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Thinking of changing a-level options :/

Hi! I am currently in year 12 and I'm studying Biology, Psychology and History, however the topics for history don't really interest me so I'm thinking of switching it for a different subject.
I'm contemplating between English Literature and Religious Studies (philosophy and ethics) I think I might enjoy religious studies more than English literature to some degree however, is English literature more useful? (I got an 8 in English literature and an A in religious studies at GCSE)
In terms of degrees I'm leaning towards either psychology or biological sciences.
Any advice would be much appreciated
Thank you :smile:
i'm pretty sure biological sciences at uni require two sciences? or a science and maths. (psychology isnt considered a science by most unis btw)
Reply 2
that's true however from the university courses I've seen, some unis count psychology as a 'second science'. Biological sciences is just an option
Reply 3
I've also just started year 12, so i don't have a lot of advice, but I take Biology, Psychology and RS (OCR Philosophy and Ethics.)
So far I'm enjoying RS, it's not my favorite subject, but the ethics section is quite interesting and I can see it getting more interesting as we get more into the course. I would definitely recommend you read the syllabus first, to see what the course is like. I didn't read the syllabus first, and was not prepared for how wordy and 'deep' it is (especially philosophy.) I find you really have to think hard about things to understand them, and it sometimes takes a while to get your head around ideas and theories. Obviously I have no idea what english lit is like, but feel free to ask any questions about RS :smile:
Reply 4
Original post by tstudy
I've also just started year 12, so i don't have a lot of advice, but I take Biology, Psychology and RS (OCR Philosophy and Ethics.)
So far I'm enjoying RS, it's not my favorite subject, but the ethics section is quite interesting and I can see it getting more interesting as we get more into the course. I would definitely recommend you read the syllabus first, to see what the course is like. I didn't read the syllabus first, and was not prepared for how wordy and 'deep' it is (especially philosophy.) I find you really have to think hard about things to understand them, and it sometimes takes a while to get your head around ideas and theories. Obviously I have no idea what english lit is like, but feel free to ask any questions about RS :smile:


Yeah, I've heard it's quite a deep subject. Do you know what degree you plan to do at university?
Reply 5
Original post by Josh_don
Yeah, I've heard it's quite a deep subject. Do you know what degree you plan to do at university?



I'm not 100% sure, but at the moment I'm leaning towards human sciences/ social sciences. Career wise I don't know!
Regardless of whether Psychology is acceptable as a science subject or not, most bioscience courses require Chemistry, and if they do not you will cover a signifcant amount of A-level Chemistry in the first year. If you are contemplating changing a subject, that would be the best option to change to, strictly speaking. Mathematics would be acceptable for some bioscience courses, and is useful for Psychology and less molecular/cell biology focused Neuroscience courses. It is also considered "useful preparation" for Human Sciences at e.g. Oxford, UCL etc.
Reply 7
Original post by tstudy
I'm not 100% sure, but at the moment I'm leaning towards human sciences/ social sciences. Career wise I don't know!


Same, I'm not 100% sure yet, leaning towards Psychology or even social sciences :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by artful_lounger
Regardless of whether Psychology is acceptable as a science subject or not, most bioscience courses require Chemistry, and if they do not you will cover a signifcant amount of A-level Chemistry in the first year. If you are contemplating changing a subject, that would be the best option to change to, strictly speaking. Mathematics would be acceptable for some bioscience courses, and is useful for Psychology and less molecular/cell biology focused Neuroscience courses. It is also considered "useful preparation" for Human Sciences at e.g. Oxford, UCL etc.


Indeed, you're absolutely right however I loathe maths and I don't think I'd do well in chemistry so I haven't taken it. I think I'll leave biological sciences out of possible career choices and focus on degrees such as psychology instead. :smile:

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