Politics and Sociology

Hi, due to health reasons I am only able to do two alevels in person currently, but I’m looking to do a third one distance learning so I can still go to university soon hopefully.
I currently do chemistry and biology alevel. I started the year with English lit alevel too but I had to drop it due to personal reasons.
I am interested in a career in environmental science but also don’t wanna close off other fields like journalism hence why I picked English lit too.
The college I go to doesn’t do politics alevel but I’ve always loved the idea of it, and I can do it distance learning
So my question is
1) do you think politics alevel is really hard?
2) is politics alevel achievable online?
3) I’ve heard you have to be really up to date on politics at current times, which I am, but will papers mark you down if you don’t remember the exact details of the current events?
I would also potentially look at doing sociology instead so any insight on this too would be great.
If anyone else has done or is doing distance learning I’d love to hear about which site you used and how you find it!
Thanks!

Hi I do both politcs and sociology a level and have applied for a combination both at uni. By far, sociology is easier in terms of content and exam and it is my favourite subject. Sociology a level goes into lots of depth in differnet issues like the media, education and crime and I have found it really useful in undertsnading the world around us. Only downside is that there are a lot of sociologists whose sudies and names we have to learn but this is nothing compared to what you have to know for poltiics in terms of examples. Politcs a level is my hardest by far in terms of the amount of content and the exam. I do love most of the content but find that the amnount we have to know for all of the exams hard to manage as you constantly need examples from the news so the specification is just a part of what you really need to know. It is essay based which is fine but the layout f the exam is annoying escpecially how you ahve to do comaportive politcs as well which is quite a chunk. I mean I am predicted 3A* but getting that A* in politics was much more work than sociology as I perosnally find it harder. However, lots of differnet people find different subjects harder/easier and this is just my personal opinion. I'd reccomend looking through the specifications and exam papers also hearing other students experinece s beacuse evn though polticis is hard, politcs a level can be easy if you enjoy it.
2) online i would say politics is achievable as i have self taught myself most of the content from the textbook and youtube. But, the textbook is just a bit of what you need to know as Politics is constantly evolving and there are new stories everyday. So if you want sometjing less demanding, I would say go with sociology as I self taught myself some, due to a bad teacher, and found that it was easier to absorb. But if you like learning from youtube, there are lots of politics resources as it is a popular a level.
3) Yes you do have to be up to date but examiners wont expect you to have the exact date of an event like the day the month and the year. For more recent events I usally say in '2024' or in 'July 2024' if I can remmeber the month. On legislation though from the past, it would be beneficial to learn the years too.
The hard thing about politics a level is the examples you need from the past and present. I don't do distant learning but am currently studying both in school and teaching myself a lot at home as I dont really liek the way lessons are taught. Hope this helps!