How much work are all science A Levels?
Hello,
I'm choosing A levels this year, and starting Sixth form in September (can't wait
I know that I definitely want to study either Chemistry or Law at university. I frankly love science, and all of it's glorious properties! the A Level science courses look so interesting, and I would love to study: Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Physics. I'm predicted an A for core science, and an A* for additional. The only thing that is holding me back, are these stories about all science A level students not getting any sleep, reading all day, having nervous breakdowns, getting exhausted by work loads etc. Is it really that bad? the prospect seems so daunting. I don't know if I would be able to cope with the workload if it's true. I am though, very self motivated and I have my priorities in order. A lot of work doesn't scare me, but if it means staying in my room all day and not being able to have a social/family life, no thanks! I just don't know. Sorry for this slightly frantically styled question, but any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thank you
I'm choosing A levels this year, and starting Sixth form in September (can't wait
I know that I definitely want to study either Chemistry or Law at university. I frankly love science, and all of it's glorious properties! the A Level science courses look so interesting, and I would love to study: Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Physics. I'm predicted an A for core science, and an A* for additional. The only thing that is holding me back, are these stories about all science A level students not getting any sleep, reading all day, having nervous breakdowns, getting exhausted by work loads etc. Is it really that bad? the prospect seems so daunting. I don't know if I would be able to cope with the workload if it's true. I am though, very self motivated and I have my priorities in order. A lot of work doesn't scare me, but if it means staying in my room all day and not being able to have a social/family life, no thanks! I just don't know. Sorry for this slightly frantically styled question, but any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thank you(edited 9 years ago)
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I'm currently doing AS Chemsitry and Biology and they are more difficult than GCSE...as you'd expect.
Chemistry esspecially is very difficult to get high grades as a lot of questions are about applying knowledge to unknown situations. Biology is A LOT of content. Although it was a lot of content as well at GCSE...
I got A*'s in my bio and chem GCSE's but I'm not sure if that prepared you for A-level work, although it helps.
You really have to review your work ALL THE TIME (especially in biology) if you want to get high marks as you can't wing it unless you will fail.
I LOVE chemistry so am enjoying it depite the work though
They are both great A-levels to take and very challenging but if you like them do take them.
I didn't enjoy biology much at GCSE level but it is much more interesting at A-levels
Chemistry esspecially is very difficult to get high grades as a lot of questions are about applying knowledge to unknown situations. Biology is A LOT of content. Although it was a lot of content as well at GCSE...
I got A*'s in my bio and chem GCSE's but I'm not sure if that prepared you for A-level work, although it helps.
You really have to review your work ALL THE TIME (especially in biology) if you want to get high marks as you can't wing it unless you will fail.
I LOVE chemistry so am enjoying it depite the work though
They are both great A-levels to take and very challenging but if you like them do take them.
I didn't enjoy biology much at GCSE level but it is much more interesting at A-levels
Lol it's not hard work at all. Seriously - just listen in class, make good neat notes and take them out a month before exams and maybe re-write the key points. Make sure you understand everything as you're going along and it's easy. I had a very good social life and found A-levels virtually stress-free
Original post by tkb661998
Hello,
I'm choosing A levels this year, and starting Sixth form in September (can't wait I know that I definitely want to study either Chemistry or Law at university. I frankly love science, and all of it's glorious properties! the A Level science courses look so interesting, and I would love to study: Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Physics. I'm predicted an A for core science, and an A* for additional. The only thing that is holding me back, are these stories about all science A level students not getting any sleep, reading all day, having nervous breakdowns, getting exhausted by work loads etc. Is it really that bad? the prospect seems so daunting. I don't know if I would be able to cope with the workload if it's true. I am though, very self motivated (my parents are both immigrants, I've had to help my self) and I have my priorities in order. A lot of work doesn't scare me, but if it means staying in my room all day and not being able to have a social/family life, no thanks! I just don't know. Sorry for this slightly frantically styled question, but any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thank you
I'm choosing A levels this year, and starting Sixth form in September (can't wait
I know that I definitely want to study either Chemistry or Law at university. I frankly love science, and all of it's glorious properties! the A Level science courses look so interesting, and I would love to study: Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Physics. I'm predicted an A for core science, and an A* for additional. The only thing that is holding me back, are these stories about all science A level students not getting any sleep, reading all day, having nervous breakdowns, getting exhausted by work loads etc. Is it really that bad? the prospect seems so daunting. I don't know if I would be able to cope with the workload if it's true. I am though, very self motivated (my parents are both immigrants, I've had to help my self) and I have my priorities in order. A lot of work doesn't scare me, but if it means staying in my room all day and not being able to have a social/family life, no thanks! I just don't know. Sorry for this slightly frantically styled question, but any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thank youTry being a humanities student.
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Original post by tkb661998
...
They are a lot of work. You will have to put a lot of effort in and will get exhausted sometimes. You're only doing 4 though, so shouldn't have to work all of the time. If you are quite good at understanding the content, the workload is automatically reduced.
It's not as bad as you say. No-one I know has had a mental breakdown or anything. However you have to be ready for hard work.
Unless you can drive, you will probably spend a significant proportion of your waking life at college, so you wouldn't be in your room all the time.
If you enjoy the subjects it is very interesting to learn about them to that depth.
I study/have studied to A2: maths, further maths, biology, chemistry, physics.
Original post by morgan8002
They are a lot of work. You will have to put a lot of effort in and will get exhausted sometimes. You're only doing 4 though, so shouldn't have to work all of the time. If you are quite good at understanding the content, the workload is automatically reduced.
It's not as bad as you say. No-one I know has had a mental breakdown or anything. However you have to be ready for hard work.
Unless you can drive, you will probably spend a significant proportion of your waking life at college, so you wouldn't be in your room all the time.
If you enjoy the subjects it is very interesting to learn about them to that depth.
I study/have studied to A2: maths, further maths, biology, chemistry, physics.
It's not as bad as you say. No-one I know has had a mental breakdown or anything. However you have to be ready for hard work.
Unless you can drive, you will probably spend a significant proportion of your waking life at college, so you wouldn't be in your room all the time.
If you enjoy the subjects it is very interesting to learn about them to that depth.
I study/have studied to A2: maths, further maths, biology, chemistry, physics.
Wow, okay, thank you for the advice! Looking at your A level choices, they look extremely impressive! How did you find them, especially studying all of them to A2? I'm only planning to study: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and maths to As, dropping Physics for A2.
Biology is alright just a lot of content to remember.
Maths is probably the easiest subject (for me personally anyway) though my friends are saying they struggle with it quite a lot.
Unless you are really interested and love chemistry then I would say pick it, if not don't. I didn't enjoy it much at GCSE and I still don't know, if you're not interested you won't put in as much effort as it's quite difficult.
Physics I've heard from many people to be the hardest science out of them all, my friend puts in so much effort but is still barely getting above U's in practice papers or exams.
Maths is probably the easiest subject (for me personally anyway) though my friends are saying they struggle with it quite a lot.
Unless you are really interested and love chemistry then I would say pick it, if not don't. I didn't enjoy it much at GCSE and I still don't know, if you're not interested you won't put in as much effort as it's quite difficult.
Physics I've heard from many people to be the hardest science out of them all, my friend puts in so much effort but is still barely getting above U's in practice papers or exams.
I speak as someone doing both sciences (maths, further maths, physics) and arts (music, French) for A level, and in my experience, the humanities have a much more significant workload - there's no limit to the syllabus in that you could do as much work as you wanted, and it will all help. For sciences you have a set syllabus, and you'll never need or even have the chance to demonstrate anything outside that in an exam context (though that is absolutely no reason not to go further anyway!). In general though, I've found humanities require more time and work, and are harder to get top grades in. That could just be my preferences though.
Original post by tkb661998
Wow, okay, thank you for the advice! Looking at your A level choices, they look extremely impressive! How did you find them, especially studying all of them to A2? I'm only planning to study: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and maths to As, dropping Physics for A2.
I took maths early to A2 last year, so am only doing 4 this year. I do STEP and extra maths modules as well.
I will say that GCSE is very different from A-level, particularly for maths.
I've thoroughly enjoyed studying them all. Biology, chemistry and maths there is quite a large step up from GCSE. Physics has a much smaller step.
Biology has a huge amount of content you need to understand and memorise.
Chemistry has less to memorise and more to work out, but the concepts are a little more difficult than biology.
Maths is just down to practice and logical thinking. Once you have the concepts, there is nothing more to learn other than how to apply the concepts to new questions. I find it the most enjoyable.
I find physics is very easy if you do maths as well.
Original post by Actaeon
For sciences you have a set syllabus, and you'll never need or even have the chance to demonstrate anything outside that in an exam context (though that is absolutely no reason not to go further anyway!).
This is true at A-level. However for some extra exams if you take them, you can be asked to demonstrate anything they want. The STEP and olympiad questions get very tricky.
Original post by morgan8002
This is true at A-level. However for some extra exams if you take them, you can be asked to demonstrate anything they want. The STEP and olympiad questions get very tricky.
Oh definitely. I really enjoyed the Physics Olympiad, precisely because it was far more open in terms of question style and content, and you could do as much or as little extra work for it as you wanted.
Original post by morgan8002
I took maths early to A2 last year, so am only doing 4 this year. I do STEP and extra maths modules as well.
I will say that GCSE is very different from A-level, particularly for maths.
I've thoroughly enjoyed studying them all. Biology, chemistry and maths there is quite a large step up from GCSE. Physics has a much smaller step.
Biology has a huge amount of content you need to understand and memorise.
Chemistry has less to memorise and more to work out, but the concepts are a little more difficult than biology.
Maths is just down to practice and logical thinking. Once you have the concepts, there is nothing more to learn other than how to apply the concepts to new questions. I find it the most enjoyable.
I find physics is very easy if you do maths as well.
I will say that GCSE is very different from A-level, particularly for maths.
I've thoroughly enjoyed studying them all. Biology, chemistry and maths there is quite a large step up from GCSE. Physics has a much smaller step.
Biology has a huge amount of content you need to understand and memorise.
Chemistry has less to memorise and more to work out, but the concepts are a little more difficult than biology.
Maths is just down to practice and logical thinking. Once you have the concepts, there is nothing more to learn other than how to apply the concepts to new questions. I find it the most enjoyable.
I find physics is very easy if you do maths as well.
Oh, okay. Is A level maths mainly algebra? I was looking at some A level questions, and it looked like a foreign language! I couldn't see anything about decimals, percentages, a little about angles. You are definitely right though, I do see the step up from Biology and Chemistry to A Level being immense! How much would you say physics and maths overlap each other? I do plant to do both, but I was just curious about their similarities.
Original post by tkb661998
Oh, okay. Is A level maths mainly algebra? I was looking at some A level questions, and it looked like a foreign language! I couldn't see anything about decimals, percentages, a little about angles. You are definitely right though, I do see the step up from Biology and Chemistry to A Level being immense! How much would you say physics and maths overlap each other? I do plant to do both, but I was just curious about their similarities.
C1-4 are made up of an assortment of algebra, geometry, calculus and trig. However these categories do merge together a lot.
They wouldn't expect you to do any decimals or percentages in pure modules because, with a few exceptions, everything must be in exact form. You do need to give approximate answers in mechanics and especially statistics modules though.
M1-2, S1-2 and D1-2 are very different from C1-4 and from the other applied modules. Mechanics is about understanding mechanical models and using the techniques taught as well as pure maths techniques to calculate stuff based on the models. Statistics is mostly probabilities, statistical measurements and probability distributions. Decision is all about remembering and following algorithms.
The mechanics modules in maths and physics do cross over very well. If you do both, you will likely learn the same stuff in a slightly different way for two different exams. The non-mechanics areas of physics also use maths, so maths is very useful, but the non-mechanics areas of physics do not help with maths.
I've applied for a chemistry degree and I did all 3 sciences and maths at AS and personally found it much easier than GCSE science and maths.
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I currently do Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. They are nothing like GCSE science and maths, but in the best way possible. The content is a lot more interesting (mostly), obviously the workload is a lot greater, and sure there are days when I wish I'd picked different subjects.... But if you love science then by all means go for it. It's 100% possible to work a lot, and still have a social life, you just have to do it in the right way and start revision early (but I'm sure you'll be able to figure this out for yourself next year).
In terms of difficulty? Chemistry has a lot to remember/understand and exam questions are usually applications of knowledge. That being said Chemistry is amazing (though daunting at times), and is probably my favourite subject that I take.
Biology is all about memorising content (and there's so much to remember unfortunately)... Exams require awfully specific answers, where if you don't use the right keywords then you don't get the marks, even if your answer is right... (especially true for OCR)
Physics is not too bad at all (surprisingly), the first module overlaps nicely with M1 in maths (if that's what you'll be doing), and is a combination of a lot of the GCSE stuff and some new material. The second module is a bit harder though, with less maths, and more wordy questions. A lot of application of knowledge, and plenty keywords... But it certainly is fun (especially the practicals).
Maths is kind of a big step up from GCSE, C1 is pretty much all GCSE material (+ integration, differentiation), C2 starts off easy then gets a bit more difficult... M1 (if that's the module you'll be doing) is the hardest, and a lot of people at my school are retaking maths because they failed M1... But if you do Physics, it shouldn't be that hard (it becomes easier with practice).
With any of these subjects it's all about practice. You'll find that more work is required than at GCSE (heck you can get away with absolutely no work at GCSE), but if you practice frequently and revise what you get wrong, then you'll be fine, and left with plenty (less than now though) time to socialise.
In terms of difficulty? Chemistry has a lot to remember/understand and exam questions are usually applications of knowledge. That being said Chemistry is amazing (though daunting at times), and is probably my favourite subject that I take.
Biology is all about memorising content (and there's so much to remember unfortunately)... Exams require awfully specific answers, where if you don't use the right keywords then you don't get the marks, even if your answer is right... (especially true for OCR)
Physics is not too bad at all (surprisingly), the first module overlaps nicely with M1 in maths (if that's what you'll be doing), and is a combination of a lot of the GCSE stuff and some new material. The second module is a bit harder though, with less maths, and more wordy questions. A lot of application of knowledge, and plenty keywords... But it certainly is fun (especially the practicals).
Maths is kind of a big step up from GCSE, C1 is pretty much all GCSE material (+ integration, differentiation), C2 starts off easy then gets a bit more difficult... M1 (if that's the module you'll be doing) is the hardest, and a lot of people at my school are retaking maths because they failed M1... But if you do Physics, it shouldn't be that hard (it becomes easier with practice).
With any of these subjects it's all about practice. You'll find that more work is required than at GCSE (heck you can get away with absolutely no work at GCSE), but if you practice frequently and revise what you get wrong, then you'll be fine, and left with plenty (less than now though) time to socialise.
Bull**** to the fact they're extremely hard and will exhaust you.
Work smart and they're stress free.
Work smart and they're stress free.
I do the sciences (biology chemistry AND physics) as well as maths mechanics.
ignore all those people who say sciences are too hard. they are harder than humanities subjects purely going on what my friends are saying but if you are smart enough and if science is truly in your interests then you'll have no trouble
physics just requires a good mathematical skill and some knowledge
biology is just pure knowledge, memorise those facts!
chemistry is mainly knowledge and basic maths
its not that hard, in mocks i got straight As with little revision, while my friends spent the 3 weeks off revising i spent only 5 days revising. trust me, you can do it if you are a science-orientated person
ignore all those people who say sciences are too hard. they are harder than humanities subjects purely going on what my friends are saying but if you are smart enough and if science is truly in your interests then you'll have no trouble
physics just requires a good mathematical skill and some knowledge
biology is just pure knowledge, memorise those facts!
chemistry is mainly knowledge and basic maths
its not that hard, in mocks i got straight As with little revision, while my friends spent the 3 weeks off revising i spent only 5 days revising. trust me, you can do it if you are a science-orientated person
Original post by victoria98
M1 (if that's the module you'll be doing) is the hardest
Most people find S1 much harder to learn than M1.
Original post by morgan8002
Most people find S1 much harder to learn than M1.
That's why I said 'if that's the module you'll be doing'. At my school we do S1 for A2, so I haven't actually done S1 yet, and can't really comment on it. I was talking about C1, C2, M1.
I am doing A2 maths, chemistry and biology and last year I did AS Spanish. It really isn't that bad. The workload is perfectly manageable and I not aware of it being any more than for other subjects. At least for sciences you don't have to write essays.
And the difficulty of A level maths is so overrated it's unreal.
And the difficulty of A level maths is so overrated it's unreal.
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