A level options

Hi! I’m approaching the time where I pick my A levels. I’m 100% taking psychology as that’s what I want to study at Uni too. I’m not sure on the other two though, I was thinking either biology, sociology or english language. I enjoy biology but i’ve heard that it’s really difficult, however it opens up a lot of doors. Sociology and english language sound really interesting but people have said that they weren’t great. Any advice or just your opinions on subjects would be super helpful. Thank you! :slight_smile:

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I have to pick my a-levels soon too! I’m leaning more towards the maths/physics side because that’s what I love. I would suggest biology would be useful, as it will at least get you into the right field of work, but please don’t go off of my opinion too much! Good luck! :blue_heart:

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I can’t really advise you on which to pick, since I’m super biased towards english language. :sweat_smile:
I do think that if you enjoy biology you should go for it, don’t let thinking it’s too hard be the only reason you don’t want to do it. For the others, the best you can do is google them until you can google no more. :see_no_evil:

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So here’s the catch. Universities don’t give a damn what subjects you get. As long as you get the number of points, credits, GPA to fulfil the requirements of the university, you can go into any course you want. What universities DO encourage is doing subjects that may help you during your major in university. Just to make things easier for you during your first year. Do know that this is what I have gathered from researching different universities in SOME countries. They may differ. I would suggest having a check through of the universities you are interested in THEN only choose your subjects because they may have different criteria’s (eg. Cambridge).

Since you are taking psychology (and it is a kind of subgroup of med (I think?)), Math would definitely be one of those things you want to take into consideration and from hearing the past experiences of other teachers, THERE WILL BE MATH IN THAT COURSE. Problem is I don’t even think A levels offers their maths in Calculus as a subject and Statistic as a subject itself (I took Pure Maths since that was the only one offered, could be different for you) so I 100% do not encourage taking Math if you do not like doing it because you will have to study 4 textbooks and do 4 papers and each textbook is like…500 pages-ish? If you have done AS before, Great! If you are jumping from O Levels to A Levels… get ready.

I think the reason why everyone says Biology is hard in A’s is because there’s so much to memorise and so much to write yet so little time during the exams. If you love it, take it. Trust me. When it comes to A levels, every subject is your “speciality”. So do it. If you struggle in it, that’s okay, you’re not the only one dying, others are too, including me!

English would be a nice subject to do during your A’s (IF you love it). A majority of universities do encourage students who are wishing to take psychology do English. So if you want to do English, do it. People say it’s hard to get zero in English, saying even if you write some cock and bull story, markers still have to give you a mark. I have yet to see if that’s true (I didn’t take English) so hopefully you will pass (you will pass if you prepare well, don’t worry). Just work on your penmanship, that’s all.

You might want to dabble into Chemistry a bit but… like with math don’t do it if you aren’t interested. The molecules will drive you nuts but studying a science course really helps and opens up a lot of doors for you to choose from.

Anyways, the whole point is just choose what you like to study. Don’t be an idiot like me who chose subjects I had my strengths in, not the ones I love. If your parents did A’s, take some of their advice but DO NOT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY (this is about you, not them). A levels has changed progressively throughout the years and to be honest, you don’t even NEED to take A’s to get into Uni. You can just take 5 AS subjects, pass them and you can probably get into a university (though the criteria for Uni entrance is higher if you use AS).

Anyways, good luck!

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I m a biology student and yeah its little difficult as you have to remember things and thoroughly study each and every concept…but its interesting too… You get to know so many interesting things and those who have interest totally enjoy this subject…
I don’t have any knowledge about sociology so I’ll not make any comments…
As for english, its an imp. Language that is nowadays widely used in every field and its kinda hard to survive without much knowledge about it… So its good to study english and build your skills… You can get many benefits studying this subject.
But this is my opinion… You need to do some search on internet or youtube about these subjects, they will surely guide you better…
Good luck with whichever u choose :blush::two_hearts:

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AS and A2 bio can be difficult…as there’s a LOT to memorise… I’m a bio student myself.
But,

If you enjoy reading sth, then everything will be super easy trust me :blush:
Don’t look for subjects people say are difficult. Some people may not enjoy it so that’s why they may say it’s difficult.
Look for subjects you enjoy reading…that u find interesting.

Also, that’s just my opinion… ur opinion may differ its okay :sweat_smile:

Good luck!! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Ah hey there!
I’m currently last year of A-levels, from my friend that studies psychology and my own a level experience:
Choose subjects that:

  1. Will be relevant to ur uni in the future. -check the subject requirements of studying psychology at different universities, a majority require at least 1 science to be taken alongside psychology. BUT not all unis say this! So go on the UCAS website first and search through all different psychology courses to find out

  2. Choose subjects if you can that aid each other, biology will be linked to psychology and some of the topics cross-over e.g. nervous system and synapses etc.

  3. Go with something you’re passionate about, it’s more likely you will succeed in them :blush:

  • Extra tip: do ‘super curricular’ activities during sixth form! -Extra curricular= extra outside schl stuff like school clubs, marathons you did in your free time etc. These are good to do, but don’t forget to do some super-curricular too!
    “SUPER-CURRICULAR” = Extra activities and things you did outside schl that are relevant to what you want to study at university. So things like go to a studying the brain event or watch a lecture by a psychology graduate/professor (My teacher is one and also did a TED talk: search Shafina Vohra), Or read a book/study related to psychology etc.
    -you can add these super-curricular things to your personal statement when the time comes, I promise it will help!

Most of all, don’t stress, the first year may seem a bit fast-paced but we’re all in the same boat, keep going!

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