Anyone done a level sociology or history or psychology or politics

If you have what are your thought on me taking it?
I need to choose one as my third a level (I’m doing bio and chem already) I’ve done history gcse and am good at it but it’s a bit boring,

Reply 1

JT_888

Original post by Ghostface6001

If you have what are your thought on me taking it?
I need to choose one as my third a level (I’m doing bio and chem already) I’ve done history gcse and am good at it but it’s a bit boring,

I did both A-level History and Sociology and sat the exam in Summer 2019 - currently finished my second year of uni.

History: It's still a step up even if you did GCSE History, but I wouldn't worry too much. Initially, I found it difficult to wrap my head around exam techniques and how to answer different types of questions, i.e. sources, interpretations, essay-based questions. I should add that A-level History is obviously content-heavy and when you're doing pre-reading/making notes in class, you need to focus and only note down key information. Otherwise, you'll end up with pages of really dense notes and that won't be useful to you.

Sociology: Similar to A-level History, it is content-heavy, but an enjoyable subject to take at A-level given the range of topics covered and the depth it goes into. I would advise caution to those who call this an 'easy' subject, it isn't necessary once they've understood just how content-heavy it is. Though once you're solid with sociological theories from functionalism to Marxism, etc. you'll be fine with learning new content and should be able to grasp it relatively quickly.

Hope this helps! :smile:

Reply 2

shak21

I do bio chem history and I really enjoy it but I also did enjoy history a lot at gcse. If you don't thoroughly enjoy a subject do not take it because it will feel like a chore doing it, especially because its all essays compared bio chem. History however is a more respected alevel then politics, sociology and psychology but from what I've heard politics is much harder than history. I guess it depends on what you want to do when you are older, if you want to go into politics and government work I would advise history and politics and not sociology until university because from what I've heard it is less respected at alevel. But if you want to go into the sciences, definitely take psychology because everyone who I know that takes it finds it really interesting and loves it. Hope this helps you make your decision a bit, sorry if I'm factually wrong about anything, this was all from my experience.

Reply 3

SB1234567890

I've just finished year 13 and did psychology and sociology. Although both essay-based subjects, essay writing skills are more important for sociology as psychology essays are more structured so if you want a subject that shows you can do essay writing too then sociology may be best. However, doing biology will probably mean you will particularly enjoy the biopsychology (AQA) chapter in psychology and you will probably find the most difficult chapter (in my opinion) more easy. Although both have research methods, this is based more around essays for sociology (20 mark questions for AQA) whereas psychology involves more maths, including percentages, averages, ratios and stats tests, which you may prefer if you prefer science/maths based subjects. Both are quite content-heavy but as long as you look over the content regularly then both are manageable. I found both really interesting due to their relevance though I personally found that sociology was more interesting overall while psychology content became more interesting in year 2
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have about either subject