History - difficult?

Is History considered a difficult A level? Members here who have taken both History and English Lit: which would you say is harder to do well in?

Reply 1

generalebriety

Which are you better at? History is considered an "academically rigorous" A-level, yeah, so if that's another way of saying "difficult" in your book...

Reply 2

Ed.

Both Eng Lit and History are challenging but rewarding - I found History to be the 'easier' of the two though.

Reply 3

WhatTheFunk

history is hard in places, as long as you learn your stuff and learn how to answer the question in the right way it becomes easy, its not a walk in the park you have to work at it

Reply 4

be-lie-ve

I took both but did marginally better in History. However I would say that History is 'harder' because you need to know more, whereas in Lit. you just need a good style of writing and 'good' opinions, plus a good use of terminology.
So really it depends what you're better at and what you prefer/what would be good for uni.. they're both very well respected courses.

Reply 5

eighteenSmiles

Its deffinately a challenging A level, you really need a good interest in the subject to do well because with the work load and reliance on personal study its easy to become disheartened or loose interest in the subject. History is considered a very good A level to have and you certainly learn alot of key skills. Whether it would be better than English lit really depends on what modules your college chooses to teach, because only you will know which interests you more

Reply 6

QI Elf

I did history and lit for AS and found lit farrrrrr harder than history ever was, even in A2 year. Needless to say I dropped lit at the end of AS.

Reply 7

mdhey89

It's not a particularly difficult A-level if you have a flair for essay writing.

Reply 8

cdeu12

I have a flair for essay writing, but my problem is: I find it easier to do well in History but don't find it interesting... I have to work more for Lit but find it interesting. I'm worried for the sake of enjoyment I'll end up with a B in English Literature instead of an A in History, but to be honest I'm not too bothered about that... I'd rather stick with what I enjoy.

Thanks for the replies. :smile:

Reply 9

Absurd

Both can be quite challenging. Take up whichever subject you prefer.

Reply 10

maghreblover

I do english lit and I love it...but...
I have heard that history is more challenging, and do keep in mind that sometimes challenges bring out the best in you.
A lot of the time, I wish I had done history.

Reply 11

makinghistory

It depends what exam boards you're on as well I think.

I took both, I did better in History by a little bit, but there are a lot of dates and figures and facts to remember obviously, and not just remember but apply and consider etcetera.

If you're good at Eng Lit tis pretty easy to do well in A level history, especially if you find it interesting, because presumably you are already good at essay writing and applying knowledge and analysing sources and things already.

I found I had more out of school work for History than Eng Lit but again that completely depends on the teacher and exam board!

Reply 12

wiggles

Didn't do English Lit at A-Level, but did English Lang, Classics and History, and History was the hardest. Got an A in Classics, B in English Lang and C in History. It got a lot a harder from GCSE when I got an A in it (my only A in fact, with 5 Bs and 5 Cs)

558

Did both for AS. History is far easier tbh, in the sense that if you put time into learning the set answers for each possible question and how to write an essay. English is more about if it happens on the day.
Sorry cant offer more than that.