Why does everyone say A levels are so bad?

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.

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.

Your mental health will deteriorate and you'll drop out. Gl hf

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!

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.

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.

You will be fine, as long as you put in the effort. Maths and Physics are big step up from GCSE. (don't know about biology and chemistry. i haven't studied those) You definitely need to be organized, have good folder management system for different subjects, and not leave coursework for last day.

I'm willing to take the challenge though. I didn't push myself at all at Gcse and I coasted through most of it. But I plan on really working hard this year. I don't really mind working because I enjoy all of my subjects. It will be hard at times but if I manage it well and take care of my mental health then I think I will be fine

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

I wouldn't say I *like* to work but I do like reading about the subjects I have chosen and am genuinely eager to learn more about them. The reason I took 4 was because I was so torn between the subjects as I want to learn more about all of them. I ended up taking maths physics chemistry and biology. I was looking forward to learning but now I'm scared that my love for these subjects will be ruined by me failing at them.

Not necessarily. Plenty of people do really well in A levels. Dropping out isn't an option to me, if I'm failing I will have to try and improve as best I can

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.

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.