A-level student - fire away w/questions

Hi guys, I am making this because I think it would be helpful if you had advice from someone in their first yr of sixth form who did their gcses last year. I wish I had a forum like this where I could ask just a normal student for advice so I have made one for you guys. Whether its GCSE questions/advice or a-level I am happy to answer. I am currently taking Maths, Physics and Economics at a-level.
My results last year were fairly average ; six C's/5's (geography, French, computing and two 5's in eng lan + lit), four B's (Science core, science additional, RE and drama), and then a 7 in maths.

Fire away and ask any advice - I AM COMPLETELY HONEST

btw this is a copy of my last thread as I had loads of pm's of people telling me they couldn't comment

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Reply 1

owright08

Is it hard, the jump from GCSE to A-level; and how much of it is individual work over school work. Also what grades r u achieving atm?

Reply 2

username3810906

Original post by owright08

Is it hard, the jump from GCSE to A-level; and how much of it is individual work over school work. Also what grades r u achieving atm?

This is a good question! Everyone always talks about this so called 'jump' but no one really explains it, if you are like me then you just ignore it. The jump from gcse is huge, the only way I could explain this is that for every hour lesson a day there is a 1/2hr homework, deadlines and workload is high. It's like doing gcse revision in may but now you are doing that much work everyday. In simple terms, if you got a 7/8 in gcse maths and put the same amount of effort into the a-level then you would achieve a high D or low C. You will have double individual work over school, also you have to constantly revise your notes.
Grades for me atm are:
Maths - High C /Low B
Physics - C
Economics - High B / Low A

Reply 3

jake4761

Original post by owright08

Is it hard, the jump from GCSE to A-level; and how much of it is individual work over school work. Also what grades r u achieving atm?

Honestly, it depends on the person, I found A-level to be nicer then GCSE since I was doing subjects that I chose and am good at, you don't need to do all the subjects you weren't good at. For me not having to do History and English etc made A-level seem almost easier than GCSE. There is definitely more work at home but you will also get free lessons in the week to do work which is helpful.

Reply 4

username3810906

Original post by jake4761

Are you in yr12?

Reply 5

jake4761

Original post by Anonymous030701

Are you in yr12?

I'm in year 13, achieved AAAC in math, further maths, computer science and physics at AS level

Reply 6

Fazzy_77

What is economics like at A levels??

Reply 7

username3810906

wow, are you doing the new a-levels? maybe thats why it isn't too bad? New maths one is a joke

Original post by jake4761

I'm in year 13, achieved AAAC in math, further maths, computer science and physics at AS level

Reply 8

username3810906

Original post by Fazzy_77

What is economics like at A levels??

This is more a personal opinion but I think its really good and interesting, understanding how the worlds economy works. I think its a really nice a-level

Reply 9

jake4761

Original post by Anonymous030701

wow, are you doing the new a-levels? maybe thats why it isn't too bad? New maths one is a joke

Nah I'm the last year with the old spec, I thought the new spec would be harder since there are no past papers to do, that's really all I do to revise is do past papers so id be ****ed in the new spec. I think the exam board matters too, which exam board are you? I'm WJEC

Reply 10

username3810906

Original post by jake4761

I'm with Edexcel - new content is a joke, waste of time!

Reply 11

jake4761

Original post by Anonymous030701

I'm with Edexcel - new content is a joke, waste of time!

Damn the old content is basically the same as mine with wjec, I even use Edexcel textbooks. In my opinion AS is harder then A2 so if you can get good grades this year you'll do great next year :smile:

Reply 12

Fazzy_77

Original post by Anonymous030701

This is more a personal opinion but I think its really good and interesting, understanding how the worlds economy works. I think its a really nice a-level

Is it a lot of essay writing and how much maths would you say it involves?

Reply 13

d3vkfc

I want to go to Gravesend grammar school/they gave me a conditional offer and I accepted it already.Is it too late to change it to another? I had discussed it in my interview so that is why I have the conditional offer yet now I wish to change design and tech to biology as not only is it one of my stronger subjects but it is a facilitating subject as my original a level choices was maths, business and design and tech and both business and design and tech are seen as soft subjects in university but business is rather important to me. I didn't even put biology as one of my selected subjects so I don't know if I can.

secondly, in Gravesend, I need a 7 to do any science. I am doing double science so biology, chem, and physics all are combined to make 2 similar grades. my target grade for science is a 7 in my recent report yet beforehand it was 5 for all my other ones. and the only reason for such a high grade is because I got an 8 in biology. I got a 6 in chem and 5 in physics. Lastly, we only did one exam paper for each subject worth 60 marks So do you think it is a smart move to make or should I stick to product design ( which I am getting a strong B in)

Reply 14

d3vkfc

another question, do you think having gcse geography is important for economics, or is it just maths

Reply 15

username3810906

Original post by Fazzy_77

Is it a lot of essay writing and how much maths would you say it involves?

I thought it would be quite mathsy but its not really, the most you'll do is percentages

Reply 16

Fazzy_77

Original post by Anonymous030701

I thought it would be quite mathsy but its not really, the most you'll do is percentages

I'd rather it be more maths based than essay based but oh well.

Reply 17

username3810906

Original post by d3vkfc

Regards to whether you can change, then 100% change subjects if you want to, all sixth forms are happy with that, I mean if you really don't like your a-levels before the October half term, you can technically still change. As to whether you want to change or not, speak to the college and let them know your thinking, they may say keep tech in case you don't get the grades but if you do then you can take biology, personally I think if you are only 1 grade off in one then they will still let you do it. Biology is a stronger option, especially if going to strong uni is important to you. :smile:

Reply 18

username3810906

Original post by d3vkfc

another question, do you think having gcse geography is important for economics, or is it just maths

Honestly none of them really make a difference, geography is irrelevant and you don't really need more maths skills other than percentages.

Reply 19

Tyss

Original post by Fazzy_77

I'd rather it be more maths based than essay based but oh well.

Yeah, Economics has quite a few essays but you quickly get into a routine of answering them so it isn't too bad.

Define the key word in the question
Discuss one side of the argument- diagram
Evaluate your discussion under economic assumptions you may have made
Discuss other side of argument- diagram
Evaluate your discussion on how it may not always be true in certain cases e.g. trying to reduce interest rates when they are already approximately 0.
Talk about both together and come to a final judgement

Throw some economic data and recent economic events in there and you got a almost perfect essay answer.
Personally I loved A-level Economics, did the GCSE as well, got an A* for my final grade in the subject so I was happy. Just make sure you read the news often, I found the BBC's business section to be my best friend especially with all the brexit news and discussion.
( I did the new spec last year)