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Need help with AS options to take!

Hey guys!
I just go into a new sixth form/college and I am doing business studies, mathematics and psychology. The business studies is a linear AQA which means it has NO COURSEWORK AT ALL, it is 100% based on exams. Furthermore, I am finding psychology kind of hard (first week). I was looking to change psychology but the school only said I can change it to Chemistry/Biology/History....

I have two teachers for business studies one of them is not organised I am worried that I will not perform well as she is not teaching us any of the useful content. What do I do?!

In my GCSE's I have got 2As 2Bs and 4Cs (which I was not that proud of). An A was in business studies and a B in Maths.

I want to get into the Russel Group uni's I don't mint any of them in London/outside all I have to do is get at least 3A's in my A levels. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON AS LEVEL? If you have done Psychology how did you find it? Was it very challenging? I mean i am not a big fan of essays :frown: I was thinking of changing it to Chemistry but i heard its one of the hardest out of the sciences.
Reply 1
Original post by A* levels
Hey guys!
I just go into a new sixth form/college and I am doing business studies, mathematics and psychology. The business studies is a linear AQA which means it has NO COURSEWORK AT ALL, it is 100% based on exams. Furthermore, I am finding psychology kind of hard (first week). I was looking to change psychology but the school only said I can change it to Chemistry/Biology/History....

I have two teachers for business studies one of them is not organised I am worried that I will not perform well as she is not teaching us any of the useful content. What do I do?!

In my GCSE's I have got 2As 2Bs and 4Cs (which I was not that proud of). An A was in business studies and a B in Maths.

I want to get into the Russel Group uni's I don't mint any of them in London/outside all I have to do is get at least 3A's in my A levels. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON AS LEVEL? If you have done Psychology how did you find it? Was it very challenging? I mean i am not a big fan of essays :frown: I was thinking of changing it to Chemistry but i heard its one of the hardest out of the sciences.


Hi!
I did Psychology in A Levels and I managed to get an A. However, I did Edexcel and not AQA. I have read the AQA textbook before and it is much more difficult compared to Edexcel. It depends on what you are planning to do in University. If you plan to study Psychology at University, it would be easier if you took Psychology at A levels because it will be easier for you. I can't say that Psychology was challenging because that was the subject that I was the most intrigued and interested in. I had always wanted to study Psychology since I was in Primary school. (Btw, History probably has a lot of essays too). One of the things I liked about Psychology is the fact that as long as you have a valid point, you will get the mark even if it is not on the answer scheme.
If you are planning to do medicine, you will need at least one Science subject so it can be Chemistry or Biology. I enjoyed Biology and so I took Biology for my A levels and managed to do well.
If you do enjoy Chemistry then go for it! It may be the hardest out of all the Sciences but if you are interested in it then there's no one stopping you^^
-Gabrielle (I'll be studying in the University of York this September^^)
Reply 2
I want to do something based on finance as I have big interest in it thats why I am taking business and maths. I really dont mind what I do for my 3rd subject. I picking psych as it looked interesting I mean it is 50/50 for me as I am finding it a little bit interesting but the amount of work I have to put is quite a lot. I have to balance everything out otherwise I will end up putting too much time on psych. I mean I got offered Bio/Chem/History and I don't want to do History as I found it very boring in GCSE. SHOULD I STAY WITH PSYCH OR SHOULD I CHANGE TO BIO/CHEM?

Nice! Good luck!
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by A* levels
I want to do something based on finance as I have big interest in it thats why I am taking business and maths. I really dont mind what I do for my 3rd subject. I picking psych as it looked interesting I mean it is 50/50 for me as I am finding it a little bit interesting but the amount of work I have to put is quite a lot. I have to balance everything out otherwise I will end up putting too much time on psych. I mean I got offered Bio/Chem/History and I don't want to do History as I found it very boring in GCSE. SHOULD I STAY WITH PSYCH OR SHOULD I CHANGE TO BIO/CHEM?

Nice! Good luck!


Thank you!
If there is highly unlikely that you are not going to major in Psychology, I suggest you don't do it at A Levels because it is very time- consuming. Biology and Chemistry may be better for you. I hope this helps:smile:
Original post by A* levels
I want to do something based on finance as I have big interest in it thats why I am taking business and maths. I really dont mind what I do for my 3rd subject. I picking psych as it looked interesting I mean it is 50/50 for me as I am finding it a little bit interesting but the amount of work I have to put is quite a lot. I have to balance everything out otherwise I will end up putting too much time on psych. I mean I got offered Bio/Chem/History and I don't want to do History as I found it very boring in GCSE. SHOULD I STAY WITH PSYCH OR SHOULD I CHANGE TO BIO/CHEM?

Nice! Good luck!

I do WJEC Psychology but what I'm about to say kind of applies to all exam boards. Psychology is literally all about memorisation and regurgitation in the exam. I memorised 5x 20 mark essays for my unit 2 exam in the summer and got an A in AS Psychology. Yes, it's intense and I've luckily enough developed revision techniques that work really well for me that allow me to memorise all of the content. Biology will be no different. There's a lot to remember in biology as well and with some questions it's about regurgitation e.g. protein synthesis, so I would probably advise against those subjects since you're clearly struggling with the volume of work and not necessarily the difficulty of the content. If you don't like Psychology, then change it. BUT, Chemistry is far from easy. It's tricky and examiners will do anything to catch you out. There's still quite a lot to remember, but no where near as much as what you'd be expected to learn if you did biology and psychology. Chemistry is mainly about understanding and interpretation of concepts and if you understand something, you can memorise it more easily. If you find chemistry interesting, go for that.
It depends on what you're best at. If it's essay subjects then biology is likely a better choice than chemistry as there is a reasonable amount of maths in there. Then again if you're good at essay subjects you'd likely find psychology easier than biology.
Reply 6
So if you were me what would you do, I just want the easiest out of them. I know there isnt the "EASIEST IN A LEVELS" but out of them which one would you pick and a reason please. I am doing finance based courses in Uni so I am just looking to pick an easier subject that I can get an A in.

Also, the highest marks for psychology this year is 16 marks so it would be kind of easier or is that not the case? (AQA Exam board)
Reply 8
Original post by A* levels
So if you were me what would you do, I just want the easiest out of them. I know there isnt the "EASIEST IN A LEVELS" but out of them which one would you pick and a reason please. I am doing finance based courses in Uni so I am just looking to pick an easier subject that I can get an A in.

Also, the highest marks for psychology this year is 16 marks so it would be kind of easier or is that not the case? (AQA Exam board)


Hey, I did Psychology AS and managed to get an A with the edexel exam board so that is what im basing this on as i dont really know much about the AQA spec. I would advise you to stick to it as for me personally it is the easiest and least time consuming compared to History which has more essay writing as well as Bio (there is a 25 marker in the A2 exam which can be on anything from both years). With Chemistry I would advise against it because the content is much harder to understand and will be a lot more time consuming, however if you like the subject and have a good teacher then go ahead.

The reason I think you would be better off with Psychology is because it is mainly just remembering the case studies etc. you dont necessarily need to understand the content just remember it. I also had a great teacher and i pick up on most things in class and remember most of them (hence little revision).
Best of luck and hope this helps!
Reply 9
I am completely new to the school, the psychology teacher looks pretty decent as she knows what shes is doing and plans lessons effectively. Thanks for your advice!
Reply 10
Original post by A* levels
I am completely new to the school, the psychology teacher looks pretty decent as she knows what shes is doing and plans lessons effectively. Thanks for your advice!


No problem! And if you do decide to carry on let me just tell you handouts and highlighters will be your best friends. If your teacher doesn't give handouts then either ask her to make some or make some yourself as they are the best revision tool for Psychology.

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