The Student Room Group

History A level without GCSE?

Hi, this is my first post here and I joined because I am currently in dire need of some help.

To make a long story short, I've just had my first day full of lessons and am not all happy with how things are looking. I want to change one (or more) of my options and could really use some advice.

My current options are:

English Literature
Psychology
Economics
Film Studies

The ones I may be switching around are English and Economics. I did originally want to take History, but I was strongly advised against it, as been as I haven't done it at GCSE. I haven't done Economics at GCSE either, but I was told that Economics would be significantly easier to get into and catch up on than History. I was also told that people have been in my position before and took A level History without having done it at GCSE and failed miserably due to the overwhelming amount of extra work on top of the heavy workload that comes with History. I believe it was something to do with "exam technique" that took students two years to perfect in order to be ready for A levels. After hearing all this, I was thoroughly disheartened.

However, after searching the web for some other people's perspectives, looking at places such as The Student Room, I did in fact find some opinions that would contradict what I had heard. Although they did not go into great detail, they did suggest that it would be entirely possible to do A level History without a GCSE in it. Considering the casual way it was phrased, with no foreboding side note to accompany it, it did seem as if it wouldn't be much trouble at all. I decided I would come here to ask the question again and try to gain some clarity on the situation. Basically, from the perspective of a student who has been through a similar situation or feels that they can provide some helpful input, is taking A level History possible having not done so at GCSE, and if so, how difficult would it be to bring myself up to the same level as everyone else? How much extra work would be involved and how difficult would it be to learn the "exam technique"?

Any response would be very greatly appreciated and I am thankful to anyone who would take the time to try and help me out.
Reply 1
i did history at gcse and i am just starting it for AS now and so far the gcse history hasn't helped much. Its made me slightly familiar with it but I think if you are willing to put the work in you should go for it. More than likely you will be studying different topics anyway and the exam technique doesn't really take very long to learn and its quite different for a-level anyway. But I would make a decision soon before you miss to many lessons
I also did History at GCSE - it has not helped me at all. They literally throw you in the deep end and expect you to work 3x harder. Try it if you like the sound of the course and switch it after two weeks if you can't handle it.
Reply 3
Although History at GCSE isn't going to be substantially helpful for your AS, GCSE History provides a very solid foundation as to how you want to approach exams and answer the questions.

Answering questions on history papers has a technique of it's own(and no it doesn't take 2 years to perfect it), there's very simple structures based on how many marks the question provides. Two solid hours should be about enough to learn how to answer questions, at least at the GCSE level. So don't worry about difficulty of answering questions. It's just practise practise practise.

Since you have not studied it at GCSE, you probably don't know whether you have an interest in it or not. What I am going to tell you is that History requires a lot of information analysis and evaluation. You should also be able to retain information well, because you have to memorise a lot of dates, times and events. Therefore, if you have studied subjects that require similar abilities, you should definitely take History.

What I invite you to do is to take the History and try it out for a couple of days. If you do not like it, then change over. What you shouldn't do is wait until it's way too late to change ever again.

I also suggest you check this website out: http://www.johndclare.net/causes_WWI3.htm
I used this website often at GCSE. Why I'm telling you to take a a look is because it will provide you with some perspective of how history is at an academic level.
Reply 4
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Reply 6
I was in the same situation as you are now, I have not studied GCSE History so I wasn't sure whether I should to it for a level, in fact I changed my options on the first day of sixth form so I can do History. I am in year 12 now so the advice I can give you is based on about 7-8 lessons, so far I found it one of my easiest subjects simply because it interests me. There are many people in my class who have studied GCSE history but it doesn't seem to help them in any way. So if you are interested in the subject then I suggest that you give it a go. :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 7
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My best friend is doing the exact same thing and she's fine. Because the A Level course will be different to your schools GCSE course no one else in the class will have the prior knowledge you don't.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Gotta agree with a few of the earlier posters, History A Level might as well be a different subject to History GCSE, they're worlds apart, at A level you're taught a hell of a lot more about essay writing, which you only really scrap the surface of at GCSE. I don't think not having GCSE History will hinder you much, if it at all
Reply 10
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I did history alevel and didn't do it at GCSE - I didn't find it hard at all despite having not studied it before. I'm starting history at Uni in two weeks as well. Give it a go :smile:


Posted from TSR Mobile
Trust me, you'll be absolutely fine.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 13
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Reply 14
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Original post by Nick54
Hi, this is my first post here and I joined because I am currently in dire need of some help.

To make a long story short, I've just had my first day full of lessons and am not all happy with how things are looking. I want to change one (or more) of my options and could really use some advice.

My current options are:

English Literature
Psychology
Economics
Film Studies

The ones I may be switching around are English and Economics. I did originally want to take History, but I was strongly advised against it, as been as I haven't done it at GCSE. I haven't done Economics at GCSE either, but I was told that Economics would be significantly easier to get into and catch up on than History. I was also told that people have been in my position before and took A level History without having done it at GCSE and failed miserably due to the overwhelming amount of extra work on top of the heavy workload that comes with History. I believe it was something to do with "exam technique" that took students two years to perfect in order to be ready for A levels. After hearing all this, I was thoroughly disheartened.

However, after searching the web for some other people's perspectives, looking at places such as The Student Room, I did in fact find some opinions that would contradict what I had heard. Although they did not go into great detail, they did suggest that it would be entirely possible to do A level History without a GCSE in it. Considering the casual way it was phrased, with no foreboding side note to accompany it, it did seem as if it wouldn't be much trouble at all. I decided I would come here to ask the question again and try to gain some clarity on the situation. Basically, from the perspective of a student who has been through a similar situation or feels that they can provide some helpful input, is taking A level History possible having not done so at GCSE, and if so, how difficult would it be to bring myself up to the same level as everyone else? How much extra work would be involved and how difficult would it be to learn the "exam technique"?

Any response would be very greatly appreciated and I am thankful to anyone who would take the time to try and help me out.


Although i didnt do history myself at gcse or a-level- my school (where i also stayed on at the 6th form) always said that you didnt need to have done gcse history to do it at a-level, unlike other subjects like geography etc. Mainly due to the topics, exams etc being totally different to gcse.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 16
Thank you to all those who responded :smile:. I am still not entirely certain I want to take History, as it would mean dropping one of the subjects I'm currently taking, but it is now an option that I will be looking into and trying to compare with the other subjects (I will likely open a new thread about that soon).

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