Biology a level crisis

Original post by IMABUFF

Hey i just thought i'd share my frustration to you as a year 12 studying biology, english lit, politics and an EPQ. I plan to pursue law at the uni of manchester. You might me wondering why i chose biology, matter of fact it was just pure interest, i know a lot of universities recognise students who do 1 STEM A level as its quite harder to get an A* in a stem subject. I've been finding biology difficult, i only JUST got my first A* in Immunology after 6 months of the course. The teacher is also a bit of a prick and constantly pushes me to do better which is quite good of him however im struggling to manage my time as all my energy is going into bio and im finding it harder to deal with my other subjects, i can drop it after the mocks in May and then perhaps do an easier subject like business that i can cover in 1 year. I have been getting Ds, Es and Us in biology but i only just improved to an A*.......would love to hear what you all think and if there is a right time to know when to drop a subject.

We do the exact same combo haha and I'm also struggling to decide if i should drop bio. lmk what u end up doing :smile:

Reply 3

IMABUFF

OP

11

Original post by ellie_pd

We do the exact same combo haha and I'm also struggling to decide if i should drop bio. lmk what u end up doing :smile:

im in y13 drop bio drop bio drop bio

Reply 4

Entertainment Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

Original post by IMABUFF

im in y13 drop bio drop bio drop bio

HAHA maybe i will. I also took it cause I enjoy it but it is a lot of work, but im gonna have 3 essay subjects if i drop so idk ☹️

Reply 5

Kallisto

22

@always-anxious
@DerDracologe

Here is someone who needs your support and good words for motivation. Help to cope with this crisis.

Reply 6

Original post by ellie_pd

HAHA maybe i will. I also took it cause I enjoy it but it is a lot of work, but im gonna have 3 essay subjects if i drop so idk ☹️

What other subjects are you doing?
What are you hoping to do after a levels?
What kind of grades are you getting across the board?
Probably for the best to drop a subject if youre doing 4 🙂

Reply 7

stilllearning123

16

Original post by IMABUFF

im in y13 drop bio drop bio drop bio

How did your exams end up going?
Did you end up getting into uni after all?

Reply 8

Original post by DerDracologe

What other subjects are you doing?
What are you hoping to do after a levels?
What kind of grades are you getting across the board?
Probably for the best to drop a subject if youre doing 4 🙂

Hi sorry for the late response! My current subjects are biology, English lit, politics and religious studies (and an EPQ) but I want to drop down to 3 subjects. I’m thinking of dropping either politics or bio but im not sure and i also don’t know what i want to study at uni. I was thinking of maybe doing like philosophy and theology or like English at uni but im still looking into it. In my most recent exams i got an a* in rs, b in eng, a b/c in politics and a c in bio (not great ik) although i do feel as though i can do better as i wasn’t that organised prior to the exam.

Reply 9

Original post by ellie_pd

Hi sorry for the late response! My current subjects are biology, English lit, politics and religious studies (and an EPQ) but I want to drop down to 3 subjects. I’m thinking of dropping either politics or bio but im not sure and i also don’t know what i want to study at uni. I was thinking of maybe doing like philosophy and theology or like English at uni but im still looking into it. In my most recent exams i got an a* in rs, b in eng, a b/c in politics and a c in bio (not great ik) although i do feel as though i can do better as i wasn’t that organised prior to the exam.

4 and an epq is a lot of work, probably would be in your best interests to drop down to 3 subjects because currently in terms of ucas points if you got those grades you’d get roughly the equivalent of 3A*s but it doesn’t look nearly as impressive, if you dropped one you could improve your other subjects. If i were you i would drop the subject that you enjoy studying the least.

Reply 10

jm6107

4

Original post by IMABUFF

Hey i just thought i'd share my frustration to you as a year 12 studying biology, english lit, politics and an EPQ. I plan to pursue law at the uni of manchester. You might me wondering why i chose biology, matter of fact it was just pure interest, i know a lot of universities recognise students who do 1 STEM A level as its quite harder to get an A* in a stem subject. I've been finding biology difficult, i only JUST got my first A* in Immunology after 6 months of the course. The teacher is also a bit of a prick and constantly pushes me to do better which is quite good of him however im struggling to manage my time as all my energy is going into bio and im finding it harder to deal with my other subjects, i can drop it after the mocks in May and then perhaps do an easier subject like business that i can cover in 1 year. I have been getting Ds, Es and Us in biology but i only just improved to an A*.......would love to hear what you all think and if there is a right time to know when to drop a subject.

Hello! At the end of year 12 I was pretty much in the same situation as you. I take Bio, English lit, Politics, and Maths (and I've applied for law) and right before mocks I had decided I was going to drop Biology. I was used to getting A*s in all my subjects but Biology as a fourth proved to be really difficult, I was getting a real mixed bag of results, Cs, Ds, Bs, and the occasional A. I was so tired and drained because of the workload and I decided I was going to drop it before my mocks. I had a chat with my teachers and my parents and they told me to prioritise my other subjects and continue doing Bio, at least for a little longer. I barely did any revision for my mocks and surprised myself with the grade and so I decided to keep doing the subject.

The advice I would give to you would be to be really honest with yourself about how much revision you're doing and If you think you can do more, personally I didn't realise how much time I was wasting and how inefficient my revision techniques were when I was struggling with biology. Also, take into consideration the time you're spending on EPQ and how you won't be spending a lot of your time on EPQ in Y13 by the time it's submitted. If you think you are genuinely spending as much time on revision as you can, and your revision is efficient, and you're still not getting the grades you deserve then I'd advise you to drop it. For my A levels, I didn't get may act together until Y12 mocks when I realised they would be the primary exams that made up my predicted grades, throughout the year pre-mocks I hadn't anticipated the huge jump from GCSE and was not revising properly. If you had asked me about it then I would have told you I was just feeling overwhelmed and that I couldn't cope with the workload, but now with my A-level exams coming up in May I realise that I was just not revising properly and didn't register how much more work A-levels required.

Law at Manchester requires A*AA and with a subject like law it doesn't really matter what you take, Biology or business. If you truly think you would do better in business then I'd tell you to switch subjects. A friend of mine similarly switched from maths where she was getting Ds and Es to Economics where she's not getting A*s and As. However, I wouldn't make a decision like this until after you get your mock grades back, you genuinely might surprise yourself. If you do end up switching subjects then the best advice I can give you there is to not spend time regretting your choice and thinking how things could've ended up if you had made a different one. Once you've made a choice, try your hardest to stick to it and not spend time being indecisive about it. Hope this helps!

Reply 11

Original post by DerDracologe

4 and an epq is a lot of work, probably would be in your best interests to drop down to 3 subjects because currently in terms of ucas points if you got those grades you’d get roughly the equivalent of 3A*s but it doesn’t look nearly as impressive, if you dropped one you could improve your other subjects. If i were you i would drop the subject that you enjoy studying the least.

okay thank you so much for your help. the thing is though is that out of the subjects i am considering dropping, i enjoy politics the least yet i am doing worse in bio though and i'm a bit worried about keeping it and then realising i made a huge mistake and end up not doing as well. on the other hand though, if i keep politics then ill have essay subjects + epq which seems like a lot of essay writing

Reply 12

Original post by ellie_pd

okay thank you so much for your help. the thing is though is that out of the subjects i am considering dropping, i enjoy politics the least yet i am doing worse in bio though and i'm a bit worried about keeping it and then realising i made a huge mistake and end up not doing as well. on the other hand though, if i keep politics then ill have essay subjects + epq which seems like a lot of essay writing

Do you have any ideas on why you do worst in Biology? Is it just an issue of not having enough time to revise it because of your workload? Is it because youre more naturally talented in essays subjects? Is it because youve not found the best way for you to revise it yet?
If its that youre being held back in biology by the lack of time you can spend on it because of your workload then id say drop politics and work really hard on biology. If not then it might be safer to keep politics because then you’ll get a better grade even if youre not that interested (im making the assumption you just like it the least not that you hate it…).
Also, a lot of essay writing isnt inherently bad if it’s what youre good at and how you work best. If it isnt then maybe consider whether law is good for you because its essay heavy.

Reply 13

Original post by DerDracologe

Do you have any ideas on why you do worst in Biology? Is it just an issue of not having enough time to revise it because of your workload? Is it because youre more naturally talented in essays subjects? Is it because youve not found the best way for you to revise it yet?
If its that youre being held back in biology by the lack of time you can spend on it because of your workload then id say drop politics and work really hard on biology. If not then it might be safer to keep politics because then you’ll get a better grade even if youre not that interested (im making the assumption you just like it the least not that you hate it…).
Also, a lot of essay writing isnt inherently bad if it’s what youre good at and how you work best. If it isnt then maybe consider whether law is good for you because its essay heavy.

Hi, thanks for replying 🙂 I think I was doing worst in bio cause I wasn't organised w my notes + flashcards although I recently did a bio test (i was a lot more organised this time around) and did a lot better (i got 78%). This time around I changed up the way i revised a bit by doing both flashcards and blurting and i think that helped. I am think I am naturally better at essay subjects but I am still getting the hang of the politics essay structure as I didn't do history or citizenship at gcse. I still haven't decided and idk why i can't just choose but i definitely want to drop before my y12 mocks.

Reply 14

Original post by ellie_pd

Hi, thanks for replying 🙂 I think I was doing worst in bio cause I wasn't organised w my notes + flashcards although I recently did a bio test (i was a lot more organised this time around) and did a lot better (i got 78%). This time around I changed up the way i revised a bit by doing both flashcards and blurting and i think that helped. I am think I am naturally better at essay subjects but I am still getting the hang of the politics essay structure as I didn't do history or citizenship at gcse. I still haven't decided and idk why i can't just choose but i definitely want to drop before my y12 mocks.

Best of luck with making your decision! It might be helpful to speak to your teachers and see how they think youll handle the subject in year 13.

Reply 15