The Student Room Group

Why does everyone say A levels are so bad?

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Original post by ibyghee
What i did was rest like a lazy ass whale dead on a beach the first year. So i got triple AAA. When i should be aiming for that A* . Keep in mind i only got 8 in maths and the rest i got As and Bs. Boi. YOU did better than me, You're gunna zoom past, A* student no doubt. You wont even have to worry bout nothing. Just keep doing that revision keeping on top of stuff. Listen to the teacher and pay attention. Ez grades.


You might be naturally smarter than me though.
Original post by Zerco
...Whaaaat? I just finished my A levels (Business and IT) and they were really easy, honestly. I did the bare minimum of revision and I got A* all around. No idea what people are complaining about unless its something like Physics, Maths, Chemistry or that kind of stuff.


LMAO I'm doing maths physics chemistry and biology so all the "hard" subjects. RIP
why do u capitalise ur lmao

besides i saw ur grades idk what ur on about :tongue:

Original post by Nihilisticb*tch
You might be naturally smarter than me though.


but i agree tbh i see so many people talking about hard it is and it has made me worried and anxious
Original post by rainclouds-
why do u capitalise ur lmao

besides i saw ur grades idk what ur on about :tongue:

but i agree tbh i see so many people talking about hard it is and it has made me worried and anxious


I didn't do it on purpose my phones autocorrect for some reason wanted it to be capitalised haha.

Grades don't mean **** about natural intelligence. For all you know i could have just sat in my room for 20 hours a day with the curtains drawn writing out sentences from the textbook again and again until they went in.

Ikr it's kinda made me nervous but I'm still excited to learn.
Original post by Nihilisticb*tch
LMAO true but you know i like to pretend that the things I do have a point to them even though they don't.


This statement here ^^ is like a whole semester's work at university, and about 15 hours of drunkenly arguing with other pretentious philosophy students.
Reply 25
Honestly, I don't really get it. A-levels are harder than GCSEs, sure, but you take fewer of them, and ultimately that evens things out imo. I actually found A-level less stressful than GCSE for the most part.
People like to give themselves a pat on the back by thinking they're doing the most difficult thing ever, when in reality it isn't.

For me, I didn't revise at GCSE at all, and my grades were below par and when I started A level, I revised and didn't really see an increase in difficulty at all, only in the amount of content. With maths, my teacher at GCSE was crap and didn't teach us all the material , so when I started A level C1, C2 and S1 just felt like things we skipped over in GCSE and very basic extras. English felt the same, not much more was learnt from GCSE.

Now I'm not saying it isn't more difficult, because it is. But I was warned about this "big jump" and I started revising to accommodate that (14 hours a day) and to catch up, but that's what most of it was, catch up and if I was taught the necessary things at GCSE or actually revised, I wouldn't have to do that.

Also I find with my subject (maths); A level isn't very good at preparing for a maths degree, that might be different with the new spec although.
They're not that difficult as most people claim it to be.
For me, i consider myself lazy. I didn't revise for my IGCSE's until the month before, i even got 30 minutes late for one of my papers, and i still get satisfactory grades A*AABBCE. The A's were bio chem and math.
Even in my AS and A2 years, i was kinda lazy.
In my AS years, i didn't revise until the month before like in IGCSE's, and it got be bad grades (BBC). So i did January retakes that pulled my B and C to an A and a B (doing International A levels).
In my A2 years, i didn't revise until i received a conditional offer in February. I began doing intense revision (making revision notes) in February, spending half of the day in the library every day. A month before my A2 exams, i got lazy again that i spent half of my time watching netflix while the other half doing past papers. At the end of the day, i still got AAA.

Before my actual revision periods, my revision were only minimal. I would only complete the homework given to me, and spend some time re-reading what i've learn on today's lessons. Most of my time spent are on video games.

As long as you put in reasonable amount of effort (more so than GCSEs), and not ending up being lazy as it gets closer to the exam (like me), then you're guaranteed to succeed.
The jump is really exaggerated in my opinion. I think the people who say that the jump is really bad are those who didn't put much work in at GCSE (Just my experience). It seems like you must have tried somewhat in year 11 looking at your grades, so I'm sure you've got the work ethic to succeed at A-Level. A-Levels are a lot harder, and they require a lot more work, but you'll adjust to that environment :smile:
For me, doing 4 A Levels was harder than doing my Masters Degree. The sheer workload compared to school really slaps you in the face, and for many students (myself included), the time demands are real wakeup call when you've just coasted through secondary school doing little to no work and still coming out with decent grades. That just isn't an option at A Level. In addition to this, the regular homework demands by each lecturer (who seems unaware that you have 3 other A Levels to do as well) can really be overwhelming if you fall behind on time management - and this is a hurdle many people fall at, because up until now, you haven't had to manage your time at all as everybody else has done it for you.

Oh yeah, content-wise, they're a lot more challenging than GCSEs, so it's a big step up.
Reply 30
With those grades at GCSE, I think your work ethic is already amazing. A levels are more heavy on content and application but it’s mainly just all about the amount of time you put into practicing the exams. I took Biology, maths, chemistry and psychology and to be honest I regret not making notes and looking over classwork right from the very start so I am definitely planning to do that in year 13 and recommend you do that as well. Don’t overload yourself, just read over and make sure you fully understand the content after lessons because especially in chemistry, there is a lot of application. At the start of the year it will seem hard however it will progressively get easier if you put in the work and the grade boundaries are generally pretty alright. If you have any specific subject questions feel free to ask? I did WJEC exam board btw and got AAAA.
Reply 31
They may not seem to bad at the beginning or at specific points in time but when you take a step back and look at the sheer amount of content you need to know then it is clear why so many people find them overwhelming
Reply 32
A levels require a lot more responsibility. There aren't many people there to pressurise you to do the work so you need to take matters into your own hands.

Actually picking subjects you love to do is important too. Won't feel like work if you enjoy doing it! :smile:
Original post by Nihilisticb*tch
I'm just starting year 12 and basically I keep hearing from older friends and people on social media that A levels are really bad and all that. People are always complaining on Twitter about how hard they are and stuff and I really want to know what all the fuss is about. As someone who is about to start doing 4 A levels this is understandably disheartening. I did really well in my gcses ( 5 9s and 5 8s, so the equivalent of all A*) by working moderately hard but I understand that I will have to work much harder for A levels. I was kind of looking forward to A levels because I want to learn more about science but now I'm kinda scared that I'm going to fail or not be able to cope with the work load. Basically, long story short i want to know whether they're actually that bad and if so what makes them difficult and how can I be successful in them.


I did my A-Levels 6 years ago BUT they were much easier than GCSEs in terms of workload for me coz I chose all science (not humanities)
Don't worry.
I did math bio chem and phys at A-level (4A*)
GCSE = 11A*

If you get maths you basically just need to do practice papers. I always did papers from all exam boards so I got alot of papers!
Bio is a memory game
Chem is sorta a memory game too but more intersting
Physics is pretty basic and you can probs get a B without doing much more than understanding application of formulae
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Nihilisticb*tch
I'm just starting year 12 and basically I keep hearing from older friends and people on social media that A levels are really bad and all that. People are always complaining on Twitter about how hard they are and stuff and I really want to know what all the fuss is about. As someone who is about to start doing 4 A levels this is understandably disheartening. I did really well in my gcses ( 5 9s and 5 8s, so the equivalent of all A*) by working moderately hard but I understand that I will have to work much harder for A levels. I was kind of looking forward to A levels because I want to learn more about science but now I'm kinda scared that I'm going to fail or not be able to cope with the work load. Basically, long story short i want to know whether they're actually that bad and if so what makes them difficult and how can I be successful in them.


They are very hard because they have so much content. You need good skills to answer exams how examiners want you to. They need a lot if application too.

Keep up with the work from the beginning, ask when you aren't sure and do practice papers.
Reply 35
Your mental health will deteriorate and you'll drop out. Gl hf
Original post by jsmith6131
I did my A-Levels 6 years ago BUT they were much easier than GCSEs in terms of workload for me coz I chose all science (not humanities)
Don't worry.
I did math bio chem and phys at A-level (4A*)
GCSE = 11A*

If you get maths you basically just need to do practice papers. I always did papers from all exam boards so I got alot of papers!
Bio is a memory game
Chem is sorta a memory game too but more intersting
Physics is pretty basic and you can probs get a B without doing much more than understanding application of formulae


Thanks this is quite encouraging. I think it's different for everyone so maybe some people find it more difficult than others. I'm gonna try and put in a lot of work and hopefully I'll be fine
A levels are hard but definitely manageable. My tip would be make sure that you stay on top of your work and manage your stress. I just finished my A levels and my stress got really bad cause I as putting too much pressure on myself which made things 10 times worse. Also with biology if you are getting 40% at the end of year one you are doing well it takes time to get the exam technique right.
Original post by SilverWater
It depends imo. Like I really enjoyed Chemistry at GCSE but after going through I have established I dislike the subject. But my level of hatred for Geography will forever be paramount :lol:

Imo whatever combination you choose whether you liked at GCSE or what you probably will find a subject you will dislike compared to others.


yeah that's probably true. The good thing about taking 4 is that if I find I really hate one of the subjects, I can drop it after the first year.
Yeah I mean they're obviously going to be stressful but people act like they're the worst thing ever but idk about that.

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