Art, Drama or Classical Civilisation A Level?

OP

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Reply 2

SarahLund

9

I studied ClasCiv briefly, but it was really enjoyable and is probably the most English-related subject there, as essay structures and styles will be very similar. Also the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans will help with Renaissance and Elizabethan texts too (they reference stories and gods/goddesses a lot), well I found this.

Drama is really useful for English lit, though, because it is likely that some of the plays you will see/study will be relevant to your English work and can help with coursework and exams. A couple of my friends do drama, and their study of Shakespeare and Beckett aligned with what we studied in lit.

I don't know much about Art, so I can't help there. What I'd say is to choose based on which you enjoy more, as well as considering which you think you'd be able to do better in too.

Hope I was somewhat useful :smile:

Reply 3

OP

Original post by SarahLund

I studied ClasCiv briefly, but it was really enjoyable and is probably the most English-related subject there, as essay structures and styles will be very similar. Also the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans will help with Renaissance and Elizabethan texts too (they reference stories and gods/goddesses a lot), well I found this.

Drama is really useful for English lit, though, because it is likely that some of the plays you will see/study will be relevant to your English work and can help with coursework and exams. A couple of my friends do drama, and their study of Shakespeare and Beckett aligned with what we studied in lit.

I don't know much about Art, so I can't help there. What I'd say is to choose based on which you enjoy more, as well as considering which you think you'd be able to do better in too.

Hope I was somewhat useful :smile:

Thanks! Yeah I'd heard that about Classics. I might email one of the classics teachers and see what they think. :smile:

I found that with drama this year! At GCSE for one of my 2 CE components I did a costuming folder on Importance of Being Earnest, which included lots of essays etc about the play and the time period, which I was studying had studied in English! I find that the writing style for the exams are so different however I'm worried that might hinder my ability in both subjects. :frown:

Okay thank you very much. :smile:

Reply 4

Original post by kiera28

Hiya, I have to ring up the school after I receive my GCSE results and firm my AS Level choices. I wanted to study RS, Spanish, English Lit and Politics. Due to time tabling issues I can only study one from RS and Spanish as they're in the same option block. I will base my decision upon my GCSE results, but at the moment am more inclined to pick Spanish.

Anyways, because of this I am one subject short and have narrowed my final choice down to: Art and Design, Drama and Theatre Studies or Classical Civilisation.

Please could anyone give me any insight to these subjects at A Level and share their experiences? I plan on studying English or a related degree at Uni. Which do you think goes best with my other choices (spanish, Politics and English)?

I have 100% in my coursework in drama but am predicted an A due to having a bad department where nobody, including the teachers, understand what they're asking for/how to get the marks in the written paper... I'm predicted an A/A* in art but it takes up A LOT of time, and I've never done Classics before.

Sorry this is longer than I intended it to be haha, thanks!

Hiiii! Okay so have I just started my A-level work for Classics so I have both specification for both AS and A2 (I am just gonna explain some stuff before I show you the spec.. Bear in mind, Class-civ is very much based on your own interests. If you like a mixture of english, history, history of art writers like Pliny and Juvenal then you may be interested in this subject. In each year, should you decide to continue till the end of A2, you get to pick two topics. This was easier for me cuz I am the only one doing classics in my year but if you are in a class bigger than mine then you may have to colloborate with your classmates choices (the course has more content than you think and I am not sure if your teacher will teach you seperately). On the bright side if you are suited to Classics, you are likely to have an interest in all the topics, but naturally some more than others. You either like Classics or you do not. It is a really good topic for building cultural understanding and applying it to modern day. So like if you want to be an author or try law or something. It is not an academic subject although a lot of learning goes into it (unlike english) but can be very moral depending on the subjects you do. Also not translation of latin or greek is included. Just to let you know I am talking about the OCR Classics spec so if your school doesn't do this then sorry but yeah. Everything in bold is the topics i did/am doing so if you want to ask me about them then go ahead. I haven't describe the topics because I do not know about all of them but if you are interested I would look at the OCR spec (this is what i am basing my knowledge off of other exam boards may or may not be different.

AS Specification (remember you can only pick two topics for each year)
- Latin Language
- Latin Verse and Prose Literature
- Classical Greek Language
- Classical Greek Verse and Prose Literature
- Archaeology Mycenae and the classical world
- Homer's Odyssey and Society
- Roman Society and Thought
- Greek Tragedy in its Context.
- Greek Historians
- City life in Rome
- Greek History from original sources
- Roman History from original sources

A2 Specification
- Latin Verse
- Latin Prose
- Classical Greek Verse
- Classical Greek Prose
- Roman Britain: life in the outpost of the Empire
- Art and Architecture in the Greek World
- Comic Drama in the Ancient World
- Virgil and the world of hero
- Greek History: conflict and culture
- Roman History: the use and abuse of power

That is it. Ask if you need anything.

Here is the full spec:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/82461-specification.pdf

Good luck!

Reply 5

OP

Original post by Bubbleemi13

Hiiii! Okay so have I just started my A-level work for Classics so I have both specification for both AS and A2 (I am just gonna explain some stuff before I show you the spec.. Bear in mind, Class-civ is very much based on your own interests. If you like a mixture of english, history, history of art writers like Pliny and Juvenal then you may be interested in this subject. In each year, should you decide to continue till the end of A2, you get to pick two topics. This was easier for me cuz I am the only one doing classics in my year but if you are in a class bigger than mine then you may have to colloborate with your classmates choices (the course has more content than you think and I am not sure if your teacher will teach you seperately). On the bright side if you are suited to Classics, you are likely to have an interest in all the topics, but naturally some more than others. You either like Classics or you do not. It is a really good topic for building cultural understanding and applying it to modern day. So like if you want to be an author or try law or something. It is not an academic subject although a lot of learning goes into it (unlike english) but can be very moral depending on the subjects you do. Also not translation of latin or greek is included. Just to let you know I am talking about the OCR Classics spec so if your school doesn't do this then sorry but yeah. Everything in bold is the topics i did/am doing so if you want to ask me about them then go ahead. I haven't describe the topics because I do not know about all of them but if you are interested I would look at the OCR spec (this is what i am basing my knowledge off of other exam boards may or may not be different.

AS Specification (remember you can only pick two topics for each year)
- Latin Language
- Latin Verse and Prose Literature
- Classical Greek Language
- Classical Greek Verse and Prose Literature
- Archaeology Mycenae and the classical world
- Homer's Odyssey and Society
- Roman Society and Thought
- Greek Tragedy in its Context.
- Greek Historians
- City life in Rome
- Greek History from original sources
- Roman History from original sources

A2 Specification
- Latin Verse
- Latin Prose
- Classical Greek Verse
- Classical Greek Prose
- Roman Britain: life in the outpost of the Empire
- Art and Architecture in the Greek World
- Comic Drama in the Ancient World
- Virgil and the world of hero
- Greek History: conflict and culture
- Roman History: the use and abuse of power

That is it. Ask if you need anything.

Here is the full spec:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/82461-specification.pdf

Good luck!

Hey! Thank you for the response!! Thanks very much. :smile:

This has been a helpful insight as I hadn't really considered Classics before and so didn't visit the department in any of the open days etc.. I like English but I didn't do history GCSE as I didn't like most of the topics my school's chosen exam board offered. My school is on OCR too and we study 'Roman Society and Thought' and 'Homer's Odessey and Society' as well! Would you mind telling me about these modules? We study 'Virgil and he world of hero' and 'Greek Comedy'... Would Greek comedy be the same as 'comic drama in the ancient world' do you think? :smile:

Thanks very much!!

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Reply 6

Original post by kiera28

Hey! Thank you for the response!! Thanks very much. :smile:

This has been a helpful insight as I hadn't really considered Classics before and so didn't visit the department in any of the open days etc.. I like English but I didn't do history GCSE as I didn't like most of the topics my school's chosen exam board offered. My school is on OCR too and we study 'Roman Society and Thought' and 'Homer's Odessey and Society' as well! Would you mind telling me about these modules? We study 'Virgil and he world of hero' and 'Greek Comedy'... Would Greek comedy be the same as 'comic drama in the ancient world' do you think? :smile:

Thanks very much!!

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You are welcome. I didn't do History either so I wouldn't worry. For Homer's Odyssey, you will be reading the Odyssey and you have to know the story well. But then from this you have to be able to apply it to Greek Society and customs and discuss how accurate the Odyssey in this way. For Roman Society and Thought you will read literary works like Pliny's letters and like with the Odyssey, apply what you have read to the ways of society of that time. Your teacher should give you a list of things to focus on in the text like 'The position of women in society' or 'foreigners' Both are very interesting. I do not know about Virgil and the world of hero although from what I have heard it is mainly focusing on things like 'The Illiad' (Roman version of the Odyssey ... kind of). I haven't started Comic Drama yet but I would say yes since I looked at one of the sources we have to look 'Frogs' at and it is in play form and kinda reads like something out of Midsummer's Night's Dream where there is chaos which is then resolved with extravagance and all that jazz. That is really all I know for now but if you have any other questions I will try to answer them. I would ask your teacher about Greek Comedy.

Reply 7

SLT2021

9

I have just finished my 2nd year of Classics so I can provide a fair bit of insight on this. I haven't studied drama or art so I'm afraid my knowledge will be a bit lacking. If you want to study Lit then Classics will certainly be helpful, especially if you study a tragedy in Lit (I studied Aeschylus in Classics and Lear/Oedipus in Lit, and the same sort of terms and analysis were used in both). The Odyssey and Aeneid are also amazing epics, and are studied by most classics exam boards i believe. If you are interested in politics then the history side will be very useful also, I fell down in AS classics as some of the politics went over my head, but as you're taking politics for AS I'm sure you'll be fine!
As a side note, a lot of unis may look on classics as a 'more respected' subject than drama and art, especially Oxbridge etc. It's sad really but that's the reason I didn't take drama! Anyway, I'm about to go and study English Language at King's, and I'm sure having classics as one of my subjects helped me get there.
Hope I've been of some help, good luck with everything!

Reply 8

OP

Original post by Bubbleemi13

You are welcome. I didn't do History either so I wouldn't worry. For Homer's Odyssey, you will be reading the Odyssey and you have to know the story well. But then from this you have to be able to apply it to Greek Society and customs and discuss how accurate the Odyssey in this way. For Roman Society and Thought you will read literary works like Pliny's letters and like with the Odyssey, apply what you have read to the ways of society of that time. Your teacher should give you a list of things to focus on in the text like 'The position of women in society' or 'foreigners' Both are very interesting. I do not know about Virgil and the world of hero although from what I have heard it is mainly focusing on things like 'The Illiad' (Roman version of the Odyssey ... kind of). I haven't started Comic Drama yet but I would say yes since I looked at one of the sources we have to look 'Frogs' at and it is in play form and kinda reads like something out of Midsummer's Night's Dream where there is chaos which is then resolved with extravagance and all that jazz. That is really all I know for now but if you have any other questions I will try to answer them. I would ask your teacher about Greek Comedy.

Oh okay, that's good haha.. Okay. That actually looks quite interesting actually! So for Roman society are the literary works comprised of many different forms of literature (letters poems etc) or is there not that much variation? Oh right I see. :smile:

Hmmm the modules my school do all seem very literature-based! (Luckily for me haha) Oh right thanks? 'Frogs'? 😂Okay thanks, this all looks really interesting tbh! Hmmm I'm seriously considering Classics now.. Okay thanks v much and I will :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

OP

Original post by HollyIndiaa

I have just finished my 2nd year of Classics so I can provide a fair bit of insight on this. I haven't studied drama or art so I'm afraid my knowledge will be a bit lacking. If you want to study Lit then Classics will certainly be helpful, especially if you study a tragedy in Lit (I studied Aeschylus in Classics and Lear/Oedipus in Lit, and the same sort of terms and analysis were used in both). The Odyssey and Aeneid are also amazing epics, and are studied by most classics exam boards i believe. If you are interested in politics then the history side will be very useful also, I fell down in AS classics as some of the politics went over my head, but as you're taking politics for AS I'm sure you'll be fine!
As a side note, a lot of unis may look on classics as a 'more respected' subject than drama and art, especially Oxbridge etc. It's sad really but that's the reason I didn't take drama! Anyway, I'm about to go and study English Language at King's, and I'm sure having classics as one of my subjects helped me get there.
Hope I've been of some help, good luck with everything!

Hey, thanks for the input! Hmmm I'm not sure if we're studying a tragedy in lit as a lot of the course, based on the summer reading list, seems to be based on Gothic and dystopian novels (light hearted, right?) Oh wow, I had no idea that Politics and Classics were linked! This is encouraging haha. I guess it makes sense as classics is a mix between history, the modules of which, I hear, are heavily based upon politics, and English lit which includes a lot of everything in society! Yes I had wondered about that. I'm only worried about taking classics if it would be alongside RS, English and Politics because the combo doesn't seem very broad/versatile? Hmmmm.. What other subjects did you take at AS/A2? (if you don't mind me asking?) Congrats on your offer anyways! Thanks loads :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 10

SLT2021

9

Original post by kiera28

Hey, thanks for the input! Hmmm I'm not sure if we're studying a tragedy in lit as a lot of the course, based on the summer reading list, seems to be based on Gothic and dystopian novels (light hearted, right?) Oh wow, I had no idea that Politics and Classics were linked! This is encouraging haha. I guess it makes sense as classics is a mix between history, the modules of which, I hear, are heavily based upon politics, and English lit which includes a lot of everything in society! Yes I had wondered about that. I'm only worried about taking classics if it would be alongside RS, English and Politics because the combo doesn't seem very broad/versatile? Hmmmm.. What other subjects did you take at AS/A2? (if you don't mind me asking?) Congrats on your offer anyways! Thanks loads :smile:

I took English Lit, English Language, Psychology and Classics, all up to A2 :smile:

reading this thread back it doesn't sound like the modules you're doing will be that political, I was with AQA and we did the Life and Times of Cicero at AS (Roman) and the Persian wars at A2, both of which had political elements. But if you say yours is more literature based then you may not find that so much. Either way though I'd say that it fits in nicely with your other subjects and will help getting onto an English course at uni! However, much of the time a 4th course doesn't matter as much, especially if you only take 3 on to A2. Pick something that you think you'll enjoy and do well in.

Reply 11

Emma5331

Original post by kiera28

Hiya, I have to ring up the school after I receive my GCSE results and firm my AS Level choices. I wanted to study RS, Spanish, English Lit and Politics. Due to time tabling issues I can only study one from RS and Spanish as they're in the same option block. I will base my decision upon my GCSE results, but at the moment am more inclined to pick Spanish.

Anyways, because of this I am one subject short and have narrowed my final choice down to: Art and Design, Drama and Theatre Studies or Classical Civilisation.

Please could anyone give me any insight to these subjects at A Level and share their experiences? I plan on studying English or a related degree at Uni. Which do you think goes best with my other choices (spanish, Politics and English)?

I have 100% in my coursework in drama but am predicted an A due to having a bad department where nobody, including the teachers, understand what they're asking for/how to get the marks in the written paper... I'm predicted an A/A* in art but it takes up A LOT of time, and I've never done Classics before.

Sorry this is longer than I intended it to be haha, thanks!

I love classics but I'd suggest taking art (which I did at AS) or drama (not that I have taken it but since you're good at it) because at least you've done them before. I picked classics up at A level, and I want to do it at university, but it requires a lot of effort to get your ability up to A level standard if it has not been done at GCSE.

Reply 12

Original post by kiera28

Oh okay, that's good haha.. Okay. That actually looks quite interesting actually! So for Roman society are the literary works comprised of many different forms of literature (letters poems etc) or is there not that much variation? Oh right I see. :smile:

Hmmm the modules my school do all seem very literature-based! (Luckily for me haha) Oh right thanks? 'Frogs'? :' :wink:

Okay thanks, this all looks really interesting tbh! Hmmm I'm seriously considering Classics now.. Okay thanks v much and I will :smile:

It would be letters by Juvenal and Pliny and then one really long piece of literature by Petronius (it is made up of around 56-59 smallish fragments/chapters). Not as long as something like the Odyssey. The comedic play is Frogs by Aristophanes. That's cool, make sure you get some info from your teacher as well and that it fits with what you want to do after a-levels. :smile:

Reply 13

OP

Original post by Emma5331

I love classics but I'd suggest taking art (which I did at AS) or drama (not that I have taken it but since you're good at it) because at least you've done them before. I picked classics up at A level, and I want to do it at university, but it requires a lot of effort to get your ability up to A level standard if it has not been done at GCSE.

Oh really, hmmm.. thanks! I think I'll ask the Classics HoD about doing it without GCSE. :smile:

How did you find art? Did you find that it ridiculously soaked up all your time? (This seems to be the main thing I have heard from art students) If you don't mind me asking, what grade did you get? Thanks :smile:

Original post by Bubbleemi13

It would be letters by Juvenal and Pliny and then one really long piece of literature by Petronius (it is made up of around 56-59 smallish fragments/chapters). Not as long as something like the Odyssey. The comedic play is Frogs by Aristophanes. That's cool, make sure you get some info from your teacher as well and that it fits with what you want to do after a-levels. :smile:

Thanks for all your help. :smile:

I will email the head of Classics about it explaining that I haven't done it for GCSE and asking her what she thinks in general. I think so; that's the problem- I don't know what I want to be! I think i want to do an English with languages degree, but then I'm not sure.. Lawyer? Teacher? Editor? Who knows😂

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Reply 14

Emma5331

Original post by kiera28

Oh really, hmmm.. thanks! I think I'll ask the Classics HoD about doing it without GCSE. :smile:

How did you find art? Did you find that it ridiculously soaked up all your time? (This seems to be the main thing I have heard from art students) If you don't mind me asking, what grade did you get? Thanks :smile:

Thanks for all your help. :smile:

I will email the head of Classics about it explaining that I haven't done it for GCSE and asking her what she thinks in general. I think so; that's the problem- I don't know what I want to be! I think i want to do an English with languages degree, but then I'm not sure.. Lawyer? Teacher? Editor? Who knows😂

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I got an A in AS art, and an A in classics. Art does take up a lot of time, but the course is finished before the exams start for everything else and my teachers did let us use that time to revise for other things. I wish I had carried on Art instead of keep three heavy subjects, because I fear that by taking on too much I will have cheated myself out of the university I have firmed. I picked up classics at A level without GCSE, but I am the only person in my sixth form to actually do A level classics. I basically get one on one tuition from a lovely teacher who came out of retirement to teach me. However, without the one on one lessons, I doubt I would have ever achieved my A. The essay standard is so much more academic than I had been used to, and I personally would say it's a massive jump from any GCSE I did.

Reply 15

RainReader

2

If you are thinking of studying English Literature then I think Classical Civ would be an excellent choice. The subjects really complement each other and historical context is always handy to apply to Literature. It may even help with Politics as a lot of our systems are based on Greek or Roman models.

I would say only study Art if you have a burning desire to. If you don't really enjoy Art to begin with you are unlikely to by the end of A Levels. Art does provide a change from more academic subjects but at the same time requires a lot of your time. However, if you think you would regret not carrying on with it then I would say study it- it's really a matter of what would suit you most personally :smile:

I can't really comment on Drama as I didn't study it for A Level.

Good luck whatever you choose :smile:

Reply 16