Has anybody have any experience with the following AS levels?

Geography
Law
Applied Business Studies
Religious Studies

...am thinking of changing from Religious Studies to Applied Science?

Any tips and or insight into the courses would be appreciated :smile:

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Reply 1

cheeseontoastyy

I studied Geography! (AQA) There's no coursework until A2, and there are two exams for AS, human and physical. Each paper has a 25 mark essay at the end of it, and then shorter questions preceding it (9 mark, 6 mark, ect.) It's pretty similar to GCSE, but imo easier for revision, as the exam questions and topics are easy to predict and prepare for with practice (mostly).

Depends which exam board you're taking it with though

Reply 2

RhysCK

Original post by BanishedKree

WJEC & I haven't studied at GCSE for at least 5 years, is it necessary to have gcse geography behind you to understand the AS do you think?

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Reply 3

cheeseontoastyy

Original post by RhysCK

WJEC & I haven't studied at GCSE for at least 5 years, is it necessary to have gcse geography behind you to understand the AS do you think?

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[only just realised after picking up my results that my exam board was actually ocr instead haha]

with every topic that we studied, at least one student in the class hadn't done it for GCSE, so for us, all the topics were covered in enough detail for someone to understand it despite not having studied it at GCSE. I'd talk to the teacher though, check what topics have an overlap with GCSE and which ones don't. (i'm not sure WJEC works though so idk)

The most useful thing I found about doing GCSE before AS was the backup case studies that I already knew, but I would have been fine relying on the ones learnt in the AS year.
You should be fine, as long as you're prepared for jumping straight in, as they'll probably be teaching any GCSE skills (e.g os maps and investigation skills) at a fast pace.

Reply 4

Byronpat

If you are eager for writing up to about 26,000 words about a business then do business studies....otherwise not...

That pretty much sums it up!

Reply 5

RhysCK

Original post by Byronpat

If you are eager for writing up to about 26,000 words about a business then do business studies....otherwise not...

That pretty much sums it up!

You're joking.....right? sounds more tedious than difficult.

Reply 6

Byronpat

Well actually I got that wrong, I wrote 16,000 words and I got a B at AS. (Didn't get the theory finished in time.)

:smile:

If you get an interesting business and don't mind waffling, then do it!

Reply 7

Naomi12

Original post by RhysCK

Geography
Law
Applied Business Studies
Religious Studies

...am thinking of changing from Religious Studies to Applied Science?

Any tips and or insight into the courses would be appreciated :smile:

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I study RS and I would really recommend it; from a purely university perspective, it is in Cambridge's list of 'A' subjects, which are valued highest, whereas I have no idea where Applied Science would be in comparison. The content is pretty interesting, and to be honest, it's also quite easy to get a high mark in - I got 100% in both modules despite the fact that I know I dropped at least 5 marks in one of the four questions because I didn't finish in time! My friend who got ABDD still managed 98% in one of the modules.

Reply 8

Spaceship780

I did business studies (not applied) AS level and it was dreadful. There's so much content it'll make you cry. Not only that, the questions are not in the least bit predictable. One second they can ask about why a business should employ market research, the next second they'll ask the extent to which operations management, HR, and marketing departments are intertwined and how a particular company can encourage harmony between these departments using job rotation. Heck, they can even ask you A level material! It's horrible. And they expect you to write so much in very little time. Many people last year missed questions.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

Byronpat

Original post by Spaceship780

A-level material? That's because it is A-level...

I did Applied Business Studies by the way so it is more coursework (2/3 coursework).

Reply 10

Spaceship780

Original post by Byronpat

A-level material? That's because it is A-level...

I did Applied Business Studies by the way so it is more coursework (2/3 coursework).

Oh I should rephrase that. I mean that during the AS level exams, they can ask material that was meant to be at A2 level.

Reply 11

Byronpat

Original post by Spaceship780

Oh I should rephrase that. I mean that during the AS level exams, they can ask material that was meant to be at A2 level.

Ahh, that makes better sense!

Reply 12

Albion103

Original post by BanishedKree

That's completely incorrect :/ AQA AS Geography has two exams, but they aren't divided into human and physical. UNIT 1 is Knowledge (BOTH Human and Physical in one paper) and UNIT 2 is Geographical skills (your COURSEWORK). So there is coursework at AS and A2.

Reply 13

alannahp

Original post by RhysCK

Geography
Law
Applied Business Studies
Religious Studies

...am thinking of changing from Religious Studies to Applied Science?

Any tips and or insight into the courses would be appreciated :smile:

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I studied both A level law (aqa) and geography (wjec), what would you like to know? :smile:

Reply 14

RhysCK

Original post by alannahp

I studied both A level law (aqa) and geography (wjec), what would you like to know? :smile:

Anything tbh, I know it's general but any info/tips would be handy

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Reply 15

Katie97

What board will you be on for RE?

Reply 16

username996405

I did Law with WJEC. Personally, I thought it taught me next to nothing except how to cram 12 pages of model answers (written by the teacher) for a 90 minute exam and how to improve my hand stamina.

Can I ask why is it you want to an A level in Law? Just a genuine interest or...?
If you're looking for a subject in regards to writing essays, I'd say go for English or History or another humanities subject where you're actually required to think carefully and analyse arguments. :smile:

Reply 17

fairnotfair

ocr philosophy and ethics was pretty good for me

Reply 18

franvb

Original post by RhysCK

Geography
Law
Applied Business Studies
Religious Studies

...am thinking of changing from Religious Studies to Applied Science?

Any tips and or insight into the courses would be appreciated :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

I did Applied Business in one year, the coursework in my opinion is a nightmare but that's because i'm a procrastinator but spread over two years it won't be too bad. The exams like someone has already said is pretty unpredictable, but if you make sure to ace all the coursework you could flop the exams and still achieve a good grade. It's a subject that will get you a good grade, so it's worth doing imo.