a level options

i was thinking of choosing biology chemistry psychology a level
for anyone who does one of these already, how much hours do you usually revise for a's??
and is it genuinly the worst 2 years of your life (ive heard rumours) lmao

Reply 1

flowersinmyhair

Volunteer Team

20

I do biology, and have got a few As, but my revision is very inconsistent. Also, yr12 for me was the best year of school but yr13 has honestly been the worst for me.

Reply 2

lola028

12

Original post by tkkjj

i was thinking of choosing biology chemistry psychology a level
for anyone who does one of these already, how much hours do you usually revise for a's??
and is it genuinly the worst 2 years of your life (ive heard rumours) lmao

im in year 12 right now and have got A* in both mocks in chemistry with very little revision but paying attention in class
my friends say biology has lots of extra work though

Reply 3

hakuu

4

Original post by tkkjj

i was thinking of choosing biology chemistry psychology a level
for anyone who does one of these already, how much hours do you usually revise for a's??
and is it genuinly the worst 2 years of your life (ive heard rumours) lmao

a-levels will ruin you and it will make you really stress honestly it’s the worse

Reply 4

Mouseshake

7

Original post by tkkjj

i was thinking of choosing biology chemistry psychology a level
for anyone who does one of these already, how much hours do you usually revise for a's??
and is it genuinly the worst 2 years of your life (ive heard rumours) lmao

I do Biology only out of these. Biology has A LOT of content that even my teachers are concerned about it. However, my January PPEs (I'm in Year 12) resulted in BBB, when I thought I would get C or below for Biology. I put in a lot more work into this subject than the others since my GCSE grade was a 5 compared to be other subjects getting a 6 or 7. If you do take Biology, I would recommend getting an exam practice workbook and check whether your school uses Up Learn for a discount (a lot of people in my class don't like using this, but it's really helpful when you need to be practicing repetition in studying). In short, it's a lot of content, but you can cope if you have the right resources.

Reply 5

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

17

Original post by tkkjj

i was thinking of choosing biology chemistry psychology a level
for anyone who does one of these already, how much hours do you usually revise for a's??
and is it genuinly the worst 2 years of your life (ive heard rumours) lmao

Hi @tkkjj,

I did biology and chemistry during my A-Levels, and I'm doing psychology for university right now. These two subject combinations are definitely difficult especially if you're doing them two together, and the workload can get a bit overwhelming at times (hence the rumours you've heard). But a lot of A-Levels regardless of your exam board is self-study and being accountable for putting in some extra work outside of college to revise your content.

The hours you put into revision varies between students, but in my case I tried to do at least minimum two hours on weekdays when I'm at home. Doing little bits of revision and staying consistent with it will go a long way and will definitely save you lots of stress by the time exams do come around. A revision tip I do have for you though, is to make summary sheets for each topic in your subjects. I used the Cornell method to make these summary sheets, and they came in extremely useful by the time mocks and exams came around. They saved me a lot of time when I needed a refresh on the topic.

Hope this helps,
Danish
BCU Student Rep

Reply 6

bibachu

Universities Forum Helper

14

Original post by tkkjj

i was thinking of choosing biology chemistry psychology a level
for anyone who does one of these already, how much hours do you usually revise for a's??
and is it genuinly the worst 2 years of your life (ive heard rumours) lmao

I study psychology, politics and philosophy (but know people with your combination) and I don't think it is as bad as people make out. It is bad, don't get me wrong, but if hundreds of thousands of people across the country still choose to take A levels, then its definitely doable. It really depends on you and how you manage the workload. Doing all essay-based subjects was definitely not my first choice (I wanted to do biology, but by the time I'd decided on transferring, it was full), but I'm grateful that life has worked out this way, as I'm thoroughly enjoying all my subjects.

For psychology specifically, I'll be honest, it's very content heavy. I'm currently revising for mocks and it is the subject I put the most hours into. I can't give a specific number of hours, but as a general A*-B student, I focus on the areas I'm weaker on to get the best grades. I do this by looking at past papers to identify my weak spots and using resources to help bridge the gaps in my knowledge. Flashcards at the moment are saving my life for revision, so I'd definitely recommend doing them consistently from the beginning of the year (regretting being lazy with them now). I don't think its very hard to get an A in psychology as long as your consistently putting in a lot of effort, but there is a lot of content to memorise. I may be assuming here, but from your A level choices, it seems like you want to go into a STEM degree (e.g. biochemistry, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy), so if you are looking for an easy third choice subject, psychology is not it. I would only suggest taking it alongside your current subjects if you have a genuine interest in human behaviour and the mind. If you're interested in studying something like neuroscience or pharmacology, then I think this would be a great option alongside your current options.

Obviously I don't study biology or chemistry, but I know plenty of people who do. From what I've gathered, more people find biology easier than chemistry. For biology, it is another content heavy subject and the people who tend to struggle more are those who aren't good at essay writing as there is a 25 mark essay question in the papers you'll have to answer (for the AQA specification I believe). By the looks of it, the content is probably simpler than chemistry, but the exams are harder to revise for as there is just a lot that could come up. With chemistry (AQA again), it is quite difficult to get high grades because of the grade boundaries, but it's not impossible. I think if you put the work in, you'll be able to handle it, but I'd seriously recommend looking over your specification to see if the topics interest you and look at what you may find hard. Also looking at some past papers could give you a better idea of whether any of these subjects are for you. Ultimately, I'd say getting all As is doable, but you will spend a lot of time revising - more than most people. If I was correct about your degree ambitions, I'd recommend taking an easier subject alongside your STEM subjects. I have a friend who does biology, chemistry and photography, and she loves it as it's quite easy to get an A* in photography, and the portfolio element gives her more time to focus on biology and chemistry, as she needs them for university.

Don't be afraid of A levels. Once you've done this you can pretty much do anything. Let me know if you have any more psychology questions (or anything about my other subjects) as I'd be happy to answer! :smile:

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