The Student Room Group
Reply 1
markgg
quick and simple question....

whats better to do, if I wanna d medicine, Human hiology or biology a-level

can you tell me why also....

thanks guys again - great advice in here.



Hi :smile:

It depends. If you are not to keen on studying the plant side of biology I would take Human Biology, as there tends to be a lot of work on plants. ( For the course I did anyway) But I would imagine Biology would provide a greater basis because it covers both plant work and human biology. In terms of Uni requirements, each one is different. Look at the uni's you would like to go to and see if they specify. Most of all chose the option you are going to enjoy studying the most.
Good Luck.
Reply 2
i did human biology and got into med school so woooo. much prefer it, after having seen biology curric.
Reply 3
If the medical schools accept either then it's probably going to be the grade that matters. I've mentioned this before on the Human Bio / Bio debate - but it's worth checking how your school or 6th form performs in them both?

<anecdote>
At my massive 6th form there was a dramatic difference - the average Bio grade was an A, average Human Bio a C.
So either Human Bio is much harder (you could look at syllabuses or overall A% for boards) or the subject demographics were relevant.
At mine there definitely seemed to be some of the latter - for the people doing Bio it was usually one of many sciences (Chemistry the most common combo), whereas people doing Human it was their one sciencey subject & PE/psychology were the common other subjects.
Although its obviously your results that matter I think the people you're being taught with can probably have an impact - my genius friend (1st in Biochem, about to start a phD at Oxford... :biggrin: ) regretted doing Human Bio - it was being taught at a C grade level with compulsory waste-of-time remedial classes etc.. & even with extra work he only walked away with a B.
</anecdote>
Reply 4
Yea I definitely agree with Elles with regards to her friend's teaching; Human Biology is not taught to a very high level as the students taking it are usually doing so in combination with non-science subjects (eg. PE - as mentioned above) and intend to enter courses (usually )with lower grade requirements.

So depends what kind of student you are. I studied Human Bio and am now going to be in my third year at Barts. Personally, it applies a lot more to medicine; I knew a lot of stuff that my classmates did not. But you need to do a lot of self directed learning )as the teaching will probably not be as good. And you have the advantage of not learning shi**y plant stuff that made me hate the subject at GCSE.

Good luck,

mnemonist.
Reply 5
Hey Guys,
Dont want to hijack thread but I'm having a bit of a dilemma aroung this too. Basically I want to do med as a graduate and as I have never done biology I thought it would maybe be a good plan to study for A-level. So i have a couple of options...distance learning of biology or human biology or i can study human biology at a college near me. what do you think? personally i think i will prefer human bio but i get the impression that people see it as a bit of a soft option, although i think 4/6 modules are exactly the same. Has anyone had any probs getting into med with human bio? i would also prefer to go to college i think but at the moment they are just offering AS Human Bio with no guarantee that the A2 will run, although i guess i could distance learn the A2 or do it privately if I could find one of the same syllabus. also when uni websites say bio, do they mean just bio or is human bio included? gotta enrol today if I want to do it at college and so im in a bit of a panic!
cheers
Reply 6
JennyL
Hey Guys,
Dont want to hijack thread but I'm having a bit of a dilemma aroung this too. Basically I want to do med as a graduate and as I have never done biology I thought it would maybe be a good plan to study for A-level. So i have a couple of options...distance learning of biology or human biology or i can study human biology at a college near me. what do you think? personally i think i will prefer human bio but i get the impression that people see it as a bit of a soft option, although i think 4/6 modules are exactly the same. Has anyone had any probs getting into med with human bio? i would also prefer to go to college i think but at the moment they are just offering AS Human Bio with no guarantee that the A2 will run, although i guess i could distance learn the A2 or do it privately if I could find one of the same syllabus. also when uni websites say bio, do they mean just bio or is human bio included? gotta enrol today if I want to do it at college and so im in a bit of a panic!
cheers

go to an university where they offer chemistry and biology before you actually start studying medicine.
my college advised me that although human bio seems a lot more relevant to stuyding medicine at uni, it is a relatively new course compared to traditional biology. i did the AQA syallabus for bio and seriously,there's not half as much plant stuff that people make out to be. i reckon ur best just not risking it and learn a bit aboout plants! i dunno about other exam boards though...
Reply 8
i hate plants !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply 9
markgg
i hate plants !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Why do you hate Plants? :confused:
Reply 10
No one really cares - do the one that interests you the most.