Which A-level is the hardest and why?

Pwca

TSR Community Staff

17

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

Reply 1

Tulipbloom

12

Original post

by Pwca

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

Foreign language: specifically Chinese. Imagine doing English lang and lit but in Chinese. Its almost like learning two languages because you have to learn the letter/spelt out form of Chinese and the character written form. Now throw in speaking practice with 4 tones, reading, writing, translation work: English to Chinese (and vice versa). Will take maths over Chinese any day.

Reply 2

Talkative Toad

Volunteer Team

22

Maybe should have had an other option but I’d say:

English Literature (respect to these students considering the types of texts you need to analyse and how you have to analyse them).

Further Maths (self-explanatory really).

Then maybe Physics or Chemistry (probably lean more towards Chemistry).

I’ve heard that A-level Computer Science is hard as well.

I’m saying based on the subject itself I’m ignoring things such as “the subject is hard because it has lots of content” e.g History, Biology, Philosophy etc.

Reply 3

Talkative Toad

Volunteer Team

22

Art is probably hard as well.

Reply 4

random_matt

20

Latin is generally considered the toughest.
Edit: Sorry, I remember reading GCSE. However, it is likely still difficult at A-Level.

Reply 5

mqb2766

21

Rocks are pretty hard, so probably geology.

Reply 6

Iced_Tea

7

Original post

by Pwca

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

My brother did A level physics and it was his lowest grade. I'm not doing it but I've heard enough from my brother and my friends. I guess the main issue is that the questions you get as well as the general content make no sense. A lot of people might say chemistry is the hardest but I think that's just because a lot of people take chemistry for the wrong reasons (studying medicine). People who study chemistry because they love chemistry find it perfectly fine.

Reply 7

Bigfishytime

11

Chemistry is hardddd

Reply 8

hannah.06

11

I'm doing French and Spanish A-Levels (I regret both tbh lol), and it's like doing GCSE English literature but in a different language
Plus there's IRP which is like the GCSE spoken language part, presenting a topic in the target language then 8-10 mins of the examiner asking questions in that language

Not my idea of fun coming from someone who really enjoyed GCSE languages

Reply 9

waffelton

12

I do Art and Design, and we have to do 20 hours extra work outside of our lessons (5 hours a week). It’s such a shame as a lot of people see it as an “easier” A-level since it’s coursework, which is partly why I applied for it (I was advised to do 2 “academic” courses, and a creative)

Reply 10

Za01

4

Original post

by Pwca

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

Computer Science has to be the hardest.
Just so complex.

Reply 11

ameera rizwan

1

Original post

by Pwca

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

Philosophy 😭

Reply 12

_Rusty_

22

Chem - only non-uni subject to make me cry

Reply 13

LimePepsi20

1

Original post

by Pwca

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

Out of the three A-levels I study (physics, geography and French) I would argue that physics is the toughest, at least in terms of the exams. As much as I enjoy physics and the content is generally enjoyable (except maybe mechanics) the questions you get require you to have a very good understanding of everything. The calculation questions are usually quite hit and miss; some are ok but there are a few bad apples.
I would also have to give French some note for being quite difficult. There’s quite a lot of information to digest in the reading and listening and some of their questions require you to infer from the text/audio. As of yet I have not yet done a written response to works paper but it’s essentially like doing English again, but in a completely different language.

Reply 14

KungFuRabbit

7

Original post

by Pwca

Hey folks

In your opinion, which A-level is hardest?

Spoiler

Vote in the poll and explain why in the chat :biggrin:

You missed out Further Maths - which is generally considered the hardest A level - especially the way it is taught in some schools when combined with Maths.

Reply 15

Pwca

OP

TSR Community Staff

17

Original post

by KungFuRabbit

You missed out Further Maths - which is generally considered the hardest A level - especially the way it is taught in some schools when combined with Maths.

Oops! That was silly of me because I've heard it's super difficult! Do you/ did you take it?

Original post

by hannah.06

I'm doing French and Spanish A-Levels (I regret both tbh lol), and it's like doing GCSE English literature but in a different language
Plus there's IRP which is like the GCSE spoken language part, presenting a topic in the target language then 8-10 mins of the examiner asking questions in that language

Not my idea of fun coming from someone who really enjoyed GCSE languages

I had this experience with A-level German. The jump from GCSE was huuuuuuge and it felt like I was starting from scratch. I dropped it for Year 13 but sort of regret it...

Reply 16

Peach_rose34

10

Original post

by Pwca

Oops! That was silly of me because I've heard it's super difficult! Do you/ did you take it?

I had this experience with A-level German. The jump from GCSE was huuuuuuge and it felt like I was starting from scratch. I dropped it for Year 13 but sort of regret it...

I take further maths -we’ve done everything on the as level apart from mechanics and it’s November of y12. It feels like maths just gets thrown at you constantly but with hard work and a 9 at gcse it’s not bad really.

Reply 17

Jieay20

10

I take biology, chemistry and maths. Out of my subjects I'd say chemistry is definitely the hardest, although all 3 of them are pretty easy and fun to revise as you don't have to write mountains.

Reply 18

Talkative Toad

Volunteer Team

22

Original post

by Pwca

Oops! That was silly of me because I've heard it's super difficult! Do you/ did you take it?

I had this experience with A-level German. The jump from GCSE was huuuuuuge and it felt like I was starting from scratch. I dropped it for Year 13 but sort of regret it...

Maybe the PE or Music or sociology option could be replaced with an “other/my subject is not on the list” option :smile:

.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 19

foxgIove

4

MFL, English Literature or History. I do Physics, Chemistry and Maths though, out of those I'd pick Physics. Art has a lot of coursework but I think I'd enjoy it, although I know it's more difficult than it seems.

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