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Original post by Joel 96
Could you elaborate? Are you referring to sources?
Like what are the reasons as to why politics and philosophy ARE soft a level subjects . Are the ere any websites or uni lists that explicitly say that. Please help.
Original post by Catherine122
Like what are the reasons as to why politics and philosophy ARE soft a level subjects . Are the ere any websites or uni lists that explicitly say that. Please help.
No, it's a made-up term. Is this for an online argument?
Original post by Catherine122
Like what are the reasons as to why politics and philosophy ARE soft a level subjects . Are the ere any websites or uni lists that explicitly say that. Please help.
Ah, gotcha. Well, I'm not sure if politics is universally considered a "soft" subject at A Level. If you were picking politics and a few other "traditional" subjects, then I wouldn't worry. But if you picked politics and, let's say, media studies & art, then that's probably not the strongest combination. It's good to do 1 or 2 traditional subejcts, then some that you have an interest in or enjoy.
This graph, from chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F606044%2F3-inter-subject-comparability-of-exam-standards-in-gcse-and-a-level.pdf&clen=4682717&chunk=true shows that, for the old spec (when it was called Government and Politics) it was harder than Geography or English Literature or Language.
Like websites and stuff that say that politics or philosophy is soft
Original post by Sinnoh
No, it's a made-up term. Is this for an online argument?
Sort of it's to give the opposing view of the norm
Original post by Catherine122
Sort of it's to give the opposing view of the norm
The norm says it's hard? I'd have said it was pretty average.
Like everyone says it's hard and not soft but I need evidence as to why it is soft and unis don't like it
There is no 'evidence'
Neither subjects are considered to be easy A level subjects or lacking in academic weight, and are certainly not regarded as 'soft', whatver you think that means, by any University. Both are solid essay based subjects and well regarded.
If you look on Uni course pages they will tell you the required or preferred A level subjects for that course.
There are no secrets and no information 'that only some special people know about'.
Neither subjects are considered to be easy A level subjects or lacking in academic weight, and are certainly not regarded as 'soft', whatver you think that means, by any University. Both are solid essay based subjects and well regarded.
If you look on Uni course pages they will tell you the required or preferred A level subjects for that course.
There are no secrets and no information 'that only some special people know about'.
Like do u know how some unis post stuff abt enabling subjects and others say like these are what we don't really recommend eg Oxford uni and stuff
Original post by Catherine122
Like do u know how some unis post stuff abt enabling subjects and others say like these are what we don't really recommend eg Oxford uni and stuff
https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/Prospective-Students/How-to-Apply/Admissions-Information LSE is one of the few universities with a list of stuff they don't much like - but they are fine with both Philosophy and (G&) Politics
(edited 2 years ago)
I think there’s probably a misunderstanding between the terms used to describe some A Level subjects. Facilitating subjects is generally the term people use when referring to various subjects: politics and sociology are not one of these. A list of facilitating subjects can be found here https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advice/a-level-choices/six-things-you-need-to-know-before-making-your-a-level-choices
Edit: for the sake of clarity, this list is outdated. Universities publish which subjects they prefer or require for individual degrees - these should be used instead.
Edit: for the sake of clarity, this list is outdated. Universities publish which subjects they prefer or require for individual degrees - these should be used instead.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Catherine122
Like do u know how some unis post stuff abt enabling subjects and others say like these are what we don't really recommend eg Oxford uni and stuff
They are not soft subjects. It used to be the Russell Group used to class a number of subjects as facilitating subjects but even they have withdrawn that now. Most universities never followed it anyway. Here is UCLs list of preferred subjects and Politics is on it.
Entry requirements
General information on entry requirements is provided in this section; specific grades for each of our programmes are listed on each degree page. Please be sure to read both carefully before applying.
Skip to a section
Preferred A levels
Contextual offers
Other UK qualifications
International Baccalaureate
International qualifications
English language requirements
UCL Preparatory courses
A level, AS and GCSE qualifications
You are required to satisfy UCL's general entrance requirements listed below as well as the specific degree programme requirements outlined in our programme descriptions.
We may issue conditional offers based on future examination performance; unless otherwise stated, any conditions for these must be fulfilled by 2 September 2022 for applications made in the 2022 UCAS Cycle.
A level qualifications
GCSE and equivalent qualifications
Other qualifications
Applications from 'fast-track' students
Preferred A level subjects
In addition to any specified programme requirements, you should also ensure that you are taking at least two A levels from the list of preferred subjects (given below).
We do not recognise General Studies, Thinking Skills and Critical Thinking for admissions purposes.
List of subjects
A
Ancient History
Anthropology
Arabic
Archaeology
Art and Design
Art and Design: 3D Design
Art and Design: Art, Craft and Design
Art and Design: Critical and Contextual Studies
Art and Design: Fine Art
Art and Design: Graphic Communication
Art and Design: Graphic Design
Art and Design: Photography
Art and Design: Textiles
B
Bengali
Biblical Hebrew
Biology
Biology (Salters-Nuffield)
Biology (Human)
Biology B
Business
C
Cantonese
Chemistry
Chemistry (Nuffield)
Chemistry (Salters)
Chinese
Classical Civilisation
Classical Greek
Computer Science
D
Drama (WJEC specification)
Drama and Theatre Studies
Dutch
E
Economics
Economics B
Economics and Business
Economics and Business Studies (Nuffield)
English Language
English Language and Literature
English Literature (specifications A or B where applicable)
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
F
Film Studies
French
G
Geography A
Geography B
Geology
German
Government and Politics
Greek
Gujarati
H
Hindi
History
History of Art
History of Art and Design
I
Information and Communication Technology
Irish
Italian
J
Japanese
L
Latin
Law
M
Mathematics
Mathematics (MEI)
Further Mathematics
Pure Mathematics
Media Studies (2022 entry)
Modern Greek
Modern Hebrew
Moving Image Arts (CCEA specification)
Music
P
Panjabi
Persian
Philosophy
Physics
Physics (Advancing Physics)
Physics (Salters-Horners)
Polish
Politics
Portuguese
Psychology
Psychology A
Psychology B
R
Religious Studies
Russian
S
Sociology
Spanish
Statistics
T
Tamil
Turkish
U
Urdu
W
Welsh
Welsh (Second Language)
Original post by Mesopotamian.
I think there’s probably a misunderstanding between the terms used to describe some A Level subjects. Facilitating subjects is generally the term people use when referring to various subjects: politics and sociology are not one of these. A list of facilitating subjects can be found here https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advice/a-level-choices/six-things-you-need-to-know-before-making-your-a-level-choices
But people misinterpret it - facilitating subjects was a list of subjects that might be listed as required, but on TSR it came to mean " subjects you have to do to get offers", which is a load of balls
it isnt
facilitating subjects are so picked because of their breadth. The idea being that if someone didn't really know what they wanted to do, they wouldn't put themselves down a narrow path by picking very specialist courses, and would take a few facilitating subjects that would open up a good range of degree courses they could pursue. This happened to coincide with people's ideas on "hard" and "soft" subjects (though there were a few fairly academic subjects that were not considered facilitating subjects) so it became very misunderstood. Universities have dropped this term because it was turning people away from certain subjects, I don't remember the details.
If you know you want to do a politics or IR degree at university, A-level politics makes a lot of sense. If you're reasonably sure of the area you want to go in to, you don't need to worry about facilitating subjects.
facilitating subjects are so picked because of their breadth. The idea being that if someone didn't really know what they wanted to do, they wouldn't put themselves down a narrow path by picking very specialist courses, and would take a few facilitating subjects that would open up a good range of degree courses they could pursue. This happened to coincide with people's ideas on "hard" and "soft" subjects (though there were a few fairly academic subjects that were not considered facilitating subjects) so it became very misunderstood. Universities have dropped this term because it was turning people away from certain subjects, I don't remember the details.
If you know you want to do a politics or IR degree at university, A-level politics makes a lot of sense. If you're reasonably sure of the area you want to go in to, you don't need to worry about facilitating subjects.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Sinnoh
But people misinterpret it - facilitating subjects was a list of subjects that might be listed as required, but on TSR it came to mean " subjects you have to do to get offers", which is a load of balls
Exactly this.
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