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Are these hard A Levels?

For A-Levels I'm doing Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Geology, I do enjoy science and I think thats my best area, but I dont want to put on a massive amount of work that I cant manage, so I was just wondering if you know anything any about the A-Levels and have any tips? :smile:
(edited 10 years ago)
The only one I can speak for is maths - maths A Level is like the harder end of GCSE in AS year though statistics is hard if that's the optional extra module your school makes you take. I am just doing M1 (Mechanics) now and it's not too bad, much easier. Basically though if you pay attention at school and do a load of practice, like every past paper twice, and constantly keep working at papers and practice questions then you'll be fine. That's the only way you can revise for maths really, past paper, both for your exam board and I can recommend Solomon papers which are designed to test you a little more. However maths is certainly easier than Chemistry so you may want to seek advice on that!
Reply 2
Original post by Heffalump .
For A-Levels I'm doing Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Geology, I do enjoy science and I think thats my best area, but I dont want to put on a massive amount of work that I cant manage, so I was just wondering if you know anything any about the A-Levels and have any tips? :smile:


Hello,
Well Biology requires quite a lot of reading and extra time would also be required to make sure that you really understand the content. It's not all that difficult if you are willing to put in the effort and if you are genuinely interested in the subject. I found some of the topics really boring but the other interesting ones compensated for that. As long as you are able to learn,understand and apply the content, you should be fine. Not to discourage but some of my friends who rote learned and some who were just not able to apply their knowledge did not do too well. So you might need to put in a fair amount of work, more than the amount you did for GCSE's.

Chemistry did not require as much reading but,like any other subject, understanding each topic is really important and you will have to do spend time to ensure you do. I really love chemistry so I didn't really mind doing wider reading than was required for the course. There was a few online resources that I utilised. As with biology if you are not particularly good at applying what you have learnt to unfamiliar situations you might have some trouble.

As for maths, this is also a subject I really loved so I didn't really mind doing loads of questions. For maths I think I did about 5 questions almost everyday. I would find some questions related to the topic we learnt that day and do them. It really made it easier during revision time. I think I did questions from both the text book issued and past papers.

Don't know about Geology.

This post has become a tad too long and I'm not sure whether the stuff I've said is of much use but..
To sum up I think that whether these A levels would or would not be hard for you depends on the effort you are willing to put in. Obviously they are going to be harder than GCSE's and you will have to apply your knowledge a lot more. If you are motivated enough and willing to put in a reasonable amount of work then I think you could potentially do well.

Hope you find this even a little helpful and all the very best :smile:
Reply 3
Original post by LilacLily
Hello,
Well Biology requires quite a lot of reading and extra time would also be required to make sure that you really understand the content. It's not all that difficult if you are willing to put in the effort and if you are genuinely interested in the subject. I found some of the topics really boring but the other interesting ones compensated for that. As long as you are able to learn,understand and apply the content, you should be fine. Not to discourage but some of my friends who rote learned and some who were just not able to apply their knowledge did not do too well. So you might need to put in a fair amount of work, more than the amount you did for GCSE's.

Chemistry did not require as much reading but,like any other subject, understanding each topic is really important and you will have to do spend time to ensure you do. I really love chemistry so I didn't really mind doing wider reading than was required for the course. There was a few online resources that I utilised. As with biology if you are not particularly good at applying what you have learnt to unfamiliar situations you might have some trouble.

As for maths, this is also a subject I really loved so I didn't really mind doing loads of questions. For maths I think I did about 5 questions almost everyday. I would find some questions related to the topic we learnt that day and do them. It really made it easier during revision time. I think I did questions from both the text book issued and past papers.

Don't know about Geology.

This post has become a tad too long and I'm not sure whether the stuff I've said is of much use but..
To sum up I think that whether these A levels would or would not be hard for you depends on the effort you are willing to put in. Obviously they are going to be harder than GCSE's and you will have to apply your knowledge a lot more. If you are motivated enough and willing to put in a reasonable amount of work then I think you could potentially do well.

Hope you find this even a little helpful and all the very best :smile:


That was really helpful thankyou!:smile:
Reply 4
Original post by Heffalump .
That was really helpful thankyou!:smile:


I'm glad you found it useful.:biggrin: If you have anymore questions or if I could be of anymore help,feel free to ask.:smile:

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