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A Level Questions

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

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Reply 1

P1mP

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

I do History and English!! English is not that big of a step..but history is massive!!I was struggling the first few weeks, but then it was ok!! Ur Subjects are really good, especially English, HIstory and Chemistry..As long as u enjoy em, its ok :wink:

...I regret choosing bio..so i dropped it!!!

Reply 2

kellywood_5

I do English lit and history, along with French and sociology, and I don't regret choosing any of them. I think the fact that I'm one of very few people in my year who haven't dropped or changed at least one subject shows that I thought about it and made a good decision the first time around. The combination of subjects you've chosen is excellent; all very well-respected and an equal balance between the arts and the sciences. I didn't find the gap in either English lit or history to be very big. In English lit, you're expected to think for yourself a lot more and there's more emphasis on poetic techniques. In history, the style of questions, ie some source-based and some essays, is pretty much the same, but you have less time to do them in and obviously there is more to learn in more detail.

Reply 3

Ahollisan

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

i do English lit, you need to be able to do wider reading, and read novels in a short space of time, so if you don't like reading don't do this subject.

do i reget taking it.... in a way because the work load in my college it hard with to different teacher i have two novel to read in 2 weeks, plus exams and essay. but it fun to do, and interesting.

Reply 4

smallthoms

Personally, I find History the easiest AS Level (OCR). English Lit (WJEC) is also fine but I'm finding it hard to gauge how well I'm doing: one of my teachers gave me full marks on an essay, another one just writes 'not good enough' on my work. The god thing is that you get plenty of time to develop to develop your writing skills, which is the main prob. for most people.

Reply 5

kellywood_5

smallthoms

One of my teachers just writes snide comments like 'I suspect this essay will not answer the question' next to my plan, and it really p***es me off! Try actually reading it first before making assumptions, you *****! :mad:

Reply 6

Johnny 5

My Eng-Lit teacher has a novel way of avoiding having to mark any essays in this way. She just doesn't set any. Yes, it can be fun to avoid criticism for... what is it... four months? But I can't help but feel that that a stoned penguin could do a much better job than her.

So I didn't find it a big jump, and the workload has yet to get to me.

Reply 7

Avi

I take chemistry and biology and yes, the work is a much bigger jump than GCSE's, more so with Biology, but with good planning, you might find it a breeze. The toughest thing about AS and A-level chemistry is the huge jump from gcse to A levels. The theory is more complicated and thorough and requires a lot more revision and takes a while to get to grips with. Biology theory is relatively easy, but you're going to have to study for 2 theory papers, which means revising from 2 seperate books which means lots of revison come exam time.

As for regretting subjets, I would ahve to say I still regret having taken Biology. This isn't meant to put you off the subject, it's just that Biology theory is soo boring for me and lessons are hardly stimulating. Plus, teachers (mine at least!) give a hell of a lot of tests.

Good luck with your choices, but prepare for the workload. If you manage to learn well from your lessons then you'll find them a breeze. :wink:

Reply 8

Mrs Rickman

I do Eng lit (AQA). I love it! So much better than GCSE! And that's nothing to do with my teachers because i've been lucky enough to have fab English teachers through GCSE and now AS. Smaller class sizes are a major plus in all subjects but in Eng particularly it's great as it makes discussion a lot more informal and you get your voice heard a lot more. Wider reading is an absolute must so check out what kind of texts your school/college sets and see if you'd enjoy reading other works/backgroun info for that genre/time period. I've had a few essays so far but i'm guessing that if you're also thinking of history then essay-based subjects aren't too much of a problem for you. Good luck deciding anyway. Hope you choose English!!

Reply 9

Cirsium

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

I take Chem + Bio - love them both. Yes they are a big step up but provided you have a good understanding (as opposed to good factual recall) then you're anchored mate! Vicky took BCP + Hist + Eng so it can be done - it's a niec break and you can swing either way...

Reply 10

khil

I did Chemistry, Biology, English Literature and Art at AS, have now dropped Eng Lit at A2. So you're pretty much doing exactly the same stuff as me! :biggrin:

Eng Lit is a lot harder than GCSE from what I remember, I got D for coursework bah :frown:

and got Cs throughout the year bah. I came out with an A at AS for Eng Lit :biggrin:

From what I remember all subjects are a massive leap from GCSE, but once you've settled in it's really not that hard. You gotta work, unlike GCSE, but there's nothing to worry about :smile:

I don't regret taking any of my subjects even though I loathed my Eng Lit lessons and the entire course - had to study literature I really did not enjoy - but I'm still glad I took it. They're all fairly interesting - but the truth is at this level, nothing is completely fascinating - it's not dull like GCSE, but it's not much better lol! But they're good subjects they're quite interesting - the reeeeally interesting stuff starts at uni :biggrin:

which yay I'll be going to next year!

And yeh I'd say it's a good combo of subjects - left yourself good flexibility for either humanities or sciences if you change your mind half way through, which I did so I'm VERY glad I took my sciences cus I never even thought I'd consider doing science at uni - but now am choosing between Neuroscience and Pharmacology lol! They're all very well respected subjects - unlike me with Art :frown:

bah - so yeh go with your choices!

However if you dislike any one of those subjects - don't even bother taking it. It was an absolute nightmare my taking Eng Lit cus I hated the literature sooo much - and believe me I adore English Lit as a subject - and I couldn't stand the course even with my love of Eng Lit. You'll be doing five hours of it a week per subject - so unless you like em, do NOT take them! Lol!

Reply 11

yasmin

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

no i dont think u made the right choice i think 3 As is a good combination it is just too much load :rolleyes:

Reply 12

nas7232

chemistry is really hard at a level. Imo one of the hardest a levels with maths.

Reply 13

Mrs Rickman

yasmin

no i dont think u made the right choice i think 3 As is a good combination it is just too much load :rolleyes:

It's not necessarily a choice though. We have to do 4 AS levels (plus general studies :rolleyes:

) and then take 3 to A2. I think most people do that now.

Reply 14

Checking for Spies

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

English lit doesn't have a huge jump to AS,the jump the next year is bigger because of the synoptic paper.You do have to think for yourself a lot more though.IMHO the subjects you've chosen will probably involve a lot of work,but if you enjoy them stick at it!
As for all that crap about 4 AS Levels being too much,it's standard in most schools as many of the top unis (Bristol,Durham,London,Oxbridge etc) will expect four AS levels as standard.

Reply 15

Crazy Student

I did a level biology and YES YES YES its a huge step up.

Reply 16

pretty

i did chem&bio sooooooooo much hard wk massive jump from gcse but u hav 2 keep on top of wk jus wk wk wk 2 gt a near decent grade but if you enjoy it u will breeze through it

Reply 17

Jessy123

Hey, everyone!
Let me tell you something that I know for sure. All students want to get their good grades and don't sweat about it too much. You can pray to God each morning about that, but I doubt that will help. Instead, you can go online and order your custom essay, term paper, book report at www.RAGULwriting.com. This site is the best on the web in custom essay writing services. Their products are really custom-written from scratch. They all employ professional writers, who write original papers, free of plagiarism and precisely on topic you order. Don't waste your time, and order from www.RAGULwriting.com - 100% original custom essays!

Reply 18

Elles

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

i did those exact A2s + AS Physics + A2 General Studies (but appearently that doesn't count..lol).

but.. i'm now a 2nd year at uni, so with hindsight consider them all to have been ridiculously easy, which probably isn't much help to you.. :wink:

i enjoyed them all really, although:

- biology became a bit rote learning-straightforward, though we chose our own option papers for A2 & i did genetics which apparently was more conceptually challenging

- chemistry was always pretty tricky (i did Salters - so became completely focussed on doing amazingly well in the II became Chem was my weakest AS grade.. ultimately i think i ended up overcompensating! :p:

)

- i loved history. perhaps this was the largest step up though? in that most of my class found it hard to get the knack of the new style of essays.. do some wider reading & essay practise. persevere through what may be deadly dull cwk topics.

- english. meh.. i just did this because i was good at it, TBH. if you want to do amazingly well at A2 you will need to do lots of work for the synoptic unit - oodles of wider reading.. which i decided wasn't really in my ultimate best interests.. so it was a good thing i got near full marks in the AS..ahem..!

have you decided which 6th form to go to yet?

Reply 19

xxkeeleyxx

No Future

Does anyone do...History/English lit/chem/bio?
How do you find the subject? Is it a big step up from GCSE?
Do you regret choosing a subject? (and why?)

Is my choice of 4 ASs a good combination?

i never regreted anythin as much as taking biology in my life. :hmpf:

i find it very hard but this may be from the fact that my teachers thinks we all also take chem and phys (which i dont) :bootyshak . he is the most arogrant fu***r i have ever met. :secruity: He complains wen our wrk is a day late but it is never returned to us! But other than that i quite enjoyed it last yr! :biggrin:

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