Worried about amount of work at A-Level with 3 essay-based subjects

I am currently in Year 11, preparing to select my A-Level choices. For context, I have always had an affinity for English, creative writing in particular. In class I have been achieving grade 8's in most of my assessments (aiming for a 9 at GCSE), however in the Year 10 mocks I only achieved a 6 for language and a 7 for literature. Of course this was the result of multiple factors: poor time management, stress, lack of familiarity with such intense exam conditions etc. Given all of this, I am indubitably going to study it for A-Level. The second subject I am going to study is Spanish. So these are the main two subjects I am certain about taking. However, I am not so sure of my third, as initially I considered taking History, which isn't something I am as passionate about, but have since realised that this would result in a lot of writing given I would be taking 3 essay based subjects. I am a huge perfectionist when it comes to writing, so I'm concerned that i would not be able to keep up with the workload. I am also very talented at art but have dismissed this as an option as it is not something i want to pursue as a profession. I would be really grateful you offer some advice as to what I should do. Could these 3 subjects be manageable? I'm not as keen on other subjects like RE or Philosophy.
Thank you

I am currently in Year 11, preparing to select my A-Level choices. For context, I have always had an affinity for English, creative writing in particular. In class I have been achieving grade 8's in most of my assessments (aiming for a 9 at GCSE), however in the Year 10 mocks I only achieved a 6 for language and a 7 for literature. Of course this was the result of multiple factors: poor time management, stress, lack of familiarity with such intense exam conditions etc. Given all of this, I am indubitably going to study it for A-Level. The second subject I am going to study is Spanish. So these are the main two subjects I am certain about taking. However, I am not so sure of my third, as initially I considered taking History, which isn't something I am as passionate about, but have since realised that this would result in a lot of writing given I would be taking 3 essay based subjects. I am a huge perfectionist when it comes to writing, so I'm concerned that i would not be able to keep up with the workload. I am also very talented at art but have dismissed this as an option as it is not something i want to pursue as a profession. I would be really grateful you offer some advice as to what I should do. Could these 3 subjects be manageable? I'm not as keen on other subjects like RE or Philosophy.
Thank you

I am currently in Year 11, preparing to select my A-Level choices. For context, I have always had an affinity for English, creative writing in particular. In class I have been achieving grade 8's in most of my assessments (aiming for a 9 at GCSE), however in the Year 10 mocks I only achieved a 6 for language and a 7 for literature. Of course this was the result of multiple factors: poor time management, stress, lack of familiarity with such intense exam conditions etc. Given all of this, I am indubitably going to study it for A-Level. The second subject I am going to study is Spanish. So these are the main two subjects I am certain about taking. However, I am not so sure of my third, as initially I considered taking History, which isn't something I am as passionate about, but have since realised that this would result in a lot of writing given I would be taking 3 essay based subjects. I am a huge perfectionist when it comes to writing, so I'm concerned that i would not be able to keep up with the workload. I am also very talented at art but have dismissed this as an option as it is not something i want to pursue as a profession. I would be really grateful you offer some advice as to what I should do. Could these 3 subjects be manageable? I'm not as keen on other subjects like RE or Philosophy.
Thank you

Remember not all A levels need to be things you want to pursue in the future, as long as they are enjoyable and manageable. That said, they must also tailor to your areas of interest and open up degree/post school options. I study STEM based A levels along with Drama, and get the odd eyebrow raise when I tell people this- but was definitely one of my best decisions ever. Having Drama personally gives me a more relaxed subject and although I know I wont pursue it in the future, It's something I enjoy and therefore get good grades as a result. If university is you're goal, it's usefull to have a look at what type of courses your interested in and what subjects they require. Lots of uni courses actually only require 1 alevel subject!!! So I think you should possibly consider art, doing History just because you like essay writing is slightly risky because A levels are not just about exam technique but also about extending your knowledge and the passion needs to be there. I don't think you would struggle too much with the workload, it just really depends how you personally work and study, and if you're also ok with sitting A levels exams where you could be writing for very long periods of time.

I do History, Literature, and Classics (ancient history and ancient literature basically). Obviously all of them include alot of essay writing, however as someone who doesnt enjoy maths based or physical subjects (wood tech and art etc) this is ideal for me.
In terms of work load, literature has had the most. It is hard to judge how your experience will be though, as things really do differ between schools. I get 4 times as much homework as my friend who attends a different school, and I have many more mocks across the year than she does. Im not exaggerating about homework differences across schools by the way, she will sometimes have weeks with no homework at all and Im sat here with 5 thick articles to read, essays to plan up and write, podcasts etc. At my school, we are expected to spend a minimum of 5hrs outside class studying - some subjects interpret this as giving us 2-3hrs of homework and then the rest of it is up to the student to use as self-study, English literature interpreted this as setting 5hrs of homework which forces us to do self-study outside of the allotted 5hrs. So, your experience will change alot based on the school you attend.
NEAs will play a big part in this. Im not sure if every school has NEAs for literature and history, so check first as exam boards may differ. If you dont know, NEAs are coursework, and for essay subjects, this coursework is usually an essay. In my school, I have an NEA for both history and Literature. Some people can find NEAs stressful, however you are able to access all the resources you need and rewrite it as much as you like, but this will be done in your own time. I dont think NEAs should scare you or anything, as they can be quite fun, but obviously everyone feels differently and you might not feel comfortable having more than one NEA. Though I will say that experiencing my English NEA first, made me a much stronger student when approaching my History NEA as I already had experience.
I think how much you'll enjoy history at A level is partly based on if you liked it at gcse and partly based on if you like the content of the A level course. I adore history, however I did find the topics at my school a little annoying as neither the Cold War nor British Industrialisation are areas of interest to me (I was a little disappointed that they had no medieval topics). However, the Cold War has grown on me by now, and the NEA topic is really cool (the Civil Rights Movement in the USA 1865-1965). I would say many people overestimate how hard history is, as literature is much much harder. A levels are challenging generally, but History is not a particularly difficult one - though everyone will have different experiences and opinions.
As you are considering history and literature, I am absolutely forced to do a quick wistlestop tour of Classics, which is a combination of both subjects. Its not everyones cup of tea, and you seem confident about your decision to do Spanish, but hear me out. My combination of a levels is seen as a pretty classics combo, as all my subjects correspond with eachother, and Ive actually found the overlap of contents really helpful for my grades. However, you can also consider Classics as a replacement for History, rather than as a third option, if you become really fond of it.
The actual name for my course is Classical Civilisations, which means there are no language components. Most Classics courses offered at A level will be like mine, though some will have language topics. Given your interest in Spanish you might like the possibility of studying Latin or Ancient Greek in this subject, but I hate languages so Im happier with my course. My course has 2 texts (the Odyssey and The Aeneid), 2 poets (Ovid and Sappho), 2 philosophers (Seneca and Plato), and one history component (the most common I believe are Emperor Augustus or Ancient Greek art). I know you said you don't have much interest in philosophy, but the philosophers literally took a couple weeks each, are a tiny bit of our course, and is actually very different than how it was taught at secondary school. Rather than just going through a philosophers general ideas and theories, we got to study Plato's symposium (which is absolutely hilarious). Yes, its still philpsophy, but we get to Plato's opinion on queerness (which changes every five minutes) and his fanfic about his Aristotle, so don't be put off.
The 2 texts are 50% of the course, poets and philosophers are 25%, and the history topic is 25% (all in terns of how much time we spend studying them). My favourite part of the subject is probably the poets - Ovid is very funny. In general, the Classics course is quite funny anyway, but thats probably because one of our topics is love, which involves a fair few conversations about sex and how weirdly comfortable Ancient Greeks were with being naked around eachother. The skills needed for Classics are the exact same as luterature and history. If there is a school in your area offering the subject, I highly reccomend checking it out. If you do decide to take a further interest in this subject, I have much more information on it if you ask, but Im nit going to provide lits of detail on the pros and cons given that you aren't considering it right now.
I will be surprised if you made it this far, and Im sorry for any typos, but I hope I have helped. If you have any more questions I'll be happy to answer - Im a very anxious person and was absolutely feral for any knowledge about A level when I was in yr11.

Thousands of people take 3 essay based subjects every year and get A grades.
Why do you think you can't manage that?

I am currently in Year 11, preparing to select my A-Level choices. For context, I have always had an affinity for English, creative writing in particular. In class I have been achieving grade 8's in most of my assessments (aiming for a 9 at GCSE), however in the Year 10 mocks I only achieved a 6 for language and a 7 for literature. Of course this was the result of multiple factors: poor time management, stress, lack of familiarity with such intense exam conditions etc. Given all of this, I am indubitably going to study it for A-Level. The second subject I am going to study is Spanish. So these are the main two subjects I am certain about taking. However, I am not so sure of my third, as initially I considered taking History, which isn't something I am as passionate about, but have since realised that this would result in a lot of writing given I would be taking 3 essay based subjects. I am a huge perfectionist when it comes to writing, so I'm concerned that i would not be able to keep up with the workload. I am also very talented at art but have dismissed this as an option as it is not something i want to pursue as a profession. I would be really grateful you offer some advice as to what I should do. Could these 3 subjects be manageable? I'm not as keen on other subjects like RE or Philosophy.
Thank you

Thank you so much for this! Since reading your reply I have looked into Classic Civilisation and it sounds so interesting! I am now considering it for a third subject, and the literature in it links so well with English! Thank you for explaining its contents too. The Cold War does bore me at the moment but maybe it could grow on me as well. Which course did you prefer, the History course or the Classic Civilisation? I really appreciate your response, this was so kind of you!