a level advice

2

hi everyone. i’m currently a year 11 student finishing the last of my gcses, and getting ready for a levels to start in september. as it currently stands, i’ve decided to pick the following:
- english literature
- religious studies
- classical civilisation
i’m writing to see if anyone had any tips, any advice, or any thoughts on the options i was taking? i’m quite apprehensive to start, and often do think of switching my options around. also, i wanted to see if anyone had any advice on what to spend this summer doing, or what to work towards this summer. if anyone could help, that would be great, thank you.

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

20

@gabi56 @oriio @elareare @Daisy._.7777

Reply 2

Yessssssss11111

8

Original post

by m.w18

hi everyone. i’m currently a year 11 student finishing the last of my gcses, and getting ready for a levels to start in september. as it currently stands, i’ve decided to pick the following:
- english literature
- religious studies
- classical civilisation
i’m writing to see if anyone had any tips, any advice, or any thoughts on the options i was taking? i’m quite apprehensive to start, and often do think of switching my options around. also, i wanted to see if anyone had any advice on what to spend this summer doing, or what to work towards this summer. if anyone could help, that would be great, thank you.

I would say the first question to ask is that are these alevels subjects that you enjoy and also necessary for your required course at university/ apprenticeship.
If they aren't required then definitely seek out at subjects that are not as content heavy nor essay based as these ones tend to be harder, and you really need to keep on top of everything from day 1.
From what I have heard english literature is alot different to gcse, so it would be worth at you looking at the alevel spec as seeing if this is what you like.
RS will be a relatively simple subject if you like essays and debates.
Class Civ again have a look at the spec.

Reply 3

EdgeHillStudent1

Official Rep

11

Original post

by m.w18

hi everyone. i’m currently a year 11 student finishing the last of my gcses, and getting ready for a levels to start in september. as it currently stands, i’ve decided to pick the following:
- english literature
- religious studies
- classical civilisation
i’m writing to see if anyone had any tips, any advice, or any thoughts on the options i was taking? i’m quite apprehensive to start, and often do think of switching my options around. also, i wanted to see if anyone had any advice on what to spend this summer doing, or what to work towards this summer. if anyone could help, that would be great, thank you.

Hi @m.w18

That's so exciting to hear you're reaching the end of year 11 and about to start A levels! It sounds like you've picked a good selection of A levels that will have some crossovers which may make it easier as they will use similar skills. There is no wrong choice when picking A levels as it should be whatever best suits you and if they are the subjects you enjoy then they are the right choice for you.

If you have any thoughts on what you may like to study beyond A levels or what you may like to get a job in, it may be worth checking what requirements they have. Certain degrees may ask for specific A levels but most degrees in anything like English or Religion or History wouldn't have a specific requirement. As they are quite similar A levels, it shows you have an interest in those sorts of subjects which is great if that's the field you would like to enter.

I would say have a little look at what jobs you might like to do and work backwards from there to check if there is any specific subjects you should pick but otherwise go with the subjects you enjoy.

In terms of how to spend the summer, make sure to have lots of time to enjoy yourself as the next two years are likely to be very busy and focused on studying. If your sixth form or college has any recommended reading or activities have a look through that but you don't need to do lots. You can always read some subject related books over the summer or start researching future jobs but you will find out a lot more once you actually start sixth form.

Good luck with the rest of your GCSE exams!

Eloise
Second Year Psychology Student

Reply 4

m.w18

OP

2

Original post

by EdgeHillStudent1

Hi @m.w18
That's so exciting to hear you're reaching the end of year 11 and about to start A levels! It sounds like you've picked a good selection of A levels that will have some crossovers which may make it easier as they will use similar skills. There is no wrong choice when picking A levels as it should be whatever best suits you and if they are the subjects you enjoy then they are the right choice for you.
If you have any thoughts on what you may like to study beyond A levels or what you may like to get a job in, it may be worth checking what requirements they have. Certain degrees may ask for specific A levels but most degrees in anything like English or Religion or History wouldn't have a specific requirement. As they are quite similar A levels, it shows you have an interest in those sorts of subjects which is great if that's the field you would like to enter.
I would say have a little look at what jobs you might like to do and work backwards from there to check if there is any specific subjects you should pick but otherwise go with the subjects you enjoy.
In terms of how to spend the summer, make sure to have lots of time to enjoy yourself as the next two years are likely to be very busy and focused on studying. If your sixth form or college has any recommended reading or activities have a look through that but you don't need to do lots. You can always read some subject related books over the summer or start researching future jobs but you will find out a lot more once you actually start sixth form.
Good luck with the rest of your GCSE exams!
Eloise
Second Year Psychology Student

thanks so much for your reply! i would say my one aspiration in life is to be anything that involves writing, maybe even a journalist. i know that english literature helps this, but wasn't too sure on what else to pick. i picked religious studies as i thought that the philosophical study would help me better gauge understanding of people; classics was a wildcard. thank you for your help, it's much appreciated. :smile:

Reply 5

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

13

Original post

by m.w18

hi everyone. i’m currently a year 11 student finishing the last of my gcses, and getting ready for a levels to start in september. as it currently stands, i’ve decided to pick the following:
- english literature
- religious studies
- classical civilisation
i’m writing to see if anyone had any tips, any advice, or any thoughts on the options i was taking? i’m quite apprehensive to start, and often do think of switching my options around. also, i wanted to see if anyone had any advice on what to spend this summer doing, or what to work towards this summer. if anyone could help, that would be great, thank you.

Hey @m.w18!

If you're someone who loves writing, your A-Level choices sound like the perfect combination!

I studied A-Level English Literature, and one really useful thing I did the summer before I started was pre-reading the book, play and poems we studied throughout the first year. I had asked my prospective A-Level English Lit teacher which texts the school typically chose from the specification, and found inexpensive copies/PDFs online. Whilst I didn't read any analysis or study the texts in-depth at this stage, having an idea of the general plot/message of each gave me a headstart on essays and saved me a lot of 'required reading' homework in the first term.

Hope this was helpful and best of luck with your A-Levels next year! 🙂
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 6

Anonx!

3

Original post

by m.w18

thanks so much for your reply! i would say my one aspiration in life is to be anything that involves writing, maybe even a journalist. i know that english literature helps this, but wasn't too sure on what else to pick. i picked religious studies as i thought that the philosophical study would help me better gauge understanding of people; classics was a wildcard. thank you for your help, it's much appreciated. :smile:

Hey if you're considering journalism as a career: I'd consider politics a-level. Obviously a lot of journalism is political or linked to politics if its travel, so could be useful as well, but you have a good combination for journalism or anything else if you change your mind.

Reply 7

oriio

14

Thank you @DerDracologe for the tag!
Hiii, doing a level classiv right now in year 12, it's honestly my favourite subject! while that's got a lot to do with the teachers, the course is also super interesting (and would probably compliment religious studies and english really well). Do you know what the syllabus looks like for your school? (we do Greek Theatre, pots and theatres, some other schools do stuff like religion or art instead of greek theatre but everyone does an Epic). I'd recommend getting highlighters and different coloured pens if you don't already have them, to annotate your texts (it's really helpful when revising and flipping through the book for specific themes/techniques) - like pink for women, green for gods, brown for rituals, red for kleos, orange for xenia, blue for men etc. - which our teacher recommended, sorry for the colour stereotypes - and also a highlighter for all the similes (and get a ruler to make the underlining neat!! regret not doing that heh).
I don't know if I'd recommend reading the texts ahead or anything because I don't think anyone in our class did that (it's fun just reading it in the lesson to be honest) but just get some sort of system ready to write the key quotes and a summary of each Book (chapter) for the Epic (and I'd recommend the same for key scenes in Greek Theatre) once you've done them in class, maybe online somewhere (like a document or on Notion).
Just maybe make a running quotes flashcard set for each theme that you add to as you go along (instead of trying to do it all in one go just before the exam... :banghead:

)
But in general, just find out a way to revise a little bit of each subject every week too make the exams easier, and obviously you'll have a lot of practise with essays with RS and English :'')
Oh alsooo the extended reading - I've not been able to do any of that this year (like critical essays, books, other plays of the time with similar themes, films that are relevant etc.) so maybe you could find out some extra reading to do in the summer for certain themes that relate to the Epic and the other part that you do? Or maybe do that as you're reading the texts so you know what to look for. if you're organised it'll all work out, I just didn't know how to structure my time to fit it all in. (You could even get the textbook to get a head start and help with the content!)
Don't worry, i think this is the most fun and kind of chilled out of all the essay-based a-levels and there's lots of stuff online to help and it's like english and history in one so you're learning loads of stuff but none of it is too heavy.
If you need any resources, wider reading ideas or any other advice (classiv or in general) just lmkkk ❤️ good luck for the rest of your GCSEs, hope you smash them!! :woo:

(edited 9 months ago)

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