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Secondary education

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A levels - History, Sociology, Politics - how much writing?

43 replies

AChickenCalledDaal · 31/05/2021 10:28

DD2 is just finishing year 11 and having a major wobble about her A level choices. She's recently been disagnosed with ADD and has had a really bad year in terms of anxiety, disorganisation and focus. I'm blaming Covid, but there may be a deeper issue.

Sociology and Politics are her top choices. She's very engaged (opinionated) about how the world works and ready for a change from traditional subjects. So far so good.

History is currently her strongest subject and has always been on the list. Until now, when she's decided it's boring and stressful and too much work.

We've always highlighted that all three are somewhat essay-heavy and now she's throwing that back at us. But she doesn't really have a plan B and I think dropping History would be a really bad idea in terms of keeping her options open.

Can anyone give me a bit of insight into what these subjects are really like? Is it essays all the way, or is there some variety?

OP posts:
slalomsuki · 31/05/2021 13:22

DS did History, Politics and Geography as A levels and loved them. Politics linked them very well and he went on to uni to do it.

Lots of reading and research but he liked the fact he could structure an essay and the same sort of structure held across all subjects. There was some maths-statistics in geography which he managed but certainly preferred the essay writing.

Silkiecats · 31/05/2021 13:28

I did politics and history and both were essay based but similar writing styles so if you work it out for one you have it for them all. Closest at GCSE was English, if she can write essays for English now she should be fine. History courses can vary a lot - I would look up the specs for all 3 and see if that's what she wants to do.

I would imagine there will be some overlap. Being opinionated is OK as long as she can also understand the opposite opinion and balance them in an essay. I would have thought biology or art would be harder with those as different skill set.

JBX2013 · 31/05/2021 13:31

Hi @AChickenCalledDaal!

I work with schools, including doing some work on Uni Admissions. For Unis, History is a 'strong' subject, the other two less so. All Unis will accept all three subjects, though.

For studying, since the Michael Gove changes, History is especially content heavy, certainly according to our '2017' cohort, the first year to do the new syllabus as Year 13 examinees in Summer 2017. It is content heavy and doubly respected as such. Politics is content light in comparison, and so is Sociology. But the three are a good combination for any student interested in broad fields of Humanities studies, at A Level and at Uni.

The writing for A Level is - sadly - formulaic and can be learned; for exams, it is clinically targeted at the published Marks Schemes. ... Perhaps @Maireas, as a History teacher, has explained it more kindly.

ADD? Lots of students have 'conditions', at school and at Uni, many more than most people realise. Many go on to do well, across a range of subjects. ADD clearly needs support but need not take away unduly from studentship or scholarship or, indeed, life.We know countless examples of successful students who faced - and faced down - all sorts of learning, health and other life challenges. ... Some great practical advice from @Cowbells on this challenge.

History? Your daughter should chat to two teachers, including a History teacher who knows her as a History student. They will guide her. ... Ultimately, I would let her do the three subjects she wants to. Don't be surprised if she changes her mind more than once between now and the middle of her Year 12. All of this would be normal.

Finally, we see a lot of angst and stuff from Years 10 -13, especially our girls. In the end, although all the students and their families do have ups and downs, it generally does all work out.

Cowbells · 31/05/2021 13:41

@AChickenCalledDaal

Very interesting range of views, particularly in terms of the crossover of content and skills. Particularly if we can help her find better ways of organising herself now we have some insight.

We haven't yet sought advice from her school, although I'm intending to do so. The ADD diagnosis is very new and all our focus has been on getting to the end of GCSE assessments with everyone's sanity intact.

There are some A-level preparation lessons late June, which will hopefully help clarify things. But of course, if she's going to change subjects, it might be better to do it before then, so as to do the induction in the right subjects. Chicken and egg.

By the way, the assessment probably should include extra time in exams and for assignments. Fight for this. It carries over into uni too. And she would get a grant towards not just a computer but lots of free software to help organise her time as well as a study skills personal counsellor to help with time management once she is at uni. DS had all of this. Very useful. He truly is the most organised one of the whole family now.
TotorosCatBus · 31/05/2021 13:48

My dd has just done Psychology and Biology at A-level.

Biology was tough for her even though she's likely to get a B or A in it this summer. The exam requires really specific answers which frustrated dd.

She did Psychology at GCSE so knew what to expect at A-level. It's pretty much more of the same and apparently a lot of memorizing. She has mentioned that Sociology and Psychology is a really popular combination but she definitely prefers Psychology over Sociology (the school offers taster lessons for new subjects at GCSE and A-level)

bigTillyMint · 31/05/2021 13:53

This year has been rubbish for pupils and students - they usually learn best with f2f interaction and there has been v little. They have been left to self-study and many have found motivation a real issue.

My DS did History, Sociology and Economics. History is very essay based, but also analytical and you have to argue a line of thought. Sociology was the easiest and Economics is both essays and short answers/graphs, etc. I think Politics involves a lot of keeping up with current affairs and being able to discuss in depth in essays. Does she know what her school Alevel History course covers? That could be a deciding factor. She needs to find the course interesting!

What is she thinking to do after?
He is doing History at uni and it is a very demanding choice Grin but Sociology and Economics were good subjects to have as background knowledge. I think Politics would be too.

RampantIvy · 31/05/2021 14:17

Biology was tough for her even though she's likely to get a B or A in it this summer. The exam requires really specific answers which frustrated dd.

The biology mark scheme is annoyingly specific. You can answer correctly, but if the wording is different on the mark scheme you can lose marks. Getting a good grade in biology is not just about knowing content, but being familiar with the mark scheme.

Anecdotally, the 2 A* history students I know achieved B and C at A level.

NeedNewKnees · 31/05/2021 14:20

DS just finished A-level Politics and it was EXTREMELY essay heavy. Psychology less so because of data analysis, but still a fair bit.

proopher · 31/05/2021 14:48

Pretty sure these are all essay based. I did three essay-based subjects at A Level and was fine. I would have found the alternative way harder because I wasn't very good at maths/science.

dapsnotplimsolls · 31/05/2021 15:17

I teach History and have taught Politics as well, Both very essay-heavy subjects but, as others have said, the skills are transferable. How many A levels do they have to do? Can she go to a range of sessions on the Induction Day?

KittyMcKitty · 01/06/2021 23:02

My ds (year 13) has just finished Psychology and Politics (and Geography).

Politics is all long essay questions (30 markers), psychology rangers from short answers up to 16 Mark questions.

SeasonFinale · 02/06/2021 12:22

All 3 are essay based subjects but she shouldn't think Art is a walk in the park either. It is very time consuming and she will also need write up her report that goes alongside the art work itself.

Cowbells · 03/06/2021 07:00

@SeasonFinale

All 3 are essay based subjects but she shouldn't think Art is a walk in the park either. It is very time consuming and she will also need write up her report that goes alongside the art work itself.
I second this. Everyone Iknow who does Art finds they spend twice as long on it as on any other subject. Not at all easy.
Iknowtheanswer · 03/06/2021 07:15

DS is in year 12, and studies history and politics as two of his subjects. Both are essay heavy, but the skills you need are transferable between them. At his school, the topics covered also match each other - so US 20th Century History, and then US Politics for example.

He says that History is very content heavy, Politics less so (although he might think that because he is absolutely obsessed with politics anyway).

All A Levels are hard though. I have heard his friends say how hard pretty much all subjects are at some point.

partyatthepalace · 03/06/2021 07:49

All essay heavy.

Psychology is quite writing-y but essays were shorter (from memory). Art A level May limits her uni choices. Biology could be good.

Can you get her help with organisation?

SeasonFinale · 03/06/2021 10:26

Art A level will not limit her uni choices in any way whatsoever so ignore that last snippet of misinformation Hmm

RampantIvy · 03/06/2021 11:02

@SeasonFinale

Art A level will not limit her uni choices in any way whatsoever so ignore that last snippet of misinformation Hmm
I agree
RosaBudDrood · 03/06/2021 11:05

I did A-level history not all that long ago, and it was heavy essay based. Long essays too.

I think my exam consisted of two papers, each with three, long essay questions. I loved it though!

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