Easiest A-Levels to achieve?

[Bickleymumma]

DD needs to confirm A-Level choices soon and wants to choose 3 subjects that she’ll enjoy and with the smallest workload. She’s predicted mostly 8&9s in GCSEs so is capable and isn’t afraid of hard work but has just witnessed my DS struggle with the sheer workload of Maths, Physics and History A-Levels and wants to make her life a little easier as she also has to train a lot for her sport. She doesn’t really know what she wants to do at uni and is thinking something generic like Marketing. Currently thinking Geography, PE and can’t decide between Psychology, Biology, Chemistry and Economics for a third alongside an EPQ. Definitely doesn’t want to do English, Spanish. Didn’t do Art, drama, any DT type subject at GCSE. Doesn’t feel she’s strong enough in Maths although predicted an 8. Any thoughts gratefully received. Thanks

I would lean towards psychology out of those options OP, would be good for marketing too if that’s what she really wants to go into.

What does she love and what would she like to do at uni? And is she knows, a job

I think her reasons for ruling out maths are sound and might be a good way to whittle down the others?

Basing it on workload might not be a good approach as these things are very subjective. For instance, if you don't "get" a subject it doesn't matter if there are few exams as just passing those will be a struggle.

Can she borrow some textbooks or revision guides from sixth form/college/the library and have a flick through and see which subjects interests her?

It she finds it interesting that means she understands it and will be keen to learn more. That will make the workload a lot easier to manage

Good luck to her

Agree, she needs to pick the subjects she enjoys, so they don't seem like hard work to her.

I think that one science on it's own is harder though, from what ds told me.

I'd go with what she enjoys the most, and try not to be put off by her brother's experience.. There's no objectively easy A-level as it depends on the individual.

Having done a generic degree (business studies) I'm not sure i d recommend doing so these days with the amount of debt she would end up with.
she'd be better off doing an apprenticeship with qualifications alongside

From the list that you have given, I think that economics is relatively easy/ doesn't require too much work. At least, that's what dd's friends who did it thought, in comparison to their other subjects.

I don't think going for the easiest option is the best way for her to choose, though. She will significantly narrow down the paths that she can take at university, so she needs to think carefully about what she wants to do in the longer term - that might be influenced by what she enjoys most but also career choices, future employability etc.

I wouldn't personally encourage a bright dc to just opt for the path of least resilience without really thinking through the implications. On the contrary, if would be emphasising that, sometimes, the things that we really want can often be worth working for.

Why do an EPQ if she wants to reduce her workload?

it sounds trite but the easiest subjects really are the ones you enjoy and are good at. It can also help if there’s relationships between the subjects eg. Maths supports physics, history and economics complement each other. Geography, PE and chemistry would be quite a random combination which could work well if she gets bored easily and likes to jump between different things, but makes it harder to draw connections between subjects.

You'll get so many different answers as it's individual to the student.

Can she drop the EPQ instead? My daughter's 6th form really encourage doing an EPQ but quite a few of them have dropped it especially if they're doing quite a bit of extra curriculum.

I was in a similar position at A Level- training on a national team and wanting to make that work. The key to reducing workload is overlap. I did biology and PE and there was a lot of shared content between the two. I'd say biology, PE and psychology would have the most overlaps.

However, it's not a very academic set so she needs to consider which universities she wants to aim at. I did manage to get into Oxford with biology, chemistry, PE but that was back in the day when they thought highly of extra-curricular achievement, which I don't think is the case anymore.

The "easiest" A levels are the ones you are naturally talented at, and that interests you
Personally, Bio, Chem, Phys, maths (in the days everyone did 3) was straightforward for me. For many it would be a nightmare.

The only one I'd cross off your list is Chem. Without any other science or maths, I think that will be tough.

The other 3 all look sensible. What makes her smile at the thought of ticking that box?

Can I add another view point into this? This can be about managing your time effectively.

It is possible your eldest wasn't good at this which is why he seemed weighed down. I agree History is probably the heaviest workload out of his A levels but Ds1 did maths, further maths, physics and computer science. The vast majority of his homework was completed in his free periods at college of which he had 5 hours a week. If he was doing 3 A levels then his free periods would have been 9 hours of allotted study time in school hours. So was your son completing any work in those free periods?

Ds1 had a study group so they all came out of class, sat in the study space rather than the socialising space and all did their homework immediately in any free period. They were all aiming for top universities so were very driven.

Psychology is a lot of learning. DC's just done their exams and there is a great deal of content. Similarly their EPQ took up a huge amount of time (although some of their friends did half as much - that's a very personal choice).

Thanks for your responses. She really enjoys Chem and biology at GCSE but we’ve heard that they’re so much harder at A-Level but is this really the case? She’s never done psychology or economics before so wouldn’t yet know if she ‘loves’ them. School insist on 4th a-level or EPQ. Was essentially looking for advice on difficulty and workload of her shortlist for a bright, all-rounder.

I think apprenticeships are fine, but the whole leaving home and making friends, independence and managing the degree expectations is incredibly valuable.

The degree apprenticeships are like hens teeth and often are not what they expected

Whilst it isn’t compulsory to do maths alongside economics it makes it an awful lot easier. Economics a level is very mathsy and analytical nowadays, far more so than when I did it 30 years ago. It can mean that on bell curve marking it’s harder to access the higher grades since they go to those doing maths.

I don’t think any are “easy”. I would be speaking to school and saying you don’t want her doing an EPQ or a 4th ALevel, both of which are completely pointless. I know EPQ can get grade reduced offers but it is such a huge amount of work that I’m not sure the trade off is worth it.

Geology!

DH is a geologist who didn't do geology A level (did physics, maths and geography I think) and he and his colleagues believe it is easy. DD agrees - went on a geology field trip at school even though she wasn't taking it because she was thinking about doing a degree. She returned, confirming she was able to answer the questions out in the field as easily as the other students even with zero knowledge of the curriculum. It was 'common sense' apparently. Now you could say she'd absorbed some random knowledge from her dad. But that only holds true to a certain extent.

No GCSEs are harder. It depends what she is good at and what she is interested in. For example, of the subjects you mentioned as having heavy workload, the workload for maths is not that bad for a natural mathematician who "gets" it. Whereas my DD only finished the History A Level syllabus when the school threw in a whole bunch of extra sessions to cover (though some of that was down to in-school issues) so had virtually no time to revise some of it.

Of your possible list I'd suggest not taking Chemistry or Economics without maths.

I'd also agree with PPs who suggest dropping the EPQ that can be a huge time sponge - is there really no option for this? If the aim is to reduce workload to focus on sport, then I would be trying to get out of this or considering somewhere that doesn't enforce it. Or is taking core maths a possibility instead? That might complement other choices well.

Geography is a big workload, lots of essays (12 and 20 markers) for homeworks + NEA which is self driven.

Lots of kids who get 8/9 easily struggle at A level as all of a sudden it's not easy to do well. They have to put in reading time of journal/other articles too for their essays to get top marks.

Geography and Economics make decent bedfellows, especially as there is stats in both. Geography A level includes statistical analysis like standard deviation, distribution, gini coefficient etc which links in and globalisation as a topic obviously links to economics closely.

Quite a bit of cross over with geography (human side) and economics which helps a bit.

You also need to consider which exam board. dS2 is doing geography and there was no NEA.

Geography and PE would usually have some element of coursework/practical which can be time consuming (but doable) alongside an EPQ but this doesn't make them easier tk achieve good grades.

Why doesn't she go to college and do a sports related course?

I really enjoyed psychology a-level. Found it easy and super interesting. Got the top make. It's also a good one for a variety of careers - marketing, HR etc

Very true! Most schools seem to do either Edexcel or AQA but some do not have that coursework requirement.

They are a big step up. With time management she should be ok except the final term. Dd1 dropped everything else from about Feb year 13 onwards.