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Reply 1

Chemistry without a shadow of a doubt

Reply 2

The people in my chem class who do both all think chem is harder

Reply 3

Original post by Misaki24
Why? and i know this depends from person to person but im just curious :tongue:


https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1511123 may help :smile:

Reply 4

Chemistry

Reply 5

I find them both about the same difficulty, though generally chemistry requires more memorisation (especially inorganic chemistry, that's just memorising colours and stuff at A-level, not hugely interesting imo), while physics is more mathsy (though really A-level physics won't stretch your maths at all if you take maths for A-level, and lots of A-level physics involves wordy written answers too).

Nevertheless, I think the general consensus among people who are good at maths is that chemistry is harder, while people I know who aren't good at maths generally find physics harder.

Reply 6

On average I would say Chemistry, but some particular topics in Physics are the real killers.
E.g. Electromagnetism fxxked me up so badly...

Reply 7

Depends on your other subjects.

IMO if you didn't get an A*/9 at GCSE maths chemistry is easier.

Reply 8

I would have to say Physics.

Reply 9

The jump from GCSE physics to AS is huge in my opinion and that makes the first year very difficult but I thought that there was little progression in terms of difficulty from AS to A2, it was just that the questions were more awkward.

Chemistry on the other hand I found quite easy coming from IGCSE and then the jump in the second year was very unexpected. Things like analytical chemistry and organic synthesis were the most complicated things I did at A level as you're required to recall a wide range of information from the course, use challenging methods and apply the knowledge in a unstructured manor with little guidance.

Reply 10

Original post by Misaki24
Why? and i know this depends from person to person but im just curious :tongue:

Physics>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.Chem. I can easily get an A in chem but phys just takes the piss, wtf was that ocr paper 3. Chem exams are predictable and were much easier for the new spec than physics papers.

Reply 11

Listen to someone who has done both.

Yes, chemistry at times can be frustratingly hard, but physics has changed.

The exams are MUCH MUCH harder. 2 years ago I would have said chemistry but now all exam boards have made physics incredibly difficult.

Go for Chemistry, all the exams were easy and will continue to be easy in the sense that you know what to expect.

Physics is now all application, a lost cause.

Reply 12

I did chem pretty easily. Cannot even fathom doing physics.

Reply 13

BTEC IT!
Without a shadow of a doubt is the KILLER ONE

Reply 14

I did both at A-level.

Physics is harder to understand. For a lot of the topics, to truly understand them you need a mathematical backing. If you're taking Physics be sure to take Maths also.

I personally found Chemistry easier to conceptualise since there wasn't a lot of involved Maths; you could base a lot of your reasoning just on qualitative ideas. The two are really enjoyable though, if you can take them both I'd go for it :smile:

Reply 15

Original post by aerofanatic
I did both at A-level.

Physics is harder to understand. For a lot of the topics, to truly understand them you need a mathematical backing. If you're taking Physics be sure to take Maths also.

I personally found Chemistry easier to conceptualise since there wasn't a lot of involved Maths; you could base a lot of your reasoning just on qualitative ideas. The two are really enjoyable though, if you can take them both I'd go for it :smile:


I am assuming that the maths is not just based on formulas (those of which require rearranging too) and suvat, no? Can I have a small insight into what sort of things you learn at AS and what practicals are like, thanks alot! :smile: (Physics)

Reply 16

Original post by sammsterr
Listen to someone who has done both.

Yes, chemistry at times can be frustratingly hard, but physics has changed.

The exams are MUCH MUCH harder. 2 years ago I would have said chemistry but now all exam boards have made physics incredibly difficult.

Go for Chemistry, all the exams were easy and will continue to be easy in the sense that you know what to expect.

Physics is now all application, a lost cause.


What exam board r u doing/have u done?

Reply 17

Original post by Misaki24
I am assuming that the maths is not just based on formulas (those of which require rearranging too) and suvat, no? Can I have a small insight into what sort of things you learn at AS and what practicals are like, thanks alot! :smile: (Physics)


It's more like you'd learn about a topic and as they explain it they might give you a couple of equations to go with it, and then the practice questions require you just apply the equations with a bit of rearranging and some maths. Yep, you cover suvat as well in AS. You'll probably touch on some particle physics, electricity, light and matter and mechanics.

If you decide to stick with it through A2 you'll probably use some of the A2 maths you learn too, including exponential functions and logarithms. That crops up in radioactive decay and capacitor discharge.

Worth saying this is based on when I did my A-levels about 5 years ago :smile:. I know they've changed up the system of how the practicals work so it'd be worth checking the new specifications

Reply 18

Physics is harder IMO

Reply 19

Original post by Misaki24
Why? and i know this depends from person to person but im just curious :tongue:

Physics hands down