History Psychology or Sociology?

Original post by Yifan Nie

I'm an international student. And I'll go to study A level this September. My English is good enough to do History and business studies in IGCSE. I got 7 in IELTS. And I am interested in economics. I want to choose maths, further maths, economics in A Level. I want to choose one among history psychology and sociology, I am still hesitating.

Hi, I did sociology and psychology at A level.

History, psychology and sociology are mostly essay writing subjects so you must be able to write lots and have good English.
Also you must have a great memory or you're willing to memorise lots of facts and names etc. Look up memory techniques on google :smile:

Also evaluating in sociology and psychology is key! That's where most of the marks are. So can you critique?

If you're doing Maths, you might find psychology more interesting than the other two because it has a bit of statistics in PSYA4 research methods topic.

Anyway, I find both Psychology and Sociology interesting but I find sociology slightly easier but It has more content.

All 3 sounds really interesting to be honest and I wish I took History. If you care about reputation, History is regarded as Academic, then Psychology and Sociology is regarded as the least. However, it's not blacklisted and you do learn a lot of skills from taking it at Alevel. I am hoping to study Sociology at University actually.

I recommend you look at all 3 subjects and their specifications and maybe get a textbook out from the library for each subject have a look and choose the one that appeals to you the most.

What exam board will you be doing as well? For Psycho and Socio I did AQA. Sorry if I rambled. Hope this helped!

Reply 2

Another thing to consider is that Maths, Further Maths and economics are really difficult. (I did maths at AS level then dropped it). If you're doing 3 difficult A levels you might want to choose a more relaxing 4th subject. You may find History too demanding as well as doing the other 3 but it's all up to you.

Even though I found Sociology easy, I know someone who did chem, bio and socio and find socio the hardest while I find science harder so it depends on the individual i guess haha :P

Reply 3

Original post by Wizkidani

Hi, I did sociology and psychology at A level.

History, psychology and sociology are mostly essay writing subjects so you must be able to write lots and have good English.
Also you must have a great memory or you're willing to memorise lots of facts and names etc. Look up memory techniques on google :smile:

Also evaluating in sociology and psychology is key! That's where most of the marks are. So can you critique?

If you're doing Maths, you might find psychology more interesting than the other two because it has a bit of statistics in PSYA4 research methods topic.

Anyway, I find both Psychology and Sociology interesting but I find sociology slightly easier but It has more content.

All 3 sounds really interesting to be honest and I wish I took History. If you care about reputation, History is regarded as Academic, then Psychology and Sociology is regarded as the least. However, it's not blacklisted and you do learn a lot of skills from taking it at Alevel. I am hoping to study Sociology at University actually.

I recommend you look at all 3 subjects and their specifications and maybe get a textbook out from the library for each subject have a look and choose the one that appeals to you the most.

What exam board will you be doing as well? For Psycho and Socio I did AQA. Sorry if I rambled. Hope this helped!

Hi could I possibly ask you a few questions regarding sociology? Also did you do it with AQA?

Reply 4

Original post by sk942015

Hi could I possibly ask you a few questions regarding sociology? Also did you do it with AQA?

I did Sociology with AQA for A-Level, so you can ask me too :smile:

Reply 5

Original post by soanonymous

I did Sociology with AQA for A-Level, so you can ask me too :smile:

Yaaaay! Hello btw! What grade did you get for Sociology also, which units did you do? Hopefully Unit 1 Families and unit 2 Education? :colondollar:

Reply 6

Original post by sk942015

Yaaaay! Hello btw! What grade did you get for Sociology also, which units did you do? Hopefully Unit 1 Families and unit 2 Education? :colondollar:

Yep that's what I did. I got an A for both of those units and an A overall.

Reply 7

Aeneas11

10

Well, if you're considering applying for a competitive course at a competitive university, such as Oxbridge, it would be better (not essential!) to do history as it is considered a "hard" subject. Psychology and Sociology are currently considered by Oxbridge as "soft" subjects. However, I do Psychology and I LOVE IT. It's a mixture of an essay and science subject and has a really interesting course that allows you to learn more about yourself and the people around you, so I would thoroughly recommend it.

Reply 8

Original post by soanonymous

Yep that's what I did. I got an A for both of those units and an A overall.

Wow well done! I have some questions as I am struggling to grasps hold of certain topics so If you could help me out with them I would really really appreciate it?

Firstly, what essay structure did you use? - I decided I will do this - Intro, 3 arguments which will include sociologists ofcourse (then critique the point using another sociologist) and a conclusion. that structure is only for 24 marker questions such as "examine Marxists view on role of family" 0 but for other questions such as social policy ones, what I have done is written out the social policy described it etc then used a perspective that may agree or disagree with the policy.

:smile:

Reply 9

jesuislorenzo

7

i studied psychology, sociology, and history haha all very interesting subjects!
psychology and sociology are similar in the sense that they both focus on evaluating theories, and you have to make sure the evaluation points are spot on! People have this misconception that social sciences such as sociology and psychology are easy subjects, however, don't underestimate these subjects! i know so many people who didn't revise much for sociology cos they thought it was easy, and they came out with D and E grades at A-level :/

Reply 10

Original post by sk942015

Wow well done! I have some questions as I am struggling to grasps hold of certain topics so If you could help me out with them I would really really appreciate it?

Firstly, what essay structure did you use? - I decided I will do this - Intro, 3 arguments which will include sociologists ofcourse (then critique the point using another sociologist) and a conclusion. that structure is only for 24 marker questions such as "examine Marxists view on role of family" 0 but for other questions such as social policy ones, what I have done is written out the social policy described it etc then used a perspective that may agree or disagree with the policy.

:smile:

The 24 mark structure you've outlined is pretty much all I did, I mean... I literally just memorised everything and wrote it out, but the main thing you need is the analysis of everything, the opposite views by sociologists and also sociologists who agree with the views you're talking about (sorry if this makes no sense, it's been about 3 years since I did this!) but yeah as long as you have evidence for what you're saying and then maybe (if there is any) some refuting points as well, that's all you really need.

The longer questions can use the similar structure as above, you need perspectives that both agree and disagree, it's all pretty simple as long as you've used the different perspectives that you've learnt about that are relevant and the sociologists etc.

I wouldn't listen solely to what I've said, as I am a little rusty and honestly have no idea how I structured my essays (I would totally send you one if I still had them) but everything you've said is pretty much fine as long as everything you've learnt is included. Did your school not give you a specific structure to use?

Reply 11

Covington4

19

I study History and Psychology

History - interesting depending on what units you study but harder to get a good grade, as you need to know how to write a good essay.

Psychology - in my opinion it is very boring, and mostly just about remembering research, but it is easier than history.

I dont do Sociology but everyone who does it in my school says its easy and is just memorising.

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Reply 12

Original post by soanonymous

The 24 mark structure you've outlined is pretty much all I did, I mean... I literally just memorised everything and wrote it out, but the main thing you need is the analysis of everything, the opposite views by sociologists and also sociologists who agree with the views you're talking about (sorry if this makes no sense, it's been about 3 years since I did this!) but yeah as long as you have evidence for what you're saying and then maybe (if there is any) some refuting points as well, that's all you really need.

The longer questions can use the similar structure as above, you need perspectives that both agree and disagree, it's all pretty simple as long as you've used the different perspectives that you've learnt about that are relevant and the sociologists etc.

I wouldn't listen solely to what I've said, as I am a little rusty and honestly have no idea how I structured my essays (I would totally send you one if I still had them) but everything you've said is pretty much fine as long as everything you've learnt is included. Did your school not give you a specific structure to use?

I heard its better to critique a point rather than support as critiquing is of much more skill so the examiner will find it easier to give marks :/

Also I self study, so I kind of have to figure out what to do by myself and with the help of the people here on TSR...

Ahh I see yes I would forget totally everything too lol!

I am finding unit 2 education and research methods SO hard!

Reply 13

Original post by Ben4

I study History and Psychology

History - interesting depending on what units you study but harder to get a good grade, as you need to know how to write a good essay.

Psychology - in my opinion it is very boring, and mostly just about remembering research, but it is easier than history.

I dont do Sociology but everyone who does it in my school says its easy and is just memorising.

Posted from TSR Mobile

True, Sociology is easy (in my eyes) but I loved doing it! Hence why I'm doing it at University too!
Psychology was also just memorising but there was so much and it was just long and dull and blegh.
I hated History, I only did it at AS but I hated it because of the modules, I'm sure if the modules were different I would have loved it. Such a shame!

Reply 14

Original post by sk942015

I heard its better to critique a point rather than support as critiquing is of much more skill so the examiner will find it easier to give marks :/

Also I self study, so I kind of have to figure out what to do by myself and with the help of the people here on TSR...

Ahh I see yes I would forget totally everything too lol!

I am finding unit 2 education and research methods SO hard!

Critiquing is better, but I think it's good to show both sides too, maybe less supporting and more critiquing, but throw it in there. It's difficult, I don't want to give you the wrong advice, but I'll have a look for one of my essays and send it if I ever find one, if you'd like.

Education was really long, I don't think it was hard, but there was so much to learn. If you're finding it hard to understand, I think you should go over your notes and really try to get to grips with anything you don't understand. If you're finding it hard to remember, try making notes in a different format, i.e. mind maps/ written notes/ powerpoint etc. I did literally every kind of note form I could so I could remember it all.

Research methods is very easy once you get the 'jist' of it, try youtube videos if you're not understanding it, I found some really good ones back in the day, and again, just different types of note taking.

Reply 15

kittycannon

9

Original post by Yifan Nie

I'm an international student. And I'll go to study A level this September. My English is good enough to do History and business studies in IGCSE. I got 7 in IELTS. And I am interested in economics. I want to choose maths, further maths, economics in A Level. I want to choose one among history psychology and sociology, I am still hesitating.

I do history and psychology. History is definitely a lot harder, with more to remember. Whereas with psychology, there is a lot less writing, which may be preferable for you. I'm not sure about sociology, but if it's interesting, go for it.

My best advice would be to find out which topics are covered in each course from the centre you want to go to. If one subject really interests you, go for it. With history, for example, a lot of different sixth forms/colleges cover different topics, so it's definitely a good idea to ask. :smile:

Reply 16

Original post by sk942015

Hi could I possibly ask you a few questions regarding sociology? Also did you do it with AQA?

yeah i did aqa and got As at AS level :smile:

Reply 17