choosing a-level help

[lemons]

i wish i had the chance to do govt and politics but they cancelled it


your choices seem appropriate and subjects become x10000 more interesting at a-level

[Rozi]

In my personal experience, if you want to get into a top top uni to do Law, stick to the subjects that impress old, middle class men.

I really really enjoyed English Lit A Level. The board I did it on was great because it was much more like a university course. It depended on how much work you decided to do, so you could do the bare minimum - as in what you cover in class, or you could do loads of wider reading and thinking in your own time. It actually exercised your brain and made you think in ways you wouldn't normally do.

However, I HATED psychology. People see it as a very easy and light subject, but I found it really hard. It was so so so content heavy and really was just REMEMBERING rather than having any actual intellectual application involved. Also my teacher was a complete ***** so that didn't help.

I'm sure Law will help you with your degree, at least for the first year, but it's definitely not necessary to get in.

Honestly though, your personal statement is going to be just as important as what subjects you chose, and your grades are the thing that really really matters. As long as you work hard, you'll definitely get in somewhere good.

[Shar]

Government and politics is really interesting, I personally loved it. It helps you keep up to date with current affairs, really great you questioning things and you learn quite a lot of history as well. Its great if you love your debates.

[Sian]

law wise, they apparently really like you to do history, but honestly i've never looked into it because it doesn't interest me. Sometimes it is best to have a small discussion with your teachers, they may know a bit about it. But otherwise do pick things you enjoy to do but also be careful as they can end up completely different at a level.

[Empired]

Hi this is a bit of a late reply and I can't remember if it's too late or what but:

what is the difference between eng literature and language and a-level?

English literature is very much more book-based. You have to do a LOT of reading and a LOT of essays. If you're not a fan of either of those things, you definitely definitely definitely don't want to be taking literature.

I don't take language, but from what I can tell it's basically more like HOW language is used in lots of different styles of texts (e.g speeches, novels, magazines, etc).

should you take law at a-level if you wanna do law at university?

You don't have to! My plan so far is to hopefully go to university and take a wider subject like english literature or history and then convert to do something more specific like law if I want to. I went to a Russell Group talk about choosing A-levels to go on to University and they said it's almost always best to take subjects that will keep your options open (languages, history, english, and something else but I forget what sorry!), rather than subjects that will close lots of doors (archaeology, film studies, PE, subjects like that).

what is ICT like at a-level in comparison to gcse ICT? would you recommend it?

Can't say much about this one as I don't take it, but I know a few people who chose ICT because their secondary schools told them how important ICT was and how you won't get anywhere in the world without it. If that's what you've been told, ignore it entirely as it's definitely not the case! I don't actually know what A-level ICT is like though

is english literature going to be seen as a better a-level to do than english language if i want to do law at uni?

I initially thought this but, like I said, I went along to this Russell Group talk and they made it very clear that that's wrong. You should take whatever subject you're more interested in. If you can't decide, do(es) the place(s) you want to go to offer to do both in one subject? I know my college does so people can get a mix of both. Otherwise, talk to your English teacher and get them to talk you through the exact differences between the subjects.

**No idea about the next two questions as I don't take either subjects**

what is english language like at a-level?

what is english literature like at a-level?

Honestly, although I don't take the subject, the classes for English Language look a lot more fun. I know they get to have a lot more interactive discussions and things and get to look at all sorts of different types of text instead of just novels, poems and plays. However I still prefer literature because I really don't like talking out loud and I spend most of my free time reading anyway.

And it'll depend on the college you go to as well, of course

**Can't answer the last question either, sorry!**

Hope that helped hehe

[Amberr]

The only subject I didn't do out of your list is gov and politics so I can't say much about that sorry. I did ICT and Sociology at AS level then decided to drop them both. I found ICT pretty easy and there's not much of a difference from GCSE imo, there's a fair amount of coursework but it's pretty straight forward and for the exam as long as you revise past papers i'm sure you'll do well. I found it quite dull though, the only part I found interesting was how ICT can be used for health purposes which was one of the topics for the exam. If you wanted to do law though I would probably pick a more academic subject over ICT as it is very competitive degree to get into. Sociology I found really interesting so I would recommend taking it, but when I took it I probably didn't try as hard as I could so decided to drop it after the first year. I wish I did carry it on now though. Currently I'm doing A2 psychology, probably my most preferred subject out of the a levels I've studied, i do find it interesting but I found there to a massive jump from AS to A2 psychology, its all essay based for A2. English language I finished last year (I'm currently doing a third year at sixth form if your wandering why I've done so many subjects). I think lang is alot easier than lit, if you don't enjoy reading books I would definitely do language over literature. However I think because of this lit is probably more recognised at unis than lang. I enjoyed my classes though and the coursework was fairly straight forward. Don't really know what else to say about the subjects really unless you want to know what exact topics you cover haha. If you want to know more about any of the subjects though just message me. Hope this has helped abit.

Just realised I'm like a month behind oops.