Biology A level

I'm in year 11 now and I'm really stuck on whether I should do biology a level. Right now I definitely want to do maths A level (At GCSE I'm like an 8 maybe a 9 depending om paper difficulty lol) and Chemistry (Predicted a 9) and originally I was going to do business because I know how challenging the other A levels are. I was planning on doing something down like pharmacy or the chemical engineering route in that industry, but now I'm considering doing biology A level because I got an 8 in my mock and I think for the real thing I can get an 8 or maybe a 9 depending on how Paper 2 goes so now I'm wondering should i do chemistry, maths and biology?

I'm in year 11 now and I'm really stuck on whether I should do biology a level. Right now I definitely want to do maths A level (At GCSE I'm like an 8 maybe a 9 depending om paper difficulty lol) and Chemistry (Predicted a 9) and originally I was going to do business because I know how challenging the other A levels are. I was planning on doing something down like pharmacy or the chemical engineering route in that industry, but now I'm considering doing biology A level because I got an 8 in my mock and I think for the real thing I can get an 8 or maybe a 9 depending on how Paper 2 goes so now I'm wondering should i do chemistry, maths and biology?

Hi @unario189
I did biology, chemistry and psychology A-Levels.
Biology is very content heavy and the mark schemes are very specific. However, I did enjoy learning about lot of the topics and found that with a lot of revision I was able to do well in it. I found it was very important that I made a schedule so that I could balance my time between the subjects because it was easy for me to spend all of my time on biology.
Hope that helps!
Sophie.
BCU Student Rep.

hi, if you want to do pharmacy at uni you need to chemistry and one other science (bio or physics) or maths. Unis don't mind what the third subject is so you could do chemistry, maths and business if you wanted to! I do bio, chem and history and i've got offers to study pharmacy this year.

I'm in year 11 now and I'm really stuck on whether I should do biology a level. Right now I definitely want to do maths A level (At GCSE I'm like an 8 maybe a 9 depending om paper difficulty lol) and Chemistry (Predicted a 9) and originally I was going to do business because I know how challenging the other A levels are. I was planning on doing something down like pharmacy or the chemical engineering route in that industry, but now I'm considering doing biology A level because I got an 8 in my mock and I think for the real thing I can get an 8 or maybe a 9 depending on how Paper 2 goes so now I'm wondering should i do chemistry, maths and biology?

oooooo that's great congratulations!! Thank you so much for your help, it benefitted me LOADS 😇

I'm in year 11 now and I'm really stuck on whether I should do biology a level. Right now I definitely want to do maths A level (At GCSE I'm like an 8 maybe a 9 depending om paper difficulty lol) and Chemistry (Predicted a 9) and originally I was going to do business because I know how challenging the other A levels are. I was planning on doing something down like pharmacy or the chemical engineering route in that industry, but now I'm considering doing biology A level because I got an 8 in my mock and I think for the real thing I can get an 8 or maybe a 9 depending on how Paper 2 goes so now I'm wondering should i do chemistry, maths and biology?

You could try watching videos about biology a-level (like topic videos) whenever you get a free chance to see what the subject content is like and whether it interests you? I'm in year 13 doing biology a-level so if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer

I currently study a level Biology (and also maths) as a year 12 and would be happy to answer any questions you have.
One thing which I would strongly suggest you do is to research a little more into the content of different subjects of interest to you. This can be through documentaries, online courses, webinars, articles, events etc and will help you establish whether the subject is something which truly interests you. You have until results day to figure this out and spending at least some of the summer exploring your subjects is a great idea anyway!
It might help you to hear my experience of a similar situation. During year 11 i was quite conflicted over which a levels to take. I was originally interested in physics as a field however i took an online course in astrophysics and didnt find it as interesting as id hoped because physics is very theoretical past gcse and some parts of a level. At the same time, i took a course relating to biology and absolutely loved it! This is similar to how you are unsure as to what to pursue for your studies, hence why i suggested exploring some online courses!
I applied for maths, physics and biology at the end of year 11. In the lead up to results day, i became even more set toward pursuing biology and tended away from physics (i began exploring other course options in this time). However, on results day i got a 9 in physics and it was my highest mark across the sciences so that confirmed to me that i should take it, in the same way that you getting an 8 in your mock has suggested you to take biology a level.
On starting my a levels however, i found that physics wasn’t actually a subject that held much interest for me. I love science, but the topics and structure of the a levels physics course just wasn’t something i was enjoying very much. This meant my grades suffered (although there were other reasons for this too) and I was consistently working at 2 grades lower in physics compared to my other subjects.
Apologies for the masses of information there! I hope some of it is a little helpful lol. My main point is that taking a subject for a level because you excel at it at gcse isnt always the best option. Obviously dont take subjects youre bad at but you should be pursuing subjects which genuinely spark your interest and link to what you want to spend your life doing. That will make studying easier and increase motivation so youll get higher grades with less work!
I would be more than happy to answer any questions on this or on a level biology 🙂 Best of luck with the rest of your exams!

Thank you so much for this!! The online courses seem soooo helpful, how were you able to get onto one, and also do you find that being able to balance physics and biology is manageable or relatively difficult?

Thank youuuu do you know any websites where I could look at the subject content? Or any videos that give a good summary of it!!!

Online courses are available for free on sites like openlearn, edx and Springpod. Ive used all of these sites and found a broad variety of options on them for biosciences so hopefully you will be able to find something of interest 🙂
I ended up dropping physics in the end because i was finding it too much to take 3 subjects due to some personal circumstances. It wasn’t an easy subject for me to balance with biology and maths because i found it harder to get my head around due to less interest and the jump in difficulty was more apparent than in my other subjects.

YouTube channels like Ms Estruch Biology, Launchpad Learning, A Level Biology Help and Free Science Lessons have good content videos which can help you get a better understanding of what the content is like. Physics and Maths Tutor has good revision notes as well if you prefer reading rather than listening!

I'm in year 11 now and I'm really stuck on whether I should do biology a level. Right now I definitely want to do maths A level (At GCSE I'm like an 8 maybe a 9 depending om paper difficulty lol) and Chemistry (Predicted a 9) and originally I was going to do business because I know how challenging the other A levels are. I was planning on doing something down like pharmacy or the chemical engineering route in that industry, but now I'm considering doing biology A level because I got an 8 in my mock and I think for the real thing I can get an 8 or maybe a 9 depending on how Paper 2 goes so now I'm wondering should i do chemistry, maths and biology?