Is A Level Psycology worth it?

This poll is closed

Is there a ridulous amount of work in psychology?

Yes, run for your life 30%

Its manageable without crying 10%

Nope. Its easy 50%

A lot of classwork not to much independant work other than learning facts10%

Total votes: 10

KatjaNeedsCoffee

I am currently under the process if choosing my A levels for the next two years and my choices so far include: Spanish, English Literature and Fine Art. My school allows some students to choose a fourth and as I have high aspiration for university I am considering taking Psychology as well. I know there is a vast amount of information to learn, which is no issue for me. However, is there a lot of writing involved in the way History does, such as regular essays. As I worry with coursework heavy subjects such as Fine Art I'm worried about stress and spreading myself a bit to thinly for higher priority subjects. I would value your input a lot, should I take it or not, ks there not a massive but manageable amount of independent work. Thank you

Reply 1

bluemadhatter

Depends what exam board it is and also what the teachers are like. I took psychology last year and it wasn't hard but we had really **** teachers so nobody did as well as they could and it was mainly exam based. Its even worse this year (mediocre teacher replaced with **** teacher and more essay's and nobody knows what they're doing) so I'm glad I dropped it.

Reply 2

jessyjellytot14

Since you're planning on taking English Literature as well, this could be both an advantage and a disadvantage. An advantage because you'll be able to transfer essay writing techniques between the two subjects and a disadvantage because you'll have a lot of writing to do. However, I'm currently in my AS year of psychology and the only writing I have to do is note taking in and out of class (about two whole spreads of a textbook each week) and usually we have to write about one essay each week, which isn't too bad. The hardest part of psychology is remembering all the ins and outs of the theories and research studies, so its important to keep going over what you've learned, especially content from previous terms.
Overall, I think you should take psychology if you have an interest in it (and not just the psychopathology part like most people do) because even though the workload isn't too strenuous, it would be for someone who does not have a passion for it. The same applies to any subject!
Good luck ! :smile:

Reply 3

bradugod

unless you want to study psychology at university then it is not worth it especially if the exam board is aqa as it has recently changed and made it harder

Reply 4

hannahaliiii

my exam board is wjec and I'm in the process of choosing my subject choices for a-level I'm am very interested in psychology but am worried that if the workload is more than in history i will find it difficult.

Reply 5

Arji1212

Original post by KatjaNeedsCoffee

i am currently doing Psychology AS and if you wish to do the course i fully recommend it however if your school does AQA like mine does than good luck as the grade boundaries for a C is 70%. its hard but if you do it universities love it and it opens many courses for you and not just psychology at Uni.

Reply 6

lig1729

Original post by Arji1212

.... universities love it and it opens many courses for you and not just psychology at Uni.

Who on Earth told you that? It's not Media Studies but it sure isn't Physics either.

Reply 7

Boop227

Psychology is nothing like I was expecting it to be, personally. I thought that the entire course felt really outdated, and the subject matter was relatively boring compared to how interesting and relevant psychology can actually be. There was tons and tons of papers every lesson, and keeping them well-organized was a lot of work, not to mention revising from them. Other people, like yourself, may find having lots and lots of papers to revise from enjoyable and easy, I found it inconvenient and stressful, myself.

The teachers can also be terrible, but I suppose that's the same for a lot courses, I suppose they're only trying the best with what they have available. I personally wish that I went for Sociology, since that's what my friends did and a lot of what they did sounded really interesting and generalisable, where-as Psychology was a lot of Milgram, Freud and Pavlov.

Overall, it's a lot of work, and if you're willing to put in the effort to keep your stacks of papers organised, then I say go for it! Good luck.

Reply 8

draculaura

I'm doing Psychology GCSE so I don't really know, but apparently a lot of what you learn in GCSE you also learn in A-level, so I can tell you a *bit* about the topics. I guess they're fairly okay, but not AMAZINGLY interesting as people make it out to be. I guess it's because like Boop227 said, psychology in general can be very interesting. Though, with that said, there are certain topics here and there that can be quite interesting.

Another point I wanted to make is that Psychology isn't seen as a brilliant a-level. I'm only mentioning this IN CASE you want to go for Oxbridge, (check out the Cambridge A-level list - it's in the List B section, so I guess it's pretty good.)
http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/admissions/ug/apply/a-level-combinations
(I'm personally using them for what a-levels I want to take. It's good because it's not just for Oxbridge, but for really any university you might want to go to.)
Good luck :P

Reply 9

lig1729

Original post by draculaura

Trinity College, Cambridge have it on the 3rd level down - as a less suitable A level. Depends what you are going for as a degree but it tells you a lot when it isn't even a preferred A level for doing a psychology degree.

Reply 10

draculaura

Original post by lig1729

Ikr. I think what's useful about that list is that there's a lot of things you wouldn't expect to be a preferred a-level. Most people I know would think Psychology is a great a-level to have. Along with things such as Politics&Government. And look at ICT, it's right at the bottom - most people would say ICT is a "useful" one to have. Top universities I've noticed usually prefer the academic traditional subjects (which I think everyone should consider in their choices.)

Reply 11

lig1729

Original post by draculaura

You mentioned Politics/Goverment which is definitely considered a poor A level. There are way too many A level choices these days. Wind the clock back 30 years ago and there was a reason most of these choices today didn't exist (and that reason isn't that they are needed A levels now).

I go by the rule of thumb - if it wasn't in existence 25 years ago (and it isn't considered necessary for a degree in the same subject) then it is probably a bull**** A level.

Seems pretty telling that the A levels from decades ago (subject wise) still exist and are still the ones most respected. (maths/further maths/physics/chemistry/biology/history/english/modern languages/latin/geography (and maybe economics)

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 12

draculaura

Original post by lig1729

Precisely. The ones at the bottom are ridiculous (some I didn't even know existed.) And I think what's worse they try and trick students that they're useful to a career they want to take, e.g. people wanting to go into Politics may choose the politics&government, only to realise they probably only had to take math or possibly history to gain a degree in a certain subject like PPE. And like you said, Psychology degrees don't even see Psychology A-level as a good one... it's pretty much trickery, and a pointless one at that.

Reply 13

Clearing and Applications Advisor

A Chemistry admissions tutor I used to work with (he's moved on from admissions now) at a RG university considered psychology as the best A level subject for preparing students for university level science. It's much better prep for referencing and evidencing than the traditional sciences.

Obviously he wouldn't make offers to applicants who weren't also doing well in chemistry A level but he had evidence that applicants with psychology would settle in quicker and outperform other entrants with traditional science subjects at A level across the board.

There are a lot of people spreading myths about university opinions on certain A levels without a scrap of evidence to back up their ********.