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Essay based AS subjects

i'd choose between english lit and politics; both are respected, both are equally easy/difficult and they're both interesting. i can only speak for english lit because i'm currently taking it, but it's an essay based subject and for my board, which is AQA B, i only had 2 papers to sit, and one was coursework.
:smile:

Reply 21

littlebee2

History is indeed an awesome subject as an essay subject for Alevels... apparently it would equip you with great writing skills. My writing has defintely improved after doing history! However its quite tough as a subject as lots to learn so politics would probably be a great choice. After my politics exam today i can definately say there is hell a lot of writing lol! 3 hours straight non stop writing!!! But its quite straightforward so its a good subject to pick up at AS level.

Reply 22

littlebee2

x_reggg

i'm chinese, learnt my a-levels through school and my chinese a-level didn't get recognised any where :p:

well, i did finish it a year early, but that's irrelevent XD

I pretty much learnt chinese myself since I am a BBC and only been to chinese school for 3 months and my parents never taught me chinese and knowing it isn't going to be recognised is a bit annoying ><
But i guess thats life!

Reply 23

claire_x

2

I currently do History, Politics and Psychology which I would class as good essay subjects, which would prepare you well for any degree. However, I would only recommend History if a) you are genuinely interested in the past and b) you are willing to work hard, because I personally find it extremely challenging. It is an amazing subject though, but unless you are interested in it, I wouldn't recommend it.

Politics on the other hand is much much easier than history, both in terms of work load and in terms of the exams. I would perhaps be a better choice. AQA Politics AS has no coursework, there may be some in A2.

You do have to write essays for Psychology, but they are different to the essays you write for History and Politics, and for AQA AS I have found them to be more 'Write what you know about...' rather than developing the good essay skills of History/Politics.

So yeh, my personally choice would be Politics. The workload is manageable, the course is interesting and it should prepare you well. Having said that, history is probably better respected...but remember you are already doing some very well respected ones.

xxx

Reply 24

tom_tom_tom

18

I dont think there is an easy and hard A level they are all challenging in there owm right, due to the nature of them being A levels

however they all have the same amount of exams with some exceptions, but the basis of all the As levels is 3 modules

i think you should go with the one you think you will enjoy the most and get on well with!

Reply 25

random18

Sociology seems like a walk in the park. Wouldn't know for sure though.

Reply 26

fredscarecrow

18

Greatleysteg

Go for English Lit: traditional, respected and challenging. And you'll be able to avoid learning boring, turgid, pre-set information and rigid markschemes - you'll be able to make of your texts what you will (within reason :p:

)

Wish someone had told that to our AS exam marker!
haha.

I'd warn you off history if you want an 'easy' subject. Even those of us who adore the subject and are doing it at uni find it challenging. English lit...yeh I'd suggest that. It's not easy, but if you're a good rader and a good writer and are able to analyse efficiently then it'll give you a good subject.

If you're going into law, may I ask, how come you're doing sciencey subjects?

Reply 27

anna_spanner89

SpiritedAway

i thought there was coursework, because one of the exams is a coursework based exam :s-smilie:

Not really..its like half an exam, and its just theoretical reasearch methods

Reply 28

SpiritedAway

17

anna_spanner89

Not really..its like half an exam, and its just theoretical reasearch methods

Ahh. OK

Reply 29

tokyorose888

OP

10

x_reggg

i'm chinese, learnt my a-levels through school and my chinese a-level didn't get recognised any where :p:

well, i did finish it a year early, but that's irrelevent XD

all the decent essay-based subjects do have coursework bits, from what i know of the ones taken at my school.. i would say history seems to be slightly easier but i wouldn't know :p:

depending on the university, you don't really need a lot of essay-based subjects to get in for law: my friend got an offer for law with bio/chem/maths :p:

didnt UCL accept your chinese a level (include it with your offer?)? :eek:

.....because i was planning to take it to A2, but if nowheres gonna accpet it....why waste my time? :frown:

Reply 30

pork products

rahulsood

Business is the 'dumber' version of Economics.
Oversimplification for sure, I know :p:

,
but it's the largely similar content, in a much less academically rigorous format.

Erm you are talking crap, business may be more general but it doesnt make it easier it just means you have to learn more. I did both and economics was far the easier imo

Reply 31

tokyorose888

OP

10

claire_x

I currently do History, Politics and Psychology which I would class as good essay subjects, which would prepare you well for any degree. However, I would only recommend History if a) you are genuinely interested in the past and b) you are willing to work hard, because I personally find it extremely challenging. It is an amazing subject though, but unless you are interested in it, I wouldn't recommend it.

Politics on the other hand is much much easier than history, both in terms of work load and in terms of the exams. I would perhaps be a better choice. AQA Politics AS has no coursework, there may be some in A2.

You do have to write essays for Psychology, but they are different to the essays you write for History and Politics, and for AQA AS I have found them to be more 'Write what you know about...' rather than developing the good essay skills of History/Politics.

So yeh, my personally choice would be Politics. The workload is manageable, the course is interesting and it should prepare you well. Having said that, history is probably better respected...but remember you are already doing some very well respected ones.

xxx

i wasnt going to pick up another AS, but after my teacher gave me a really bad coursework grade, and said if you want to get an A, you'll have to get full marks unit 3 of biology.....which is impossible becuase im not a brainbox lol :smile:

thnx for your advice really helpful

Reply 32

tokyorose888

OP

10

fredscarecrow

Wish someone had told that to our AS exam marker!
haha.

I'd warn you off history if you want an 'easy' subject. Even those of us who adore the subject and are doing it at uni find it challenging. English lit...yeh I'd suggest that. It's not easy, but if you're a good rader and a good writer and are able to analyse efficiently then it'll give you a good subject.

If you're going into law, may I ask, how come you're doing sciencey subjects?

its because since yr 11, ive wanted to do medicine, but then i dont know what happened, but i just really wanted to do Law... weird i know lol :smile:

Reply 33

Howells

I would advise History over English Lit because there's no coursework at AS and less quotes to learn. But then again, I'd advise Politics over History, so it depends where your interest would lie more.

Reply 34

Mr Dactyl

My History course did have coursework: there are courses in almost all subjects without coursework, but it depends what your college offers.

Reply 35

potentialcollegedropout

I did AS psychology and sociology last year.

Psychology was 3 exams
Sociology was 2 exams and a piece of coursework

Saying that, the piece of coursework was only just over 1000 words long and I got a B for my coursework.

Reply 36

DevilishAngel

If u want an essay based subject i say go with Psychology...its purely essay based!
18 marks questions for AS
and for A2 there are only essay based questions most worth 24/30 marks

Reply 37

chris123

Tbh I could go to China and do an English "A level". That's why it's not respected.

Reply 38

tokyorose888

OP

10

chris123

Tbh I could go to China and do an English "A level". That's why it's not respected.

but i didnt go anywhere though, i was born in britian

Reply 39

littlebee2

chris123

Tbh I could go to China and do an English "A level". That's why it's not respected.

Well if you went to do english in hong kong at which would be GCSE level then you would be in for quite a shock. I am a british born chinese and i did a past paper for a friend of mine as a joke and that got marked and i only got about a B which shows actually it isn't as easy as you may think.

Essay based AS subjects

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