Should I take AS philosophy along with my GCSE's?

I got A* for GCSE RE last year. I'm in year 11 and have 3 options:
1) Taking the philosophy Exam in year 11, and doing an EPQ
2) Studying philosophy with no exam and doing an EPQ
3) Doing just the EPQ

My teacher says I'd have to put in 7 hours a week for the AS philosophy and 3 hours per week for the EPQ outside of school. Will my GCSE's suffer, or would I be able to be an A*/A student at GCSE and get an A at AS philosophy and an A* in the EPQ? I'm doing 10/11 GCSE's this year.

Opinions please :smile:

Reply 1

RayApparently

I don't know about you personally but it is doable. You could regret it either way - it just depends on wether you're willing to take that risk. If it were me I'd want to do Phil AS without the EPQ but I'm guessing that's not an option?

Reply 2

vd12345

Original post by RayApparently

No, an EPQ draft is mandatory either way. But then again, I can submit it next year if needed so not a huge amount of pressure. However, I'd still have to put in a lot of effort regardless.

Reply 3

loperdoper

You won't benefit from taking an AS early in most cases, but if you like philosophy and you have four other AS you want to take next year then you may as well go for it. I can't comment on if you'd cope, as the AS I took was Critical Thinking, which takes about three hours to prepare for in total, but if you're willing to work for it then the world is your oyster.