Sociology as an A level?

i enjoy sociology alot at gcse level but i dont know if it will be the same in a level.can anyone that is doing it, or knows of it give me the pros and cons of doing it so i can get a realistic image please . thank you.

So I did a level sociology and really didn’t like it but it depends on what you like really.
My topics were: Education, Families and households, religion and crime and deviance. Education is REALLY easy and is very easy to follow as it’s just common sense really, families is okay depending on what subtopic it is for example, domestic violence was easy whereas childhood and global context I found very difficult. For the year 2 stuff it depends on what topics your school picks Religion is by far the worst thing ever!! There are so many people to know and studies that it became very overwhelming when it came to revision.
However, if you like learning about these things and how society is effected by them etc. Then I would recommend it to you, but if you struggle to write extended a level exams questions and essays in a short time period then I would say don’t do

i enjoy sociology alot at gcse level but i dont know if it will be the same in a level.can anyone that is doing it, or knows of it give me the pros and cons of doing it so i can get a realistic image please . thank you.

It’s relatively easy at A level. Yes, there’s a LOT of Sociologists to learn - if you intend to learn them all (from textbooks, online, taught, ect), it’s hundreds but a lot overlap (you learn Karl Marx in literally every single topic). You don’t have a choice with what you study; that’s chosen by the school/college but as mentioned earlier there’s 4 main topics you study - you HAVE to do families, education & research methods and crime as they’re set papers but the optional topic is either media or religion. I did media but as somebody who also took RS, we covered a lot of the content we would’ve had we done religion - both are really interesting

what would you say was one of the hardest parts of alevel sociology. Because at this point (or when we went to school) i used to get full marks in 12 markers and 7 in mocks even if i dont revise but i feel like even though i enjoy it and am good at it there will be something that will put me down. what do you do instead of 12 markers. thank you for the reply.🙂

I think it really depends on the individual. For me, one of the hardest aspects was the statistical aspect. I’m perfectly fine with names and quotes (of which there are many) but statistics always went over my head. Educational policy also contains a lot of numbers as it’s essentially an overview of education over time. In terms of exams & exam questions, you have 4 marks (2 points explained), 6 marks (3 points explained), 10 marks (2 points explained and evaluated), 20 marks (4 points explained and evaluated) and 30 marks (5-6 points explained and evaluated). I hated the lower mark questions because I took all essay based subjects (English Lit and RS) but most people preferred the lower mark questions because they were easier. A lot of people don’t actually like the subject at A level - they think it’s boring and repetitive - but I really enjoyed it personally.

wow. thus gave me a tottaly different perspective of sociology. thank you so much. you have been so helpful. i appreciate it 🤗

you get a choice .wow ,more to stress about. what topics can you choose from in yr 2

thank you for replying btw. means a lot.😊

At the end of the day, just pick something you think you’d enjoy. I know it’s hypercritical since I’m relaying my own experience, but don’t base it entirely off of student experience - everybody has a different experience of the subject and that’s okay. All in all, it’s a nice A level, and it’s easier to pass than other ‘academic’ subjects such as languages or humanities, but if it doesn’t appeal to you don’t pick it. If you’re aiming for HE in the form of uni, A level options really aren’t the be all and end all - UCAS points (based on the grades you achieve) are the main indicator.

Year 2 we chose from- crime and deviance, culture and identity (I believe), health, work poverty and welfare, beliefs in society (religion), global development and the media

wow. i didnt even know we had choices let alone so many of them. 😅. i hate being given a choice. i over contemplate everything. how did you know which you wanted to choice. did your teacher go through them or did your teacher advice you maybe or you just had to choice with no introduction??

i enjoy sociology alot at gcse level but i dont know if it will be the same in a level.can anyone that is doing it, or knows of it give me the pros and cons of doing it so i can get a realistic image please . thank you.

i enjoy sociology alot at gcse level but i dont know if it will be the same in a level.can anyone that is doing it, or knows of it give me the pros and cons of doing it so i can get a realistic image please . thank you.

i enjoy sociology alot at gcse level but i dont know if it will be the same in a level.can anyone that is doing it, or knows of it give me the pros and cons of doing it so i can get a realistic image please . thank you.

Hey! I did GCSE and A level sociology (I just finished year 13). I loved it so much that I made a last minute decision to change courses and i'm now going on to study it at degree level.
Mainly it is personal preference really, you've got people that really love debates and essays etc and then you've got people who are better at maths type questions. If you're the first type of person then definitely go for it! It's such a diverse subject covering loads of different topics- I did WJEC and my topics were: Family, Education, Research methods, Social inequality and Crime/Deviance (crime was defo my fav). If you are good at structuring essays and coming to a balanced conclusion than it will be the subject for you!
One issue is that there is lots and lots of content so it's not one of those subjects where you can do minimal revision, however it is 'easy' if you work hard and revise, you will do well! Doing extra essays and exam questions are the best way of doing well- and then you can give them to your teacher to mark (my teachers were probably sick of me- but they were awesome and would always give feedback on my essays).
So i'd definitely say go for it! The A level course is quite similar to the GCSE course so you've already got a head start on the people that didn't study it at GCSE level as you have the base knowledge before you even start.
Another thing to consider when making this decision is the course that you want to study at university (if you know? it's okay if you don't- I didn't until literally a month ago!!). If you do know then it would be good to do some research into the required subjects to get onto the course and go from there.
Good luck! Hope this helps.