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Differences between GCSEs and A-Levels?

Hello everyone, I'm currently an A-Level student (literally in my first few weeks), studying: Psychology, Sociology and English lit & lang. I've heard many people say A-Levels are extremely hard and are nothing like GCSEs. Is it true? Obviously, I know they're not the same thing, and there are going to be changes however, is it actually a big difference? What do people mean by 'hard'? Are questions more challenging? Are there more questions to answer?
(edited 6 years ago)
It's harder in general I guess.

More revision, more memory, harsher marking, longer questions, more complex theories and concepts etc. Just harder. And therefore you cannot do well without hard work.
They're simply the next step along academically. You'll of course be expected to work at higher level than GCSE - to offer more critical analyses of arguments, more thoughtful evaluation of source materials, as well as understand broader patterns and contextual issues which give rise to different aspects of the subject you're studying. You won't be able to get the top grades just by rote memorising vast swathes of information (except in biology :wink: ) as your GCSEs already tested you on that (and prior educational endeavours) - critical thinking, analytical skills and evaluation ability is the main subject of order.

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