How did you find the transition from GCSE to Alevel?

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Reply 20

Technetium

Original post by H0PEL3SS

Did you take physics because you were good at it, or because you genuinely liked the subject?

I genuinely liked the subject, it was the most challenging A-Level that I took and was extremely rewarding too!.

Reply 21

H0PEL3SS

Original post by Technetium

I genuinely liked the subject, it was the most challenging A-Level that I took and was extremely rewarding too!.

Thanks!

Reply 22

iJess

Hope not too bad as I made the wrong choice going to college to do a stupid course so I've had a year between finishing my GCSE's and going back to school this September to do A Levels. I'm taking travel & tourism, media, english language & R.E. I got 2 B's in english and an A in RE so hoping it will all flood back to me. I'm prepared to put in the work

Reply 23

unknownone

I took the 3 sciences at AS.. Didn't find the step up too difficult tbh.. There seems to be more content in each course but I'm one of those people that retains the knowledge as soon as I'm taught it; or I'll get home and review what I've just learnt, which is something I'd recommend you do.
My fourth AS was Govt and Politics; I didn't stay as updated with it as the sciences and found that I had to put ALOT of effort into revision before the exams..

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Reply 24

HibbsicleBean19

Step up from GCSE to AS isn't that much of a step.
Languages have perhaps the biggest jump as you learn ALL the new tenses in year 12.
AS to A2 is horrible. Seriously. A2 is so much more stressful!

Reply 25

lefreak

In all honesty I never even thought it was a huge shock to the system, it was a significant change but nothing that I couldn't handle in the first place!
i guess it depends on what sort of person you are and whether you're comfortable with being more independent and reliant on your own skills.
Compared to gcse I revised a whole lot more for my AS exams but I think that was down to university being a huge motivation for me to get the grades.
I don't know much about science but I do know that there's a bigger jump in that subject from my boyfriends experience.

My advice would be just take it as it comes and just work to the best of your ability and then the jump won't be as large.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 26

OliverJR

I found it a reasonable jump, manageable but there was a big jump in terms of the work load, independent studying and examinations.
If you compare subjects which I took at GCSE and the grades in comparison with the equivalent subjects at AS Level (obviously do not have A2 results yet), you can see what the jump is:

GCSE IT: A*
AS IT: A

GCSE History: B
AS Ancient History: C

GCSE English Literature: A
GCSE English Language: B
AS English Language & Literature: D

Reply 27

Changing Skies

Workload was far more. Chemistry is quite a bit harder, but I actually found biology slightly easier at AS than GCSE and I don't know why! The content isn't too difficult, it's just the amount :smile:

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Reply 28

S4LM4N

It's a natural progression and that's all it is, ignore the scare stories.

Reply 29

frillybee

Personally, I found the jump quite manageable in terms of workload.

It wasn't until I was getting Ds in modules that I realised that the real difference between GCSEs and A Levels is the way the exams work and what the examiners are looking for to award the highest grades. I think, during AS, I was still in the GCSE mindset of being able to 'wing it' when actually A Level exams are just harder to achieve higher levels in in general.

Reply 30

alysha29

i took AS levels in history, spanish, english lang and psychology. They are subjects i genuinley enjoyed (except psychology) hence why i think the transition was easier for me. Also because three of those subjects were gradual learning subjects as opposed to sciences i wasnt inundated with worksheets and end of unit exams so less stress!! What did get to me was the amount of extra reading which i did underestimate throughout the year and it will most probs show in my results in a few weeks. plenty of my friends who did science based subjects however have found the transition a bit harder! depends on your subjects and how much you enjoy them!!!

Reply 31

Magenta96

It wasn't too bad to be honest. I study biology, chemistry, mathematics and English literature. I think biology and maths had the biggest jump, biology simply because the mechanisms you had to learn were longer and for maths, I just found the content harder to grasp. I got AABB in the January exams so a *little* lower than what I wanted but I'm happy with them, and for that I did work quite hard as I was already used to having a strong work ethic from GCSE.

Reply 32

Unkempt_One

Original post by Smarty.

Workload, revision, spare time? Is it as hard as everyone says it is? Particularly interested in sciences?

Low-Medium, not that much, lots, no, yes I did sciences.

Reply 33

Ruffiio

I got the same grades as i did at GCSE. Essay orientated A levels.

Lots of free time, spent many hours reading newspapers.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 34

Infinity_4652

For me, it was a painful journey down the very bumpy hill! :s-smilie:

Reply 35

WildThornberry

Sciences are the worst jump! Weirdly I went from getting a B at GCSE Biology to an A at AS. But Physics went from an A to a D/C... Didn't do much revision for A's at GCSE, had to at AS otherwise I would've got in the B-D range in everything

Reply 36

WildThornberry

Original post by frillybee

Literally the same, went from AAAAAAAABBBBB at GCSE with little/no effort to AABCE in January haha (although I was a mark off the next grade up in the three lowest which annoyed me so badly haha.) Did some work for June and a resit of the E, now hoping for AABC. Hope I didn't f**k it up

Reply 37

lala121

My transition was really bad, as I picked a subject I didn't really enjoy. Also I suffer from panic and anxiety disorder so the first month was really depressing, but after that everything was fine.

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Reply 38

Marryerm

Everyone always says the jump between gcse to A level is high but you don't really believe it until you actually start. I think thats why in AS for mocks I ended up getting Ds/Es for biology. But if you work hard you can do it. Now im hoping for a B at A2. Oh and say bye to your social life :frown: