History vs Ancient History A level

I'm still so undecided as to whether I should take history or ancient history.
Here's my dilemma:
Pros of taking ancient history:
-genuine interest and passion for the time period
-interesting course
-no NEA
-not that interested in learning ⅓ of the topics for normal history.
Cons:
-my own school doesn't offer it and the school that does averages at around a B (highest grade being an A), as seen in the past few years.
-History at my school has a 30% grade A* turnout.
-quite a niche A level so there are few resources.
-the people who take it in elder years all did Latin/Ancient greek at GCSE (outside of school), those who take it at the school I would study at had already done it for GCSE.

I know there are so many cons so this feels quite redundant but I really do have a passion for learning about classical history even though the cons stack up.
I'm taking Spanish and Politics and I hope to progress to something of the law/politics field in the future.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I would truly appreciate any advice :smile:

Reply 1

DaisyChain1810

Original post

by Tias0

I'm still so undecided as to whether I should take history or ancient history.
Here's my dilemma:
Pros of taking ancient history:
-genuine interest and passion for the time period
-interesting course
-no NEA
-not that interested in learning ⅓ of the topics for normal history.
Cons:
-my own school doesn't offer it and the school that does averages at around a B (highest grade being an A), as seen in the past few years.
-History at my school has a 30% grade A* turnout.
-quite a niche A level so there are few resources.
-the people who take it in elder years all did Latin/Ancient greek at GCSE (outside of school), those who take it at the school I would study at had already done it for GCSE.
I know there are so many cons so this feels quite redundant but I really do have a passion for learning about classical history even though the cons stack up.
I'm taking Spanish and Politics and I hope to progress to something of the law/politics field in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I would truly appreciate any advice :smile:

Hi @Tias0

I understand your dilemma and the decision is a tricky one. Would you be at a disadvantage if you studied Ancient History without Latin and Greek? And if so, would you need to study outside the class, as the other students had to? This is something that needs to be seriously considered , as if you did need to do the extra study, how much would it impact on you A Levels? Especially since you want to continue studying Law and Politics.

Also, how much impact would the move to another school on the Law and Politics departments- are they as good in the new school?

I understand your passion for ancient history I share it, avidly, too, but you need to consider carefully your choices.

Good luck!

Reply 2

Academicssssss

I mean, as someone who took history I think it’s a very interesting A-level! The non-exam assessment can be a bit annoying, but I have just completed mine and I actually don’t think it’s that bad

Reply 3

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Original post

by Tias0

I'm still so undecided as to whether I should take history or ancient history.
Here's my dilemma:
Pros of taking ancient history:
-genuine interest and passion for the time period
-interesting course
-no NEA
-not that interested in learning ⅓ of the topics for normal history.
Cons:
-my own school doesn't offer it and the school that does averages at around a B (highest grade being an A), as seen in the past few years.
-History at my school has a 30% grade A* turnout.
-quite a niche A level so there are few resources.
-the people who take it in elder years all did Latin/Ancient greek at GCSE (outside of school), those who take it at the school I would study at had already done it for GCSE.
I know there are so many cons so this feels quite redundant but I really do have a passion for learning about classical history even though the cons stack up.
I'm taking Spanish and Politics and I hope to progress to something of the law/politics field in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I would truly appreciate any advice :smile:

You dont need experience of classical languages to do ancient history, all sources will be translated into English beforehand. The advantage of classical languages for students who took them is they will already have some background in the cultures of ancient civilisations- you can do this over your long summer in year 11 by watching documentaries and reading around the topics on the course. I wouldn’t get so fixated to the grades, these can be impacted by a lot of factors such as the cohorts entry grades. If you want to push for an A* you should still be able to with a decent amount of hard work. I also do a subject with very few resources that is very niche, it was off putting at first but I found that this has forced me to make my own resources and try a lot harder to understand topics in class/ask for help from teachers- this is great prep for uni! I know that the students who do ancient history at my school are only required to get a 6 in history and they can choose to study Greek gcse alongside their a levels if they want to just for the stake of interest really so its not necessary for the course 🙂

Reply 4

Tias0

Thank you everyone for your kind advice. I have finally decided to take normal history, I'm hoping the one topic I'm not looking forward to turns out to be interesting (despite my preliminary judgement) and I can always choose to go into detail about something ancient history related in the NEA.
Thank you all so much again, you've been really helpful in aiding my decision and drawing my attention to points i hadnt previously thought about :smile:

Reply 5

Kitty Schools

Original post

by Tias0

I'm still so undecided as to whether I should take history or ancient history.
Here's my dilemma:
Pros of taking ancient history:
-genuine interest and passion for the time period
-interesting course
-no NEA
-not that interested in learning ⅓ of the topics for normal history.
Cons:
-my own school doesn't offer it and the school that does averages at around a B (highest grade being an A), as seen in the past few years.
-History at my school has a 30% grade A* turnout.
-quite a niche A level so there are few resources.
-the people who take it in elder years all did Latin/Ancient greek at GCSE (outside of school), those who take it at the school I would study at had already done it for GCSE.
I know there are so many cons so this feels quite redundant but I really do have a passion for learning about classical history even though the cons stack up.
I'm taking Spanish and Politics and I hope to progress to something of the law/politics field in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I would truly appreciate any advice :smile:

From personal experience : my friend did Ancient History instead of History A Level for many of the reasons you mention. It was a mistake. Ancient History has the lowest percentage of A* out of all subjects, and many history uni courses require History and not Ancient History. So unless you don't mind not being able to use the A level as a required course and don't mind that the percentage odnA*s in the subject is just over 3%, you should think hard about not taking it. Which is a terrible shame as if you are interested in the Ancient History material it should be a no-brainer to take it.

Reply 6

Tonipeers

Original post

by Tias0

I'm still so undecided as to whether I should take history or ancient history.
Here's my dilemma:
Pros of taking ancient history:
-genuine interest and passion for the time period
-interesting course
-no NEA
-not that interested in learning ⅓ of the topics for normal history.
Cons:
-my own school doesn't offer it and the school that does averages at around a B (highest grade being an A), as seen in the past few years.
-History at my school has a 30% grade A* turnout.
-quite a niche A level so there are few resources.
-the people who take it in elder years all did Latin/Ancient greek at GCSE (outside of school), those who take it at the school I would study at had already done it for GCSE.
I know there are so many cons so this feels quite redundant but I really do have a passion for learning about classical history even though the cons stack up.
I'm taking Spanish and Politics and I hope to progress to something of the law/politics field in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I would truly appreciate any advice :smile:

My daughter took Ancient history because we live in Colchester so it seemed an obvious choice, however it is probably one of the hardest subjects and it is not taught in lots of places so it is hard to get help if you find it difficult and believe me it is difficult. If you are just avoiding coursework I’d take coursework any day! The names, the dates the sources etc are very hard to remember. My father-in-law taught history a level and he is shocked by the level of A level Ancient History, if we’d known the difficulty we’d have guided her to a different history. But if you have a brain for those names, numbers and politics, and it will serve you in your next step do it! Hope that helps.