Choosing A-Levels

I'm currently choosing my A-Levels and I wonder if anybody could help. There are 6 that I'm trying to choose between: English Literature, Spanish, Geography, Psychology, Biology and Chemistry.

I'm fairly sure I want to do Spanish and Biology, but I'm really struggling with the other two (I'll do 4 AS and then 3 A2). At my college, there is no AS for lit, so if you take it you have to do it up to A2 and don't have the option to drop it - what is it like? Is it something that you'd want to drop after AS? Also, do you really need chemistry with biology, or could I just do biology on its own? Would universities have a problem with this, even if I didn't do a science-based degree?

I have pretty much no idea what I want to do in uni so I'm trying to keep my options open - I guess I'm just trying to work out what the best combination of subjects would be to do that.

If you have done any of these courses, let me know what they're like (I don't know any of the exam boards though)

Thank you!

Reply 1

s_ahmed2

Original post by beckysophie

Hi

I did bio and chem. They are different subjects and hardly overlap. Many ppl just do bio/chem. Although chem is more respected imo.

Firstly find out what your good at. Then see what you enjoy and if those two complement each other do those subjects. Otherwise I would say do what you enjoy cos you don't wanna go into something which you would hate for the rest of your life.

Those subjects are quite broad so you would have many options for uni.

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Reply 2

beckysophie

Thank you - in my GCSE mocks, I got 2 grades higher in biology than chemistry, although I was 1 mark off an A in chemistry. Is it really as bad as everybody says it is? I've heard many people say it's one of the hardest subjects you can do 😁

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Reply 3

geniequeen48

Wow first time someone is thinking sort of the same way as me - I chose Bio, chem, english lit and spanish cos the first two are strong subjects that can open many doors, english lit is very respected and I laaave it, and spanish is great to have cos its a language init?

And no I'm not doing A level yet so I can't tell you what the subjects are like :P

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 4

secretgoldfish_

Spanish is a good idea because a foreign language is respected by employers and you could also apply for uni courses with a year abroad in Spain, which will also look good on your CV. Biology on its own is fine for pretty much all non-science degrees, but to keep your options open for a science based degree it'd be good to have Chemistry too. Bare in mind Chemistry is really difficult at a-level.

Literature and Geography would also be helpful for keeping your options open because they're both respected subjects, and if you're good at GCSE literature then you'll probably be fine with it at A level too.

Reply 5

s_ahmed2

Original post by beckysophie

I wouldnt compare it to gcses that much cos it is way different at a level. It depends on what type of person you are, a analytical/mathematical person or someone who is more creative and into designs etc. Biology would complement your other subjects more and it is more to do with memorising and learning a lot of information. With chemistry it's about learning the theory and then applying it. I enjoyed chemistry a lot, intially it was very hard and I didnt know as much as the other students. But after a while it just clicked and I got very good grades. I'm more of a maths person so it depends I guess. Personally I found bio harder than chem.

What most colleges allow is a two week buffer period for new students, so maybe you can do both for a while and then make your decision.

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Reply 6

Student232

I'm in year 12 and I do Geography and Chemistry. Geography isn't massively harder than GCSE, well AS isn't (however there is meant to be a lot of essay writing in A2) but I guess it depends what exam board you do at GCSE and A level as you may do different topics. I find it really interesting but it has always been one of my favourite subjects so I guess it depends if you find it interesting.

Chemistry has been the new specification for me this year so it has been a bit annoying in terms of past papers, as there is literally just a specimen paper but for your year group there will be a bit more available as it would have been running for a year. If you are taking Biology it may be worth taking Chemistry as a lot of my class do both and I think there is some overlap in the subjects.

All of the subjects you said other than Psychology are facilitating subjects which look good for universities (like Russell Groups). However this doesn't mean you shouldn't take it as they normally only look for like 2 or 3. Which subjects do you find the most interesting, as I started the year doing Physics because I thought it would look good and it was so boring and I hated it so much I had to drop it.

Reply 7

beckysophie

Thank you everyone - I think I've narrowed it down (very slightly) to Spanish, English Literature, Biology and Chemistry or Geography - I think?! I've looked at entry requirements for a few universities and if I wanted to do a psychology degree, I doesn't look like I'd need the a level itself to get into the course - a lot of them seem to prefer biology (or at least the ones that I've looked at)

I do find chemistry a lot more difficult than the other subjects I'm looking at. What is the step up from GCSE to A Level like? And AS to A2?

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