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What's Psychology A level like? (GCSE student hoping to study medicine)

I'm not 100% sure on if I should do Psychology A level next year and my alternative option is History. My aim is to become a doctor in the future and I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Maths at A level and am slightly unsure between Psychology and History. I think my main concern is that psychology would be a new subject so I don't really know how well I will do in it even though I find the topics very interesting. Also History is a more academic subject and is an essay subject, showing that I'm more versatile, but would Uni's consider this? Could anyone offer me some advice on A level Psychology and what it's like/ the work load/ what it's like starting a 'new' subject. Also the course would be AQA. Thanks :smile:
Original post by siobhanx13
I'm not 100% sure on if I should do Psychology A level next year and my alternative option is History. My aim is to become a doctor in the future and I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Maths at A level and am slightly unsure between Psychology and History. I think my main concern is that psychology would be a new subject so I don't really know how well I will do in it even though I find the topics very interesting. Also History is a more academic subject and is an essay subject, showing that I'm more versatile, but would Uni's consider this? Could anyone offer me some advice on A level Psychology and what it's like/ the work load/ what it's like starting a 'new' subject. Also the course would be AQA. Thanks :smile:


There are LOTS of studies to learn... it's hell
Original post by siobhanx13
I'm not 100% sure on if I should do Psychology A level next year and my alternative option is History. My aim is to become a doctor in the future and I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Maths at A level and am slightly unsure between Psychology and History. I think my main concern is that psychology would be a new subject so I don't really know how well I will do in it even though I find the topics very interesting. Also History is a more academic subject and is an essay subject, showing that I'm more versatile, but would Uni's consider this? Could anyone offer me some advice on A level Psychology and what it's like/ the work load/ what it's like starting a 'new' subject. Also the course would be AQA. Thanks :smile:

Easy to learn and understand, but LOTS to remember, especially now that the courses are linear so you will be tested on 1st and 2nd year content.
For me the AS exams were really easy, whereas the A2 topics are so long it's boring.
AS and A2 were the same for me. Subject matter is simple to understand, but the sheer number of case studies, statistics and quotes you have to remember make the A-level seem more like a memory test than anything else. All in all, each year you'd have to remember about 60 pages of answers in order to get a B at least.
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siobhanx13
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Original post by Major Wilson
Easy to learn and understand, but LOTS to remember, especially now that the courses are linear so you will be tested on 1st and 2nd year content.


Would you say it's similar to remembering stuff in Biology and isn't this the case for many science based a levels, or would you say psychology has more to remember? And thanks for the reply :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
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siobhanx13
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Original post by EllainKahlo
AS and A2 were the same for me. Subject matter is simple to understand, but the sheer number of case studies, statistics and quotes you have to remember make the A-level seem more like a memory test than anything else. All in all, each year you'd have to remember about 60 pages of answers in order to get a B at least.


Would you say its similar to remembering facts in Biology? And thanks for the reply :smile:
My school is with AQA
Personally I love psychology
There's a topic called biopsychology which is a combination of biology and psychology!
It's really interesting
There's lots of studies and A03 evaluation to learn but once you learn A01 and A03 you'll be fine
:smile:
Reply 8
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AfcFob
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It's living HELL!!! I hate it with a passion they tell you it's really interesting but it's learning how to conduct an experiment and case study after case study... I would not recommend psychology to my worst enemy it's that bad
Original post by siobhanx13
Would you say its similar to remembering facts in Biology? And thanks for the reply :smile:


You're welcome and yes.

In my experience, all the sciences are the same in that you're not asked to figure out things which don't already have a clear answer you can remember from a model answer or mark scheme.

Which makes things easier but the number facts, dates and names you have to remember, on my exam board at least, is like history to the extreme.
Original post by siobhanx13
I'm not 100% sure on if I should do Psychology A level next year and my alternative option is History. My aim is to become a doctor in the future and I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Maths at A level and am slightly unsure between Psychology and History. I think my main concern is that psychology would be a new subject so I don't really know how well I will do in it even though I find the topics very interesting. Also History is a more academic subject and is an essay subject, showing that I'm more versatile, but would Uni's consider this? Could anyone offer me some advice on A level Psychology and what it's like/ the work load/ what it's like starting a 'new' subject. Also the course would be AQA. Thanks :smile:


If you're pursuing medicine, definitely choose psychology, chemistry, and biology. if you feel you don't want to do psychology, maths is your other option. I'm in the same year as you, starting year 12 this September. I've talked to a lot of people about it and the general consensus to do medicine involves maths. however, the alternate route is to do psychology (maybe sociology as well?) i doubt universities will be looking for historians to qualify to do medicine. As psychology is a science it would be much preferred. My suggestion is do psychology. Its up to you. Ive done psychology GCSE this year and really enjoyed it. It may be considerable effort to remember all the case studies, but the actual information is really interesting! Anyway, good luck in pursuing medicine.
:smile:
Original post by JakeMcLellan
If you're pursuing medicine, definitely choose psychology, chemistry, and biology. if you feel you don't want to do psychology, maths is your other option. I'm in the same year as you, starting year 12 this September. I've talked to a lot of people about it and the general consensus to do medicine involves maths. however, the alternate route is to do psychology (maybe sociology as well?) i doubt universities will be looking for historians to qualify to do medicine. As psychology is a science it would be much preferred. My suggestion is do psychology. Its up to you. Ive done psychology GCSE this year and really enjoyed it. It may be considerable effort to remember all the case studies, but the actual information is really interesting! Anyway, good luck in pursuing medicine.
:smile:


And also I'm choosing just 3 A levels next year, as we learn from psychology, learning more subjects will interfere with recalling information from other subjects. I can't stand maths, but if you enjoy it...Good for you haha. if you decide to only do 3 A levels it won't make a difference if you do psychology over maths, to be honest i would this psychology would be more useful in the future as its a science, mostly to do with medicine and mental health...
Original post by siobhanx13
I'm not 100% sure on if I should do Psychology A level next year and my alternative option is History. My aim is to become a doctor in the future and I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Maths at A level and am slightly unsure between Psychology and History. I think my main concern is that psychology would be a new subject so I don't really know how well I will do in it even though I find the topics very interesting. Also History is a more academic subject and is an essay subject, showing that I'm more versatile, but would Uni's consider this? Could anyone offer me some advice on A level Psychology and what it's like/ the work load/ what it's like starting a 'new' subject. Also the course would be AQA. Thanks :smile:


Psychology A Level is great. It's my fav subject (I do AQA btw).

Psychology is also an essay based subject, not fully like History though. The second year is more essay based than the first year.

You'll be fine studying psychology for the first time, don't worry about that. Psychology is a subject that many people find really interesting when studying it for the first time.

Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Psychology are absolutely fine for medicine.

I've done AQA Psychology since GCSE and I love it :smile:
Reply 13
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siobhanx13
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Original post by JakeMcLellan
If you're pursuing medicine, definitely choose psychology, chemistry, and biology. if you feel you don't want to do psychology, maths is your other option. I'm in the same year as you, starting year 12 this September. I've talked to a lot of people about it and the general consensus to do medicine involves maths. however, the alternate route is to do psychology (maybe sociology as well?) i doubt universities will be looking for historians to qualify to do medicine. As psychology is a science it would be much preferred. My suggestion is do psychology. Its up to you. Ive done psychology GCSE this year and really enjoyed it. It may be considerable effort to remember all the case studies, but the actual information is really interesting! Anyway, good luck in pursuing medicine.
:smile:


Thanks! And I am planning on taking maths as well and I think I will stick with psychology because I've had a look into it and spoke to people I know and that will help me a lot more in the future and it's something which I find quite interesting so hopeful I won't find it "hell". Good luck to you to! How are your GCSE's going and what A levels are you doing? 😃
Original post by siobhanx13
Would you say it's similar to remembering stuff in Biology and isn't this the case for many science based a levels, or would you say psychology has more to remember? And thanks for the reply :smile:

I would not know since I did not take biology, but I do chemistry instead, but that is different. Some people do say psychology is an easier version of biology...

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