[Legend]

Just wondering what a-levels people did because i'm nosey and if people did ones i might be doing then it will be good to get feedback from what they are like.

So, what did you do? Also, how many did you do?

I weren't going to stay on at sixth form in my school as i was going to go to college but there giving every sixth former free driving lessons now untill your test (as a bribe me thinks) so yeah, that sold it for me.

Anyway, in the opening evening last night i had a look at courses i wanted to do.

I'm doing Sports Studies & Law. Anyone did them, what are they like?

Also Math and ICT but i will need to sit the high GCSE for Math to be able to do a-level in it but my class isn't being entered for it but if i definatly want to do it for a-level then they'll let me sit it. So yeah, still deciding.

Sports Studies (P.E) & Law for definite. Also was going to do football coaching, not to sure now though.

[~Kizwiz~]

Hmmm.... I'm a bad one on this subject.... when I was a lass.... I took 3, Performing Arts, Communications and psychology. After the first year I droped psychology because the other two were so demanding. Then I found the wonderful world of a soical life and clubbing

And subsequently dropped out of college. I should have done a B'Tec in performing arts because I'm not good at exams and B'tec dont have as many and you do moduals throught the year.

Didnt do too bad for myself as I ended up working for one of the bigest stockbrokers in the country and ran my own department

[Red Moon]

Personally I did Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. All were great and I ended getting a degree in Chemistry. Later I got a Masters in Microprocessor Technology and Applications after deciding Chemists died young and went on to do research into networking and later transport studies.

I'm sorry the variable speed limits on the M25 are partly my fault and so are the variable messages signs on the motorways warning of delays. And if you get stuck in a traffic jam in Kingston upon Themes blame the French computer that we had installed so the head of Metropolitan Police's wife could get out of the car park.

[Dan_]

That's a pretty good incentive to stay .If only my school offered that I wouldn't be spending hundreds on lessons.

I started off by doing 3 A-Levels, ICT, Business Studies and RE which turned out to be Philosophy of Religion and Religious Ethics.I ended up dropping ICT after the first year as the coursework was pretty horrid, two teachers and two set's of coursework at the same time just was just too much for me in the end.I was already doing coursework in my other subjects which left me no time to myself and with football taking up my time I just eventually dropped that after my first year.I found it difficult anyway and a real step up from GCSE with a lot less pratical work.One of my teachers dying midway through the course kinda messed things up.

Business Studies I found pretty interesting, the coursework was a real step up from what I did at GCSE though and that ended up with me doing pretty poor in my first bit but with the exam and other piece of coursework I managed to get a D for my first year, second year I did well in my two pieces of coursework but they were both a lot of work especially when I had to catch up after I took time off when my mum had her accident but I managed to get C's in both pieces.The thing that ended up letting me down was the finance exam, even with a re-take I only managed an E and that meant I got a D overall.It was a fairly good subject I found, you got to go out on a trip for each bit of coursework and although each bit of coursework was around 8-10,000 words long it was pretty much achievable when I put my mind to it.

RE pretty much being split into two subjects of Philosophy and Ethics felt as though it was really two seperate A-Levels most of the time.Philosophy was the more difficult of the two I found and it took a lot of work trying to just get your head around the different theory's for the existence of God etc but it was always an interesting subject despite being pretty challenging.As for Ethics, I found it fairly easy once I knew the structure of how to answer the exam questions and I got high marks both years, it's pretty practical thinking in many of the topics and you can interpret your own opinion into each exam question.In the first year both subjects linked for the coursework and you just got given a list of about 100 questions that you could do the coursework on and I ended up choosing to do a question on comparing and contrasting Malcolm X and Martin Luther King but there is such a broad range of topics it was easy to find something of inteterest.In the second year we did an exam rather than coursework and that was the synoptic question which was a link between ethics and philosophy and that was pretty hard to understand until you actually saw the exam questions on it and then it all became easier to understand.Overall I enjoyed it being pretty much two seperate subjects as my subjects were split into 4 hour slots and to study the same topics for 4 hours can be pretty tedious.

I kinda rambled on a bit there but they were my experiences of the subjects I did.

[James]

I did Highers.

Scottish equivalent of A-levels except Highers are easier.

[BigSister]

I did English Language and Literature, ICT, RS(which similar to Dans) and I took an AS in Media Studies after dropping ICT in the 2nd year.
English was good in the first year we did poetry and then we did Emma 2nd year Shakespeare and then it was just basically looking at different types of things newspapers adverts etc
Media we did 2 films(Minority Report and Amelie) and then we did reality tv lol, doco dramas and soaps. We had to do a group task as well I did a press pack on afilm me and my friend made up with a script, pictures from the film, character profiles etc. And there was an exam at the end with other coursework too. And Dans pretty much explained ICT and RS. I hope thats ok

[Princess]

For my Leaving Cert which I am doing in around a year and a half I have to do Irish,English,Maths. I am also doing French,Biology,Business,History and Home Ec.

[BB-Rocks]

Originally posted by James
I did Highers.

Scottish equivalent of A-levels except Highers are easier.

Are they? Im doing 5 highers this year and i cant cope with the work

I would hate to be doing A levels then

Im doing Higher PE, it mgiht be the same as the PE course your doing. I really enjoy it but i think its hard. Usually you would expect to more practical, but you do more theory.

[James]

Originally posted by BB-Rocks

Are they? Im doing 5 highers this year and i cant cope with the work

I would hate to be doing A levels then

When I was at school Sixth-Year Studies were supposed to be the equivalent of A-levels.

Though Highers are done over a year instead of two (or do A-level people do them in one year now?), and people doing A-levels usually do 3 instead of 5 for Highers so it probably balances out.

Personally I would have preferred to do 3 courses over 2 years instead of 5 over one year.

[Princess]

I have to do 8 subjects! Some of you only did like 3 And you have way more intersting subjects by the sounds of it! I am finding 8 really diffucult as it all involves a lot of work and a lot of learning.

[BigSister]

well average is about 4 subjects depending how you did in your GCSES I ended up doing 3 per year but only 2 A levels as I dropped 1 in first year and took Media up in 2nd year

[Legend]

It depends James because if you drop them after a year then you just get an AS level rather than an a-level that you would get if you did the 2 year course. Yeah BB-Rocks, the teacher has said that 80% of it is Theory and not practical which is a shame but oh well. I get to go and teach P.E in a primary school though on my 2nd year at it so that'll be good.

Anybody did Law? From what i found out, it's really interesting so just wondering others opinions.

And Dan, are you insane picking R.E or was you actually interested in it? I didn't even realise that was an option for a-level, lol.

[Dan_]

Up until GCSE level I did fairly bad in RE but as soon as I got a new teacher who actually knew what he was doing I started getting A's and overall for GCSE got an A* so I kinda thought I may aswell do a subject I am good at for A-Level and it got more interesting in A-Level anyway, it's a whole lot different.

[BigSister]

You must think I was insane too Ant because I did RS too for A level

[Legend]

I'm picking stuff i'm interested in and not necceserily good at. I'm good at R.E myself but i'd rather find a very large rope than do it for 2 more years because it bores the $hit out of me. Ooh yeah i do Becca, very much. I didn't know what you meant by RS cause i call it RE lol.

[Dan_]

Trust me RE really is totally different at A Level with it being split into Ethics and Philosophy, it was all totally new to me.

[Sophii3x]

What are A-Levels?

[x_mel_x]

Originally posted by Sophii3x
What are A-Levels?

You take them after your GCSES but there not compulsary.
Im taking mine next year and am doing English lit,Sociology,History and Psychology if i get the right Gcse grades.

[sol]

I'm taking Business, Psychology and History. History is really hard cos it's so academic and Psychology and Business are okay as the workload is a lot lighter.
Legend, I would avoid Maths if I were you inless you are really confident you will do well in it. One of my friends got a B for GCSE and got a U in AS because the jump is massive so be careful.

[BigSister]

same here Dan i was like whattt with RE

[Sophii3x]

Originally posted by x_mel_x

You take them after your GCSES but there not compulsary.
Im taking mine next year and am doing English lit,Sociology,History and Psychology if i get the right Gcse grades.

orite, are they the ones you take if you stay for 6th form?

[BigSister]

yeah thats right Sophie

[Lauren]

AS Level: Biology, Psychology, Sociology, English Language
A Level: Psychology, Sociology, English Language


I 100% recommend Sociology. I only took that subject because I wanted to do Psychology at Uni and decided Sociology would help me achieve this goal - but it quickly topped my list of my favourite subjects.
I also agree that you shouldn't take maths at A Level unless you are soooo confident with it - because the transition from GCSE to A Level is quite difficult.

[Crystal-Rose]

im doing an AS in philosophy and ethics (RE) but im not staying on to sixth form to do more A levels i only have to do this becuase i did my gcse in that subject early.

[Bells]

I’ve taken Maths at AS Level. As other members have mentioned the step up is quite a big one but it doesn’t really seem huge to me because a lot of it’s about just coming to terms with new (not so difficult) methods as well as common sense. If you enjoy Maths and feel at ease with algebra etc. I really recommend it because the subject is fast-moving and a lot of the topics/questions you come across are really similar once you get to grips with the basics.