Anybody know how hard A levels are?

Question

I don't know what to do.

Answer 1

Alot harder than GCSE's as you have to think for yourself and motivate yourself to do the appropriate amount of work. You won't get spoon fed like at GCSE. However if you want a good job and nice wage you need to do them. Statistics show that the higher level you are educated to the better you are paid later in life. Obviously statistics lie but overall I would say this is true.

Answer 2

Compared to what?

My daughter is half way thru her A level course. She has to put more work in than she had to for GCSE's - but that's life. As time goes on and you grow older (and hopefully wiser) you have to work harder to make progress. Unless you're a genius of course in which case the question probably wouldn't have been asked....

Answer 3

Very Hard.. You couldnt handle it

Answer 4

There as hard as you want them to be. If your gonna get stressed even before you've taken them than yes your going to find it difficult. But if you choose to have an attitude of positivity than you'll do well.

I've just finished mine and I wouldnt say they were hard or overbearing at all but it depends on what you do. There were many people who werent any good and still got good AS results. Its not hard - have faith

Answer 5

I'm doing the Singapore version of the A-levels (Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Japanese Language, General Paper, and 'General Studies in Chinese' - a unique Singapore exam which is essentially General Paper done in Chinese), which are somewhat different from what the English exam boards are offering, but I'll just say a few words.

A-levels are a fundamentally dated qualifcation, which means they're based on ancient ideas in education - that of specialization in a few specific areas of education. Given that most English students do only 4 AS levels and 3 A2s, the number of subjects covered is extremely small. To compensate for this lack of breadth in content the A level is designed to be comprehensive for the subject, which means anything less than full, rigorous understanding of the entirety of the subject matter won't get you an A. The exam itself is also broken up into several sections, with huge emphasis placed on free-response questions, and the total exam length usually falls between six and nine hours. This implies that the A levels are not for the faint hearted.

Now I might not be a very good example per se, but despite having scored seven 5s and one 4 on the American Advanced Placement exams in May this year, I got failing grades in the subjects I got 5s for in school, where I was assessed based on the A-level format. This shows that the A level is meant to be hard to score on, and if you want to call it 'hard' you wouldn't be wrong. (I got 'U's for Mathematics and Chemistry, and 'D' for physics while I got straight 5s on AP Calculus BC, Chemistry and both parts of the Physics C exam.)

Given another choice I would have selected the International Baccalaureate or some other program, but after doing an A level course I do realize that the A level is far superior than any other system in the Anglophone world in getting students to really STUDY (if not exactly 'learn') a subject. You'll find yourself studying your A level subjects to death because the exam requires a foolproof understanding most of the time. But the narrow width of the content, and the rigor of each individual exam subject are the relative merits of the A level system.

So in short, A levels ARE hard. But at least you do only four of them.

Answer 6

They are harder than GCSE and not as hard as a degree. If you put in the work you will succeed. Thats all I can say.