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How difficult are these A levels? (Biology, Chemistry and Sociology)

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Original post by Starlight2000
I'm not trying to scare you but my biology teacher says bio a level requires you to pretty much memorise the whole textbook ( a very thick one). Chemistry (since it's a science) may require you to do something similar and Sociology requires you to memorise theories and use them to give answers. Gonfornitbif your up to all that memorisation I feel it is worth it!!


HAHA i am a bit scared now, but im a GCSE student going onto A level, i think everybody in my situation is a bit scared. Also, im only doing 3 A levels, there are others who do like 5, they need to memorise a lot, if the can do it so can i (motivation lol), thanks so much for your help!!
Original post by AnnaRainbows
Maybe we did different specifications, but quite a lot of topics seemed similar to me, for example osmosis and transpiration (plants), levels of protein structure and enzymes, and so on. And they were taught to me in sequence, so the whole course made sense itself, but the disadvantage was if you don't understand osmosis for example, you'll be struggling a bit with transpiration and so on. :smile:

I agree with the rest of your statement, though! Chemistry does have lots of formulae, and my god is it annoying to rearrange them. But that's what makes it so interesting, when you actually understand both subjects, you get that sensation of accomplishment!


thanks again for your helpful words Anna!
Original post by Qasim Abbassi
thanks again for your helpful words Anna!


No worries! You're not alone in this, everyone gets anxious about studies!
A-level chemistry is very different to GCSE chemistry: it's a lot of memorisation and actually knowing a lot more about a lot more than GCSE.

If you had a look at some past papers now..

.. you could have a good go at the sociology - you'd be missing some jargon and wouldn't get a great mark, but you wouldn't be embarrassed;

.. you would be able to do some of the biology and know what it is you didn't know for the rest;

.. be completely stuffed by the chemistry.
Oh, if you want something that's much more widely respected than sociology but isn't actually much harder, have a look at economics.
Original post by unprinted
A-level chemistry is very different to GCSE chemistry: it's a lot of memorisation and actually knowing a lot more about a lot more than GCSE.

If you had a look at some past papers now..

.. you could have a good go at the sociology - you'd be missing some jargon and wouldn't get a great mark, but you wouldn't be embarrassed;

.. you would be able to do some of the biology and know what it is you didn't know for the rest;

.. be completely stuffed by the chemistry.


sounds like i have a lot of work to do! thanks!! :smile:)))
Personally I found Chemistry to be a bit of a struggle, mostly because maths is by far my weakest subject and it is a huge part of chemistry, but it sounds like you should do just fine in all of the subjects since you did so well in GCSE (My grades were pretty average/below average at GCSE yet I still managed to complete Chemistry and Biology with C's and B's) as for sociology, I hear it's not too hard at all :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by unprinted
Oh, if you want something that's much more widely respected than sociology but isn't actually much harder, have a look at economics.


hmm will do!! thanks so much! :smile:
Original post by Nicoley-oley
Personally I found Chemistry to be a bit of a struggle, mostly because maths is by far my weakest subject and it is a huge part of chemistry, but it sounds like you should do just fine in all of the subjects since you did so well in GCSE (My grades were pretty average/below average at GCSE yet I still managed to complete Chemistry and Biology with C's and B's) as for sociology, I hear it's not too hard at all :smile:


awww thanks so much Nicole! srsly like these grades were such a shock to me! I was expecting D's and C's but then this happened! Thanks so much for your helpful words!!x I'll be sure to work extra hard lol!
I did both bio and sociology. Biology requires you to have a really good memory, don't even try to revise this subject last minute! However in comparison I found sociology quite easy, you'll also find it quite relevant to issues today. I would say taking socio alongside bio and Chem is a good idea bc both bio and Chem are quite difficult.
Original post by Tsrsarahhhh
I did both bio and sociology. Biology requires you to have a really good memory, don't even try to revise this subject last minute! However in comparison I found sociology quite easy, you'll also find it quite relevant to issues today. I would say taking socio alongside bio and Chem is a good idea bc both bio and Chem are quite difficult.


thanks so much sarah! im hoping it will be quite easy, as im quite interested in it, sociology was my second choice to psychology, which i couldnt do cuz it clashed with chemistry, so im hoping its easier than psycho! thanks again!!!
Original post by Qasim Abbassi
thanks so much sarah! im hoping it will be quite easy, as im quite interested in it, sociology was my second choice to psychology, which i couldnt do cuz it clashed with chemistry, so im hoping its easier than psycho! thanks again!!!


Yeah it's definitely easier than psychology. Psyc also requires a good memory, of which I don't possess:bawling:. There's similarities between the two subjects anyway, good luck x
Like all A levels nowadays they are easy.
Original post by Tsrsarahhhh
Yeah it's definitely easier than psychology. Psyc also requires a good memory, of which I don't possess:bawling:. There's similarities between the two subjects anyway, good luck x


now im glad im picking socio lol! and same here, i have a horrible memory, join my team :'( ! thanks for the help!!
Original post by Jimbo1234
Like all A levels nowadays they are easy.


extremely arguable
Are you sure you want to do Sociology cuz I find it extremely boring

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Original post by shohaib712
Are you sure you want to do Sociology cuz I find it extremely boring

Posted from TSR Mobile


loool you most of my GCSE subject choices were boring af and i zoned out in most of them, but because sociology is quite easy and quite appealing to me and the only subject which i can resort to, i really have no choice, i just have to put in my 101% in these subjects ( i hope) lol thanks for the reply !!!
Reply 37
Avatar for _NMcC_
_NMcC_
15
From personal experience, I found Biology harder simply due to the vast amount of material you have to memorise, particularly with AQA. If you want an A, you need to start revising immediately.

Chemistry is more conceptually challenging but there's far less material to learn. Just make sure you understand the concepts to the point where you can explain them to someone else, do lots of practice paper questions from the start and prepare well for the practicals. I personally enjoyed Chem far more than Biology.
Original post by _NMcC_
From personal experience, I found Biology harder simply due to the vast amount of material you have to memorise, particularly with AQA. If you want an A, you need to start revising immediately.

Chemistry is more conceptually challenging but there's far less material to learn. Just make sure you understand the concepts to the point where you can explain them to someone else, do lots of practice paper questions from the start and prepare well for the practicals. I personally enjoyed Chem far more than Biology.


Ooooh looks like I better get started ( even though my school doesn't open till the twelfth) haha lol thanks so much for your help!!! Really appreciated!!
Original post by TimidPhoenix
From personal experiences, biology and chemistry are tough subjects. In biology, you have to be prepared for a lot of memorisation and exam practice, which can be time consuming (to be honest, the content was easy to learn and understand but the exam papers are often pretty brutal).

I did chemistry at AS level and found it to be a much tougher subject than biology. The concepts can be very difficult to understand and it's also a time consuming subject.

I've never studied sociology so can't say how difficult it is.

What exam board did you do for biology?

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