Hardest A-Levels, in your opinion?

Now, obviously, this varies by person to person. But what would you say are the hardest A-levels? Whether it is the ones you've studied or the ones you've heard about. Try and give variation.
I've got choices: Economics, Philosophy, History, Psychology, GovPol, Physics and Chemistry. Which of these are the hardest, easiest and 'soft subjects'.

I've asked lots, just one more, though, once you've answered, underneath put the university you're studying at or the offers you've recieved.

Cheers.

Reply 1

alow

19

Further Maths is probably technically the most advanced of any A Level, especially if you take some of the higher mechanics modules (M4/5) or FP3.

Out of those, none of them are that hard. Physics is probably the "hardest" and Psychology the softest.

Offers are spoilered in my sig.

Reply 2

Lord Frieza

13

Physics followed by English and Chemistry

Reply 3

hotliketea

20

I think that languages are very hard to do because you have to be naturally good at them else you're screwed , and even if you are good at them you're still screwed if you don't knuckle down.

From your choices, and from what I know because I only took history at AS and psychology to A2, I'd say physics is the hardest, followed by chemistry , history , GovPol, then economics and psychology. In contrast to the answer above, I find English to be one of my easiest subjects, but it's certainly not a walk in the park.

I've personally taken Psychology, Spanish, History, English Literature and Critical Thinking - Psychology is my hardest but it's only because it takes a lot of time, not because the content is difficult. For content difficulty I'd say Spanish.

No A Level is easy :P You will never get a good grade by trying to cram the night before

Offers: UCL (Law with Hispanic law, A*AA), Kings (Law, A*AA), Sussex (Law with a minor in Spanish, AAA) and Southampton (Law with european legal studies, AAA or A*AB)

Reply 4

ElGenioEstúpido

19

Original post by joewalt

Now, obviously, this varies by person to person. But what would you say are the hardest A-levels? Whether it is the ones you've studied or the ones you've heard about. Try and give variation.
I've got choices: Economics, Philosophy, History, Psychology, GovPol, Physics and Chemistry. Which of these are the hardest, easiest and 'soft subjects'.

I've asked lots, just one more, though, once you've answered, underneath put the university you're studying at or the offers you've recieved.

Cheers.

Hardest IMO:
Physics
Chemistry
History
Economics

Reply 5

martin jol

14

Languages are bloody hard in that you have to be pretty much fluent in order to get A*. The penalties for small mistakes made by pretty much everyone automatically brings you down to an A.

Reply 6

DebateDebacle

Further Maths was dire for me, literally was why I did so terrible in AS. Spent so much time trying to do well in Further Maths (which was so difficult, and still did terrible) and this also influenced the rest of my grades.

Very difficult subject requiring commitment even if you're good at maths.

Reply 7

Old_Simon

12

Economics is the most boring. On those grounds alone it is hard. !!!

Reply 8

TheGrinningSkull

19

Depends on what scale you're measuring.

Are we talking understanding/Work load/creativity/structural argumentation/problem solving?

And are we talking what is most difficult of what we took or what we perceive the difficulty of other subjects may be if we took them instead?

From what I took, biology was probably most difficult purely because of the shear content that you needed to know, primarily being more memorising comparing to chemistry which you could attempt to understand and deduce.

From what I think is difficult, then perhaps the essay subjects especially English, very little chance of a certain question coming up and you need to know the ins and outs of a lot of structured answers and logical arguments to discuss. Maybe art too for the amount of time and how messing up can be a downer!

Reply 9

Carnationlilyrose

18

The hardest A level is the one for which you personally have the least aptitude or talent, and since thankfully we all have different abilities, this is not a question that can be scientifically answered.

Reply 10

alow

19

Original post by solitarysniper

Further Maths was dire for me, literally was why I did so terrible in AS. Spent so much time trying to do well in Further Maths (which was so difficult, and still did terrible) and this also influenced the rest of my grades.

Very difficult subject requiring commitment even if you're good at maths.

I'm not sure I would say AS FM requires commitment, FP1 is pretty easy, I suppose if you did M3 & M4 for AS FM it could be a different story though (after doing M1&M2 for normal maths).

A2 FM on the other hand...

Reply 11

phoebe-

2

Honestly a comparison with history and chemistry is hard to make.
However, I would rank (hard to "soft")
Chemistry
Physics
Philosophy (Currently taking, must understand complex topics fully, short amount of time to write a long, detailed essay)
Economics
Psychology
History
GovPol (Currently taking is not too difficult as long as you have an interest)

Reply 12

DebateDebacle

Original post by alow

I'm not sure I would say AS FM requires commitment, FP1 is pretty easy, I suppose if you did M3 & M4 for AS FM it could be a different story though (after doing M1&M2 for normal maths).

A2 FM on the other hand...

True point, and coincidentally I did choose to go for M1, M2, and M3 as my applied modules (big mistake). But yeah, wish I took stats instead

Reply 13

alow

19

Original post by solitarysniper

True point, and coincidentally I did choose to go for M1, M2, and M3 as my applied modules (big mistake). But yeah, wish I took stats instead

M1 and M2 are okay, M3 can definitely be tricky at times though.

FP3 is where it starts to get fun :lol:

Stats is just free marks really :tongue:

Reply 14

Okkefac

11

Hmm, ranking on the subjects you've put then.

Psychology is considered soft from what I hear.
I can't comment on GovPolitics, but IMO it doesn't sound all that hard (but my school don't offer it so I have no idea).

I think Economics is kind of in the middle?

History, Philosophy, Physics and Chemistry are all considered 'hard' subjects from what I hear. I can only comment on physics and chemistry out of all these subjects though :tongue:

For me I'd find GovPolitics and history the hardest. I'd find economics and psychology boring. I do chemistry and physics, I love physics, chemistry is okay; and I wish I took philosophy.

I'm only in year 12 though so I have no major experience with anything XD, and so I therefore can't list a uni or anything.

Reply 15

Chlorophile

20

Out of the ones I take, I find Chemistry the most difficult. But obviously, that's an opinion: there is no 'hardest' A Level.

Reply 16

Luke070

Original post by carnationlilyrose

The hardest A level is the one for which you personally have the least aptitude or talent, and since thankfully we all have different abilities, this is not a question that can be scientifically answered.

^

I would however imagine Chemistry or Further Maths being the most difficult ones for a majority of people, generally speaking.

Reply 17

JammyGit07

16

Physics for sure.

Offers for Diagnostic Radiography: BBC (Exeter) 280 BBC (Portsmouth) ABB (City London)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 18

WGR

16

There is no such thing as hardest A Level, the sciences are seen as hard because less people are good at it than say English. If you are good at the sciences then it is easy to you. I got an A* in A level Physics yet barely scraped a C in GCSE English after two attempts.

Reply 19

bhawanbajwa

3

physics, because i got lowest grade in that. or that may have been due to the fact that my teacher changed his method of teaching at A2. Got A's at AS but dropped straight to D and U at A2 lol.

Hardest A-Levels, in your opinion?

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