Sociology A Level

[NanaStrikesAgain]

Can anyone tell me what it’s like as a course please?

My son is keen to study it, but he has dyslexia/asd/adhd so does have some challenges. He got good GCSE grades (English 5, Maths 6, Science 6, Geography 6, Photography 9 and other passes).

I keep reading sociology is an easier a level - is that easy for an A* student? Or easy for anyone?

Can anyone give me a feel for the course / workload and how their kids have found it please?

He’s unlikely to want to go to uni, but not ruled it out. Thanks 🙏!

No A level is easy as such – easier is subjective IMHO. French A level was easy for me but art would not have been!

What else is he taking? 6 in geog is a good starting point for a social science, essay-based subject like sociology. Is he taking geography as they will support each other? Does he get extra time for his dyslexia?

English 5 is fairly low for a subject with some essays and writing. Has he looked at BTecs? His photography is obviously the outstanding mark here.

I would say it’s a fairly accessible subject, so if prepared to put the work in, you can achieve well. Good English grade is a good predictor as it’s mainly essay writing.

I studied it and found a fantastic A-level. I don't think it's easy at all. There are tons of essays. I'd say it was similar to politics or history in terms of difficulty.

It's not an easy course, I did it for both A levels and University. It's a lot of writing and essays however if he's interested that might not be too bad. The only issue I found is that some of 1st year at degree level is similar to the A level and having ADHD myself, it was hard to motivate myself to focus/do the work as my brain was bored of some of the material.

DH really enjoyed it when he did it. He said there were lots of discussions (agreed with pp it had elements of politics) and learning how society functions.

His sister has just taken it at degree level and found it very interesting too.

I did A level sociology. Much of it is learning about long dead sociologists, their theories and regurgitating the information in essays. The actual exam is essay based. It’s a bit boring to be honest. If I’d known what it was like I wouldn’t have taken it.

I read Sociology for my first degree. Some of what Yachtingaroundtheworldiwish says is true for first year. You learn about the founding fathers and their various theories. After that you begin to specialise in different areas which I found fascinating. I took modules in military studies and anthropology and found that sociology gave me valuable insights. I went on to gain a Masters with distinction and a Ph.D in Human Computer Interaction which is a fascinating multi disciplinery subject. This can feed into AI by looking at the basis of human common sense knowledge and reasoning and how it operates, as opposed to machine reasoning.

I would say that if you want to do Sociology at uni the ability to write well and do research will lift you head and shoulders above other students. Regard A level as a foundation.

He’s getting good support for dyslexia. He’s thinking about doing Business Btec and Sport Btec alongside potentially Sociology.

That’s interesting about the ADHD! He was originally going to do A level photography but now he’s got a 9 at gcse he’s feeling like he won’t be able to recreate the “challenge” and his asgd brain will switch off. That’s why he’s started thinking about Sociology now.

I teach it, agree it is accessible and I would say more so than History (I also teach that!) 3 exams, mix of short and long answers, c.6 essays. No coursework. Lots of discussion, good sense of society and current affairs etc is really useful. I would recommend!

@Friendlygingercat Who do you work for?

He shouldn't be doing it if his motivation is that it is easier . Hopefully that's not his reasoning?

There are lots of essays, a huge amount of theory. Of a the A levels I teach and in conversations with students it is one of the most content heavy A levels. All exams. It'll be really different from BTec in terms of learning, lessons and assessment .

Students who do well tend to be interested in contemporary social issues- often reading the news online , for example, or watching documentaries, have good memories and write clearly and academically.

Students with a 5 in GCSE English would have minimum entry requirements for my school. Some struggle with the workload and skills and some get Bs or higher. A lot of that is attitude based .

Thank you!

No, he’s definitely not considering it as an easy subject. It was in his google searches that he found various places saying it’s one of the easier subjects! He was trying to work out what that actually means for him, given his difficulties, he’s very aware he’s coming from a different starting point than a lot of students without his challenges.

He does have a natural interest in the topics, watches the news, likes to debate things and is quite analytical. Imaginative writing is difficult for him, but he can write about facts and his opinions much more easily!

I was comparing the entry requirements at 3 of our local colleges for sociology, just out of curiosity. Two colleges want 5 x GCSEs including Maths 4 & English 4, and the other one only wanted English 4. I was quite surprised at this as I was expecting them to want at least a 5 in English.

Entry requirements are often about bums on seats due to funding but yes any 4 will struggle!

Just to mention, they don't write about their own opinions...they are critically assessing and evaluating perspectives and theories on issues such as inequalities in education or the workplace and ideas about crime or the family.

If he's interested, that's an excellent start!

DD3 has chosen sociology for an A level and her state school want GCSEs 5x 4-9 then 5 in maths & 6 in English. Politics is less with just 5 in English. Her old indie school wanted 7’s in everything and 8’s for stem subjects (plus 7x7’s at gcse). Interestingly their results are incredibly similar!

@NotDonna In the subjects or overall?

Her old Indie?
To stay they needed minimum 7x 7’s (which DD had tbf). To do any subject you need a 7 in it, unless it’s biology, chemistry, physics or maths then it’s 8’s. New subjects like economics, psychology, politics, are 7’s in maths & English (which they have to have to stay anyway). She moved bc she wanted to do sociology and they don’t offer it.
Despite the Indie’s entrance requirements their results aren’t better than the new school she’s moved to (a state school - not grammar). The state’s results are impressive despite lower entrance requirements. However they offer lots of BTecs so perhaps the students taking A levels happen to have decent grades anyway.

A level sociology is not easy but if you have good recall of names and concepts it can be relatively do-able.
Lots of essays though - but they have fairly prescribed structure.
The main revision was flash cards with hundreds of sociologists and what they said and what “school” they belonged to.

@NotDonna I suspect their lower achieving dc are not doing A levels. It’s likely they are getting the best into A levels and starting points are not that much different. Are sociology A level results very good?

When DDs were at school the best independents wanted 6x As. So not much has changed. Local grammar wanted the same for new entrants.

@TizerorFizz yes ALL their results are excellent; including BTecs where they need grade 4’s. We don’t have any grammar schools in the area.

@NotDonna So plenty of bright dc around which makes for strong 6th forms! Plus engaged parents of course.