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Should i swap a level biology for physics?

I've just finished my 3rd week of my schools sixth form and I've taken biology, maths, and psychology. But as biology goes on, I feel like I'm getting further and further behind everyone else as i don't understand many parts and I struggle to remember all the technical words, which is leaving me stressed out and not enjoying it. I'm thinking I might possibly switch to physics, (I already knows it would fit to my timetable and all) but I'm just not sure.

I don't know what kind of job I want to go into when I'm older so this doesn't really have much influence on me currently. As I continue doing maths, I am realising how much i love maths as is comes so naturally to me, but I'm not sure if this is a good enough reason alone to do physics. I've always found maths easy and it's always been my favourite subject, i enjoy logic and solving things. As I think more about my future, I am starting to like the idea of going into more physics based fields (as of this evening).

I'm also worried about that fact that I might not be able to catch up with a physics I've missed, and that I might regret this change after I do it as I was so sure when choosing between biology and physics in the summer. I thought I would enjoy biology alot more, as I did at gcse level, but now it's just confusing me and stressing me out.

I also want to add that I don't think I necessarily want to go into something to do with psychology, I'm more doing it as a subject I find interesting and want to learn more about. Biology links well to psychology, but I'm not too bothered about doing psychology further, leading me to question doing biology.

I really would just like to hear some other options from people who aren't my parents or friends as I feel it could help me make my decision, thanks.

Reply 1

I'm happy to answer any questions too :smile:

Reply 2

Original post
by Lagrugru21
I've just finished my 3rd week of my schools sixth form and I've taken biology, maths, and psychology. But as biology goes on, I feel like I'm getting further and further behind everyone else as i don't understand many parts and I struggle to remember all the technical words, which is leaving me stressed out and not enjoying it. I'm thinking I might possibly switch to physics, (I already knows it would fit to my timetable and all) but I'm just not sure.
I don't know what kind of job I want to go into when I'm older so this doesn't really have much influence on me currently. As I continue doing maths, I am realising how much i love maths as is comes so naturally to me, but I'm not sure if this is a good enough reason alone to do physics. I've always found maths easy and it's always been my favourite subject, i enjoy logic and solving things. As I think more about my future, I am starting to like the idea of going into more physics based fields (as of this evening).
I'm also worried about that fact that I might not be able to catch up with a physics I've missed, and that I might regret this change after I do it as I was so sure when choosing between biology and physics in the summer. I thought I would enjoy biology alot more, as I did at gcse level, but now it's just confusing me and stressing me out.
I also want to add that I don't think I necessarily want to go into something to do with psychology, I'm more doing it as a subject I find interesting and want to learn more about. Biology links well to psychology, but I'm not too bothered about doing psychology further, leading me to question doing biology.
I really would just like to hear some other options from people who aren't my parents or friends as I feel it could help me make my decision, thanks.

I'm y12 and was having similar thoughts a few days ago - I'd recommend finding past papers for each subject (in your case bio and physics) and reading through them. Can you see yourself sitting those past papers? Does the content in them look interesting or something you'll be happy to learn about? If not, then don't take that subject! It's not too late to switch yet so don't make the decision based off that :smile:

Reply 3

Original post
by Lagrugru21
I've just finished my 3rd week of my schools sixth form and I've taken biology, maths, and psychology. But as biology goes on, I feel like I'm getting further and further behind everyone else as i don't understand many parts and I struggle to remember all the technical words, which is leaving me stressed out and not enjoying it. I'm thinking I might possibly switch to physics, (I already knows it would fit to my timetable and all) but I'm just not sure.
I don't know what kind of job I want to go into when I'm older so this doesn't really have much influence on me currently. As I continue doing maths, I am realising how much i love maths as is comes so naturally to me, but I'm not sure if this is a good enough reason alone to do physics. I've always found maths easy and it's always been my favourite subject, i enjoy logic and solving things. As I think more about my future, I am starting to like the idea of going into more physics based fields (as of this evening).
I'm also worried about that fact that I might not be able to catch up with a physics I've missed, and that I might regret this change after I do it as I was so sure when choosing between biology and physics in the summer. I thought I would enjoy biology alot more, as I did at gcse level, but now it's just confusing me and stressing me out.
I also want to add that I don't think I necessarily want to go into something to do with psychology, I'm more doing it as a subject I find interesting and want to learn more about. Biology links well to psychology, but I'm not too bothered about doing psychology further, leading me to question doing biology.
I really would just like to hear some other options from people who aren't my parents or friends as I feel it could help me make my decision, thanks.

If you would be comfortable with the Physics, make the switch.

Reply 4

Original post
by VaBook78
I'm y12 and was having similar thoughts a few days ago - I'd recommend finding past papers for each subject (in your case bio and physics) and reading through them. Can you see yourself sitting those past papers? Does the content in them look interesting or something you'll be happy to learn about? If not, then don't take that subject! It's not too late to switch yet so don't make the decision based off that :smile:


Thanks, I didn't even think of that, I'll definitely do that today

Reply 5

Original post
by Lagrugru21
I've just finished my 3rd week of my schools sixth form and I've taken biology, maths, and psychology. But as biology goes on, I feel like I'm getting further and further behind everyone else as i don't understand many parts and I struggle to remember all the technical words, which is leaving me stressed out and not enjoying it. I'm thinking I might possibly switch to physics, (I already knows it would fit to my timetable and all) but I'm just not sure.
I don't know what kind of job I want to go into when I'm older so this doesn't really have much influence on me currently. As I continue doing maths, I am realising how much i love maths as is comes so naturally to me, but I'm not sure if this is a good enough reason alone to do physics. I've always found maths easy and it's always been my favourite subject, i enjoy logic and solving things. As I think more about my future, I am starting to like the idea of going into more physics based fields (as of this evening).
I'm also worried about that fact that I might not be able to catch up with a physics I've missed, and that I might regret this change after I do it as I was so sure when choosing between biology and physics in the summer. I thought I would enjoy biology alot more, as I did at gcse level, but now it's just confusing me and stressing me out.
I also want to add that I don't think I necessarily want to go into something to do with psychology, I'm more doing it as a subject I find interesting and want to learn more about. Biology links well to psychology, but I'm not too bothered about doing psychology further, leading me to question doing biology.
I really would just like to hear some other options from people who aren't my parents or friends as I feel it could help me make my decision, thanks.

I'm in Y13 and taking bio, chem, psychology and took physics for first year. Bio does become a lot more technical later and the first year of physics had even more maths than I expected (which is why i dropped it.) This might be obvious, but making the switch will cut off anything bio related at uni so just look at some bio courses first to see if there's something you really want to do, could also compare them to physics and engineering courses the switch would open up. My school let me do four until i could decide which to drop so maybe see if yours lets you trial both?

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