The Student Room Group

anyone else finding a levels easier than gcses?

this is my first post on tsr so hi everyone! :smile:

so, when I was in y11 I thought a level was going to be the hardest thing ever! but gcses were harder imo !
I did 10 gcses in y11 and now I'm in y12 doing 3 a levels and an EPQ. I look through my Snapchat memories and see the GCSE questions I used to struggle with and I'm like OML how would i have been expected to know this!?
also I tutor GCSE English Lit and I don't even see that much difference between a level and gcse English Lit!
I got mostly 9s at gcse after a lot of hard work and I'm predicted all A*s right now and I do Bio, Psychology and Eng Lit, I was told English Lit and bio would be exceptionally difficult but it's literally the same difficulty as GCSE, except I only do 3 subjects now not 10 so I have so much free time to do other things like essay competitions.

However I did move from a normal school to a grammar school for sixth form so maybe my teachers are just better so it feels easier because I understand everything so quickly thanks to them? I'm not sure.
I always hear of people saying gcses were so easy compared to a levels but I disagree .

tldr; I find A level easier and less stressful than gcse does anybody else ?
I have a different experience, probably because im a STEM kid so theres a big difference in difficulty!

Reply 2

Original post
by Natalie.2024
this is my first post on tsr so hi everyone! :smile:
so, when I was in y11 I thought a level was going to be the hardest thing ever! but gcses were harder imo !
I did 10 gcses in y11 and now I'm in y12 doing 3 a levels and an EPQ. I look through my Snapchat memories and see the GCSE questions I used to struggle with and I'm like OML how would i have been expected to know this!?
also I tutor GCSE English Lit and I don't even see that much difference between a level and gcse English Lit!
I got mostly 9s at gcse after a lot of hard work and I'm predicted all A*s right now and I do Bio, Psychology and Eng Lit, I was told English Lit and bio would be exceptionally difficult but it's literally the same difficulty as GCSE, except I only do 3 subjects now not 10 so I have so much free time to do other things like essay competitions.
However I did move from a normal school to a grammar school for sixth form so maybe my teachers are just better so it feels easier because I understand everything so quickly thanks to them? I'm not sure.
I always hear of people saying gcses were so easy compared to a levels but I disagree .
tldr; I find A level easier and less stressful than gcse does anybody else ?

Nope. I found GCSEs pretty easy and I did 12 of them 😭. I find A levels, especially further maths and physics (but also music), very difficult. I’m glad you’re enjoying A levels though, and hope you continue to do so :smile:

Reply 3

Original post
by Natalie.2024
this is my first post on tsr so hi everyone! :smile:
so, when I was in y11 I thought a level was going to be the hardest thing ever! but gcses were harder imo !
I did 10 gcses in y11 and now I'm in y12 doing 3 a levels and an EPQ. I look through my Snapchat memories and see the GCSE questions I used to struggle with and I'm like OML how would i have been expected to know this!?
also I tutor GCSE English Lit and I don't even see that much difference between a level and gcse English Lit!
I got mostly 9s at gcse after a lot of hard work and I'm predicted all A*s right now and I do Bio, Psychology and Eng Lit, I was told English Lit and bio would be exceptionally difficult but it's literally the same difficulty as GCSE, except I only do 3 subjects now not 10 so I have so much free time to do other things like essay competitions.
However I did move from a normal school to a grammar school for sixth form so maybe my teachers are just better so it feels easier because I understand everything so quickly thanks to them? I'm not sure.
I always hear of people saying gcses were so easy compared to a levels but I disagree .
tldr; I find A level easier and less stressful than gcse does anybody else ?

hii! what exam board are you doing for english lit? i’m in y12 doing ocr english lit and im really enjoying it but the grade boundaries are horrific… do you have any tips for getting an a*?

also icl i’ve been findings a levels easier than gcses, i think it’s because ive had the ability to focus on three subjects that i genuinely enjoy. (i do english lit, history & psych) i thought i was crazy because nobody seemed to agree with me about a levels being more manageable 😭 but i guess it’s because most of my friends are doing stem subjects

Reply 4

Original post
by vivvie
hii! what exam board are you doing for english lit? i’m in y12 doing ocr english lit and im really enjoying it but the grade boundaries are horrific… do you have any tips for getting an a*?
also icl i’ve been findings a levels easier than gcses, i think it’s because ive had the ability to focus on three subjects that i genuinely enjoy. (i do english lit, history & psych) i thought i was crazy because nobody seemed to agree with me about a levels being more manageable 😭 but i guess it’s because most of my friends are doing stem subjects


I'm glad someone agrees with me loll I do AQA not OCR so idk anything about OCR but my friend who does OCR English literature and language says the grade boundaries are crazy !
I don't really have any advice, I would suggest doing what your teacher tells you, making sure you have 2 wider reading links for each poem, have critic views for the texts ? check the assessment objectives to see if you do this at OCR as well and read them thoroughly and remind yourself of them so you know exactly what you're aiming for i guess

Reply 5

Original post
by Natalie.2024
this is my first post on tsr so hi everyone! :smile:
so, when I was in y11 I thought a level was going to be the hardest thing ever! but gcses were harder imo !
I did 10 gcses in y11 and now I'm in y12 doing 3 a levels and an EPQ. I look through my Snapchat memories and see the GCSE questions I used to struggle with and I'm like OML how would i have been expected to know this!?
also I tutor GCSE English Lit and I don't even see that much difference between a level and gcse English Lit!
I got mostly 9s at gcse after a lot of hard work and I'm predicted all A*s right now and I do Bio, Psychology and Eng Lit, I was told English Lit and bio would be exceptionally difficult but it's literally the same difficulty as GCSE, except I only do 3 subjects now not 10 so I have so much free time to do other things like essay competitions.
However I did move from a normal school to a grammar school for sixth form so maybe my teachers are just better so it feels easier because I understand everything so quickly thanks to them? I'm not sure.
I always hear of people saying gcses were so easy compared to a levels but I disagree .
tldr; I find A level easier and less stressful than gcse does anybody else ?


completely agree. about to do my first a level tomorrow. absolutely elated because a levels are incredible. well done girl xxx

Reply 6

Original post
by b.natasharose
completely agree. about to do my first a level tomorrow. absolutely elated because a levels are incredible. well done girl xxx


omg good luck!! ❤️

Reply 7

Original post
by Natalie.2024
this is my first post on tsr so hi everyone! :smile:
so, when I was in y11 I thought a level was going to be the hardest thing ever! but gcses were harder imo !
I did 10 gcses in y11 and now I'm in y12 doing 3 a levels and an EPQ. I look through my Snapchat memories and see the GCSE questions I used to struggle with and I'm like OML how would i have been expected to know this!?
also I tutor GCSE English Lit and I don't even see that much difference between a level and gcse English Lit!
I got mostly 9s at gcse after a lot of hard work and I'm predicted all A*s right now and I do Bio, Psychology and Eng Lit, I was told English Lit and bio would be exceptionally difficult but it's literally the same difficulty as GCSE, except I only do 3 subjects now not 10 so I have so much free time to do other things like essay competitions.
However I did move from a normal school to a grammar school for sixth form so maybe my teachers are just better so it feels easier because I understand everything so quickly thanks to them? I'm not sure.
I always hear of people saying gcses were so easy compared to a levels but I disagree .
tldr; I find A level easier and less stressful than gcse does anybody else ?

Yeah I agree, and I do 4 (Maths, FM, History, Physics) + an EPQ. I think most of it is to do with the fact that I really crammed for my GCSE's, whereas for A-levels I've kept a consistent, decent workload throughout the year. I feel if I'd had a better work ethic for GCSE's they would have been easier, but even so the fact you're doing like 10+ different subjects (including english lit, which icl is harder than any of my a levels by itself) makes them objectively harder, especially if you're not actually interested in some of those subjects. The increase in content and difficulty with A levels doesn't make up for the fact I'm taking a third of the subjects imo

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.