it'd compliment History and English. I've never thought of it like that :smile:
Original post by laylarose
I intend to drop it because I doubt I'd manage with four A-Levels, but who knows? :biggrin:

Thank you for your advice - I think I'll go with Sociology. I like the idea that it'd compliment History and English. I've never thought of it like that :smile:


Most people at my college dropped their fourth AS because it was just the done thing, it was sort of expected so everyone went ahead and met the expectation but honestly, I haven't found it to be impossible at all - one of my subjects is purely exam based, so I took both second year exams in January of this year, meaning I've now completed that course so I have more time to spend on my other three, so the four didn't really span the entire second year, which made it a lot more manageable so I suppose it depends on your subjects!
I did History AS before dropping it in January because it was just hideous!

I now do English Language, English Literature (separate subjects) and Philosophy & Ethics!

I did Sociology thinking it was interesting but dropped it for Philosophy & Ethics because I actually hated it. It just wasn't as interesting as I had intended it to be, to be honest.

At the beginning of the year and up to February, Philosophy was seriously driving me insane because I will tell you, it is one of the hardest A-level subjects one could possibly study! But I love it so much cause it's so interesting!

English Literature is really good because I love it too. The essay writing and analysis of texts goes well with History (if you're doing Edexcel) because some of the skills are quite similar.

If you think you will mostly enjoy your subjects that you want to choose, you will do well at it.

PS: don't give yourself 4 AS levels if you intend to drop it, it will be in the long run unnecessary work tbf. But if you want too, you still can. I'd rather get AAB than BBBB at AS levels!
Reply 5
Original post by Cool_JordH
I did History AS before dropping it in January because it was just hideous!

I now do English Language, English Literature (separate subjects) and Philosophy & Ethics!

I did Sociology thinking it was interesting but dropped it for Philosophy & Ethics because I actually hated it. It just wasn't as interesting as I had intended it to be, to be honest.

At the beginning of the year and up to February, Philosophy was seriously driving me insane because I will tell you, it is one of the hardest A-level subjects one could possibly study! But I love it so much cause it's so interesting!

English Literature is really good because I love it too. The essay writing and analysis of texts goes well with History (if you're doing Edexcel) because some of the skills are quite similar.

If you think you will mostly enjoy your subjects that you want to choose, you will do well at it.

PS: don't give yourself 4 AS levels if you intend to drop it, it will be in the long run unnecessary work tbf. But if you want too, you still can. I'd rather get AAB than BBBB at AS levels!



Ah, thank you for all the info on each subject :biggrin: I'm taking 4 AS levels because I want to do four subjects and I just would be completely unable to pick only three. As a matter of fact, I was dead set on doing five subjects until I realized I wasn't at all interested in Biology and hated the subject xD

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