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A level physics? A level psychology? Help!

Hi. I'm currently in year 11 and I know I want to take biology and chemistry at a level because I want to study Biomedical Science at uni. And I'm not too sure what I want to take as my third A level.
I was thinking either psychology or physics. I'm not too sure about a level psychology as I've heard it isn't very good and I don't think it's something I'll do very good at (I need at least BBB to study the course at uni). I've heard from my physics teacher that I'm fully capable of taking a level physics too but I wasn't very sure how hard taking all three sciences would be without maths.
I know I don't want to take four a levels and I find the maths aspect of physics, biology and chemistry easy at the moment, so how much harder is it at a level?
So basically if anyone took biology, chemistry and physics without maths ... how hard is it? And what is psychology really like?
Thanks.😀
Original post by memethepineapple
Hi. I'm currently in year 11 and I know I want to take biology and chemistry at a level because I want to study Biomedical Science at uni. And I'm not too sure what I want to take as my third A level.
I was thinking either psychology or physics. I'm not too sure about a level psychology as I've heard it isn't very good and I don't think it's something I'll do very good at (I need at least BBB to study the course at uni). I've heard from my physics teacher that I'm fully capable of taking a level physics too but I wasn't very sure how hard taking all three sciences would be without maths.
I know I don't want to take four a levels and I find the maths aspect of physics, biology and chemistry easy at the moment, so how much harder is it at a level?
So basically if anyone took biology, chemistry and physics without maths ... how hard is it? And what is psychology really like?
Thanks.😀


Spec for psychology is here. Cant help you with the other question, but your third needs to be one you can get a good grade in. It doesnt have to be a stem subject.

Always check the entrance requirements of the course you are applying for.

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/psychology/as-and-a-level/psychology-7181-7182/specification-at-a-glance
Just do whatever you are good at / enjoy for your third option. Doesn't have to be a science
Thanks for the help. I didn't think about checking the spec and its really helpful thanks.
Reply 4
Personally, I'll do Psychology.

I picked Physics, Chem, Maths and Econ for AS.

Then I changed Physics to Psychology in the first 2 weeks.
It was the best decision of my life. Psychology has a lot of note taking but honestly, without Maths, I wouldn't go anywhere near Physics.

Good luck :smile:
Original post by memethepineapple
Hi. I'm currently in year 11 and I know I want to take biology and chemistry at a level because I want to study Biomedical Science at uni. And I'm not too sure what I want to take as my third A level.
I was thinking either psychology or physics. I'm not too sure about a level psychology as I've heard it isn't very good and I don't think it's something I'll do very good at (I need at least BBB to study the course at uni). I've heard from my physics teacher that I'm fully capable of taking a level physics too but I wasn't very sure how hard taking all three sciences would be without maths.
I know I don't want to take four a levels and I find the maths aspect of physics, biology and chemistry easy at the moment, so how much harder is it at a level?
So basically if anyone took biology, chemistry and physics without maths ... how hard is it? And what is psychology really like?
Thanks.😀


So I’m doing my A Levels at the moment - psychology, physics and French. Honestly? Physics is a lot less work than psychology, if you’re naturally good at maths. You’ll find psychology easy if you’re good at both essay writing and maths, although I’d say essay writing is more important as the maths is really simple (compared to physics). There’s a lot more content in psychology, but both are really interesting in different ways, and both get you thinking. Personally I love psychology and I find it fascinating, and I think it comes quite naturally to me. I love physics too. Content-wise it’s still super interesting, but at times it’s just a matter of how skilled you are at maths. You definitely don’t need maths A-Level to do physics, but you’ll need to be good at maths (like top grades maths GCSE). Hope this helps.
Original post by memethepineapple
Hi. I'm currently in year 11 and I know I want to take biology and chemistry at a level because I want to study Biomedical Science at uni. And I'm not too sure what I want to take as my third A level.
I was thinking either psychology or physics. I'm not too sure about a level psychology as I've heard it isn't very good and I don't think it's something I'll do very good at (I need at least BBB to study the course at uni). I've heard from my physics teacher that I'm fully capable of taking a level physics too but I wasn't very sure how hard taking all three sciences would be without maths.
I know I don't want to take four a levels and I find the maths aspect of physics, biology and chemistry easy at the moment, so how much harder is it at a level?
So basically if anyone took biology, chemistry and physics without maths ... how hard is it? And what is psychology really like?
Thanks.😀


You sound just like me I had a similar problem. I am in year 13 doing biology, chemistry and psychology with offers for biomedical science. I never knew whether to take psychology or physics. I did maths up to AS though, maths is definitely useful for the sciences although I decided not to pursue it on I would definitely recommend it. Having a solid foundation in maths is important especially for some of the chemistry calculations, but if you are good at maths GCSE like grade 8 or 9 it should be fine. I did psychology over physics mainly because it was easier and that providing I had bio and chem, the universities didn't care what the 3rd was in. I am basically just looking at a grade and I figured an A in psychology would be easier than A in physics.
Hey- I study Biology, Chemistry and Psychology (I want to study medicine).
I would NOT recommend taking four A-levels (loads of people dropped one).
So, I find chemistry ridiculously difficult (so many people are getting like 30% in their topic tests- it's crazy).
I LOVE biology (then again I always have)- people are getting around the 50s in their tests (but apparently that's good for this stage). There are some difficult aspects, but others are easy and interesting.
Psychology is hands down my favourite subject- but it's definitely not for everyone. Its literally an essay based science- there's a lot of experiments you need to learn as well as research methods etc, and you have to be able to apply the experiment studies to questions from the topic. Its not necessarily difficult- but there's loads of content.

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