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Need urgent help with My A level options?

Okay. So I have to give in my sixth form application along with A level subjects I have decided to study. I was thinking;

History
Economics
Psychology
Eng. Literature( I could also do Sociology instead).

But now Im dead scared about the inevitable workload. A friend a year senior took the same subjects ended up with an E in history and C in psychology. Any experiences or advice about tne difficulty of the subjects would be greatly appreciated.

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Watcha planning to do at Uni?
Dont do sociology if you can help it, English Lit is much better.
Its true having four essay subjects is difficult, how are you doing at GCSEs and what do you hope to get in your Alevels?
Reply 2
GottaLovePhysics! :)
Watcha planning to do at Uni?
Dont do sociology if you can help it, English Lit is much better.
Its true having four essay subjects is difficult, how are you doing at GCSEs and what do you hope to get in your Alevels?



Well, hopefully want to pursue a Law degree at uni.
At GCSE my predicted grades are;
Lit= A*
Econ=B
Sociology=A
And I took History a year early and got a A* which was great!:smile:
Vampire90210
Well, hopefully want to pursue a Law degree at uni.
At GCSE my predicted grades are;
Lit= A*
Econ=B
Sociology=A
And I took History a year early and got a A* which was great!:smile:

Well it sounds like your already on track. I assume your school does not do Law A level? It may be sociology is more interesting to you and related to your degree, but Lit is very respected. Are you sure you dont want to drop Eco to accomodate?
Reply 4
Good to know that History is NOT an impossibility if you know your work.
Thank you!:smile: Helped a bit.
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 5
GottaLovePhysics! :)
Well it sounds like your already on track. I assume your school does not do Law A level? It may be sociology is more interesting to you and related to your degree, but Lit is very respected. Are you sure you dont want to drop Eco to accomodate?


To be brutally honest I'm doing Economics because it was advised by almost everyone I know. Though my parents are not forcing it on me, they did say it could be better for future prospects. Do you think by dropping it I could handle the others?
Thanks:smile:
Reply 6
Haha, yes you just gotta!:smile: Thank you. You've been very helpful!
(edited 2 years ago)
Vampire90210
To be brutally honest I'm doing Economics because it was advised by almost everyone I know. Though my parents are not forcing it on me, they did say it could be better for future prospects. Do you think by dropping it I could handle the others?
Thanks:smile:

Well its a great subject, but looking at your options it would seem that its not that useful for law (unlike the other two). But then again, economics may help you if, for whatever reason, you wish to apply your law intrests into a company. It can turn your interest into a busuiness.
I cant really advice on the Alevel substance as I am not doing them, however ad advise you invest in the AS book for each, and have a little look at which one you feel is best for you/how much work is involved. :smile: Good luck and all that jazz.
Vampire90210
To be brutally honest I'm doing Economics because it was advised by almost everyone I know. Though my parents are not forcing it on me, they did say it could be better for future prospects. Do you think by dropping it I could handle the others?
Thanks:smile:


honestly... drop subjects u don't have ur heart set on doing. unless u have some keen interest in the maths/accounting/economics field... an economics alevel won't give u some huge major boost over other core subjeccts.

granted it will probably teach u some valuable skills and be a challenging subject... but that counts for sweet fa for ur future prospects if u do it and end up doing badly.

also, if ur aiming for law and seem to be hitting A/a* with ur gcse, u should probly be alright handling 4 subjects, and then u can drop one after a year when u hit A2.

i just think doing subjects at any stage of ur life be it a level or uni or w/e based on other peoples recommendation and not ur own personal feel for it is baaaaaaad.
again, economics may be great for the future but if u dislike it and have 1 or 2 years of studying it.. that'd be torture.. and u have to ask urself if its really worth all that?
Vampire90210
Okay. So I have to give in my sixth form application along with A level subjects I have decided to study. I was thinking;

History
Economics
Psychology
Eng. Literature( I could also do Sociology instead).

But now Im dead scared about the inevitable workload. A friend a year senior took the same subjects ended up with an E in history and C in psychology. Any experiences or advice about tne difficulty of the subjects would be greatly appreciated.

I currently do three essay subjects; law, psychology and economics.

I wouldnt say it will be a workload. It just depends on your teachers, I mean I hardly get any homework in economics and psychology, and when I do, the essays are really easy stuff, the exams arent too bad either (especially psyc...easy stuff!). I get quite a bit of essays to write for law but not excessive, easily manageable. I think youll be fine doing 4 essay type subjects.
You shouldnt really compare yourself to your friend anyway. Everyone deals with work differently. I have a friend who always complains that she has tonnes of work that will take her ages to do, when she just has the same amount as me, and I dont find it bad. Time management :smile:

P.S: Economics rocks :P
Reply 10
Vampire90210
Okay. So I have to give in my sixth form application along with A level subjects I have decided to study. I was thinking;

History
Economics
Psychology
Eng. Literature( I could also do Sociology instead).

But now Im dead scared about the inevitable workload. A friend a year senior took the same subjects ended up with an E in history and C in psychology. Any experiences or advice about tne difficulty of the subjects would be greatly appreciated.


History & English Lit. are good traditional Subjects, which are what you're best going with for Law...contrary to a previous post Law at A level is not a good idea if that's what you're think of doing :giggle:
Economics is also a strong subject and I've heard of a number of Law hopefuls taking it

Because of the competitive nature of Law courses you're best doing 3.5 A levels, so if you don't want to take economics replace it with another AS level, preferably something with some credibility, or if you enjoy essay subjects you could try something like philosophy or Religious studies? Personally I really enjoyed RS AS and managed to take it a year early with little difficulty, so if you're worried about having 4 heavy workload subjects it might be one to consider to balance things out

Psychology again shouldn't be too much work and should be quite enjoyable if you're interested in it :yep: but at the end of the day if you want to get anywhere it is going to be hard work...not suggesting that any of these are going to be necessarily easy :p:
Your A Level choices are very good. I only take English Lit, of the ones you have mentioned and I really enjoy the lessons. The workload is not huge just 1 or 2 essays a week and just lots of reading.

Good Luck with your GCSEs!
Reply 12
I personally couldn't do 4 essay subjects as I'd drown in the work and differing essay techniques wanted :eek3: but I'm self-teaching AS history and finding it okay! The workload is definitely a lot imo but if you just put a lot of time into it, it's fine!:smile:
Reply 13
:smile:
skipp
History & English Lit. are good traditional Subjects, which are what you're best going with for Law...contrary to a previous post Law at A level is not a good idea if that's what you're think of doing :giggle:
Economics is also a strong subject and I've heard of a number of Law hopefuls taking it

Because of the competitive nature of Law courses you're best doing 3.5 A levels, so if you don't want to take economics replace it with another AS level, preferably something with some credibility, or if you enjoy essay subjects you could try something like philosophy or Religious studies? Personally I really enjoyed RS AS and managed to take it a year early with little difficulty, so if you're worried about having 4 heavy workload subjects it might be one to consider to balance things out

Psychology again shouldn't be too much work and should be quite enjoyable if you're interested in it :yep: but at the end of the day if you want to get anywhere it is going to be hard work...not suggesting that any of these are going to be necessarily easy :p:



Thanks! Do you think AS English Language or Thinking Skills will be good?:smile:
Reply 14
areyousure?
Your A Level choices are very good. I only take English Lit, of the ones you have mentioned and I really enjoy the lessons. The workload is not huge just 1 or 2 essays a week and just lots of reading.

Good Luck with your GCSEs!


2 to 3 essays sounds manageable enough to me. Were there a lot of people in your class who managed A grades?:smile:
Reply 15
impossible!
I currently do three essay subjects; law, psychology and economics.

I wouldnt say it will be a workload. It just depends on your teachers, I mean I hardly get any homework in economics and psychology, and when I do, the essays are really easy stuff, the exams arent too bad either (especially psyc...easy stuff!). I get quite a bit of essays to write for law but not excessive, easily manageable. I think youll be fine doing 4 essay type subjects.
You shouldnt really compare yourself to your friend anyway. Everyone deals with work differently. I have a friend who always complains that she has tonnes of work that will take her ages to do, when she just has the same amount as me, and I dont find it bad. Time management :smile:

P.S: Economics rocks :P


Did you find Economics very mathematical at A level?:smile:
I did tons of essay subjects, and I was fine. Definitely keep English Literature! It's a great subject. :smile:
I do History, eng lit, psychology and maths so virtually the same. I find the workload isn't excessive, I get an essay every few weeks in eng lit and at my school a lot of the work for History outside of school is reading. I'm managing it alright ATM so I think it's doable :biggrin:
Reply 18
MarinaM
I did tons of essay subjects, and I was fine. Definitely keep English Literature! It's a great subject. :smile:


Do you mind my asking what the others were?:smile:
Vampire90210
Okay. So I have to give in my sixth form application along with A level subjects I have decided to study. I was thinking;

History
Economics
Psychology
Eng. Literature( I could also do Sociology instead).

But now Im dead scared about the inevitable workload. A friend a year senior took the same subjects ended up with an E in history and C in psychology. Any experiences or advice about tne difficulty of the subjects would be greatly appreciated.


I wouldnt recommend economics