History vs Biology A Level?

My other subjects are English Lit, Psychology & Politics

I'm not sure what to take as my 4th one, however I'm currently working at an A* in core & additional science, so I am good at biology but i've heard it's a very heavy workload but (apparently) is a small step up.

I took my History gcse in year 10, and got a B
Although I got an A* in my coursework, and A in the 1st paper I got a D (tragic) in the source paper, so was wondering if there is a lot of source question at level as I', assuming that that is my weakness.

Does any body take one or both or these subjects? Is it interesting? What's the workload like? Would you recommend it?

The exam board for Biology is EDEXCEL
and AQA for History

thank you!

Reply 1

username1560589

I take biology at A2 and it is very interesting, but there's a huge amount of content to learn and understand.

Reply 2

frances98

Both have there challenges so pick which you'd prefer

Reply 3

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by froa98

There's LOADS of sources for A-level History. And pretty much all sources are taken from literary contexts. So if you're good at analysing and infering literary and non-literary fiction then you should go for it. But also find out what history they are teaching; Tutor, Medieval, Victorian, American etc etc and see if you like it. Usually the earlier the time period, the difficult the sources are. But obviously if youd id something from the Crusades topic, they could have a source from 19th c. scholar. So it really depends!

Reply 4

constantino_chr

DO NOT DO A SCIENCE WITH HUMANITIES!

A-levels are hard and it is virtually impossible to divide your attention between two completely different areas, plus Biology is useless without Maths or another science alongside it.

I only got an A in GCSE History but I absolutely adore it, I highly recommend it if you're looking to do an arts subject or a humanities subject at uni (if you're thinking that far).

Reply 5

lifeincolour

I do both History and Biology and am planning to continue them both to A2. History is very skills based, especially where sources are concerned, so you need to be relatively confident with that. The teachers will help you develop these skills though! As for Biology, it is simpler in that there is a right or wrong answer and it is really easy to do past papers in your own time as the mark scheme isn't subjective or hard to interpret. I don't find it a problem doing both humanities and sciences (I think it shows you can apply yourself to multiple disciplines) and it's pretty common for people to combine humanities and sciences within their options. I enjoy them both a lot, and I find I have similar workloads for both. Do what you think you'll enjoy most as this is what you'll be best at.

Reply 6

frances98

Original post by constantino_chr

DO NOT DO A SCIENCE WITH HUMANITIES!

I do biology chemistry and history and it's not too much of a problem

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Reply 7

constantino_chr

Original post by frances98

I do biology chemistry and history and it's not too much of a problem

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Cool, I mean it's great if you can but everyone I know who attempted it is struggling to keep their grades up. I just think it's best to stick to one area (unless you're doing a course that needs maths).

Reply 8

ThePhoenixLament

I do Biology, Chemistry and English Lit... And it's Edexcel Biology! :smile:

So I'm supporting the idea that combining Sciences/Humanities is common and actually quite nice. You have a big contrast in your subjects which really does make the learning less monotonous as you need different techniques for learning, revision and ultimately the exam. Edexcel Biology is quite good and the coursework isn't too bad (although it does drag on a little bit). The best part of Biology is the fact that it is just memorising facts, processes and the mark scheme as they can re-use questions. Almost everyone in my Biology class does some sort of humanities subject (Art, Drama, English Lit, History or Geography are the main ones) and they're all doing pretty well (by that I mean they aren't massively falling behind in one subject and are fairly constant grades-wise across all their subjects- not in terms of the grades themselves).

From what I've gathered from friends, there are so many sources for History :eek: