How difficult is history a-level?

14

I'm switching to history a level from business. Is it a difficult subject? Also I have never done GCSE history.

Also, I've missed approx. 10 hours of lessons, will it be very difficult to catch up, or is the content more straightforward?

Reply 1

Rajive

3

Bump

Reply 2

Aklaol

12

Not gonna lie, it is difficult. However, like any subject if you put the time and effort into it, it'll pay off. I also just switched to History and I've missed around 10-15 hours of course content. I sadly didn't hit the required grade for History at A-level in my school, so after a long, long time they settled with putting me on the course. I wish I took my GCSEs more seriously... The saddest part is that I was capable of achieving such high grades in GCSEs, but I decided to slack throughout Y10-11. Let this be a lesson to all Y10s and 11s lol.

Reply 3

EXO235

4

I did History at AS Level but found the course so dull I dropped it for A2 :/ It really depends on what area of history you like, because I had to study the Tudors and Russia, and I hated both of them! I was also doing Classical Civilisation (Greece and Rome etc.) and loved it! And this Sunday I am starting my Classical Civilisation degree! Honestly it just depends on whether you have the enthusiasm for it. I found it so much harder than Classics, but that could be because I was not at all inspired by the areas of history we had to study. Generally I think History is a hard A-Level, because you get so many essays in such a short time (at my old sixth form at least) and if you aren't inspired by the subject area it can get really tough.
One of the main problems I had with it was that I missed about a month of school around christmas due to an illness, and I never really caught back up :/ I still managed to scrape a C at AS but that was mostly because the essay I had practised the most in class came up in our Russia exam, so I basically wrote it from memory.
I also know a lot of people who got great grades in it at A2, so I guess mine is just a particularly bad experience with it :wink:

Reply 4

RainHolmes

2

I absolutely love history- I've just started the A2 course- I might be a bit bias though, I'm applying for it at uni! But it's a great subject if you enjoy learning about that kind of stuff. If you're good at writing essays and subjects like English Literature or whatnot I'd say you should be grand. Honestly, I think if you put the time in and learn the information you will be fine. Make sure you practice the questions throughout the year though! You should do lots of tests throughout the year, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. It's no harder than other subjects if you can learn a lot and interpret + answer questions in a quick amount of time using the appropriate info.

Reply 5

howardwicks1

2

I did A level history without doing GCSE beforehand and i would say that it was hard. However the course can be interesting and I'm glad I did it as now I know how to reference and write sound essays! So useful for the skill set you learn during the course!

Reply 6

Rajive

3

Original post

by howardwicks1

I did A level history without doing GCSE beforehand and i would say that it was hard. However the course can be interesting and I'm glad I did it as now I know how to reference and write sound essays! So useful for the skill set you learn during the course!

What grade did you get for AS and A2?

Reply 7

howardwicks1

2

Original post

by Rajive

What grade did you get for AS and A2?

Got a D in both years, you can tell i found it hard haha

Reply 8

OddFuturez

11

The new OCR specification is difficult

Reply 9

ouatislifex

OP

14

Original post

by EXO235

I did History at AS Level but found the course so dull I dropped it for A2 :/ It really depends on what area of history you like, because I had to study the Tudors and Russia, and I hated both of them! I was also doing Classical Civilisation (Greece and Rome etc.) and loved it! And this Sunday I am starting my Classical Civilisation degree! Honestly it just depends on whether you have the enthusiasm for it. I found it so much harder than Classics, but that could be because I was not at all inspired by the areas of history we had to study. Generally I think History is a hard A-Level, because you get so many essays in such a short time (at my old sixth form at least) and if you aren't inspired by the subject area it can get really tough.
One of the main problems I had with it was that I missed about a month of school around christmas due to an illness, and I never really caught back up :/ I still managed to scrape a C at AS but that was mostly because the essay I had practised the most in class came up in our Russia exam, so I basically wrote it from memory.
I also know a lot of people who got great grades in it at A2, so I guess mine is just a particularly bad experience with it :wink:

Hello fellow EXO-L (ok not thread related but I couldn't resist)

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, though I am doing sociology which requires a lot of essays so I guess it'll help?

Reply 10

ouatislifex

OP

14

Original post

by OddFuturez

The new OCR specification is difficult

That's the one i'm doing. I'm screwed I guess since the reason I dropped business is because the teacher thought I wouldn't be good at it.

Reply 11

username1292215

22

If you like the subject and topics and are willing to practice essays then you will be fine

Reply 12

ouatislifex

OP

14

Subjects i'm studing are Sociology and Accounting. Don't know if I'll cope

Reply 13

999tigger

19

Original post

by ouatislifex

I'm switching to history a level from business. Is it a difficult subject? Also I have never done GCSE history.

Also, I've missed approx. 10 hours of lessons, will it be very difficult to catch up, or is the content more straightforward?

Get the notes or ask the teacher what has been covered. Should be easy. Funnily enough its often referred to as one of the most difficult and has quite a lot of work, but if you like findining out about events and people, then its fun.

Theres also plenty of great documentaries you can watch.

I would work hard and put extra time aside so you cna catch up then get ahead.

Reply 14

EXO235

4

Original post

by ouatislifex

Hello fellow EXO-L (ok not thread related but I couldn't resist)

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, though I am doing sociology which requires a lot of essays so I guess it'll help?

Omg you are the 3rd person I've spoken to on here this afternoon who is an Exo-L ^_^ That's awesome :biggrin:

Yeah if you are used to writing essays it will make it a lot easier :biggrin:

I don't know how your college/school/whatever will run it but my teachers were VERY pushy about getting good essay-writing techniques down so being able to write an essay was invaluable :biggrin:

I'd agree with what everyone else is saying; take very good notes, revise from them all year (not just close to exams) and stay engaged with the topics :biggrin:

You should do great, I clearly just didn't like my school's way of teaching it :wink:

In the end though, it's a-levels, they are meant to be difficult no matter what you study tbh, it's just how well you engage with the course and revise that matters. Sixth form/college on the whole is a great time, I'm about to leave for uni and suddenly having to plan finances is slightly terrifying so treasure your a-level days :')

Reply 15

tamil fever

20

Guysssss should I pick history or notttt?
help me plz

Reply 16

Yellowtree123

8

Original post

by tamil fever

Guysssss should I pick history or notttt?
help me plz

Why not? I picked history without doing the GCSE and I must say, you'll probably struggle a bit, I was getting Bs and Cs in the first year but by the end of the two years, admittedly after a lot of hard work, I was able to get an A*.

Reply 17

Ahad67767

7

Hey guys I have to choose between history and business for my alevels...my other two subjects are economics and maths.. which one should I take for my third..For both UK and US unis.I’ll pursue anything except medicine and engineering...maybe finance etc.

Reply 18

Ahad67767

7

Guys I’m thinking taking either history or business...which one should I take... my other subs are economics and law and I need a preferred subject aswell.Is history very hard or business?Length doesn’t matter because law is also very lengthy so I don’t care about lengthy answers.

How difficult is history a-level?

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