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Anyone ever noticed that anytime you read about/see someone with grade AAA, its science subjects? What does this tell us about science subjects?

All the people saying that science students are most passionate and hard-working - ********.

In my experience, the reason is that physics, chemistry, biology and maths all require a fairly similar skillset, whereas English, Philosophy, Modern Foreign Languages and History are all approached in a completely different way. Those who are good at one science are usually good at all of them, hence the abundance of As in Further Maths. In the arts this is less common.

Reply 101

mysecretidentity

Well the sciences are more fact based so if you're good at both sciences and arts then it might be slightly easier to guarantee a higher mark in the sciences-arts subjects involve more essays which might be more difficult to score well on as they're subjective. In my experience though, those I was at sixth form with who studied sciences were simply more interested in their subjects than the majority of those on arts courses (for example, there were so many people in my A Level English Literature class who didn't even enjoy reading and took the course to make up their numbers-it may be easier to pick up an arts subject casually than a science one).

Another explanation is maybe the scientists use TSR more...

I like to be the exception, only one of my As was a science-I got them in Maths, English Literature, Economics and Religious Studies.

Reply 102

bobbycrisp

well it tends to be that if you can understand one science/maths, you can understand the others, whereas if you're really good at art, you're not necessarily good at english. it's not that there are more A grades available for the sciences, it's probably that those who are capable of getting an A in science will get similar grades in other sciences, whereas people who do say art, drama and tech have more variety in their subjects, and although they may be very good at one or two, they may not be great at the other.

it could also be that it tends to be the smartest people do the sciences/maths, and the people who are less smart do art etc

btw, yes, i AM doing maths, biology, physics and spanish (for a bit of variety)

Reply 103

GottaLovePhysics! :)

17

Jordan656

History, Politics, Economics, Philosophy and Classics.

TSR is not a representative sample, all it tells you is that lots of straight A science students like student forums....

I dissagree with politics, but yes I see how a combination like that can complement each other. However I just think that the sciences have more in commen than the subjects you listed.

Reply 104

inksplodge

17

LOL. So people who take media studies and English and whatnot aren't clever? No, just they have a different mindset.

People pick what they are good at and have solid knowledge of the subject, IMO. Plenty of people getting 3 As in the subjects you listed!

I got 3 As in psychology, English language and English literature. I know a lot of people who got their 3 As in sciences probably couldn't have got As in English - because their mind doesn't work that way. :dontknow:

and similarly, I wouldn't get my As in the sciences, because I'm not really interested in experiments and all that. I had a tough time getting my head around experiments in psychology :s-smilie:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 105

GottaLovePhysics! :)

17

CertifiedAngel

I did two sciences and history and I have to say history was by far the easiest out of them! I put bare minimum effort into it and spent most of my revision time studying the sciences.

Funny that, as I would considor history A level to be harder than most of the sciences (judging on what others have said, and their textbook), as there is just so much content, names, people, places, events, motivations, etc...

Reply 106

fidelity_blue

12

Organ

Both Biology and Chemistry A-level require long essay writing in the exam.

If by long essay writing you mean the 8 markers that are about a page long, then that doesn't really compare to say a 45 mark essay that can take up to 8 pages.
I'm not saying the sciences aren't hard, in fact, I think they are definitely, I found them more difficult personally - but I just wanted to point out that an 8 marker isn't really "long essay writing" unless your exam board requires you to write five page essays?

Reply 107

b1505

4

I know a few people who did do really well in the sciences and maths.
But out of my year most who got A's were in the arts, e.g one friend of mine got A*AA in Media, English Lang and Sociology and another got AAA in Media, Drama and English.
It just really depends on how motivated the individual is and how hard they are willing to work.

Reply 108

icy-snowflake

I think that both disciplines are equally difficult, but in different ways.

Like others have already mentioned, biology, physics, chemistry, and math have many overlapping areas, which means that a person who is interested in science is most probably interested in all of the science subjects.

On the other hand, art subjects like english and geography, despite both being essay-based, are vastly different. Because of this, a person may be interested in one art subject but not interested in other art subjects.

This might explain why we see less AAA students with ie. English/History/Visual Arts (I do not consider visual arts a soft subject, thank you very much :P), simply because the links between the three are less profound than the links between the science subjects.

Hope that made sense ^^.

Reply 109

Cappuccinoes

13

Why does it always have to mean something? Maybe the person just worked hard.

Reply 110

d123

17

I think if you are good at science it is easier to get top grades because although the content is hard, there tends to be one correct answer whereas arts and humanities are a lot more subjective.

But in my experience just as many people get straight As in arts subjects, and not just 'media studies' type ones. I managed it, (History, English Lit, German, RS) and so did several other people I know. Maybe it's just the people you know that have top science grades.

Reply 111

CertifiedAngel

10

GottaLovePhysics! :)

Funny that, as I would considor history A level to be harder than most of the sciences (judging on what others have said, and their textbook), as there is just so much content, names, people, places, events, motivations, etc...

I think its just that i found it really interesting and fully concentrated in lessons so was able to remember everything much better, though my lack of revision for it did screw me over in the end and i just missed out on an A.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 112

tiny hobbit

15

I think that part of the reason is that, in sciences, the teachers and the examiners agree on what the "correct" answers are. This may not be true in arts subjects.

Reply 113

Stanza

9

people who are good at arty subjects are just good at that subject in particular so they get an A/ A* in that then fail the rest but sciences go together.

Reply 114

Organ

13

fidelity_blue

If by long essay writing you mean the 8 markers that are about a page long, then that doesn't really compare to say a 45 mark essay that can take up to 8 pages.
I'm not saying the sciences aren't hard, in fact, I think they are definitely, I found them more difficult personally - but I just wanted to point out that an 8 marker isn't really "long essay writing" unless your exam board requires you to write five page essays?

What about the 25 mark one at the end of Biology Unit 5?

Reply 115

lattywatty

14

Two people got A*A*A at my school last year. One did Maths, Physics and Chemistry but the other did Art, Photography and History.

Granted, though, I believe it's easier to get high grades in Maths/science than the arts. That's why I dropped English Lit at AS; while I find it far more interesting, it's a lot more work than Chemistry and an awful lot harder. The exams seem to rely on luck that the question suits you rather than knowledge.

Reply 116

Bobifier

13

Some people on this thread are getting very excited about the fact that science subjects have definite answers, as if this first makes the answers somehow easy to find and second makes art students better than science students in some way. I am fairly confident, however, that nobody has brought up the fact that Feynman conclusively proved that english can be easily faked by easily faking it. Admittedly he was cleverer than most of us, but even so, I think it should be mentioned.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 117

69Crazyfists

13

W.H.T

It shows that science exams are objective, therefore if you have thoroughly learnt the material and revised alot, then you're practically guaranteed an A or A*.

no exam technique whatsoever and no ambiguity.

This is the correct answer. I got bent over and raped in Philosophy and Eng Lit because of the greyness surrounding how to write a good essay.

I'll add to that by saying not only do science subjects get the best grades but the worst. It has a larger spectrum. I'm going out on a limb and saying that because it's objective there's probably the situation that either you get almost everything right or almost nothing

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 118

KissMyArtichoke

11

W.H.T

It shows that science exams are objective, therefore if you have thoroughly learnt the material and revised alot, then you're practically guaranteed an A or A*.

no exam technique whatsoever and no ambiguity.

Ha, OCR biology is about 80% exam technique! Most of the time you know the answer but don't get the marks.

Reply 119

IKnowSoMuch!!

1

that the most intelligent students study them?

Anyone ever noticed that anytime you read about/see someone with grade AAA, its science subjects? What does this tell us about science subjects?

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