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psychology+health and social care

what is A-level psychology like and how difficult is it?
also what is A-level health and social care like how difficult would that be? (I didn't do health and social care as a GCSE, but one of my teachers has said heksth and social care would be a good one for me)
Reply 1
I can't really speak for A level health and social care but i can speak for A level psychology. It really depends what you find hard, the maths content is less than what you would in a core science, however it can be quite word heavy. I personally love the subject however some people find this not quite as they expected. If you want a little insight into the course look at the past papers and stuff to see the question style and whether it suits you. For psychology i know you will have atleast two extended answer questions. Hope this helps.
Reply 2
Original post by THS2018
I can't really speak for A level health and social care but i can speak for A level psychology. It really depends what you find hard, the maths content is less than what you would in a core science, however it can be quite word heavy. I personally love the subject however some people find this not quite as they expected. If you want a little insight into the course look at the past papers and stuff to see the question style and whether it suits you. For psychology i know you will have atleast two extended answer questions. Hope this helps.


thank you, I'll look at past papers now
Reply 3
Any problems just drop us a line!
Original post by Cerys1w12
what is A-level psychology like and how difficult is it?
also what is A-level health and social care like how difficult would that be? (I didn't do health and social care as a GCSE, but one of my teachers has said heksth and social care would be a good one for me)


Hi! I finished my A-levels last year, and took psychology to A2 and Health and Social at AS. In terms of difficulty, psychology is quite intensive in terms of the depth of knowledge you need and the number of essays you'll have to write. You really do need to understand the content and read around the subject in order to do well and evaluation is a large part of it. I had a B at GCSE psychology and came out with an A at A-level and an A* in a psychology based EPQ. So if you have a genuine interest in the subject, you'll do well. Just keep in mind there is a decent amount of biological concepts and mathematical (mainly statistics) knowledge needed for A-level psychology as well.

In terms of health and social care, I didn't study it at GCSE either so I had no idea what to expect. Difficulty wise, it is easier than psychology when it comes to understanding concepts. It provides you with great knowledge if you intend to work in a healthcare type of role and it was by far my most enjoyable A-level. However, it is very demanding and time consuming in terms of coursework. I wrote about 35,000 words for the coursework over the course of six months and came out with a B grade. I had an A in the exam but came out with a B at the end of it.

I hope this somewhat helped, good luck with your future decisions. :smile:
Reply 5
Original post by chooseanother
Hi! I finished my A-levels last year, and took psychology to A2 and Health and Social at AS. In terms of difficulty, psychology is quite intensive in terms of the depth of knowledge you need and the number of essays you'll have to write. You really do need to understand the content and read around the subject in order to do well and evaluation is a large part of it. I had a B at GCSE psychology and came out with an A at A-level and an A* in a psychology based EPQ. So if you have a genuine interest in the subject, you'll do well. Just keep in mind there is a decent amount of biological concepts and mathematical (mainly statistics) knowledge needed for A-level psychology as well.

In terms of health and social care, I didn't study it at GCSE either so I had no idea what to expect. Difficulty wise, it is easier than psychology when it comes to understanding concepts. It provides you with great knowledge if you intend to work in a healthcare type of role and it was by far my most enjoyable A-level. However, it is very demanding and time consuming in terms of coursework. I wrote about 35,000 words for the coursework over the course of six months and came out with a B grade. I had an A in the exam but came out with a B at the end of it.

I hope this somewhat helped, good luck with your future decisions. :smile:


sorry have only just seen this, but thank you,it was one of my teachers who recommended I do health and social. after hearing your experience with psychology, I don't think will do it, I'm not really the best with essays, not maths 🙄

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