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Uni vs A-levels

When I was at sixth form lots of people said that a-levels were harder than uni, from your experiences is this true or not?

Reply 1

Hev456

11

I've heard a-levels are only harder because you're taking 3 subjects with (most of the time) nothing in common with each other, whereas the modules at uni will all intertwine and be on a continuing theme.

Reply 2

ChemistBoy

16

Uni is definately harder.

Reply 3

sexysax

14

My first year at uni was probably easier than my A-levels, now it's harder.

I can see an arguement for but really i think to get a 1st w/honours at uni takes a hell of a lot of hard work and motivation.

It help that the uni course is one you like, whereas you might not enjoy all 3/4 at A level.
For me this first year seems much easier than i thought it would be, but some have struggled... and i expect for the second year to get a lot tougher

Reply 5

Reverie.

14

Although university's harder, I suppose one way A-levels are more challenging is that you're studying 3 or 4 subjects, but may only be really passionate about one. It's always easier to work for something you're very interested in.

Reply 6

Abra

14

it depends on the subject. As i don't do english i can't comment but it seems as though english a level is harder than english at uni? whatever, for science/maths we are talking about completely different ball game, especially in the case of maths. At uni we 'revise' the entire further maths a level in 2-3 weeks and move straight into 'degree level' maths.

Abra

As i don't do english i can't comment but it seems as though english a level is harder than english at uni?

i'd have thought it would be the other way round, because English students seem to have copious amounts to read all the time.
And other things i'm sure...

Reply 8

doG1

Sciences will be harder, almost definately.
But for english, which i'll do at uni, it will be a different kind of 'hardness', i think:

at alevel you have to jump thru hoops, tick boxes, achieve Assessment Objectives - this may not come naturally when all you want to do is express yourself and write your argument how you want to.
at uni you can write how you want to and say what you want but, obviously, you'll have to do it better, in greater detail etc. Also, yes - you''ll have alot more reading!!!

Reply 9

unknown demon

15

all arts students have copius reading to do, its not exclusive to english students. I for one do more reading than most english students at my uni.

Reply 10

doG1

yeah of course, i was just commenting on what i actually knew about.

more reading? i guess you must be studying history or the like?

Reply 11

kiaora

1

well it depends, if you're doing medicine, it's a lot harder. if you're studying any other subject, from what i can see, it's all down hill from a-levels :wink:

.

Reply 12

Psyk

16

GCSE was the hardest for me because I didn't like most of the subjects. With A-level and degree I chose to only do mathematical type subjects which I like and am good at.

Reply 13

Iscariot

11

Hev456

I've heard a-levels are only harder because you're taking 3 subjects with (most of the time) nothing in common with each other, whereas the modules at uni will all intertwine and be on a continuing theme.

I disagree. At the moment I am studying Cellular Processes, Microbiology and Human Health and Disease - they aren't really intertwined at all aside from the very marginal overlap in Cellular Processes and Microbiology.

Reply 14

ancientone

8

It's a long time since I did my A levels and I thought then, when I did my first degree, that A levels were the hardest work I ever did. But as I said the caveat is it was a long time ago!

Reply 15

Arminius

14

Uni is much harder, both in workload and difficulty.

I get the impression that difficulty varies hugely between unis and courses.

Reply 16

Pippak

10

This year is mainly overlapping from my Alevel courses (especially in English Language), but that's because not everyone on my course has done Alevel English Language and at my school we went into a lot more detail than the syllabus because we all found it interesting.

I've found my literature modules this year slightly easier than my Alevel literature simply because at Alevel you had to follow a set pattern in your answers and jump through lots of hoops - now I get credit for my wacky ideas and don't have to "dumb down" my answers for the examiners (as we were trained to do last year). It's quite liberating.

I'm sure that when I'm out of my first year and they've stopped trying to get everyone up to the same level it'll get a lot more complicated, and we have done a couple of hellish linguistics modules, but overall, because of the overlap and because we're looking at stuff I find interesting in a lot of depth I haven't found it harder. I think it depends on the person and the course - sciencey stuff is probably bound to be a big jump, but for arts students, it probably depends a lot on individual talent and interest.

Reply 17

London Prophet

17

I've found Oxford Uni PPE much harder than A-level Chemistry, Maths and Economics

Reply 18

Suis Je Bovvered ?

15

I don't think A'levels are harder. Obviously university standard is much harder, hence the next level of education above A'levels. I think the point people are trying to make is that, A'levels take 2 years to do and it's a mixture of different subjects (usually 3) which aren't usually connected to eachother. Where as at university, you have 3 years instead of two and you focus on one subject (unless you do a joint degree but still, that's equal to a single in terms of workload).
So, in my opinion, i think it's the time you have to do A'levels, compared to the extra year you get to do a degree. The work can be spread out more, rather than squashed in two years at A'level.

Reply 19

LisaPizza

For me university is sooo much harder than A levels. I do maths and some of the stuff we do and its only first year is like :eek:

The only way I could see A levels as harder is that at my sixth form we had to go to every single lesson or the teachers would question you, whereas as uni noone really cares if you go or not.

Uni vs A-levels

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