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German a Level?

Hey fellow students,
I have always loved German and languages in gerneral since year 7, when we first started German. And I am thinking of studying German a level, but I got a few questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1) i got 8s and 9s in my German mocks for GCSE (obviously didn’t get to take the exam) so will i find German a level hard, as I’ve heard that it is a really big jump from GCSE. And is it mostly just natives taking it at a level, and if so, is that intimidating?

2) is the study of the book and film and the essay writing for them a bit like English literature at GCSE?
And if so, if someone found English a bit difficult, would they find this aspect of German a level difficult?

3) I am also looking to study maths, physics and chemistry with German, and am looking to study physics and astrophysics at university, so would German put me at a disadvantage for applying to uni?

4) should I take further maths instead of German if I was thinking of physics at uni?

5) and if I were to take German at university, would My a level choices of maths, physics and chemistry as well as German, put me at a disadvantage. And should I think to take other subjects if so?

I am really sorry for all the long questions, I just want to make sure I make the right decision. Thank for the help!
Reply 1
Avatar for Emily_B
Emily_B
15
1. No. I got a B (you'd now call it a 7) and was fine throughout A level and a degree in German. And no, it's not just loads of native speakers - my whole A level German class was people from my GCSE class.
2. Not really. It's simpler because your knowledge of German language is still significantly lower than that of English.
3/4 - not sure
5. Those other subjects with German would be ok and wouldn't necissarily put you at a disadvantage. However, I'd consider dropping one of the others at the end of year 12 as 3 full a levels is demanding enough let alone 4.
I did the old GCSE in German and got an A, then did the new A Level in German so the jump might have been even bigger for me, while there was a noticeable jump I think it's definitely manageable and if you enjoy learning the language I don't think you'll have any trouble at all. There were a few people in my class that had German family and grew up speaking a bit of German but nobody in my class was fluent in it.

The book and film essay parts are kind of like the English GCSE in a way, we had to learn quotes and understand the author's intention and explore themes throughout the book. I never enjoyed GCSE English although I got an A in GCSE lit and a C in GCSE lang but I found the essay writing for A Level German fine.

I kind of had a similar set of subjects, I studied A Level Maths and A Level Computer Science with German, I'm studying Computer Science now at uni and German was definitely not a disadvantage. I would look at the uni courses you're interested in applying to and see if the requirements need you to have Further Maths, if not required I would definitely choose the A Level you would enjoy more because A Levels are a lot of effort and you'll do a lot better if you enjoy the subject.

Feel free to ask me anything else
Original post by Oll1925
Hey fellow students,
I have always loved German and languages in gerneral since year 7, when we first started German. And I am thinking of studying German a level, but I got a few questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1) i got 8s and 9s in my German mocks for GCSE (obviously didn’t get to take the exam) so will i find German a level hard, as I’ve heard that it is a really big jump from GCSE. And is it mostly just natives taking it at a level, and if so, is that intimidating?

2) is the study of the book and film and the essay writing for them a bit like English literature at GCSE?
And if so, if someone found English a bit difficult, would they find this aspect of German a level difficult?

3) I am also looking to study maths, physics and chemistry with German, and am looking to study physics and astrophysics at university, so would German put me at a disadvantage for applying to uni?

4) should I take further maths instead of German if I was thinking of physics at uni?

5) and if I were to take German at university, would My a level choices of maths, physics and chemistry as well as German, put me at a disadvantage. And should I think to take other subjects if so?

I am really sorry for all the long questions, I just want to make sure I make the right decision. Thank for the help!

I got a nine in gcse German by 1 mark so similar to you (I got a 7 in my mock) also a 7 is an A not a B for the person earlier. It is possible to get an A in German alevel but honestly an A* is hard because of the native speakers, be aware they do exist the rest of my German class except me had German parents and spoke fluent German so getting an A* is very very hard but not impossible. However uni degrees for languages reflect this as my degree in German and Chinese has quite low entry grades with an EPQ. German could also be quite good for physics as many engineering and science fields have a lot of Germans. Not all schools even offer further maths so it’s never a full requirement but usually it is better to have it but obviously if you want to do German you should pick it
Reply 4
Avatar for Unknown_M
Unknown_M
Hey, I’m currently doing these a levels (the four lol). I like it but it’s a lot of hard work
Reply 5
Avatar for Gagann
Gagann
13
Original post by Oll1925
Hey fellow students,
I have always loved German and languages in gerneral since year 7, when we first started German. And I am thinking of studying German a level, but I got a few questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1) i got 8s and 9s in my German mocks for GCSE (obviously didn’t get to take the exam) so will i find German a level hard, as I’ve heard that it is a really big jump from GCSE. And is it mostly just natives taking it at a level, and if so, is that intimidating?

2) is the study of the book and film and the essay writing for them a bit like English literature at GCSE?
And if so, if someone found English a bit difficult, would they find this aspect of German a level difficult?

3) I am also looking to study maths, physics and chemistry with German, and am looking to study physics and astrophysics at university, so would German put me at a disadvantage for applying to uni?

4) should I take further maths instead of German if I was thinking of physics at uni?

5) and if I were to take German at university, would My a level choices of maths, physics and chemistry as well as German, put me at a disadvantage. And should I think to take other subjects if so?

I am really sorry for all the long questions, I just want to make sure I make the right decision. Thank for the help!


How was the German GCSE Writing Mock? I have it tomo and im quite scared

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