URGENT - alevel options: anyone currently doing biochem business/music and epq??

3

if anyone took these, how are you finding it in general? is the workload heavy and does the business/music take up more time than biochem? if you have any other recommendations instead of business/music that would be good for medicine (excluding maths) or tips in general pls let me know asap because my application deadlines for sixth form r rlly close

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

20

What do you mean by Biochem? I do biology

Reply 2

1234cdert

OP

3

Original post

by DerDracologe

What do you mean by Biochem? I do biology

sorry i should've been clearer i meant as in biology and chemistry 2 separate alevels. but how are you finding biology?? what other subjects do you take btw

Reply 3

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

20

Original post

by 1234cdert

sorry i should've been clearer i meant as in biology and chemistry 2 separate alevels. but how are you finding biology?? what other subjects do you take btw

Np. I really enjoy Biology (favourite subject for me) however there is a lot of content.
So far we’ve done: cells (gets a lot more detailed than gcse but links some content together so its very interesting); biological molecules (which is chem heavy but i do find it interesting because it helps to understand properties to know the structures); enzymes (which i love doing because its more in depth than gcse); membranes (not really covered in gcse but im enjoying it); and nucleotides which is really interesting because i did triple at gcse so we did look at protein synthesis and dna structure but no in that amount of depth!
It’s the subject where i get the most homework for sure but ofc that’s going to vary between schools! I use flashcards for my biology revision extensively at this point and i have almost 700 already! Keeping in mind i only started in September its a crazy amount but if you’re really fascinated by the natural world and enjoy gcse biology then its a fantastic subject!
My other subjects are Maths and Physics 🙂

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 4

reallycringename

15

Original post

by 1234cdert

if anyone took these, how are you finding it in general? is the workload heavy and does the business/music take up more time than biochem? if you have any other recommendations instead of business/music that would be good for medicine (excluding maths) or tips in general pls let me know asap because my application deadlines for sixth form r rlly close

I wouldn't recommend doing 4 a levels AND an EPQ. If you're insistent on 4 a levels drop the EPQ or see if you can do 3 a levels, 1 as, and do EPQ the second year. However, in that case, make sure the AS is music (check with your school to see that arrangement is possible, cuz ik it isn't in most schools). You don't want to have a coursework subject and EPQ otherwise you'd drown. I do biology, chemistry, psychology and epq. Biology and chemistry are going great together, I enjoy them, I got a 7-7 trilogy science in my GCSEs and they go over all the content. Chemistry is quite difficult. You basically have to forget almost everything you learnt in GCSE chem because it's a LOT more in depth. I don't really see what career you're aiming for with biochem business and music as they're very different. Because A-levels are very limited in the sense that you don't have that many subjects, make sure you have your future planned out at least 70% of the way.

Reply 5

1234cdert

OP

3

Original post

by DerDracologe

Np. I really enjoy Biology (favourite subject for me) however there is a lot of content.
So far we’ve done: cells (gets a lot more detailed than gcse but links some content together so its very interesting); biological molecules (which is chem heavy but i do find it interesting because it helps to understand properties to know the structures); enzymes (which i love doing because its more in depth than gcse); membranes (not really covered in gcse but im enjoying it); and nucleotides which is really interesting because i did triple at gcse so we did look at protein synthesis and dna structure but no in that amount of depth!
It’s the subject where i get the most homework for sure but ofc that’s going to vary between schools! I use flashcards for my biology revision extensively at this point and i have almost 700 already! Keeping in mind i only started in September its a crazy amount but if you’re really fascinated by the natural world and enjoy gcse biology then its a fantastic subject!
My other subjects are Maths and Physics 🙂

okayy thank you so much! what are maths and physics like?

Reply 6

1234cdert

OP

3

hii i'm really sorry as i realise now that i wasn't clear at all in my original post! 😭 i'm planning to do 3 A-levels and an EPQ, with the 3 A-levels being biology (1), chemistry (2) and business OR music as the 3rd . i wrote this post to see if anyone did A-level business or music to see how they found it alongside biology and chemistry, in order to help me make a decision on which of these two i want to do for my third option. i'm planning to do medicine after sixth form, and from what i've seen psychology and maths are good combos with bio and chem, but i'm not sure if i'm capable of achieving an A* in maths, and my school doesn't offer psychology rn so i'd need to move to a nearby school that offers it (i'm willing to move if i do pick psychology as a third).

how are you finding psychology and the epq ?? i was debating psychology but i've heard that there's a lot of content to go with it alongside biology and chemistry?

Reply 7

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

20

Original post

by 1234cdert

okayy thank you so much! what are maths and physics like?

I enjoy them both! They both require a lot of practice questions but once you’ve got a concept it becomes very enjoyable to work on harder questions as some problem solving is needed- im the kind of person who enjoys ukmt maths challenges so that’s something im enjoying in the a level maths questions especially. With physics, the concepts can be difficult to understand initially but the amount of detail is very engaging for me because it’s more in depth than at gcse. The questions for physics are a mix of calculation, practical based questions and then explaining concepts. Hope that helps 🙂

Reply 8

reallycringename

15

Original post

by 1234cdert

hii i'm really sorry as i realise now that i wasn't clear at all in my original post! 😭 i'm planning to do 3 A-levels and an EPQ, with the 3 A-levels being biology (1), chemistry (2) and business OR music as the 3rd . i wrote this post to see if anyone did A-level business or music to see how they found it alongside biology and chemistry, in order to help me make a decision on which of these two i want to do for my third option. i'm planning to do medicine after sixth form, and from what i've seen psychology and maths are good combos with bio and chem, but i'm not sure if i'm capable of achieving an A* in maths, and my school doesn't offer psychology rn so i'd need to move to a nearby school that offers it (i'm willing to move if i do pick psychology as a third).
how are you finding psychology and the epq ?? i was debating psychology but i've heard that there's a lot of content to go with it alongside biology and chemistry?

Yeah, there's a decent amount of content. While for most subjects we've already moved onto topic 2 for psychology we're just wrapping up topic 1. The good thing is though, if you have any empathy and critical thinking skills all the content is easy to remember because it just... makes sense! A lot of people are worried that psych, bio, and chem are all too similar which might cross-over and be confusing but atm I'm not feeling it. although, even if that's the case, what you learn in biology and chemistry is transferrable between the two subjects. e.g. i first learnt hydrogen bonds in bio (bc of DNA) and then we learnt ab it later in more detail in chemistry.if ur going to do medicine you really have to aim for physics or maths rather than psychology, I only chose psychology because originally I was planning on being a cognitive neuro researcher however for general things like medicine, etc, you need all 3 sciences + maths as (from what I heard, that's whats preferred!)
u really don't have to worry about the epq crossing with any subjects because one of the epq requirements is actually that it has nothing to do with what you learn in lessons.if ur going to do medicine in the future, absolutely do not do music lol. i wouldn't recommend business either.

Reply 9

username6567829

2

Hi I’m currently a Y13 student studying bio chem and business (all AQA) having applied for dentistry. I don’t necessarily think that bio and chem take up more time in terms of revision as business does have a lot of content and it is hard to keep on top off if you can’t manage your time well. Overall, I enjoy business as it really had opened my perspective of why business exist in order to meet customers needs as factors such as like dental inaccessibility or long waiting lists really influence how customers react to change.

URGENT - alevel options: anyone currently doing biochem business/music and epq??

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