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History Or Psychology A-level?

So I am coming to the end of my GCSEs soon, and have picked Chemistry and Biology, as I wish to study medicine. To be quite frank I hate maths and so do not wish to do any math related A-levels - e.g Maths or Physics.

I am interested in both History, as well as Psychology greatly, so to be honest my choice is dependent on what universities are most pleased with.

Thanks a lot!
Reply 1
Original post by TheMuslimMaestro
So I am coming to the end of my GCSEs soon, and have picked Chemistry and Biology, as I wish to study medicine. To be quite frank I hate maths and so do not wish to do any math related A-levels - e.g Maths or Physics.

I am interested in both History, as well as Psychology greatly, so to be honest my choice is dependent on what universities are most pleased with.

Thanks a lot!

Find med schools you are potentially interested in and look up their entry requirements. I'm not sure if psych is more preferred as I don't do medicine but it could be helpful if you are interested in psychiatry or the links between mental and physical health. From most I've seen they just specify chem and bio but idk if u need a 3rd science or not and also different unis choose to regard psych as a science or not.
Well I'm in year 13 and have nearly finished my final exams, however, I've completed all of the psychology exams. I personally believe psychology isn't that challenging. For context, I am predicted an A*, the revision can be left to the final month before your exams and you can succeed. I don't believe it's possible to retain all the context for all 3 papers all together. So definitely choose psychology in my opinion, and contrary to popular belief they're concerned more with your knowledge rather than your memory- so unless they're a key psychologist, you can just mention "empirical evidence tells us". If your college or sixth form does AQA psychology well you'll definitely enjoy the first year content, personally I loved psychopathology- we looked at depression, anxiety, OCD, therapies etc- things that have real-life application. A lot of psychology is relevant, it's not outdated like history. The year 2 content is slightly more difficult (as expected), actually it just occurred to me, my friends also did biology+chem+psychology and psychology involves a decent amount of biology- there's a whole topic called biopsychology that you visit in year 1 and 2, and biology is generally scattered everywhere- so definitely do psychology. universities will struggle to see the link when you choose history as well, it'll be hard to incorporate into your personal statement. I know people that did history A level and they hate it so much, if you check the student room chats for the recent history exams that have been sat , you will how negative their reviews and thoughts of the exams have been. Your 2 science subjects are already a lot of content, don't overwork yourself and set yourself up by choosing history. Psychology, although it's not a throwaway subject that should be taken for granted, it definitely requires effort and work (as expected) but it comes naturally and you shouldn't get too exhausted. Like for some exams you can revise 2/3 days before, the content is recoverable for sure!!! dm me if you want any further advice or equally reply here I don't mind.
Original post by DystopianArena
Well I'm in year 13 and have nearly finished my final exams, however, I've completed all of the psychology exams. I personally believe psychology isn't that challenging. For context, I am predicted an A*, the revision can be left to the final month before your exams and you can succeed. I don't believe it's possible to retain all the context for all 3 papers all together. So definitely choose psychology in my opinion, and contrary to popular belief they're concerned more with your knowledge rather than your memory- so unless they're a key psychologist, you can just mention "empirical evidence tells us". If your college or sixth form does AQA psychology well you'll definitely enjoy the first year content, personally I loved psychopathology- we looked at depression, anxiety, OCD, therapies etc- things that have real-life application. A lot of psychology is relevant, it's not outdated like history. The year 2 content is slightly more difficult (as expected), actually it just occurred to me, my friends also did biology+chem+psychology and psychology involves a decent amount of biology- there's a whole topic called biopsychology that you visit in year 1 and 2, and biology is generally scattered everywhere- so definitely do psychology. universities will struggle to see the link when you choose history as well, it'll be hard to incorporate into your personal statement. I know people that did history A level and they hate it so much, if you check the student room chats for the recent history exams that have been sat , you will how negative their reviews and thoughts of the exams have been. Your 2 science subjects are already a lot of content, don't overwork yourself and set yourself up by choosing history. Psychology, although it's not a throwaway subject that should be taken for granted, it definitely requires effort and work (as expected) but it comes naturally and you shouldn't get too exhausted. Like for some exams you can revise 2/3 days before, the content is recoverable for sure!!! dm me if you want any further advice or equally reply here I don't mind.


I really do appreciate the comprehensive reply. To be honest I think Psychology does seem to be the best third option. It helps as well that I am also predicted a grade 9 for my psychology GCSE but don't even do history at a GCSE level.
Original post by TheMuslimMaestro
I really do appreciate the comprehensive reply. To be honest I think Psychology does seem to be the best third option. It helps as well that I am also predicted a grade 9 for my psychology GCSE but don't even do history at a GCSE level.


Even though the following thread relates to 2022 entry, it will give you an idea of entyr requirments for med school:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5611422

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