should i do english lit a-level?

i’m currently in year 11 and deciding my a-level subjects! i’m doing chemistry and biology and am stuck between english lit and physcology.

my strongest subject is english lit and the moment and i love it. i usually get 27/30 or 28/30 on my essays. however, my school does ocr and i’ve heard it’s a very difficult a-level and i need an A or A* for medical school . i was otherwise thinking of physcology which seems a little bit boring but arguably easier to revise?

i’m stuck between doing a subject i love vs an easier one. any help or experiences of a levels would be appreciated! x

Reply 1

YoungPoet

Original post by laura.ann

i’m currently in year 11 and deciding my a-level subjects! i’m doing chemistry and biology and am stuck between english lit and physcology.
my strongest subject is english lit and the moment and i love it. i usually get 27/30 or 28/30 on my essays. however, my school does ocr and i’ve heard it’s a very difficult a-level and i need an A or A* for medical school . i was otherwise thinking of physcology which seems a little bit boring but arguably easier to revise?
i’m stuck between doing a subject i love vs an easier one. any help or experiences of a levels would be appreciated! x

Hey, I'm currently in year 13 and am studying English lit. While I do AQA and not OCR, I would say that you are better off with choosing a subject that you like for A-level. It sounds like you are doing amazingly well at english at the moment and this, combined with the fact that you like the subject, will help you to succeed at a-level.

Speaking from experience, you will most likely do worse at a subject that you don't like. I am not enjoying economics and have struggled to revise it. Because I only take three a-levels, that means that a third of my time is spent studying a subject that I hate. Because of this, I think its better to choose the subject that you prefer, as you will be more likely to want to revise it. You will spend a lot of time on the subject, so it seems unbearable if you don't like it.

Is there a chance that your school would let you start with the four a-levels and then drop down to three? This would give you a chance to experience both the subjects and make a decision on which you think is best for you. :smile:

Reply 2

laura.ann

Original post by YoungPoet

Hey, I'm currently in year 13 and am studying English lit. While I do AQA and not OCR, I would say that you are better off with choosing a subject that you like for A-level. It sounds like you are doing amazingly well at english at the moment and this, combined with the fact that you like the subject, will help you to succeed at a-level.
Speaking from experience, you will most likely do worse at a subject that you don't like. I am not enjoying economics and have struggled to revise it. Because I only take three a-levels, that means that a third of my time is spent studying a subject that I hate. Because of this, I think its better to choose the subject that you prefer, as you will be more likely to want to revise it. You will spend a lot of time on the subject, so it seems unbearable if you don't like it.
Is there a chance that your school would let you start with the four a-levels and then drop down to three? This would give you a chance to experience both the subjects and make a decision on which you think is best for you. :smile:

thank you so much for the great advice i really appreciate it! 😇 i am definitely leaning towards english lit as i love doing it and reading in general. it is possible to do 4 and drop 1 which i’m definitely going to consider- thank you!

Reply 3

Saima.Hussain.

Original post by laura.ann

i’m currently in year 11 and deciding my a-level subjects! i’m doing chemistry and biology and am stuck between english lit and physcology.
my strongest subject is english lit and the moment and i love it. i usually get 27/30 or 28/30 on my essays. however, my school does ocr and i’ve heard it’s a very difficult a-level and i need an A or A* for medical school . i was otherwise thinking of physcology which seems a little bit boring but arguably easier to revise?
i’m stuck between doing a subject i love vs an easier one. any help or experiences of a levels would be appreciated! x

NOO! I did bio chem and English lit and englihs was my hardest subject by farrrrr and my biggest stress despite it being a filler subject which I didn’t even need for med and I got a 9 for it in GCSE. It’s a subject where you kinda have to be naturally smart at or out an insane amount of work to get good grades so is very hard to revise for it because to get topic grades active recall like stem subjects doesn’t work coz to get top grades you need perceptive original analysis which could take hours or days for you to come up with. I would recommend doing maths or pysch or any subject which isn’t doesn’t require you to be original like science as you can just memorise content and apply which you can’t in English or you’ll get grades like C, but that’s just my opinion and deffo my biggest regret you know yourself and the abilities more

Reply 4

Sasuk3

Original post by laura.ann

i’m currently in year 11 and deciding my a-level subjects! i’m doing chemistry and biology and am stuck between english lit and physcology.
my strongest subject is english lit and the moment and i love it. i usually get 27/30 or 28/30 on my essays. however, my school does ocr and i’ve heard it’s a very difficult a-level and i need an A or A* for medical school . i was otherwise thinking of physcology which seems a little bit boring but arguably easier to revise?
i’m stuck between doing a subject i love vs an easier one. any help or experiences of a levels would be appreciated! x

I guess pick what you enjoy more. I do English lit a level for OCR and to be honest I enjoyed GCSE English a lot more. And OCR make it impossible to get an A* as you need consistent 28+/30 on the essays

Reply 5

Deepthinker14

Original post by laura.ann

i’m currently in year 11 and deciding my a-level subjects! i’m doing chemistry and biology and am stuck between english lit and physcology.
my strongest subject is english lit and the moment and i love it. i usually get 27/30 or 28/30 on my essays. however, my school does ocr and i’ve heard it’s a very difficult a-level and i need an A or A* for medical school . i was otherwise thinking of physcology which seems a little bit boring but arguably easier to revise?
i’m stuck between doing a subject i love vs an easier one. any help or experiences of a levels would be appreciated! x

I did English Literature, Chemistry and Biology.

My favourite subject from the 3 was English Literature.

If you love English Literature, you'll love it even more after A level.

But having said that, I am actually quite interested in Psychology. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this, but psychology is almost a combination of science and English. Psychology might be right up your lane!

I think you should try both of them out together and then decide to drop one.