A-Level Politics(Edexcel) or A-Level RS(OCR)

I’m also picking maths, econ and perhaps further maths

POLITICS(Edexcel):
- I read through the spec and it was really interesting especially the ideologies
- I’m interested in politics and sometimes read articles about current affairs
- I looked at past papers and every paper has a source question which I absolutely detested during GCSE history
- I was interested in history until exam season which made me hate it

RS(OCR):
- I read through spec and honestly did not understand most of it as I’m not that familiar with philosophy in an academic setting
- I also do like philosophy outside of education
- I found GCSE RS really boring as they were just telling us the information
- Although I enjoyed the ideas that were brought up and my teacher told us that it is explored further in A-Level and we have time to discuss it
- looked through the exam papers and it seems like it’s more simple as it’s asking the same type of question structure

Reply 1

bibachu

Original post

by Toomanyenny

I’m also picking maths, econ and perhaps further maths
POLITICS(Edexcel):
- I read through the spec and it was really interesting especially the ideologies
- I’m interested in politics and sometimes read articles about current affairs
- I looked at past papers and every paper has a source question which I absolutely detested during GCSE history
- I was interested in history until exam season which made me hate it
RS(OCR):
- I read through spec and honestly did not understand most of it as I’m not that familiar with philosophy in an academic setting
- I also do like philosophy outside of education
- I found GCSE RS really boring as they were just telling us the information
- Although I enjoyed the ideas that were brought up and my teacher told us that it is explored further in A-Level and we have time to discuss it
- looked through the exam papers and it seems like it’s more simple as it’s asking the same type of question structure

I’ve just completed my A levels in politics (Edexcel), philosophy (AQA) and psychology (AQA) and know many people who did RS (OCR), so perhaps I can provide you with a little more insight.

In terms of politics, paper 1 and 2 both contain 30 mark source questions, whereas paper 3 contains two 30 mark essay questions, regardless of whether you do US or global. I personally loved studying politics and found the exams the most enjoyable out of all my subjects. I’m not familiar with how GCSE history source questions work, but essentially, in politics, the source is where you find basic points for your argument and counter arguments. From there, you have creative freedom over what you use to evidence and analyse your essay with. I didn’t particularly enjoy source questions, though I think this year I got quite lucky with two pretty decent source questions coming up (note that this was not the general consensus for paper 1 at least). An interest in current affairs is needed to do well, as this is where you find your evidence and can begin to compose niche arguments, which helps you to push yourself into a higher band if done well. For reference, I was predicted an A* in politics, though I’m not banking on one this time and wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up with a near miss.

Shifting the focus to RS, as above, I didn’t study RS but know many who did and found that RS and philosophy have some (but not a lot of) overlap. Looking back now, I don’t think I would have chosen RS over any of my subjects, simply due to my lack of interest in studying religion itself in comparison to my interest in pure philosophy. I intend on studying philosophy at university, so it’s safe to say that the subject influenced me heavily. It is true that a lot of the themes and ideas in RS are discussed more heavily and in more detail at A level, but this is also coupled with aspects of philosophy. Many people I know found RS to be an overwhelming subject when taken in combination with other content heavy subjects. One of my friends studied politics, RS and history (all incredibly content heavy) and found RS to be the hardest one to stay on top of, but I think she enjoyed it the most (if not that, then politics). I got quite lucky in picking my subjects, as AQA philosophy is not that content heavy, but very complex instead. Since you seem to have more of an interest in the philosophical aspect of RS naturally, I would encourage you, if possible, to consider studying philosophy (AQA). It’s not a common subject at most sixth forms so understandably, if this is not an option, RS would be a more viable choice.

Making your decision should ultimately come down to two things: a) what you think you’d enjoy most and b) what you think you’d do best in. From the sound of it, it seems as though you’d enjoy politics more due to your interest in current affairs, but figuring out what you’d do better in is also important. I’d encourage you to do some more digging online and perhaps watch a few videos from past students who took these subjects to gain a better understanding of what each entails.