The Student Room Group
Original post by Big_Smoke9
I just started A level I did better at business at gcse but I heard the step up at a level isn't too bad for geog and it is pretty big for business. In terms of exams and how hard the content is, which one is easier?? I'm doing bio and chem too- ccea exam board.


What you want to do at university is important to decide which one to pick. I know this may not have been the answer you're looking for but I'm saying this because several months later you could realise the "harder" subject is more relevant to the uni course you want to do than the "easier" subject.
(edited 7 years ago)
The easiest one will always be the one you enjoy more because if work feels like a chore you won't do it and it'll be a massive pain and you'll do crap.

If all things are equal business is considered easier but also less respected.

Very important you consider your uni course. If you want to do geography at uni then geography is probably the better option I'll be honest.
Hey Big_Smoke9 I don't know about bio and chem but I can definitely tell you about Business and Geography. If you're going to be doing Edexcel Business then I can tell you when you start theme 1 it's definitely not a big jump at all because it's pretty much what you learnt in GCSE with some new chapters and the only difference being is you've got whole lot more of A04 to concentrate on but even though it's pretty much easy it's better if you read over your class notes from the start. However I can tell you theme 2 does require a bit more revision especially certain chapters because this is where you learn completely new stuff. For AS you will sit one Theme 1 paper which is 80 marks and a separate Theme 2 paper which is 80 marks as well. The content is not actually that hard at all however there is quite a lot of maths involved in Theme 2 but most of it is GCSE standard which is not challenging but it's easy to get your formulae mixed up. Luckily I got an A this year for Business but I didn't revise full on for Theme 1 but did quite a lot for Theme 2. Now onto Geography....Basically I kind of got mislead to take geography onto year 12 just because I had achieved an A at GCSE I thought it was gonna be easy but little did I know that I was definitely going to get something far from an A. It was all about getting the essay structures right especially for the 16 markers. I worked hard at the beginning but slowly I started to get demotivated as I kept on getting nothing higher than a D on all the essays and end of topic tests. Unfortunately the lack of motivation and my increasing frustration made me give up on geography nearer to the exam time. So at the end I came out with a E and pretty much all of us did in our class except for three boys who got Bs whom I guess were geniuses. If you want my opinion if you take business whether it be AQA or Edexcel or any exam board it will be for the best because it's definitely easier than geography but it's all about application and referring to the actual context of the business which is vital and you will never regret it. I'm not saying don't take geography but please please talk to others as well and don't make the same mistake that I did.

Also when you start year 12 and if you have chosen to take business especially if it's edexcel please don't hesitate to message if you need any revision power points or lesson power points because the content is all the same and it has lots of detail and my teacher has written some extra notes all over them which would be really useful for you. If you ever need any advice on how to write exam answers in context I can take few pics of my previous ones that were graded and message them to you.:smile:
Reply 4
Original post by ManLike007
What you want to do at university is important to decide which one to pick. I know this may not have been the answer you're looking for but I'm saying this because several months later you could realise the "harder" subject is more relevant to the uni course you want to do than the "easier" subject.


Understand. I want to do dentistry or a career in the science sector.
Original post by Big_Smoke9
Understand. I want to do dentistry or a career in the science sector.


Generally with dentistry/medicine, I see that maths or physics do help alongside Chem and Bio but it's up to you because the science sector can mean anything!

Business or Geo is a bit strange?

If you think you have a rough idea of what you want to do, browse around the entry requirements for several different universities and what third subject they'd like. Better safe than sorry.

By the way as someone mentioned, Business is a soft subject, Economics is more respected.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by devianen
Hey Big_Smoke9 I don't know about bio and chem but I can definitely tell you about Business and Geography. If you're going to be doing Edexcel Business then I can tell you when you start theme 1 it's definitely not a big jump at all because it's pretty much what you learnt in GCSE with some new chapters and the only difference being is you've got whole lot more of A04 to concentrate on but even though it's pretty much easy it's better if you read over your class notes from the start. However I can tell you theme 2 does require a bit more revision especially certain chapters because this is where you learn completely new stuff. For AS you will sit one Theme 1 paper which is 80 marks and a separate Theme 2 paper which is 80 marks as well. The content is not actually that hard at all however there is quite a lot of maths involved in Theme 2 but most of it is GCSE standard which is not challenging but it's easy to get your formulae mixed up. Luckily I got an A this year for Business but I didn't revise full on for Theme 1 but did quite a lot for Theme 2. Now onto Geography....Basically I kind of got mislead to take geography onto year 12 just because I had achieved an A at GCSE I thought it was gonna be easy but little did I know that I was definitely going to get something far from an A. It was all about getting the essay structures right especially for the 16 markers. I worked hard at the beginning but slowly I started to get demotivated as I kept on getting nothing higher than a D on all the essays and end of topic tests. Unfortunately the lack of motivation and my increasing frustration made me give up on geography nearer to the exam time. So at the end I came out with a E and pretty much all of us did in our class except for three boys who got Bs whom I guess were geniuses. If you want my opinion if you take business whether it be AQA or Edexcel or any exam board it will be for the best because it's definitely easier than geography but it's all about application and referring to the actual context of the business which is vital and you will never regret it. I'm not saying don't take geography but please please talk to others as well and don't make the same mistake that I did.

Also when you start year 12 and if you have chosen to take business especially if it's edexcel please don't hesitate to message if you need any revision power points or lesson power points because the content is all the same and it has lots of detail and my teacher has written some extra notes all over them which would be really useful for you. If you ever need any advice on how to write exam answers in context I can take few pics of my previous ones that were graded and message them to you.:smile:


hello, can you please give some of advice about business edexcel or tips that would really be helpful and thank you so much in advance.