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Urgent A-Level help

Hello, I am currently a year 11 student picking my a levels.
I have decided on choosing Biology, Chemistry and Maths A levels, however I am unsure wether my fourth subject should be Psychology or business. I am completely lost with what I want to do after A-Levels and therefore tried to keep my options open. I am aware that most universities only require 3 A-Levels and therefore the fourth subject is really just an extra subject to have and hence I need to decide based on which subject is more interesting, useful and easier rather than on what I am doing in my future. If you have done both business and psychology please let me know which subject you found easier to study, more interesting and has less workload.

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Reply 1

Original post by alevelll
Hello, I am currently a year 11 student picking my a levels.
I have decided on choosing Biology, Chemistry and Maths A levels, however I am unsure wether my fourth subject should be Psychology or business. I am completely lost with what I want to do after A-Levels and therefore tried to keep my options open. I am aware that most universities only require 3 A-Levels and therefore the fourth subject is really just an extra subject to have and hence I need to decide based on which subject is more interesting, useful and easier rather than on what I am doing in my future. If you have done both business and psychology please let me know which subject you found easier to study, more interesting and has less workload.


I don’t do either but I would say psychology is more useful in the long-term when applying to uni, however they won’t really mind as you’re doing maths bio chem anyway. I think business would be easier and less stressful for you, personally I did maths first but swapped for geo and it was amazing. Bio and chem are hard enough and I thought geo is really respected by unis.

Reply 2

honestly I'd take business if I were you. Your other subjects are very sciency/med.
Business is an easy 4th.

Tbh tho bio, chem and maths is keeping your options open. Loads of people go into finance from that trio because med school is just SO competitive. Could even probably do law or smth.

Do you really need a fourth tho? Business or psychology are not usually required for anything. Would be much better to have good grades in 3, rather than mid grades in 4 if you have no real desire to do the 4th.

Reply 3

Original post by BioChemGeo24
I don’t do either but I would say psychology is more useful in the long-term when applying to uni, however they won’t really mind as you’re doing maths bio chem anyway. I think business would be easier and less stressful for you, personally I did maths first but swapped for geo and it was amazing. Bio and chem are hard enough and I thought geo is really respected by unis.

Okayy thank you and good luck!!

Reply 4

Original post by Ajhdhd
honestly I'd take business if I were you. Your other subjects are very sciency/med.
Business is an easy 4th.
Tbh tho bio, chem and maths is keeping your options open. Loads of people go into finance from that trio because med school is just SO competitive. Could even probably do law or smth.
Do you really need a fourth tho? Business or psychology are not usually required for anything. Would be much better to have good grades in 3, rather than mid grades in 4 if you have no real desire to do the 4th.
From what I have researched, it’s possible to apply to universities after AS as long as I have 4 subjects. The idea of not doing A2 seemed appealing as everyone says A2 is even much tougher than AS and I’m therefore trying to run away from it!

Reply 5

Original post by alevelll
From what I have researched, it’s possible to apply to universities after AS as long as I have 4 subjects. The idea of not doing A2 seemed appealing as everyone says A2 is even much tougher than AS and I’m therefore trying to run away from it!


Oh you're trying to apply with AS only?

Reply 6

Original post by alevelll
Okayy thank you and good luck!!


No worries and same to you

Reply 7

Original post by Ajhdhd
Oh you're trying to apply with AS only?

Yeah

Reply 8

Original post by alevelll
Yeah


Haha lucky as is so much easier 🙏

Reply 9

Bio chem maths trio not for the weak currently doing it , wouldn't recommend a 4th a level tbf cause those 3 give u a wide range anyways but if you were to pick 1 id say do something easier because these 3 a levels biology especially if you're doing OCR can be really challenging and content heavy, all of my exams for those 3 subjects are in a 15 day window (9 exams), it gives you no time to yk really master everything during exam season with a 4th a level I can imagine it'd only worse. id really put in the thought to see if you wanna give your self an extra workload because often places just overlook a 4th a level anyways

Reply 10

Original post by alevelll
Hello, I am currently a year 11 student picking my a levels.
I have decided on choosing Biology, Chemistry and Maths A levels, however I am unsure wether my fourth subject should be Psychology or business. I am completely lost with what I want to do after A-Levels and therefore tried to keep my options open. I am aware that most universities only require 3 A-Levels and therefore the fourth subject is really just an extra subject to have and hence I need to decide based on which subject is more interesting, useful and easier rather than on what I am doing in my future. If you have done both business and psychology please let me know which subject you found easier to study, more interesting and has less workload.
I’d recommend to not do a 4th subject as there is so much content in A level don’t underestimate the fact that’s it’s only 3 subjects and the subjects that you have picked will allow you to do pretty much every single uni coarse so spare urself the hassle. Psychology has lots of workload so if you really had to pick one I’d say go for business.

Reply 11

Original post by alevelll
Hello, I am currently a year 11 student picking my a levels.
I have decided on choosing Biology, Chemistry and Maths A levels, however I am unsure wether my fourth subject should be Psychology or business. I am completely lost with what I want to do after A-Levels and therefore tried to keep my options open. I am aware that most universities only require 3 A-Levels and therefore the fourth subject is really just an extra subject to have and hence I need to decide based on which subject is more interesting, useful and easier rather than on what I am doing in my future. If you have done both business and psychology please let me know which subject you found easier to study, more interesting and has less workload.

idk if I'm much help but I do psychology (y13) and I absolutely loved psych- tho there is a lot to learn and memorise (the exams aren't too bad tho) so I'd recommend looking over the topics list/spec for both subjects (if you know the exam board) and see what interests you most! I'd ultimately say to drop a 4th eventually as it is a lot to do 4 plus there may be a subject u realise you don't enjoy :smile:) Also for my uni application (I've applied for bio) most unis required Bio and another science and psych was included as a science
(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 12

Original post by alevelll
Hello, I am currently a year 11 student picking my a levels.
I have decided on choosing Biology, Chemistry and Maths A levels, however I am unsure wether my fourth subject should be Psychology or business. I am completely lost with what I want to do after A-Levels and therefore tried to keep my options open. I am aware that most universities only require 3 A-Levels and therefore the fourth subject is really just an extra subject to have and hence I need to decide based on which subject is more interesting, useful and easier rather than on what I am doing in my future. If you have done both business and psychology please let me know which subject you found easier to study, more interesting and has less workload.

Why are you chossing a 4th at all? You only need 3 A levels for university.

Reply 13

Original post by HaseebAhmad
Bio chem maths trio not for the weak currently doing it , wouldn't recommend a 4th a level tbf cause those 3 give u a wide range anyways but if you were to pick 1 id say do something easier because these 3 a levels biology especially if you're doing OCR can be really challenging and content heavy, all of my exams for those 3 subjects are in a 15 day window (9 exams), it gives you no time to yk really master everything during exam season with a 4th a level I can imagine it'd only worse. id really put in the thought to see if you wanna give your self an extra workload because often places just overlook a 4th a level anyways

I was honestly planning to apply to universities using my AS only as I saw some accept it as long as I have 4 subjects. My exam board is CIE, I have heard good and bad things about psychology but nothing at all about business.

Reply 14

I’d recommend to not do a 4th subject as there is so much content in A level don’t underestimate the fact that’s it’s only 3 subjects and the subjects that you have picked will allow you to do pretty much every single uni coarse so spare urself the hassle. Psychology has lots of workload so if you really had to pick one I’d say go for business.

Thank you, appreciated!

Reply 15

Original post by emu_7998
idk if I'm much help but I do psychology (y13) and I absolutely loved psych- tho there is a lot to learn and memorise (the exams aren't too bad tho) so I'd recommend looking over the topics list/spec for both subjects (if you know the exam board) and see what interests you most! I'd ultimately say to drop a 4th eventually as it is a lot to do 4 plus there may be a subject u realise you don't enjoy :smile:) Also for my uni application (I've applied for bio) most unis required Bio and another science and psych was included as a science

I heard y12 psych is chill, y13 is what makes it worse. Is that true? And also does it require too much revision or would it be alright for last minute as long as I make use of my short term memory?

Reply 16

Original post by Muttley79
Why are you chossing a 4th at all? You only need 3 A levels for university.

I am planning to apply using AS only without A2 and from what I saw is that it’s accepted as long as I have 4 AS subjects.

Reply 17

Original post by alevelll
I am planning to apply using AS only without A2 and from what I saw is that it’s accepted as long as I have 4 AS subjects.


Just out of curiosity what unis are you applying to with that? Because that's only equivalent to 2 a levels?

Reply 18

Original post by alevelll
I am planning to apply using AS only without A2 and from what I saw is that it’s accepted as long as I have 4 AS subjects.

No you need A levels for a UK university show me where you found that information.

Reply 19

Original post by alevelll
I heard y12 psych is chill, y13 is what makes it worse. Is that true? And also does it require too much revision or would it be alright for last minute as long as I make use of my short term memory?

I think that all subjects do become a bit more intense in year 13 in my experience as in year 12 i did 4 subjects and dropped one in October of year 13 and still found year 13 to be harder than year 12 but not too much of a difference. However, personally for psych I didn't find it to be worse as my issue was more with geography haha (yes some topics were harder but not unmanageable). It's just revising it now feels like a lot. I'd say for mocks, i have revised 2 topics last minute and been fine but you cannot cover everything (around 4 topics per exam) the day before as there's not enough time.

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