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Do I drop a level chemistry or psychology?

Hi, for context I am a Year 12 student currently studying maths, further maths, economics, chemistry and psychology and will need to drop one subject by the end of this year. I am considering applying to finance + accounting and finance courses at Uni and have decided that the a-levels I want to take into year 13 are maths, further maths and economics. However, I’m stuck on whether I should drop chemistry or psychology.

The unis I am interested in place little emphasis on the subjects I have taken but the only requirement is that I have taken a level maths (which I have) + I know economics is quite useful for finance courses so I am definitely keeping that. The problem is I don’t know which out of psychology or chemistry to drop. I am leaning towards dropping chemistry as I find it significantly harder than psychology and I am almost certain that I will not get an A* predicted, however I know for psychology I can get an A* predicted with much less work which means I can prioritise maths, which is most important. My logic was since my unis want me to have an A* in maths, that will be my priority and the other subjects I take can be ‘lighter’ as they don’t really care about what else I have subject-wise (they just want me to have A*/As).

Am I correct in thinking this way or is dropping chemistry a bad idea? I have a bad feeling that taking economics and psychology (which are arguably light filler subjects) would make my application less competitive as some unis appreciate the quantitative skills from a level chemistry.

Sorry this is long but thank you so much for reading and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Reply 1

Psych is no more competitive than chemistry for finance-related degrees, you are fine to drop chem whenever you want/need to

Reply 2

Original post
by mirrors282108
Hi, for context I am a Year 12 student currently studying maths, further maths, economics, chemistry and psychology and will need to drop one subject by the end of this year. I am considering applying to finance + accounting and finance courses at Uni and have decided that the a-levels I want to take into year 13 are maths, further maths and economics. However, I’m stuck on whether I should drop chemistry or psychology.
The unis I am interested in place little emphasis on the subjects I have taken but the only requirement is that I have taken a level maths (which I have) + I know economics is quite useful for finance courses so I am definitely keeping that. The problem is I don’t know which out of psychology or chemistry to drop. I am leaning towards dropping chemistry as I find it significantly harder than psychology and I am almost certain that I will not get an A* predicted, however I know for psychology I can get an A* predicted with much less work which means I can prioritise maths, which is most important. My logic was since my unis want me to have an A* in maths, that will be my priority and the other subjects I take can be ‘lighter’ as they don’t really care about what else I have subject-wise (they just want me to have A*/As).
Am I correct in thinking this way or is dropping chemistry a bad idea? I have a bad feeling that taking economics and psychology (which are arguably light filler subjects) would make my application less competitive as some unis appreciate the quantitative skills from a level chemistry.
Sorry this is long but thank you so much for reading and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Hey @mirrors282108

As the A-Levels you have picked can require lots of time being put into them i would personally drop the subject i find most difficult out of chem/psych. Otherwise, if there’s one you enjoy a lot more than the other then definitely keep that ! 😊 Especially if your chosen universities only emphasise maths as a requirement.

Hope this helps
Molly
BCU Student rep x
Original post
by mirrors282108
Hi, for context I am a Year 12 student currently studying maths, further maths, economics, chemistry and psychology and will need to drop one subject by the end of this year. I am considering applying to finance + accounting and finance courses at Uni and have decided that the a-levels I want to take into year 13 are maths, further maths and economics. However, I’m stuck on whether I should drop chemistry or psychology.
The unis I am interested in place little emphasis on the subjects I have taken but the only requirement is that I have taken a level maths (which I have) + I know economics is quite useful for finance courses so I am definitely keeping that. The problem is I don’t know which out of psychology or chemistry to drop. I am leaning towards dropping chemistry as I find it significantly harder than psychology and I am almost certain that I will not get an A* predicted, however I know for psychology I can get an A* predicted with much less work which means I can prioritise maths, which is most important. My logic was since my unis want me to have an A* in maths, that will be my priority and the other subjects I take can be ‘lighter’ as they don’t really care about what else I have subject-wise (they just want me to have A*/As).
Am I correct in thinking this way or is dropping chemistry a bad idea? I have a bad feeling that taking economics and psychology (which are arguably light filler subjects) would make my application less competitive as some unis appreciate the quantitative skills from a level chemistry.
Sorry this is long but thank you so much for reading and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi!
I do both chem and psych so can provide a good perspective on this.

For me, I love both of them but chemistry gets soo much harder in Y2 so if you are struggling now, I would go for that. I hated AS level psych (I do OCR for both) but love doing Y2 content. I find it so much easier than AS and love it, it is so much more applicable to real life scenarios and I now have so much odd general knowledge which is fun!

Hope this helps

Reply 4

Original post
by SomehowAMedic
Hi!
I do both chem and psych so can provide a good perspective on this.
For me, I love both of them but chemistry gets soo much harder in Y2 so if you are struggling now, I would go for that. I hated AS level psych (I do OCR for both) but love doing Y2 content. I find it so much easier than AS and love it, it is so much more applicable to real life scenarios and I now have so much odd general knowledge which is fun!
Hope this helps

Thank you so much!!
Original post
by mirrors282108
Hi, for context I am a Year 12 student currently studying maths, further maths, economics, chemistry and psychology and will need to drop one subject by the end of this year. I am considering applying to finance + accounting and finance courses at Uni and have decided that the a-levels I want to take into year 13 are maths, further maths and economics. However, I’m stuck on whether I should drop chemistry or psychology.
The unis I am interested in place little emphasis on the subjects I have taken but the only requirement is that I have taken a level maths (which I have) + I know economics is quite useful for finance courses so I am definitely keeping that. The problem is I don’t know which out of psychology or chemistry to drop. I am leaning towards dropping chemistry as I find it significantly harder than psychology and I am almost certain that I will not get an A* predicted, however I know for psychology I can get an A* predicted with much less work which means I can prioritise maths, which is most important. My logic was since my unis want me to have an A* in maths, that will be my priority and the other subjects I take can be ‘lighter’ as they don’t really care about what else I have subject-wise (they just want me to have A*/As).
Am I correct in thinking this way or is dropping chemistry a bad idea? I have a bad feeling that taking economics and psychology (which are arguably light filler subjects) would make my application less competitive as some unis appreciate the quantitative skills from a level chemistry.
Sorry this is long but thank you so much for reading and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Dropping chemistry sounds like the better idea. If you find it harder and arent doing as well in it, then it makes sense to drop it. Whereas if find psychology easier, can get a better grade in it, and dont need to put as much work in to get that grade, then stick with that.

Reply 6

Original post
by mirrors282108
Hi, for context I am a Year 12 student currently studying maths, further maths, economics, chemistry and psychology and will need to drop one subject by the end of this year. I am considering applying to finance + accounting and finance courses at Uni and have decided that the a-levels I want to take into year 13 are maths, further maths and economics. However, I’m stuck on whether I should drop chemistry or psychology.
The unis I am interested in place little emphasis on the subjects I have taken but the only requirement is that I have taken a level maths (which I have) + I know economics is quite useful for finance courses so I am definitely keeping that. The problem is I don’t know which out of psychology or chemistry to drop. I am leaning towards dropping chemistry as I find it significantly harder than psychology and I am almost certain that I will not get an A* predicted, however I know for psychology I can get an A* predicted with much less work which means I can prioritise maths, which is most important. My logic was since my unis want me to have an A* in maths, that will be my priority and the other subjects I take can be ‘lighter’ as they don’t really care about what else I have subject-wise (they just want me to have A*/As).
Am I correct in thinking this way or is dropping chemistry a bad idea? I have a bad feeling that taking economics and psychology (which are arguably light filler subjects) would make my application less competitive as some unis appreciate the quantitative skills from a level chemistry.
Sorry this is long but thank you so much for reading and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!
I mean I think they both hold the same weight for ur course js the grades matter. Personally I found psych much easier compared to chem. considering you said you could get the star much easier in psych I’d stay with psych if I was you tbh, the grade is what matters

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