Questions for A-levels politics students

1) I take history and art
2) I plan to do History and Politics
3) You could go law, straight politics, IRL and other stuff. Basically politics can be a combo with something
4) the exam is essay based. My exam board (edexcel) you have 30 markers and 24 markers
5) Best part about the subject is that you can use any relevant info that’s come out recently in your exam, it shows your keenness for the subject and I also like how easy it is to grasp the content. Worst part is how much content there is and how boring some topics are
6) For GCSE I did maths, English lit and lang, physics, biology, chemistry, history, art, religious studies and computer science
7) I don’t think it’s strange, I have people in my class who do maths, physics, chem or bio alongside politics and they love it
8) look on edexcel website for the spec (if you do edexcel) and there are goddess education textbooks that have the whole course
9) I think if you really love politics, you should take it. I initially wasn’t going to take politics but now that I have I absolutely love it

Thank you so much for your response! I felt really discouraged when thinking of doing politics alongside STEM, but it's good to know there are others doing it. I will check out the specification. Thanks again.

Hi, so I'm choosing my AS levels soon and I want to get to know A level politics a little better.
1) Alongside A-levels politics, what other subjects are you doing?
2) What do you plan to do at uni?
3) Besides what you plan to do at uni, what other degrees could an a-levels in politics do?
4) Is the subject heavily essay based?
5) What's the worst and best part of the subject for you?
6) What subjects did you do at GCSEs?
7) Would it be strange for me to do politics alongside STEM subjects? I do computer science, design & tech, and triple science at GCSE but I LOVE politics - I really dislike essays though, but english literature is my only essay subject right now.
8) Could you please give me a few resources you use for revision? I'd like to see them to find out what the subject is like when taught.
9) Based on what I have said here, do you think I should take A levels politics?

Hi!
1) I'm doing Politics, French, and History.
2) I want to to Politics and French at uni.
3) Anything that doesn't require specific STEM expertise if you don't do STEM subjects. Humanities, social sciences, law etc. is all likely accessible as long as your predicted grades and personal statement express your interest and relative depth of knowledge in the subject.
4) Yes. If you don't like writing essays, analysing and evaluating, steer clear of Politics lol. I love it for the essays (it does depend on the exam board: AQA has a mix of 9 markers, and 25 mark essays, and 25 mark extract questions) but the timing is veryyyy tight (not as bad as Geography though, I have heard).
5) Best part of the subject: being able to think deeply about ideas and apply those to current affairs, understand political systems and evaluate their effectiveness.
Worst part: The exams need to be longer to be able to write A* essays even relatively comfortably. I don't find the content as much as History because with Politics you can choose what examples you want to learn and use as long as they are relevant. But: there is still a lot of content and statistics and dates to know.
6) English Lang, English Lit, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, History, French, German and Design and Technology.
7) In terms of whether Politics goes with STEM subjects, it's not a big problem as long as you find them really interesting. I know someone who does History, Chemistry and Geography and finds it fine. Doing Politics might be a nice bit of variety in terms of exam questions and content in lessons. If you reallyyy love Politics then maybe you'll enjoy writing essays. But if writing essays at speed is a deal-breaker, then it might be an issue.
8 ) I make mind map summary notes with lots of information on an A4 or A3 sheet, then turn them into flashcards, occasionally use said flashcards, and do lots of practice essay/ 9 marker questions.
9) I think if you are going to love the subject, it really does make learning the content and writing the essays so much easier. I tend to actively look forward to my Politics lessons purely because I love the subject (and also because my teachers are great 😃). You just need to have a think about whether the essays will be a deal breaker for you - it's a lot of writing but if you enjoy thinking deeply about things, evaluating and including detailed knowledge and examples to back up your points, then with practice, translating those skills onto paper will not be so hard. You've got just under 2 years of A-levels to practice and grow more in love with writing essays (crazy thought I know) so maybe it's worth trying it out!
Hope this helped!

Hey, I'm also thinking of taking French alongside politics at AS 🙂 I do love the subject and I don't mind analysing or evaluating...but writing essays? I just can't 😭 But thanks for your response! I'm looking to see if I can improve or begin to like writing them by watching a levels politics videos haha.

Hey, I'm also thinking of taking French alongside politics at AS 🙂 I do love the subject and I don't mind analysing or evaluating...but writing essays? I just can't 😭 But thanks for your response! I'm looking to see if I can improve or begin to like writing them by watching a levels politics videos haha.

Hi, so I'm choosing my AS levels soon and I want to get to know A level politics a little better.
1) Alongside A-levels politics, what other subjects are you doing?
2) What do you plan to do at uni?
3) Besides what you plan to do at uni, what other degrees could an a-levels in politics do?
4) Is the subject heavily essay based?
5) What's the worst and best part of the subject for you?
6) What subjects did you do at GCSEs?
7) Would it be strange for me to do politics alongside STEM subjects? I do computer science, design & tech, and triple science at GCSE but I LOVE politics - I really dislike essays though, but english literature is my only essay subject right now.
8) Could you please give me a few resources you use for revision? I'd like to see them to find out what the subject is like when taught.
9) Based on what I have said here, do you think I should take A levels politics?

I think the A-Level politics essay structure (for edexcel) is quite easy to grasp. I have breakdowns that my teacher gave me on how to write them and once you get the hang of it, it’s relatively easy

French and Politics do go so well together, especially once you get to Year 13, as there are quite a few politically-oriented topics where the content is so much simpler than in Politics lessons.
If you like analysing and evaluating, it's only learning the structure of essays that will take practice, and it is not to difficult to get the hang of because there's no set way that you have to write them- your teachers will advise you on the best structure and you can adapt it to your own preferences.

Hmm, to be honest, I haven't written a non-literature related essay for nearly two years now so I'm not really sure if I would do well with it. I will do more research into this during summer though

Yeah, definitely do your research but I’m sure if you want to do politics a level you’ll begin to understand the structure

(1) Computer Science, Physics, Geography
(2) I'm considering computer science, politics, international relations, or even a technology policy. law pathway. Ideally, I would love to find a way to combine politics and computer science, though this might not be the easiest path to take.
(3) I feel politics is quite flexible. It can lead to degrees in law, business, PPE, international relations and even direct entry into the civil service or the armed forces. The critical thinking that politics covers is quite wide and pairs well with many subjects. These key critical thinking skills are quite key to most jobs
(4) Yes, politics is quite heavy in terms of essay writing, my exam board(WJEC) currently on the paper has three sections: Section A, which is 2 6 mark questions, Section B, which features an extract-based question with only one 24 mark question. Section C offers three long-form questions where you choose and answer two.
(5) I think the best part of politics at A-level is the fact that you can apply political theory to real-world events. like the UK government role and major political changes, or scandals. Examples of events such as the general elections, party-gate and Liz Truss do help to reinforce theory with real-world examples and cases, which makes politics unique compared to other A-levels. Additionally, I feel the current climate of politics makes gathering examples surprisingly easy to find, as major events often serve as relevant studies on a silver platter, making it one of the few A-levels where real-world development can directly improve your exam performance, which is a nice technique to have. That's why I feel quite good to always watching the news or current affairs to excel in the exams. The downside is the sheer amount of content, which can be overwhelming at times, especially close to revision or exam times. But if you have a set revision schedule or plan, then this might be less of an issue.
Furthermore, I do wish there were also a coursework or NEA component, perhaps focusing on analysing a recent bill or designing policy. Adding to this statement, my previous background might not bring any relevance to any of your questions, but having lived in the United States for most of my life, where I followed civics in politics classes quite closely. I was even further, part of a club that designed, built, and laws were viewed by the state's lower legislative chamber, which I felt was a great initiative and could be added over here and enhance the course. Even a debating segment might help!
(6) I studied Maths, Maths-Numeracy, Triple Science, English Literature & Language, Digital Technology (ICT), Geography, and Welsh.
(7) Not at all! I personally believe that politics and STEM are quite key to each other as they intertwine in key areas, such as climate change, AI, data protection, nuclear, etc, the list goes on and on. Additionally, I found that politics had given me an edge in computer science as one of the topics is understanding the political and social effects of computers in our society, and the knowledge of the GDPR and the Freedom of Information Act has given me an edge. edge that other classmates lacked.
(8) Examboard website are great for the official specification and other practice materials, textbooks such as UK Government and Politics for AS/A-level (Fifth Edition) Pages 1-50 - Flip PDF Download | FlipHTML. Political podcasts and news can help deepen your understanding. I try to stay away from AI personally. because due to its profound incorrectness. and sometimes it lacks the ethical considerations for various policies or political ideals, sometimes they don't even accept political discussions. Don't use that. I find it is marking my past papers, and providing examples in a quick, timely fashion of a subtopic. As for revision techniques, I find developing essay plans the best
(9) Yeah, if you love politics. I say, go for it. The essays might feel more natural over time as they become less about just writing and more about expressing well-developed opinions that the examiners would like to see and using lots of examples thoroughly.

Hey, wow, thanks so much for the detailed response. I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that there's so much overlap with computer science - and now that I think of it, in my computer science course there was some discussion on how politicians pay ISPs to prioritise their content during political campaigns, alongside other things. I don't debate however I do my best to attend Model UN conferences, and I have been trying to keep up with current events and laws to help me in them!
I've skimmed through some of the textbook, and I'll go through it more to see whether or not I enjoy it. Personally, I don't mind not having any coursework since I've done coursework for other subjects and it honestly is so incredibly time consuming (more than people expect) - content wise, I may have to shift around my other A-levels choices to accommodate politics.
Thanks again for the detailed reply!! I'm even more excited and convinced now to take it for A-levels, especially considering the computer science related pathways you talked about