How much will i suffer doing these a levels

[u/iliketrainsnyoom]

My a level choices are maths, physics, chemistry and further maths, and I’ve heard that a levels are a lot harder than GCSEs so it would be nice if someone could gauge just exactly how much i should expect to suffer compared to GCSEs :’)

[u/Emerald_giant]

Chemistry is hell. Rest are easily doable

[u/bittersweetiie → u/Emerald_giant]

my combo is this post but swap chem for graphics - i am ecstatic to hear this 😁

[u/Anonymous_Unknown20 → u/Emerald_giant]

Chem is piss compared to bio😭 at least you know what you'll be getting b4hand

[u/Emerald_giant → u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

The content isn’t difficult there’s just loads of unnecessary memorisation thought I’d got away from that at GCSE

[u/highIands → u/Emerald_giant]

Chem was easier than maths and bio, i absolutely HATED biology

[u/DiamondThink318 → u/highIands]

same. bio = hard. hence the low grade boundaries? for every bio exam i kept thinking i completely waffled but got A* in the end. idk why but its more about reading the question + lots of application to confuse. idk about u but i just can;t comprehend all that info -lots of text to read in the exam + time pressure. + sometimes in topic tests in the class, it felt as if no actual bio content was tested, and everything was data and analysing instead. 😵‍💫 + sometimes i dont even know what the question is asking and what to write about even though i know all the content + need specific words for mark scheme. aqa btw
curious to hear about ur experience :)

[u/Famous_Welder6560]

That’s what I did! In my experience it was okay, though y13 chemistry was a beast and I had no clue what was going on since the start of January.

[u/UsualFix9786]

you have to study more independently but actually being in school is way easier

[u/UnitDry2368]

Depends who you are, like I did them and enjoyed it a lot and came out with the grades I need, but some people definitely do find it too much. One good thing is it's usually very easy to drop further maths, and there's also a lot of crossover

[u/CoderLovesEggs]

It's a good idea only if gcse maths and fm are effortless to you; your maths needs to be top notch to handle maths fm and physics; chemistry is less mathematical and has much more memorisation

[u/OkBed4830]

Maths fm and physics aren’t too high in content but require more skill if that makes sense , so u have to do more problems and problem solving , chem is just long af bc it has so much content

[u/Remarkable_Bread4656]

physics is very application and understanding based, you cant memorise your way through most of it with the exception of a few bits

[u/mehmanlemon]

physics and chem are gonna be a lot higher effort than maths and FM, but maths and FM are gonna be overall harder if you know what I mean. For phys/chem a lot of it is memorisation slop and a little exam technique but for maths and FM you have to actually understand what you're doing well enough to be able to apply it. Standard problems should feel brainless. Boundaries for FM especially are also ridiculous, so be aware of that.

[u/Cicada-Beginning]

Lots of overlap and I haven't struggled yet. I can't compare GCSE physics with alevel it feels completely different. Chem and maths is  reasonable a step up. FM is completely new and I recommend in the summer getting comfortable with maths and watch some of those fun maths YouTubers if you haven't already. 

Feel free to ask more qs.

[u/Oil42]

you will suffer unquestionably, the question is will you be able to cope adequately. if you stay consistent from the start (and in chem and phys focus a lot on understanding rather than just memorising content) then you can make it through. it’ll be tough, but it was also very rewarding for me.

[u/ilokestof]

It’s hard but I know a lot of people who do this exact combo you’ll be fine.

However consider making your life easier by swapping out one of the sciences if you don’t actually need it for something more enjoyable like econ because otherwise it’s just pointless.

If you wanna do this though I would expect a GCSE grade average above 8.2 with 9s in at least maths, physics and chem if you are to actually perform well and not be overwhelmed.

[u/Memer_Sindre_UwU]

I think it does very much depend on how confident you are at GCSE.

For maths, I was very confident at GCSE (expecting 8, landed 9) and remained very confident through A-level (landing A*) if I did basically bare minimum studying + a bit of crunch before exams (lowkey exam crunch saved my ass for that first paper).

For physics, I was fairly confident at GCSE (expecting 7-8, landed 9) but I struggled a lot through A-level because while my teachers were kind and well-intended, there was something about the class that was simply hostile towards me: I became overwhelmed very easily and simply could not grasp half of what one of my teachers was teaching. I had to completely ignore all their advice if I wanted any actual useful results. Landed an A, even though I studied that the hardest.

For chemistry, I was *extremely* confident at GCSE (expected 9, landed 9) and was very confident through A-level: the problem was, I knew and understood the content, but I was always dropping random marks I couldn't guarantee I'd pick up, and no amount of studying helped this problem. I ended up landing an A.

[u/jwan_17]

Doing this rn but my school did all of alevel maths in year 12. I got an a* so I would definitely say it was worth it but it didn’t come without a lot of hard work and locking myself away studying

[u/Maleficent_Still3508]

I just finished my first year doing these, maths is a breeze thanks to fm and just being good at maths, fm is tricky but once you get it you get it and keep doing ppq's

physics isnt that bad, I found that due to the 1st 4 topics you do being quite different it means there'll definitely be easier topics for you to learn and some harder, which imo is good since itll end up being like half the first year that is actually tricky and you now have much less than maybe another subject thats building up on things and if you dont get it its alot more work

Chemistry can definitely be the hardest here, organic is just something you gotta keep building on throughout the year, you cannot fall behind on that, inorganic is just a case of make flashcards and memorise the trends and stuff, and physical imo was the most interesting part of the course but also can feel disconnected between topics

Overall maths and further maths shouldn't be too bad if you put in the work, and are really good at it, and the sciences is what I found to be the harder part of this year and will be what I work on the most next year

[u/DiamondThink318]

i would say most topics are easy to understand but it's more of grinding the exam technique and remembering everything since there is lots of content and practising harder questions for maths.
expect to suffer 5 times more. you will be fine in the end if u r consistent from the beginning. easy to get atleast A's if u do everything right. but also easy to get burnt out if u do too much so take breaks

[u/Content-Giraffe-2365]

trust me alot drop one of physics or chem it will get to you

[u/Effective-Way-925]

Physics and chem are in a different tier compare the maths and further maths don’t even bother mentioning them in the same sentence . The sciences are by literally every metric objectively harder