Choosing A levels to start sixth form in September 2017

I'd advise against bio but if ur good at it and u enjoy it a lot that's fine. Biology is my most hated alevel subject, content is ridiculous and the exam will be on like a quarter of the course

I have my A level bio paper tomorrow, if you want a good grade you need to be revising all year in my opinion. Yes, a lot more application, a lot more maths and practical statistics in the exam to replace the removal of ISAs. But if you really like bio go for it. It has some good cross over with psychology. I got straight A's at AS in all my subjects apart from bio which I got a D, and I put the same effort into all my subjects, just shows how content heavy it is.

My exam boards are different but I would say that Biology and Psychology go well together. There is biopsychology to be learnt in my specification anyway.

Psychology is interesting but it is VERY content-heavy and it is more about memorising information in contrast to learning and understanding imo.

English Lit is okay, although I don't really enjoy much of the books I need to know in the specification (e.g. Frankenstein) however what I like about this subject is that it is more about creative thinking- there is no right or wrong answer. Poetry in this specification is the hardest imo, especially with the unseen poetry where you must rely on your own interpretation and understanding of a poem you have not seen before.

Overall, they are enjoyable subjects if you have a genuine interest in them. As they are A-Levels, they will be a huge step from GCSEs and you must revise as you go along rather than cramming it all in last-minute!

Thanks for the reply it has certainly reassured me! What type of things would you suggest I do in the holidays to get ready for A levels so I can bridge the big step up from gcse to a level in your opinion?

Firstly thank you very much for replying😊! Secondly in your opinion what content should I go over in the holidays so I am ready for As biology?

I personally think that holiday revision wouldn't do you much good as it could add confusion, etc. This is particularly true if you have not done A-Levels before and you are not 100% confident with what your specification requires.

I think the key is to just revise when you learn content.

If you are keen on starting revision early, I'd only suggest teaching yourself or grab a rough idea of what your subjects are like- use the internet, etc.

I am currently waiting to complete my last Psychology exam on Thursday (finally!) and I think Loopa Psychology would be great for you to grab an overall view of what Psychology is like (although the exam board is AQA, which I believe is different to yours)

For AQA Biology at AS you can be looking into the basics of biochemistry, the heart, the lungs, transcription, translation, translocation, biological molecules and biodiversity.

There is actually a book you can purchase on amazon called "Head Start to A-Level Biology" and it is especially for AQA. I purchased it for my summer work.

I'm not too sure about psychology, but I currently do biology and English language and I think they go quite well together. Biology is a very large and complex subject as, not only do you need to learn many facts and processes, you must be able to apply your knowledge to often very vague questions. Although, biology (or any of the sciences) and English do open many doors to many different opportunities. If you want to get a head start in one of your subjects then it would be a good idea to pre-order an official revision guide and I recommend that you check whether there is a biology CGP book available for your exam board. Also, have you considered taking English language because it is one of my more enjoyable A levels

For the careers you want to go into, I would recommend doing chemistry as a fourth subject or doing it instead of english lit. For biomedical sciences it's usually a requirement, and would be useful for some other related careers.

Hey, I do all three subjects at A2 and I love how well they go together! I'm on OCR for biology and AQA for psychology, same board as you for lit. There's definitely a lot of crossover in my bio and psych specs in terms of A2 bio topics (the nervous system, the brain, the endocrine system and some sampling methods from AS) and they just work really well together in my opinion. Although, all of the alevels are very content heavy, since they're linear. Psychology is more about memorisation, and being able to convey info effectively in essays. Whereas biology is hugely content heavy with mostly application and maths skills (I know people who got A/A*s at gcse and managed an E/D at AS, whereas I got a C in both) understanding the content is key to biology, but if you put in the time and the effort it will pay off.
English on the other hand is dependent on essay writing skills, critical thinking and personal interpretations. It's difficult to give you a reading list as your teacher will be picking your texts, the ones I have studied are: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Great Gatsby, Othello, Pre-1900s poetry, The Woman in White, Lady Audley's secret (TWIW and LAS as coursework texts) Birdsong, The war poems of Wilfred Owen & My boy Jack. There is a larger emphasis on context, critical opinions and connections across texts in the A level syllabus, so be aware of those! If you have any other specific questions, feel free to ask

Of these three, I only do English lit. For lit there isn't a reading list and it depends on the exam board you do as to what texts you study. More importantly I would say you have to enjoy the subject if you want to do it because In comparison to GCSE you have to quite a bit of independent work eg coursework if you have it and your own research into the area around the text.
I have had no problem with English and have really enjoyed it but some of friends who don't enjoy it as much do say that they struggle

Most people do say that literature is harder than language but in what way?

I think because the focus of the subject shifts from what it was at GCSE whereas lots of other subjects stay along the same lines