A level History

Can someone give an overview of what a level history is about and how it is like as a subject? Maybe also how tasking it is and pros and cons.

Reply 1

anon9870

Original post by valerieeee

Can someone give an overview of what a level history is about and how it is like as a subject? Maybe also how tasking it is and pros and cons.

A level history is interesting but it is a lot of work and definitely a step up from gcses. I would say if you enjoy the subject and have a good memory then pick it because it's very content heavy. In terms of exam questions, depending on what topics you do, there might be only a certain number of essays that could come up so revising for that particular topic is a bit easier (in my case). I would say that if you do pick history, start making your revision materials (flashcards, essay plans e.t.c) from the start of year 12. Honestly, it saves you so much time doing it as you learn the content and by the time its exam season you can just focus soley on revision.

Reply 2

valerieeee

Original post by anon9870

would you recommend taking it in A levels if you didn'T do it in GCSE's?

Reply 3

idk_12345677

Original post by valerieeee

would you recommend taking it in A levels if you didn'T do it in GCSE's?

well i wouldn’t “recommend” it cause it doesn’t necessarily make it harder or easier it just gets you more into history i guess. a levels and gcses are so different, if you did it for gcse you might know 1/10 of the a level course already, possibly even less. it doesn’t give you much advantage i’d say but any advantage is an advantage

Reply 4

Luqmlam

I mean it’s a facilitating and respected subjects by unis so it’s definitely good in that regard. There is a reason why though - it’s a very tricky subject that I dropped after a week after loving it at GCSE.

Don’t let that stop you or anything I’m just preparing you for what is to come. My teacher was awful and the first topic was very boring so I had other reasons too. My college gave homework daily for it too which definitely put me off.

I wouldn’t recommend taking 3 essay-based subjects because that would be very tricky although I have known people who have done that (Eng lit, eng Lang, philosophy, geography etc).

Reply 5

anon9870

Original post by valerieeee

would you recommend taking it in A levels if you didn'T do it in GCSE's?

i would still recommend it even if you didn't do gcse history because at the end of the day, a levels are completely different and everyone starting the course will be at the same level at the beginning. there might be some overlap from gcses depending on the topics you're studying so that might be a bit of an advantage.

Reply 6

KarrotsMitKase

Original post by valerieeee

Can someone give an overview of what a level history is about and how it is like as a subject? Maybe also how tasking it is and pros and cons.

Hi,

A Level History is a varied subject. Whilst it is similar in some ways to GCSE, the questions are going to be a lot more demanding of you. For example, Pearson at GCSE offer candidates a mix of 4 mark, 8 mark, 12 mark and 16 mark questions, but at A Level all of the questions become worth 20 marks. So bare in mind that your essay writing skills will count for a lot more than the standard 4 mark Qs.

History at A Level can be challenging for some people. You need to stay on top of the content - meaning reading the huge textbook and picking case studies you wish to remember and any other details you think you may need. You also need to revise and learn at the same time - so make sure you plan for this.

It is hugely enjoyable and I would 100% recommend it if you enjoyed it at GCSE. (If you did really well in it at GCSE then it will be a good A Level to do). A friend of mine got a 9 at GCSE but dropped it at A Level due to the huge volume of time it took up for her, so make sure you know what your other subjects will demand of you. (I did Biologu, History and English Lit - Bio and History took a lot of time to remember things but the hard work paid off).

To get more of an idea you should visit the exam board website and read the specification - this will give you a rought idea of how you'll be assessed and what is expected of you by the examiners. Also it might be worth asking your teachers at school too.

All the best! :smile:

Reply 7

Hetgifford

Original post by valerieeee

Can someone give an overview of what a level history is about and how it is like as a subject? Maybe also how tasking it is and pros and cons.

I did A level History and we studied Democracy and Nazism, and Tudors, I really enjoyed the first topic but wasn't really interest in the Tudors as I found it to be a lot of random content. As a whole, it's a lot of structured essay writing and source evaluation, I've always been an avid writer so I didn't mind this but it does get tedious, particularly when you're not overly interested in the topic at hand like I wasn't with Tudors. With that being said, if you enjoy History it's definitely a good choice because you don't want to be studying something you don't enjoy as it won't work in the long run, plus all A levels are quite content heavy and challenging! I did English Lit, Psychology and History and History was definitely my fave!