A Level Choices - Advice and Information

hiii i thought i would post on here as a year 13 who is finally graduating this year 2026 who does a lvls and give an insight into how they have been, a review of the subjects, my honest thoughts, and general advice given to future sixth form and any year 12ths!
Please keep this in mind when reading - this my own personal experience!! i am an international student who only joined the UK system fairly recently, so my expercine may not be what british teens have or think, so please keep that in mind when reading but i hope to give an insight that anyone of any place can take from. this is also from someone who is not the biggest lover of school and does not enjoy it so please keep that in mind as well!!

Sixth Form Overview
I started off taking A Lvl Math, English Lit, Psychology, and French and quickly dropped French as unfortunately it was too advanced and not what I wanted to be in as I had a very different learning style to everyone else in the class. I stuck out the rest for a few weeks before Math started to become too hard, and I swapped to History and took up an EPQ (highly rec btw, as it is super beneficial and helps with uni!)
my final three subjects are history, psychology, and english lit which i will now give an insight to.

psychology - rating: 7/10 - AQA
out of my three a lvls, psy has to be the most forgiving and nicer subject. there is a lot of content, and topics which i don't like, but overall it is interesting. you learn topics such as memory, schizophrenia, attachment, etc and once you learn the exam techniques and knowledge, it's smooth sailing. its one of those subjects which i would call a flashcard one, where you can you have all the info on a card, spit it out in active recall and as long as you apply it accordingly to the q marks are easy. there are topics which i don't like, such as issues and debates, approaches, and overall there is a bit too much content - if i&d got taken it, it would be a lot easier. out of all my subjects, its def the one easier to revise, i feel a bit more confident in and generally makes the most sense quite frankly. i was nervous before as i hate and suck at science, but it is one of those subjects where its not too sciency - ofc there are aspects of such especially in paper 3, but honestly, as long as you know the main things you are good. also, there is no coursework for this subject, so that means all your marks are relied on your exam only. unlike others where cw is a % of final grade too.
would i take this subject again? - personally, if i had a choice, i would not be taking a lvls again end of story, as i hate them so much. if i had to, i would take psy again, but be less keen with i&d. in regards to grade boundaries, it is reasonable with 70% and above grading an A supposedly, which compared to other a lvls is very good.
its a subject i have enjoyed learning about as a someone who is interested in people, and i thought i was going to apply for psy at uni, but over time that has changed, but it is still fairly ok.

english lit - rating: 5/10 - OCR
this, honestly, has been the biggest disappointment i think ive ever had within school. i have always loved english and been good at it, i wrote a lot when i was younger and wrote so many fictional novels and stories. however, a lvl has ruined my love for it, and is now a drag. content wise, the texts are very good, for ocr i have done dystopia (1984 and handmaids tale, both very very interesting books) duchess of malfi and the merchants tale for medieval lit (again i love both, they are so well written and have some great symbollogy) the tempest for shakespeare (its something, but once you learn it in modern day english its not too bad) and for coursework we did phillip larkins poems for short cw and history boys and catcher in the rye for long coursework. i personally hated larkin poems, i found them boring and just negative and not interesting, but for cw that is worth 20% of the grade ill take it. the history boys was ok, the movie was better than the text and i found catcher in the rye boring and plotless, but again, long cw lets you be a bit more creative which again is helpful. overall, i do like the stuff we read and study, its interesting, BUT the issue for me is the mark scheme, and the lack of creativity there is. my schools english department is another story, which has also ruined it for me, but the bands for an A is 88% and above, FOR AN A. for me, that is way too high, and very unreasonable considering how harshly marked we are (again maybe school thing, i don't know) but my biggest issue is the lack of creativity. what i like about the long cw is that within texts, you can expand your own ideas and develop them, but that is really it. the rest of the course you have to answer q's in certain ways, hit all the A0S, and basically be a robot - i keep getting marked down as i 'overcomplicate' my ideas. again, the content we do is interesting mostly, but the marking, and overall kind of feel of the subject is not what i expected. i don't know if english lang is the same or not, but as its lit i thought there would be more of a creative personal aspect.
would i take this subject again? - again, i wouldn't do a lvls again, but if i had to i don't think i would take this again unfortunately, it has ruined my joy for the subject and as much as i love picking out the symbolisms and context of the books, the grades, the markers, my school, the robotic way to answer just ruins it for me and has taken the joy out it. now its a, how do i shape my creativity to be what the examiner wants? plus, im sorry, but 88% JUST FOR AN A NOT A* is INSANE.

history - rating: 3/10 - Edexcel
ok, so, where do i start. like i said, i dropped math to take history instead and again like english, it didn't seem that bad, until a few months in. content wise, we do the british and french wars (napoleon until ww1), communist russia and the fall of the ussr, communist china under mao, and this stupid depth study (looks at how guns developed and how role of people changed in war etc) you do have two cw for history, a long and short. we did the american civil war, and being american here is a plus! the short cw is basically 'why did the south loose and why did north win, discuss historians arguments' and you choose three historians and discuss each and state why one is better. the long cw, dear lawd, is something else. it is basically a bigger and longer essay on the same q which requires extensive research and writing into such, which i need to yet start. now, i have taken history before and got high A's before, until now, where i have not moved past a C in ANY single assignment or test and yet predicted an A. there is WAY TOO MUCH CONTENT by miles, there is too many wars, too much detail, and considering you study nearly 5 wars for only 2 questions to come up on any, and could be some niche topic like the role of women just baffles me, and is so pointless. the communists topics are rocky at first, but once you learn one and the other, they start to overlap and aid a better view and understanding, so thats not too bad, plus, they are topics im interested in. now, the depth study to me is so pointless. you look at naval and army reforms, weapons, role of people, and recruitment, again all topics with insane detail to only be asked the bare minimum is crazy. the info is easier to memorize, but, its so boring, it really really is. i also dislike how many essay structures there are, source q's are not that bad as you are given some aid, but if you do the structure wrong, you are marked down. the biggest thing with a lvl history is NOT CONTENT KNOWLEDGE, BUT STRUCTURE AND FOLLOWING EXAM CONDITIONS. again, same issue with english, i liked history and found it interesting and now it is such a stress factor and hatred for me; i think they need to cut down on the content, and say we do ussr and mao, we then do ONE TOPIC OF CHOICE IN DEPTH - example, nazi germany and hitler rise to power, which i find very interesting and would enjoy more in depth and keep the cw but ditch the rest. to me, that's more able and would show a huge increase in the grades given. i believe for an A it is 80% or 85% needed, again, very high but a bit more ok with english. my biggest issue is again my school, the markers, the strict exam technique, how much content there is to just be asked on the bare minimum, and again like english it takes the joy out it.
would i take this subject again? - again i would run away from a lvls if i could but i would not take this subject. too much content, too much work, too too much (and my teachers too)

Biggest Advice
DO NOT TAKE A LVLS. i know if you are a GB student, you don't have a choice, but, if you are international please do not stay for the last two years of highschool, as im fighting for my life. i have made other posts in here ranting about my issues and stress and emotions and crashouts, but i swear, i cannot anymore. i have 5 months left, and im so relieved to be done as i cannot take it anymore.
to anyone who is starting a lvls, please please PLEASE get as much info on the subjects grade boundaries, pass and grade rates, content, and just as much info as you can. even with psy, i wouldn't take it again just bc a lvls have drained the joy out of all my subjects, which i hope for others is something that doesn't happen, as my love for english has dissolved. overall, regardless of history, english, and psy, all subjects are hard, demanding, torture, not fun, and way too much content for my liking. i knew there would be a lot, but nowhere near this much, so please keep this in mind.

i hope this was helpful to some people and if you did read it all, feel free to ask any q's or anything, id be happy to answer!

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

To any students who have read this and are now re-considering their a level choices etc based on this one post, remember that everyone is different and just because the OP sadly struggled with these subjects and hasn’t really enjoyed them this may not be your experience 🙂