Anyone who has done/ does A-level history or English Literature

I do both at A level, and I really think that it depends on which specific course you like best, because each school will probably do slightly different texts in English and slightly different historical eras, so there is no point deciding until you know what you're likely to be studying. That being said, however, I would certainly suggest doing the one you like best, as it will allow you to study it more happily. History is A LOT of work just because there is so much to know, so if you don't love it you shouldn't do it. English is also a lot of work, but it is a different type of work so it doesn't feel so intense.

I do both at A level, and I really think that it depends on which specific course you like best, because each school will probably do slightly different texts in English and slightly different historical eras, so there is no point deciding until you know what you're likely to be studying. That being said, however, I would certainly suggest doing the one you like best, as it will allow you to study it more happily. History is A LOT of work just because there is so much to know, so if you don't love it you shouldn't do it. English is also a lot of work, but it is a different type of work so it doesn't feel so intense.

I’m just concerned with memorising facts and dates for history and with English I’m concerned with the amount of reading and memorising a lot of poems. How did u find the workload of reading and memorising

If it’s any consolation, for English Literature (depending on the exam board you will be with) the tests will be open book so you get a clean copy with you in the exam. This would arguably help take some stress off memorising everything.

However, as mentioned before, both subjects are a lot of work. Either way, if you choose History or English Literature, all of your subjects will be content heavy since you want to do Biology as well as Chemistry

I do both History and English Literature, at first I was only going to do English Literature because the school I had been planning on applying to was doing era's that I knew I wouldn't personally enjoy, but I managed to get into a school where I enjoy both specs, so I'd suggest looking at the specs and deciding which one appeals to you more, and which one you want to dedicate your time to.

I am picking options for a-level and have already chosen I want to do biology and chemistry and an epq.
I am decided between history and English lit for my third option but I am stuck on which one to take.
I can’t do both of them and I study them both at gcse and like them.
Although I enjoy English lit more then history
Please tell me your opinion of what is better and how u find it at a- level

The exam board I'm doing doesn't actually require us to learn quotes... it is mainly learning analysis and essay writing techniques. You learn texts so much more in depth though that by this point in the term I know the texts I've been doing inside out anyway! with history, I am struggling a bit but that's to be expected, it's just a case EOF staying on top of work and always doing a bit extra.

I do OCR English Lit. A-Level, and although quoting does not appear to be a large part of the course, reference to other texts of the era or genre are essential, which means that a fair bit of extra reading has to be done. OCR also require a hefty amount of context for the comparison part of the course, which although is not hard to learn, especially for the Gothic genre, could be a challenge to remember and recall.

History, however, so far is a lot more fact-based, requiring a lot more remember and recall than at GCSE.

Would u recommend English or history in terms of how hard it is

I was in the exact same position as you. Did gcse English and history and loved them both but chose to do English lit

I do English literature and honestly I love it so much. Idk what exam board you’ll do but I do edexcel and the different components are really interesting. I love the coursework aspect of it because you can literally chose any book, (within reason) any topic and just write freely. I’m doing the color purple and a thousand splendid suns.

I find English relatively easy, but having seen my friends do history, it seems a lot harder. English is all open book so you don’t have to learn any quotes/poems. History on the other hand you have to learn facts/figures and things in order and personally, that’s something I really struggle with.

Although I LOVE learning about history in general, I feel like doing it for A level would make me despise it. People say the same thing about art. They love drawing/painting but doing it for a level made them hate it and they got sick of it.

So I guess do whatever you find easiest and whatever you’ll enjoy the most. If any will impact your choice of degree programme, chose the one best suited.

Hope this helps!!

I just completed my A-levels, I did both history and English.

Just want to get my personal opinion out there: history was an absolute mess.

It was my biggest regret in terms of A-Level choices. I chose history because I had been really invested in GCSE history. Later discovered that this wasn't enough of a basis to have chosen it. Obviously, I think it really depends on the exam board. I did edexcel and the sheer amount of stuff that you have to memorise utterly ridiculous. We had to study the history of 3 countries for our exams. Each country had about 150-200 pages worth of information to learn, and every sentence on each page was just a new fact. So multiply the number of sentences per page by the total number of pages.

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. My pile of flashcards ended up being like 10cm high.

History ended up taking up so much of my study time, that I struggled to study for my other two subjects. It just ended up that I quit studying for it altogether closer to the exams.

Then again, I don't think that it's particularly difficult to get a decent grade in. I got consistent D's and C's in my mock exams but came out with a B in the exam. I am not a secret genius. In fact, I'm hella dumb. I studied 2 weeks for my first history exam, 2 days for my second and pulled an all-nighter for my last. In my third exam, I pretty much did not even write two of the essays. Yet, still came out with a B. My friend who was getting D's and U's pulled a C, and I know for a fact that she barely did any revision. So I'm thinking that grade boundaries have probably been lowered...?

English Lit was a LOT better. You don't really need to learn "set" facts. As long as you are creative, know how to make stuff up and can write decent essays, you should be fine. And being able to bulls*** IS important because I did not study for ANY of the poems that they asked for in the exam, luckily I am good at making stuff up and pretending like I'm smart, that I managed to pull the grade that I wanted LOL.

If you are definitely more passionate about English, I'd say do that. I personally think that an English A-Level with help you more when choosing your degree too (unless you want to study history at Uni, an essay based subject or don't even want to go Uni). But it's your call.