A levels

Hi! I’m in Y11 and want to take Lit, History, Politics and Philosophy. Sadly, my sixth form has a clash with Politics and Philosophy. However, I couldn’t settle for not doing both. There is a college where i can do all 4 but it’s quite faraway and not as good. I’ve tried emailing but they said nothing could be done. I want to go to a more competitive uni so which is more competitive / fun / easy? Should I try emailing again being more desperate ? 😂 anyway, thank u

If you cant settle then you could do one as a private candidate and teach yourself or do an online course.
You could also do a joint degree when at uni in pol and philo.
Your main issue is getting the best three grades you can to get into the best uni. Focus on your best three.
If the schedule clashes then it clashes and they arent going to change it for you. You can talk to the heads of department though.

I do lit, history and politics and that's enough for me! Like I could not do a 4th ahaha. Each to their own of course and 4 might be fine for you but just warning that those are 4 very heavy subjects. I don't know much about philosophy but politics is so fun! It's basically just learning LOADS of stuff in loads of detail (and then a bit of exam technique). So, if you want one where the content's not too hard, but there's loads of it, politics is good. It's also good bc there's no coursework like there is for lit and history. If you want a guaranteed A/A* by learning stuff, politics is good. In terms of philosophy, I'm sure that's a lot of learning stuff too but I think some of it is quite hard (but really interesting) from what I've heard.
What uni courses are you looking at doing?

I currently do A-level Philosophy as one of my four A-levels. I WOULD NOT attempt to self-learn it - there is a ridiculous amount of content to revise, far more than most subjects. The essays are marked very strangely and you cannot really emulate the marking yourself. Philosophy A-level is not as introspective and thoughtful as you would expect; it is both being evaluative about other people's philosophy, and (mostly) learning sentences for an examination. I enjoy it, but I definitely would not be on for an A* if I did not have a teacher.

Just my personal view.

We cover philosophy of knowledge (epistemology), moral philosophy (ethics), metaphysics of God, and metaphysics of mind.

Epistemology is questions concerning the origin of knowledge - do we get it directly from sense organs, can we define knowledge, to what extent can we doubt the existence of the external world.

Moral philosophy is about different moral ethical theories and also how they are practically interpreted. It also looks at the language of morality - can objective moral truth be found or not?

Metaphysics of God may be similar to GCSE RS - cosmological arguments (there are 6 long arguments to learn!), ontological arguments, teleological arguments, the problem of evil, attributes of god, and religious language (is it meaningful or not)?

Metaphysics of Mind - probably won't have done this before. Are mind and body separate, or does one depend upon another? Is mind the brain, or are our mental states just a representation of functional roles? Can computers have minds?

Here is an example question and my response (in note form)

Describe St. Anselm's Ontological argument [12]
1. God is “that than which no greater can be conceived”.
a. Any attribute which makes God greater is a part of God’s nature.
b. For example, as omnipotence makes God greater, it is a part of God’s nature as a great-making quality (a perfection)

2. If God exists in the mind alone, a greater being could be imagined to exist in both mind and reality.

3. This being would be greater than God.

4. Therefore, God cannot exist in the mind alone.
a. There is a difference between something existing in the mind (in intellectu) and in reality (in re).

5. It is greater to be a necessary being than to be a contingent being.
a. A necessary truth is something which as to be true, e.g. “a triangle has three sides”.
b. A contingent truth depends on something else, e.g. “it is 12:00 pm”. If the time changes, this ceases to be true.c. Anselm relies upon the distinction between necessary existence and contingent existence.
6. If God exists as a contingent being, we could imagine a necessary being.
7. This being would be greater than God, which is impossible.
8. Therefore, God is a necessary being.
a. Anselm reduces to absurdity the claim that God cannot exist, as the logical consequences are absurd and contradictory.
b. That God is a necessary being is a great-making quality, or perfection, in God’s nature.
This is an a priori deductive argument, as it arrives at a conclusion, gained without experience, by logically following the premises.

This is one flashcard out of 250 - to each philosophical position, we need to learn criticisms and counter-replies, and be able to evaluate in a 25 mark essay.

omg that’s actually crazy!! that seems like so much to learn. Is it possible to do well in it/ is it a burden learning all that. i can’t understand half of it. hopefully i would do after being taught it? x

Okay, so 250 flash cards - some of them are duplicates adapted for 5 markers and 12 markers separately. It's just as much of a burden (at least, more than my 3 science subjects), but that is A-level standard. If you get complacent you're more likely to get lost, but I managed to cope well with four subjects and get strong A-level predictions. As it was my fourth A-level, I tried it out, and if it got too much then I'd drop it, but I just really enjoyed them all so I kept them, and I don't think I'd drop any if I chose them again! Understanding definitely isn't the issue with Philosophy - your teachers will explain everything. The hard parts are the essay and the amount of content, but it definitely is manageable!! I don't know you, so I don't know how well you'd cope with four, but work expands to fill the time available to its completion, so I don't think doing a fourth A-level has made a difference to how hard I worked for each one. If it was me, I'd definitely try it out (then maybe drop later/just sit the AS?)

This happened in my school, I was gutted and I only had 2 days to think about it. I wanted to do maths economics history and sociology but economics, history AND sociology all clashed. I had a passion to do history but since I wanted to do something business related for uni I chose economics. Then I had to choose two new subjects.. I ended up choosing Spanish and Media Studies. Best descion ever, I feel like the clash was just meant to happen! Half the class dropped history and I feel like that would have been me if I ended up doing history. Definitely choose your favourites and explore other options. It’s possible to self learn politics if you are really keen though. Best of luck

This happened in my school, I was gutted and I only had 2 days to think about it. I wanted to do maths economics history and sociology but economics, history AND sociology all clashed. I had a passion to do history but since I wanted to do something business related for uni I chose economics. Then I had to choose two new subjects.. I ended up choosing Spanish and Media Studies. Best descion ever, I feel like the clash was just meant to happen! Half the class dropped history and I feel like that would have been me if I ended up doing history. Definitely choose your favourites and explore other options. It’s possible to self learn politics if you are really keen though. Best of luck