A level Philosophy and Ethics

[outofofficeagain]

DS has started Year 12 and selected philosophy and ethics. RS was his favourite subject at GCSE. He scored all 8s and 9s and a comfortable 9 in RS.

He’s now worried as he’s heard it’s really hard to get an A* or A, and this might affect his university options.

His other A level choices are Maths and Economics- he’s thinking of switching to History or Politics.

Wants to study PPE eventually.

I don’t know whether he’s being sensible or hasty.

All advice gratefully received

I think he's being sensible as it's more difficult to swap the longer he waits. He needs to speak to college as they may not be able to timetable a swap.

DS did A Level RE (which had philosophy, ethics and religion in it). He got an A* in it. Something really clicked for him with it - he was concerned at first about essay writing but got to understand the way to do it and he really enjoyed it.

Not sure why he thinks it will be hard to get a good mark- I don’t think it’s any harder than history? It might need a little more reading around the subject,maybe, but he’s obviously not bothered by that if ge’s doing economics. It’s always best, IMHO to do the subjects that interest you most if you have the choice.

There's no reason why it is any harder than any other A level, especially if you have an aptitude for it. Friend of DD's took it and got her only grade A in it.

No easier for sure to get an A in history. If Ph and E interests him the most then he is most likely to get the best grade in it. Politics or history would be equally good choices for PPE.

It's not objectively 'hard' to get top grades in the subject - this sounds like a ridiculous rumour. If you know the content and practise the skills, there's the same chance as any other subject. If he likes the topics, has done well in similarly styled assessments and works hard, this should mean he performs as well as he would in any other A level - the clue is that all subjects are examined at advanced level. He should only consider changing if he really is struggling, not just because he believes everyone is more likely to because it's somehow 'harder'.

It depends on his skillset. It's slightly more about free thinking than a lot of A-levels, giving you scope for you to interpret ideas, etc and it's not always easy to learn how to do that. It's all essays too - or was with the board my son sat. Great if you're good at them but not everyone is. A lot of in my son's group switched out before Christmas in yr12. All clever kids but it just wasn't for them. It was my son's favourite subject and he ended up with A*. He'd have tanked at something like Biology though!

Thanks @Hiffthat’s helpful

It is very much his skillset and I think he will excel at it. I think he’s just been spooked by the newness of it and some of his friends having second thoughts

Thanks everyone

He’s going to have a chat with the teacher this week, and his head of sixth form to see what they think.

According to the Cambridge progression stats, the percentage of people getting an A or A star in History or RE who got 8 or 9 in their GCSEs is basically the same

707601-progression-from-gcse-to-a-level-2020-2022.pdf https://share.google/DmBZQFKAD9LAsIA3q

Table on page 11-12.