To think that university is easier than A-Levels?

[AWinterWonderland]

Obviously content-wise, university covers much more complex and difficult topics and the workload is much more intense. However I found it a lot easier to get top grades at university compared to during A-Levels.

I really struggled during A-Levels and it took pretty much constant studying and a round of resits to get decent grades. I remember during A-Levels I would start revising for summer exams in February. Whilst in my final year of my undergraduate I started revising two weeks before my exams.

At university (undergraduate and master's level) I found it a lot easier to get good grades. I didn't feel like examiners/markers were trying to catch me out. I felt the marking was consistent which enabled me to be able to judge my work, I could always roughly tell when my work had reached first class or distinction standard and was ready to be submitted. In comparison, I remember walking out of an A-Level exam feeling that it had gone really well only to get a D! At university, I felt that there was less of an emphasis on exam technique and memory recall and instead more emphasis on higher level thinking like critical analysis, synthesis of information, etc.

Does anyone else agree?

I found my degree much harder but in my case it was also because it was in a different language than I was used to. Also, it was a very good uni, so attracted quite clever people all around.

I found A levels an awful grind - exams after the Christmas holidays and again after the Easter holidays - so, basically, no holidays for two years. I can still remember the sinking feeling on December 27th when I realised that the illusion of fun was over, Santa was dead, and revision needed to start NOW - and the exams were a huge step up from GCSE, I thought. I really had to learn to study.

At Uni I got actual holidays and separate study breaks before exams. I was also much better at revising, studying, and managing my time - plus I had a study centre and a library to revise in with friends who were also taking exams, not a house full of distracting people asking if I wanted to watch a film.

Another issue was that, at A-level I was also having to study three other subjects beside the one I was really interested in, and what I learned in one wouldn't help me with the others. During my degree, it was my subject, I chose the modules, and they all fit together nicely. It was fascinating material that was a joy to study. So much easier.

I had to cover a vast amount of content for my degree, so in that sense it was harder than my A levels.

Sounds like you went to dodgy uni OP. A levels were Mickey mouse compared to my BA.

A Levels were very easy compared to my MSci degree in Maths at a top university. I understood everything in my ALevels, but there was plenty I didn't get at degree level. But then again, we were learning some cutting edge stuff which had only just been 'discovered' in some of our courses.

Totally agree. My degree, post grad and doctorate were way easier than a levels. A levels you just have to learn and churn out facts. Degree and higher you have to understand and apply.

I basically did the bare minimum for both my A levels and undergrad. That translated to 3 As and a middling 2:1. So for me, no, A levels were easier. Plenty of variables though.

I didn't like my A levels but I loved my uni course - that was a huge difference for me.

I performed much better in my degree than a levels. For me, I think it was a lot to do with the style of teaching and learning. Even in my 30’s I’m unable to learn in a classroom setting, I just switch off. Studying for my degree meant a lot more independent research which I’m much more suited too. That and I was studying a subject I was interested in (it wasn’t offered at a level at my school)

I found it was true at undergrad.
My masters was so fucking hard. I think I lost count of the amount of times I literally cried over it

A levels harder. I did MFL

Different people also respond differently to different types of challenges. Many students do find the university approach easier, but there are equally students who have sailed through their A-levels and find university work overwhelming.

A-levels are more fact-stuffing, degrees on the whole more reasoning and analysing. Which you find hardest is a personal thing.

The one I found hardest was my UK citizenship test. Not only did I have to memorise lots of facts: they were facts that I knew were incorrect. My brain was just screaming at me! Far more stressful than my viva!

@AWinterWonderland

Interesting that quite a few of you agree.

For context my A-Levels were Biology, Chemistry and Physics and my undergraduate degree and master's are in Molecular Biology.

I have a clone! I did those A levels and then Mol Biol degree - well Applied Mol Biol.

I loved my degree and did far better than my A levels because 1) it was just the mol biol that I wanted to do and 2) my home environment was not conducive towards study/revision. I couldn't wait to leave.

I am still in mol biol now, some (cough) 30 years (cough) later

I didn't do a levels. I left school at 15 (late August baby) I did an access to health course before my nursing degree and found the access so much harder. I think maybe because it was condensed into a year but I felt I had more support at uni and the workload was more manageable.
Also it could be I found access harder as I'd been out of education almost 10 years when starting it

Should also mention that I did my access online at home and made good friends at uni which I think really helped in terms of support and help

A levels are really hard. Certainly much harder than my degree. I agree with you.

I went to Oxford. It was not easier than A-levels

I did a mixture of humanities and language A-levels, and then a modern languages degree. Uni had more writing and analysis, whereas A-levels were a lot of rote memorisation, which I've always found harder.

I felt that A-levels were often a case of guessing the 'right answer' that the examiner wanted. I dropped marks on a French-English translation when I changed the word order to make it sound more natural in English. My teacher agreed that my translation was better, but it didn't fit the mark scheme. At university, it was expected that we used some common sense to make a 'natural' English text, and the markers didn't expect all 200 students' translations to be identical!

I have since done an MA and PhD, neither of which were as frustrating as my stacks of flashcards at A-level! Although they were of course hard in other ways.

I don't think i found Oxford harder than A levels in the first year at least.

I did find it hard not knowing exactly what I was supposed to be learning and then relying on my essay notes for exams in some subjects though.

I’m currently doing a science access course and it’s so f**king hard. Way harder than I remember my first foray into university being, and it was one of the best universities in the country!

I went to a very good university in the early 80s. It was much harder than A levels, by a very long way. As it should be.

I found A levels easier than GCSEs because it was subjects I had more natural ability at.

I did 6 A levels, got top grades in every one and still found my degree a lot harder than either GCSE or A level. I did natural sciences at Cambridge and we covered the whole of further maths a level in 1/4 of my time in 3 weeks. The rest of the year continued at an equivalent pace. I worked 80 hours a week to keep up and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

It probably wasn't aided by being very unwell through the whole of uni but that was something of a chicken and egg situation.

Several posters seem to find the need to tell us that they went to Oxford so of course their degrees were much harder.

I have read a good many dissertations and PhD theses in my day. No, coming from Oxford doesn't necessarily make for a higher quality. The Oxbridge ones were not better than mine, or indeed better than the overall standard at my department. My university was not dodgy in its expectations.

But the work suited me, research suits me much better than memorising facts, so I would be bound to find that easier than cramming for an A-level type of exam.

Though it has to be said that at no time, not even when finishing my PhD, have I worked as hard as my daughter and her friends do at drama school. That is a totally different level.

Interesting that there are lots of different opinions.

I guess some people find that the confinements of A-Level are helpful as you know what you need to learn, whereas university is a lot more open-ended and has a lot more content to cover.

I also guess passion and interest also plays into it. I still dedicated a lot of hours into my degrees but it didn't feel like work. Even as a graduate I will still read scientific papers because I have an interest in it rather than because I have to. Whereas A-Level Physics most definitely felt like a lot of work and effort as I found it tedious!

I also wonder about the background of those that found university easy vs. hard. I went to a pretty poor state school where we would frequently have supply teachers for months on end and were only encouraged to pass exams rather than aim for top marks. I took a very independent and proactive approach to my education and effectively taught myself. I guess that helped me adjust to university easily as I was already used to being an independent learner, whereas I know I had friends who found that difficult to adjust to.

I don't agree that it means I went to a "dodgy" university, my university is reputable with a good ranking. Does ranking even affect degree difficulty? I know work gets reviewed by external examiners so surely that means that there wouldn't be much inconsistency across different universities? I don't know, I don't really know how it works to be honest.