Should I drop A-level art?

Hiiii for ur info I’m a y12 student and I did take GCSE Art. I’m planning to major in art in the future, would be digital media (art-related one) or visual communication.
I’m currently facing some problems w my A-level Art grades. I only got an E in my mocks. At the beginning of this semester I was doing relatively fine (a solid B). Our teacher marks our work every two weeks, I could see my grades keep dropping and idk why. My art teacher also can’t really provide much help, so idk how to improve and I’ve already lost motivation. Because of this, I’m not sure if I should drop Art and switch to media studies, since I’m afraid I can’t achieve higher than a D anymore. I’ve heard having art as one of ur A-levels is an advantage for applying to art-related majors, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it in my situation. My other options are Psychology and Maths. I’d be super grateful if anyone could help w this tyyy 😭

Reply 1

normaw

20

@aspalax Can you advise? :smile:

Reply 2

aspalax

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

19

Original post

by Xxvvvhhii

Hiiii for ur info I’m a y12 student and I did take GCSE Art. I’m planning to major in art in the future, would be digital media (art-related one) or visual communication.
I’m currently facing some problems w my A-level Art grades. I only got an E in my mocks. At the beginning of this semester I was doing relatively fine (a solid B). Our teacher marks our work every two weeks, I could see my grades keep dropping and idk why. My art teacher also can’t really provide much help, so idk how to improve and I’ve already lost motivation. Because of this, I’m not sure if I should drop Art and switch to media studies, since I’m afraid I can’t achieve higher than a D anymore. I’ve heard having art as one of ur A-levels is an advantage for applying to art-related majors, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it in my situation. My other options are Psychology and Maths. I’d be super grateful if anyone could help w this tyyy 😭

Thanks for the tag @normaw :smile:

Ultimately I can't tell you whether you should drop the A level or not - that's going to be your decision to make. But I can try and give you some tips and maybe answer some of your questions around why it's useful for art degrees - i've broken this down a bit :smile:

About A level Art

Generally in A level art they are more interested in how you discuss and develop on your work than the quality of the work you're producing -- it's more about the "How" and "Why" than the "What". So the most important thing is that you don't take the grade to be a reflection of how "good" an artist you are, because that's often unrelated -- they mostly want to see that you are making art thoughtfully.

Ways you can more effectively show this development work are:

•

Writing annotations explaining your ideas and your thought processes - *Why* did you choose to use acrylic paint, What about that artist inspired you, How did you come to that conclusion?

•

Exploring ideas

1.

This can be doing different media experimentations (with fineliners, then with paint, then with pastels for example, with some explanation about how effective you found each one to be)

2.

Colour explorations (Maybe experimenting with warm vs cold colours and tones, dramatic contrast, or complimentary colours)

3.

Exploring different artist influences (with explanation about what you liked about the artist and what ideas you want to take on for your own project and why)

4.

Referencing your previous exploration work as you continue to develop your pieces - show that each part leads into another, and that it's a continous "flow" of work - if you previously did some colour exploration and wrote about how the cold colours were effective, then *use* the cold colours in your next work.

•

Documenting everything - if you made a Pinterest moodboard, print it off and stick it in your book. Any examples of development work, however small, demonstrate *intention*, which is one of the biggest things in A level. They want to see that you're making decisions about your work on purpose, and iterating on those decisions over time to effect the final outcome.

About switching to media studies

There's nothing wrong with switching to media studies *if you want to do media studies* - but it's important that you switch because you want to do it rather than because you think it will be easier to get a better grade.

Media will probably also ask you to explain your thought process in a similar way. It's a common trait of a lot of coursework heavy subjects at this level.

You may end up with less variety in portfolio work (Which brings me to my next point)

Why art is useful for creative degrees

Generally creative degrees will ask for an entry portfolio of work when you apply. This might be made up of coursework, personal work, but most commonly a combination of both. Generally they want to see a variety of work that shows your technical ability, but also your ability to develop ideas.

My general suggestion is to include examples of technical ability (which might be life drawing, still life drawing, architectural drawing etc), some examples of creative ideation (showing you can compile new ideas, your most "original" work), and some examples of development processes (project-based work that shows how you develop ideas, similar to what I described above).

So you can see how having A level Art might lend itself well to being able to support an entrance portfolio for university. Some degrees may also ask for a minimum grade in a creative subject, but some of them would likely accept Media for this as well, especially if you were applying for something like Visual Comms or Graphics. Either way, a lot of unis will place less weight on grades and more weight on that entrance portfolio.

Hope some of that helps. A level is tough! Best of luck to you :smile:

Reply 3

Disney dream

1

The fact your teacher cannot tell you why you grades have dropped is worrying. Can you email them ask - this will mean you can show in writing that you’ve asked. Maybe say ‘in follow up to our conversation, I am writing to seek understanding about my fall in grades and asking for advice on where I am suddenly going wrong so I can improve.

See what reply you get

If the reply is not satisfactory then go higher in your school - head of year or head. Explain you’ve gone from a solid B and grades have slipped but beer has the teacher said anything that’s she’s concerned my grades slipping or noting it until you said something. Then say you feel teachers should have this as a top priority and not just let pupils slip. Also say that you have asked for feedback and they have said they don’t know. Again explain that this is not what you expect from an a level teacher and you feel you will not achieve the grades you can due to their lack of support. Say it’s making you down and dislike it and even thinking of dropping a subject you love. If the option ask to move teacher

Good luck x

Reply 4

McGinger

20

Check the entry requirements of relevant degree courses - do they specifically require or prefer an 'Art or Design' A level? Be aware that Media Studies won't meet this requirement.

As an example - BA (Hons) Media Communications | UAL - "preferred subjects include: English; History; Media; Business; Art and Design, or other subjects within Social Sciences"

Should I drop A-level art?

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