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are these good options?

I am planning to apply to 2 sixth forms, one which is my current secondary school and another sixth form.

At my school I am going to apply for: Psychology, Spanish and History

At the other sixth form I am going to apply for: Psychology, Spanish and History of art.

Are these good a-levels? I am very passionate about all the subjects listed above. I know that they are a bit random but they are the only subject areas I like, and I also don't know what I want to do as a degree.
Reply 1
This is just my opinion, so take it with a pinch of salt.

Out of all the options you gave, the only one I take is History, which although I enjoy arguably the most (I also do Law and Computer Science), it is also something that you need to keep on top of in terms of revision, which heavily requires a lot of self-discipline.

From what I have heard of Spanish and Psychology A Levels, they can go either way. As you are thinking of also doing History, the style in which you would be learning psychology would be very similar and so would more overlap when revising, which can be handy. With Spanish, however, you would have to prepare yourself for, from what I have heard, one of the hardest A levels (obviously this depends on how lingual you already are), with a completely different learning method as Psychology and History.

If you was to study History of Art rather than History, from what I have seen it appears to be much more similar to psychology than History itself, as it study's the Human expression. Just like History, this would work well with Psychology, but may again clash with Spanish.

Other than that, all of these options are strong ones to take forward into a degree or apprenticeship if you wish! They provide useful sets of skills that are very transferable, and a qualification in MFL always looks nice on a CV.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
Reply 2
Original post by n47h4n
This is just my opinion, so take it with a pinch of salt.

Out of all the options you gave, the only one I take is History, which although I enjoy arguably the most (I also do Law and Computer Science), it is also something that you need to keep on top of in terms of revision, which heavily requires a lot of self-discipline.

From what I have heard of Spanish and Psychology A Levels, they can go either way. As you are thinking of also doing History, the style in which you would be learning psychology would be very similar and so would more overlap when revising, which can be handy. With Spanish, however, you would have to prepare yourself for, from what I have heard, one of the hardest A levels (obviously this depends on how lingual you already are), with a completely different learning method as Psychology and History.

If you was to study History of Art rather than History, from what I have seen it appears to be much more similar to psychology than History itself, as it study's the Human expression. Just like History, this would work well with Psychology, but may again clash with Spanish.

Other than that, all of these options are strong ones to take forward into a degree or apprenticeship if you wish! They provide useful sets of skills that are very transferable, and a qualification in MFL always looks nice on a CV.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

thank you, this was very helpful!
Hi i did spanish a level and it was amazing it inspired me to take it at uni alongside philosophy. depending on what exam board you choose it may be different but there is a lot of work and content to get done. If you have any questions i can answer them for you i did AQA the general topics in first year are fun and then second year get a bit deeper then there’s a book , film, speaking project and the general exam x
Reply 4
Original post by grace.louise1905
Hi i did spanish a level and it was amazing it inspired me to take it at uni alongside philosophy. depending on what exam board you choose it may be different but there is a lot of work and content to get done. If you have any questions i can answer them for you i did AQA the general topics in first year are fun and then second year get a bit deeper then there’s a book , film, speaking project and the general exam x

Thank you for your reply! That's actually really cool and I was wondering what the speaking project entails/ how you memorized it. Thanks (:
(edited 5 months ago)
Original post by meoow

Thank you for your reply! That's actually really cool and I was wondering what the speaking project entails/ how you memorized it. Thanks (:


No worries i also didn’t know what to do for a degree but just think about what you’re passionate about and actually enjoy learning. For the speaking project you can do anything that you find interesting and want to research and can talk about. It’s based on a question you create, you work on it all throughout yr13 so you can keep reading it and practicing with your teacher. I did mine on Rosalía and how her music may be considered controversial. Then they ask you questions at the end. There’s also the photo card as well. Sorry it’s a lot of info lol
Reply 6
Original post by grace.louise1905
No worries i also didn’t know what to do for a degree but just think about what you’re passionate about and actually enjoy learning. For the speaking project you can do anything that you find interesting and want to research and can talk about. It’s based on a question you create, you work on it all throughout yr13 so you can keep reading it and practicing with your teacher. I did mine on Rosalía and how her music may be considered controversial. Then they ask you questions at the end. There’s also the photo card as well. Sorry it’s a lot of info lol

Thanks, it was all helpful info dw. Sorry for asking more questions but who do you do the speaking exam in front of? Also how did you revise all of the vocabulary you need to learn? Since I've gathered there's significantly more than the GCSE.
Original post by meoow

Thanks, it was all helpful info dw. Sorry for asking more questions but who do you do the speaking exam in front of? Also how did you revise all of the vocabulary you need to learn? Since I've gathered there's significantly more than the GCSE.


mine was in front of my teacher but it could be in front of a different examiner, and tbh there is hard vocab but the tests each week is still like 20 words i used spanishdict and created my own list and tested myself online or used quizlet - when it used to be free😭 you can also use the sets other people have created from spanish a level so you don’t have to waste time creating them xx
Reply 8
Original post by grace.louise1905
mine was in front of my teacher but it could be in front of a different examiner, and tbh there is hard vocab but the tests each week is still like 20 words i used spanishdict and created my own list and tested myself online or used quizlet - when it used to be free😭 you can also use the sets other people have created from spanish a level so you don’t have to waste time creating them xx

ah okay, thanks! Sorry if this is a bit personal but I was wondering what grade you achieved in a-level Spanish? I'm wondering because I've heard it's basically impossible to achieve an A* unless you are already fluent, which is kind of disheartening to hear. Also how did you balance your other a-levels with Spanish?
Original post by meoow
ah okay, thanks! Sorry if this is a bit personal but I was wondering what grade you achieved in a-level Spanish? I'm wondering because I've heard it's basically impossible to achieve an A* unless you are already fluent, which is kind of disheartening to hear. Also how did you balance your other a-levels with Spanish?

If these are the subjects that interest you then they are good subjects. Outside of sciences very few subjects are required for jobs. A foreign language and history are hugely respected and psychology is one of the most popular subjects. The only issue I can foresee is that many apply to Psychology just because others do but if it really interests you then go for it.

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