Which A Level to pick - physics or psychology

I have been asked to confirm my A level choices. I want to study medicine at university, so my 3 a levels are bio, chem and maths. I am planning to do an EPQ too, and take all 4 subjects to a level (so no AS).

for the 4th one, im confused between physics or psychology. from what i have gathered online, psychology is an essay subject, but im predicted a 6/7 in both english lit and lang, so do you think that will affect my abilities to get A* in a level psychology? currently, in GCSEs, i dont particulaly enjoy physics becuase of the written questions, but a level physics doesnt have a lot of written questions i think (pls correct me if im wrong), so A level physics was appealing to me

what should i do?

Reply 1

curly_fries

OP

12

would there be overlaps between either psychology and physics with the subjects im taking?
would it be harder to cope with triple science+maths alevels?

Reply 2

emm4nuella

Debate & Current Affairs Helper, Study Forum Helper

19

hello i am doing a level psychology right now. i have no experience with medicine but personally, i think psychology would be the better subject (even if you do it as AS level) because you do cover quite a lot of biological aspects. yes you have to write essays in psychology, but you will learn the skills of how to answer these long-answer questions! so if you are not confident in english, this will not affect the outcome of how well you do in psychology! but what you need to do is read the specification for physics and psychology depending on the exam board that your school sets, and discover which a level is most appealing to you! hope this helps a bit

Reply 3

emm4nuella

Debate & Current Affairs Helper, Study Forum Helper

19

Original post by curly_fries

would there be overlaps between either psychology and physics with the subjects im taking?
would it be harder to cope with triple science+maths alevels?

and around 20%-30% of the course also has some mathematical aspects due to the research methods section

Reply 4

MP_25

10

Original post by curly_fries

I have been asked to confirm my A level choices. I want to study medicine at university, so my 3 a levels are bio, chem and maths. I am planning to do an EPQ too, and take all 4 subjects to a level (so no AS).

for the 4th one, im confused between physics or psychology. from what i have gathered online, psychology is an essay subject, but im predicted a 6/7 in both english lit and lang, so do you think that will affect my abilities to get A* in a level psychology? currently, in GCSEs, i dont particulaly enjoy physics becuase of the written questions, but a level physics doesnt have a lot of written questions i think (pls correct me if im wrong), so A level physics was appealing to me

what should i do?

hey

i'm currently doing physics at a level and even though there are bits of medical physics aspects i think it might be better to take psych especially if you feel you'll enjoy it more, I don't have experience on going into med but you're set with bio chem and maths so i wouldn't stress to much about the 4th.
as @emm4nuella said the psych aspects would definitely tie in better to bio :smile:

even in my experience most ppl who take physics seem to take maths but not rlly any other sciences, i guess physics is seen more as a lead into either physics or engineering and also psychology also would give you a bit of difference as 3 sciences + maths would for sure be intense, but as always it depends on your exam boards as those will give you a clearer view of content you cover.
i personally do OCR A physics but the content varies per board, one covers more/less of a certain topic, I know we don't seem to cover much medical physics but as for exam qu's many of them are reliant on calculations but there is a fair share of written qu's and they are very precise on their definitions/wording on those which is always a bit of a struggle.

Ultimately it's your decision and I wouldn't put too much stress into it, even if anything happens you will most likely have the option to change subjects on results day anyway but i'd make sure to find the spec overviews/content and see what appeals to you :smile:

even if it'll help you can look through some past papers to see the spread/types of questions they ask, even though you haven't started it, that's what i did when choosing my choices as well (i actually changed psych for physics but that's cause i wanted to do engineering haha)

Reply 5

MP_25

10

as for overlap then physics does have some bits of overlap, mostly in maths with the mechanics/kinematics and i think one small section on thermal physics and in chem in enthalpy but other than that physics focuses a lot on electricity and waves a lot which doesn't seem to overlap with anything else (can't talk for bio as i don't do it haha) either way both are great subjects and you're for sure going to enjoy whatever you take so good luck with choosing but don't worry whatever happens :smile:

Reply 6

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

19

Original post by curly_fries

I have been asked to confirm my A level choices. I want to study medicine at university, so my 3 a levels are bio, chem and maths. I am planning to do an EPQ too, and take all 4 subjects to a level (so no AS).

for the 4th one, im confused between physics or psychology. from what i have gathered online, psychology is an essay subject, but im predicted a 6/7 in both english lit and lang, so do you think that will affect my abilities to get A* in a level psychology? currently, in GCSEs, i dont particulaly enjoy physics becuase of the written questions, but a level physics doesnt have a lot of written questions i think (pls correct me if im wrong), so A level physics was appealing to me

what should i do?

Id probably go for psychology

Reply 7

curly_fries

OP

12

thank you everyone!!!!

I think I'll pick psychology for now, and yes I can change my subjects on results day, so that will enable me some time to think after GCSEs too.

Reply 8

AA881

4

Original post by curly_fries

I have been asked to confirm my A level choices. I want to study medicine at university, so my 3 a levels are bio, chem and maths. I am planning to do an EPQ too, and take all 4 subjects to a level (so no AS).

for the 4th one, im confused between physics or psychology. from what i have gathered online, psychology is an essay subject, but im predicted a 6/7 in both english lit and lang, so do you think that will affect my abilities to get A* in a level psychology? currently, in GCSEs, i dont particulaly enjoy physics becuase of the written questions, but a level physics doesnt have a lot of written questions i think (pls correct me if im wrong), so A level physics was appealing to me

what should i do?

I do A Level physics and I wouldn't recommend choosing it unless you are 100% sure you want to do it and it is a subject you really like. It can be really hard and there are still quite a lot of written questions, which I agree are not the best. I don't do psych so I can't really speak on it but I'd say that's the better option out of the two since you'll have some variety from your other 3 STEM subjects.
You seem quite ambitious and set on doing 4 A Levels plus an EPQ but I would strongly suggest you decide between either the EPQ or the fourth A Level, not both. If you must, then start with 4 and drop to 3 after a couple months once you decide which subjects you prefer, but definitely don't put yourself through the insane amount of workload for 4 subjects and an EPQ.

Which A Level to pick - physics or psychology

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you