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My A-Level Subjects

For the past year I've studied media as a level 3 BTEC subject, and it's something I didn't enjoy at all. I didn't find it productive and it doesn't fully align with my career aspirations. I've decided to take the opposite route for the upcoming academic year, and I'm going to be study a-levels instead. The subjects I applied to study are English Literature, History, and Politics, and I was wondering if it's a good combination? I heard it's stressful because they are all essay based, but I do want to study English Literature at university, and I couldn't find any other a-level subjects to be interesting or helpful for me.
Original post by lllllayyylllaaa
For the past year I've studied media as a level 3 BTEC subject, and it's something I didn't enjoy at all. I didn't find it productive and it doesn't fully align with my career aspirations. I've decided to take the opposite route for the upcoming academic year, and I'm going to be study a-levels instead. The subjects I applied to study are English Literature, History, and Politics, and I was wondering if it's a good combination? I heard it's stressful because they are all essay based, but I do want to study English Literature at university, and I couldn't find any other a-level subjects to be interesting or helpful for me.

Well, that depends on what you want to do at uni. Since you want to do English at university, this seems like a good combination and it's good that you find these subjects interesting, which should help you power through this potentially intense combination of subjects. Are you sure you're up for the workload though?
Original post by lllllayyylllaaa
For the past year I've studied media as a level 3 BTEC subject, and it's something I didn't enjoy at all. I didn't find it productive and it doesn't fully align with my career aspirations. I've decided to take the opposite route for the upcoming academic year, and I'm going to be study a-levels instead. The subjects I applied to study are English Literature, History, and Politics, and I was wondering if it's a good combination? I heard it's stressful because they are all essay based, but I do want to study English Literature at university, and I couldn't find any other a-level subjects to be interesting or helpful for me.

1.

English Literature is a must for an English Literature degree.

2.

History is not advisable, unless you're certain the period you're studying is going to be good enough for you to get top grades. I know a friend who had GCSE A* History but struggled to get a D in A-Level History, mostly due to the time period studied. He was not motivated.

3.

Politics is not too difficult, but there is a lot of writing in Year 2.

4.

Economics might be a better choice than History. Since you're given a Data Response guided question with substantial marks to be gained.

5.

Otherwise, I would recommend English Literature, Politics and Psychology. Which would be good enough for English at Oxbridge, UCL, KCL, Edinburgh, Durham, Bristol, Warwick, Manchester and York. 😉

(edited 2 months ago)
Original post by thegeek888

1.

English Literature is a must for an English Literature degree.

2.

History is not advisable, unless you're certain the period you're studying is going to be good enough for you to get top grades. I know a friend who had GCSE A* History but struggled to get a D in A-Level History, mostly due to the time period studied. He was not motivated.

3.

Politics is not too difficult, but there is a lot of writing in Year 2.

4.

Economics might be a better choice than History. Since you're given a Data Response guided question with substantial marks to be gained.

5.

Otherwise, I would recommend English Literature, Politics and Psychology. Which would be good enough for English at Oxbridge, UCL, KCL, Edinburgh, Durham, Bristol, Warwick, Manchester and York. 😉


I disagree with History. History is in my opinion crucial to English Literature, as novel and plays are a product of their time period and the historical events at the time. However, I do agree with the point you’ve made about the topics, the OP should make sure that the history course at the schools they’ve applied for is something that interest them or they will struggle. But, if they like history and the topics at their schools, it’s an excellent choice.
(edited 2 months ago)
Original post by Daisy._.7777
I disagree with History. History is in my opinion crucial to English Literature, as novel and plays are a product of their time period and the historical events at the time. However, I do agree with the point you’ve made about the topics, the OP should make sure that the history course at the schools they’ve applied for is something that interest them or they will struggle. But, if they like history and the topics at their schools, it’s an excellent choice.

I’d say good subjects to take would be the three you’ve applied for, or maybe psychology (since psychology is often important context to many novels), Religious studies (since Religion has a huge influence on the messages of many novels) Drama (if your particularly into Shakespeare or plays in generally) or maybe languages (if your good at them and are interested in novels from foreign countries)
(edited 2 months ago)

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