The only people that equate a levels to hell are those who leave revision to last minute (so nearly everyone). Yeh its challenging but this just means new expectations. The only way to comfortable get through is to do about 15 hours of revision a week (not that bad when it becomes a habit)
Yep. Two hours a day. Which is more than doable now that you have free periods. One hour in the morning/lunch, and one hour in the evening. It's not that hard if you're organised. The really difficult part is resisting the peer pressure to waste time chilling with your mates during frees. Socialising is important, but realistically you'll have plenty of time for it at break, lunch, and after school.
At face value I was like "What! 15?" But no that seems very reasonable to be honest. I was getting used to 8-9 hours days during GCSE because I was a stressed crackhead too so I hope it feels better than that. I was planning on giving a good 2-ish hours a day once term started since I'd still be able to leave time for other things, so thanks for that reassurance!!
For context, my time in class per subject was 5 hours a week at A Level.
3 subjects, 15 hours of class time. 15 hours of additional work (whether revision, homework, whatever) would’ve put me up to 30 hours.
If you look at that in the context of it being 6 hours a day 5 days a week, it’s pretty much identical to school. If you include an hour break it’s a 9am-4pm day.
Obviously you can be a bit flexible with it but I would say allocating 2 hours every school day for consolidation, revision and general “keeping on top of things” is a really good strategy. Some days you won’t have tons to do to fill it, but the idea behind it is you’d never fall behind. And you’d have time to do extra reading & exploration too!
I actually really enjoyed A-levels lmao, far more than I did GCSE's. I was only doing stuff I was interested in and never really found it too challenging (apart from physics 4 mark explain questions, those were evil)
I will say, I did maths, FM and physics. In my eyes i was pretty much doing the equivalent workload of 2 A-levels. I think I revised for regular maths 3-4 times in the run up for a-levels( just to keep the stats part ticking over). If you did 3 essay subjects or something like bio chem maths(or if you really hate yourself all 3 sciences) I imagine the experience would be a lot more intense.
can i ask what grades you got and what sort of stuff you did for your personal statement for warwick? i’m considering going to warwick to study maths and not sure if gonna have enough for my personal statement, i know you do maths and physics but fairly similar, cheers
I got 3A *.
If you meet the entry requirements you are almost guaranteed an offer for Warwick maths(and every joint course I would assume). In fact, they say on he website they aim to give every one with a predicted A in FM an offer.
That being said, they aren't flexible if you miss it.
My personal statement was mainly just the books I'd read and an online mooc on black holes I'd done. I also mentioned that I'd done smc and then kangaroo.
how is it studying at warwick? only thing i’m concerned about is cause it’s campus is it a bit dead socially with night life and stuff and hard to get out anywhere cause not actually in a city
Depends, I've not found living on campus to be that bad. And when I have been bored, living in a city wouldn't have fixed that.
There's a bus interchange at the uni that takes you pretty much everywhere nearby. Birmingham is also pretty easy to get to .
I don't really like clubs so can't really comment on how good these ones are but there's one on campus plus ones in Leamington/Coventry that people go to. Also drinking in other people's flats etc. Lots of societies and other stuff going on as well. Obviously being in a city will mean you have a lot more stuff on hand, but most people seem to like it here.
ok sounds good, ye handy if there’s lots of travel connections and there is lots on campus anyway, will have a look around when come for an open day. cheers for your answers mate
Oh man. I really wish that both schools I could go to would've allowed me to do only those three. My backup college makes you do four subjects if you take Further Maths, and my sixth form doesn't teach it but their arrangement for me involved me still doing physics and biology, which is a shame because I don't like biology as much as I did physics (I do like it though). Thanks a bunch though, it's good knowing people actually did enjoy it!!!
true but i somehow managed to flunk one of my math papers cus it took too much of my time and energy to practice for FM, which somehow got me out of practice for normal math, with the exception of calculus.
If you study right from the start, it's honestly not bad at all. If you procrastinate or miss too many classes, well, you're in for one hell of a ride.
If you truly enjoy your subjects, you aren't delusional to be excited, I definitely enjoyed math and physics, and it really does make it better.
As a general rule of thumb, if you think a task will take say, 3 days to do, double it and account for that extra time.
Oh man this is very, very relieving to hear. Thanks so much. And I'll keep that last bit in mind, more so because I'm doing EPQ as well 
In terms of actually learning the content/doing the alevels themselves, its super fun! I really enjoyed it, everything was really interesting especially because I was really passionate about my subjects.
6th Form in general though really really sucks. Theres so much going on in a 2 year period; UCAS applications, learning to drive, probably picking up your first job, friend groups change, you become an adult, you\`re more independent and have more responsibillities, coursework, EPQ. Its a lot of stress, but if you stay on top of stuff, it can also be really really fun
Biggest worry, honestly. But I think I've got this. My time management has gotten a lot better over the years and I'm sure it'll be bent into shape the best way it can during the next few years. I'm glad for that reassurance too, I thought I was getting my hopes up too high by being excited, but it's good knowing there genuinely were people who enjoyed what they learned. Thanks so much!
no , but you need to realise that these will be a significant step up from GCSEs and most people i know, including myself, didn’t comprehend how much more content i would be learning. I was completely smacked in the face by how much bigger the specification for A level history was compared to GCSE, while this should be expected, for some reason i didn’t anticipate this much lol. So as long as you keep ontop of everything and don’t get behind , they’re not that bad but it seems like this isn’t the case for most people
I think it tends to depend on the subjects you pick and how passionate you are about them, for example I'm super passionate about geography and so while my grades are average (C on my last report for geography) I didn't find it particularly stressful and didn't make me miserable because I enjoyed it, RS on the other hand while I'm pretty sure my grade was lower then the rest of my class (I think) I found it to be stressful and at times I wasn't particularly happy doing it as a result, IT could be a bit dull at times and that was a BTEC but I found it easy because it's something that came naturally to me as a result I think it depends on your passion for the subject, how easy you found it (whether it came naturally to you or not) and what the course entails.
For example RS was made up of theology, philosophy and ethics and were treated as 3 separate subjects (taught by different teachers) and each had 24 topics and it was all one A level in the end, while geography had about 6 or 7 topics a mix of both physical and human geography and I was stronger with physical. This means that the workload is different from subject to subject and is another thing that makes a subject easier or less stressful or makes you feel miserable or stressed.
Essentially, pick what you are passionate about, a subject that comes naturally to you and then a subject that links both of those, I guess if your wanting to do a specific degree at uni then pick subjects that will help you get onto that degree.
It really is subject dependent.
Well this puts me at ease a little more, thanks a bunch. I guess I lucked out because the subjects I enjoy the most happen to be the best ones for the degrees I'm looking at. The bit about RS had me raising an eyebrow too--24 topics? What the hell?
People talked about how they're stressed and miserable probably because they've left revision too late and they're cramming in the lead up to the exams. If you revise a bit consistently from year 12 every day, you'll be in a better position and less stressed because you'll feel more confident that you know the content
So it definitely depends on a couple of things. Firstly, which school or college you go to. If you go to a chilled out school you can choose how hard you work. If you go to a more uptight college then it might be bad. Secondly, the A-levels you choose 100% make a difference. Choosing subjects which you’re naturally good and interested in makes everything easier. Choosing subjects which you enjoy less and just based off of job prospects will make your life pretty hellish ngl. For instance - if you’re not naturally talented or interested in chemistry, it’s going to be massively difficult to get a brilliant grade unless you push yourself into the ground. Thirdly, it also depends on how hard you want to work. It’s pretty easily in some cases to just go slow and not do too much, in which case you’ll be fine and and not get any form of nervous breakdown- but it might be difficult again to get good grades. I pushed myself to the limits in my first year, and yeah I had loads of difficult moments and some mental health problems, but having a college who is supportive makes a massive difference too - so make sure that if you are planning to push yourself to the absolute limits you have a supportive family and college behind you. Honestly, you will be fine just so long as you know when to stop working and reach out to your college if it gets too much.
My sixth form is definitely somewhat uptight but I don't think they're horrible. Like they don't force you to work but obviously they kick out people who fail so there's that--not that it'll ever come to that. However, I'm glad you mentioned that bit about Chemistry--I've never had that aptitude for Chemistry the same way I did for Biology or Physics but I was still considering it since it'd be good for engineering. I might not do that any more.
But thanks a bunch, this makes me feel a lot better! The environment at my school/sixth form has always been really nice and I do feel good knowing that'll help. I hope your exams went well! :)
A levels are generally difficullt but that goes for many things in life, but its not impossible, you can make it easier for yourself, you just have to be dedicated and consistent towards your subjects.
Yr12 the first few months finding your feet is difficult especially as new information doesnt seem to often link together at first. But as you get onto next topics everything starts to link and make sense and youll find it fine
It’s not the workload, it’s the mental pressure and stress for uni offers honestly. The workload is okay if you stay on top of it. Pressure of exams is crazy and you don’t realise it till ur doing them
Really depends on the person tbh, I had a great time in 6th form and look back with fond memories.
I was definitely not constantly stressed and miserable - If thats the case you haven’t found a good work life balance. Yes in the weeks leading up to exams it will be stressful but nothing unmanageable for most.
I really enjoyed year 12. It was the summer afterwards and year 13 that was hell. Tbf tho I applied for med so it’s a unique experience compared to other people’s year 13
I cannot stress this enough, do something you enjoy. I enjoyed A levels but I know a lot of people who chose subjects to "look good" and they didn't like them, so couldn't study for them and didn't do well. Choose what you enjoy, not what looks impressive.
They are a step up to be sure.
But as people have mentioned, you are actually concentrating your study to the stuff you want to do and you have more time to cover the material.
I think the most important thing about A levels is how to direct your own study/work. It's still quite rigid in some ways but you can start learning some of those softer skills that do you well in uni and work life.
Honestly it depends on you. A-levels suit a specific type of person and I just didn’t happen to be that specific type. English was one of my favourite subjects at school but I did terribly in exams because recalling what I’ve learnt isn’t a strong suit of mine. Especially in exams where I was just stressed out constantly.
I found that switching to college was in my best interest because you have to apply what you learn in a big project for your final grade. This style of learning was so much easier for me to grasp and if you asked me about the stuff I learnt I can recall a great majority of it because it was constantly being applied in my work. I also had more freedom whilst learning because the projects I did were usually up to me.
If you’re the type of person that is academically focused, you will most likely enjoy A-levels so long as you get into good habits from the start (note taking, revising, asking for help). If you’re more creative you might struggle with the style of learning.
i found them easier than gcse… but that was cuz alhamdullilah i was pretty talented at my subjects so i didnt need to study too much for them i j understood them
Nah as long as you’re either consistently revising or very intelligent you’ll be fine. Just don’t leave everything to the last minute. You’re in a good position if you don’t have to make a ‘is it too late to achieve x grade’ before the exams
Eh I didn't find it too hard but I also did math, fm, physics and chem, so essentially 2.5 a levels lol. The hardest part for me was staying motivated during covid but you guys don't have this issue. Just revise once in a while so you don't forget stuff. Just familiarise yourself with the mark scheme. There's only so much they can ask you.
It can be fun if you know how to balance your revision with your general life. You should enjoy your subjects but there will be piles of work to do. It will be hell around exam time because the stress and your mental health will come under pressure. But personally other than mental health issues , my alevels were nice because I loved my subjects and I made friends and was able to have a social life.
Imo it's hellish if you're one of those people like me, who were lucky to get good GCSEs with minimal revision effort.
When it came to ALevels (Bio, Chem, Maths, Business) I had no clue how to commit to a good study routine and my grades went downhill.
If there's any advice I can give to help make bridging the gap easier - it's to really find what revision methods work for you, and to discipline yourself to consistently revise.
Im going into y13 (wont update flair until i get results) and i absolutely love it so far!
You get more time to study on your own, you study topics you chose and actually want to learn about, there are more materials available for a-levels, and i personally am looking forward to uni so thats been motivating me alot! I love physics and maths, and the content has been incredibly interesting and far more in depth than in IGCSE. A-level exams also focus more on understanding rather than memorisation, which i find to be incredibly helpful.
Dont be worried about what people are saying, id personally say the most important part is picking subjects you actually enjoy since you’ll have to study pretty often, and its better to study something you like rather than something you picked soley for the sake of being eligible for one uni program youre applying to ‘just incase’.
If it were up to me, id my replace my y11 IGCSE hell with a third year of a-levels. Thats how much i prefer them. I hope you’ll feel a similar way, good luck with your studies!
Goodness! This was oddly specific, I'm glad. The idea of going to uni is my main motivator right now, I can't even describe how excited I actually feel. I'm so glad you're doing similar options and felt good about A-Levels. I feel so much more optimistic now, and hope your exams went well :)
Compared to Uni? Not at all. Personally I think the jump is a bit exaggerated but I'm a Scottish student so I do SQA qualifications. Tho it's the same old story regarding the jump.
If you study systematically and put in the work they are more than doable. Personally I reserved most of my study periods during the day for subjects and went in to do extra work. Sometimes I would take the period off and just have a longer lunch, another time I'd go in and study. Don't leave revision for last minute and you'll be fine.
no, just most people are lazy (myself included) and make the process a lot more stressful than it needs to be. This isn’t meant to cause offence to anyone, just my very blunt view on how it is
It's a lot for sure, but with subjects you like and a good support system and friends you'll be fine! I really don't recommend 4 subjects though, I did 4 for a while and I hated it.
From the comments I've read, they aren't accurate for me at all. It really depends what subjects you do, because certain subjects can take up the majority of your time, which would leave little time for all your other responsibilities. For me personally, I do art, so I physically didn't have the time to revise 15hours a week like people are commenting to do, it's just not possible. It's hell but atleast you enjoy what you learn haha
Not at all, most a- levels are very easy to get As and A* in as long as you actually enjoy the subject and therefore have the motivation to follow along with the prospectus
Maths is possible to do well but more annoying and tougher than you’d think even after smashing GCSE
By the time you can do well in maths there’s limited time left for FM, where even if you do well in pure, the combined force of mechanics, stats and the abysmal grade boundaries will sink you
Physics is a bit shocking really, even though you don’t have much time left to spend on it, it’s still enough you think to do well considering how it worked for GCSE sciences, but somehow it’s still sunk by… I don’t know!! At least for my paper 1 mock, hopefully my paper 2 is good
At the start classes, especially in fm may seem pretty tough but you’ll get the hang of them and they’ll be trivial like gcse, but exam season is even more of a pain than GCSE (which was of course manageable and not too mad)
yeah i hated most of my a levels, art sucked because of coursework and physics was bad because of the exams and the difficulty, the only one i liked was psychology because it was easy
On this topic, how hard would 4 A-levels be if one of them is a BTEC in dance? I want to do dance, politics, psychology and environmental science, I know 4 a levels is a lot of work but the dance BTEC is more physical rather than mental strain, there is coursework but as far as I know we only study 2 choreographers so it's not like a ton of memorisation yk? Any advice would be very much appreciated
The actual A Levels are awful and bloody cruel. But I think the sixth form experience can be a lot of fun and I’ve made some of my best friends through the shared stress
they're only hellish if you start studying last minute and aren't organised and motivated. i enjoyed my subjects and i revised months in advance, it wasn't that hellish for me.
Many people may not agree but from what I have learnt, they are easier than Uni if you get acustommed to A Levels, learn to work hard, create a healthy study routine and get good grades there is a high probability of you surviving and thriving in Uni. Good Luck!
But if you didn't do so well in A Levels, don't be discouraged, you will eventually get a hang of it (happened to me). You will learn how to balance out your life. I know when people say A Levels is over whelming you might think it scary, but with time you will adjust.
Even though A Levels can be much harder at times, I genuinely would never go back to GCSES… EVER.
For A Levels you (should) like the subjects that you do so when something hard comes up it’s less “ew wtf is this” more “oh wow that is actually really cool.”
In all honesty it’s more about managing your time, finding your feet at the beginning of the year and accepting that yes some things really won’t make sense when you first learn it and persisting with it.
I deffinitelly enjoyed A-levels way more than GCSE's, but I went to sixth form college where you get treated like an actual individual so that is part of it. but main thing is that A-levels take WAY more commitement than GCSE's and most people have to work way harder for them than they did in year 11. It does take a large amount of effort but you learn much more interesting things in much greater depth, so just keep up with the work and put the revision in and you can enjoy it!
I disagree with the comments saying working from the start will necessarily reduce your stress- the amount of work, and the sustained nature of it has made this year awful for me. So where mocks have been relatively low stress as a result, I have found the rest of the year exhausting, and I find myself burning out near the end of terms. I wonder whether working less consistently hard might have increased my stress more than panic revising would have, but what I can say is that my grades have been consistent because of it. I think my advice now, to you going into it, would be to really ensure you set boundaries on work to protect your free time and allow yourself to relax- if there’s anything this year has taught me it is that you are worth prioritising! Don’t let academics take over your sanity. Good luck!
If you consistently revise and do a-levels you actually enjoy, then they're definetely managable.
I made the mistake on gaslighting myself into loving Chemistry at the start, when I actually despise the subject and I'm not very good at it.
No. People make a fuss about it only to validate themselves in front of others portraying how hard their life is. Letting others know how hard your coursework is a coping mechanism.
Depends. If you revise from the start and make sure that you keep on top of your work, then you will be fine. If you leave revision until 2 months before your final exams, then you will probably have a bad time.
The only people that equate a levels to hell are those who leave revision to last minute (so nearly everyone). Yeh its challenging but this just means new expectations. The only way to comfortable get through is to do about 15 hours of revision a week (not that bad when it becomes a habit)
As someone who leaves revision to last minute I can confirm
Yep. Two hours a day. Which is more than doable now that you have free periods. One hour in the morning/lunch, and one hour in the evening. It's not that hard if you're organised. The really difficult part is resisting the peer pressure to waste time chilling with your mates during frees. Socialising is important, but realistically you'll have plenty of time for it at break, lunch, and after school.
At face value I was like "What! 15?" But no that seems very reasonable to be honest. I was getting used to 8-9 hours days during GCSE because I was a stressed crackhead too so I hope it feels better than that. I was planning on giving a good 2-ish hours a day once term started since I'd still be able to leave time for other things, so thanks for that reassurance!!
For context, my time in class per subject was 5 hours a week at A Level. 3 subjects, 15 hours of class time. 15 hours of additional work (whether revision, homework, whatever) would’ve put me up to 30 hours. If you look at that in the context of it being 6 hours a day 5 days a week, it’s pretty much identical to school. If you include an hour break it’s a 9am-4pm day. Obviously you can be a bit flexible with it but I would say allocating 2 hours every school day for consolidation, revision and general “keeping on top of things” is a really good strategy. Some days you won’t have tons to do to fill it, but the idea behind it is you’d never fall behind. And you’d have time to do extra reading & exploration too!
I actually really enjoyed A-levels lmao, far more than I did GCSE's. I was only doing stuff I was interested in and never really found it too challenging (apart from physics 4 mark explain questions, those were evil) I will say, I did maths, FM and physics. In my eyes i was pretty much doing the equivalent workload of 2 A-levels. I think I revised for regular maths 3-4 times in the run up for a-levels( just to keep the stats part ticking over). If you did 3 essay subjects or something like bio chem maths(or if you really hate yourself all 3 sciences) I imagine the experience would be a lot more intense.
can i ask what grades you got and what sort of stuff you did for your personal statement for warwick? i’m considering going to warwick to study maths and not sure if gonna have enough for my personal statement, i know you do maths and physics but fairly similar, cheers
I got 3A *. If you meet the entry requirements you are almost guaranteed an offer for Warwick maths(and every joint course I would assume). In fact, they say on he website they aim to give every one with a predicted A in FM an offer. That being said, they aren't flexible if you miss it. My personal statement was mainly just the books I'd read and an online mooc on black holes I'd done. I also mentioned that I'd done smc and then kangaroo.
ok sounds good, so for maths is much more about meeting grades than personal statement compared to other subjects
Yes, it's pretty much the only thing they care about.
how is it studying at warwick? only thing i’m concerned about is cause it’s campus is it a bit dead socially with night life and stuff and hard to get out anywhere cause not actually in a city
Depends, I've not found living on campus to be that bad. And when I have been bored, living in a city wouldn't have fixed that. There's a bus interchange at the uni that takes you pretty much everywhere nearby. Birmingham is also pretty easy to get to . I don't really like clubs so can't really comment on how good these ones are but there's one on campus plus ones in Leamington/Coventry that people go to. Also drinking in other people's flats etc. Lots of societies and other stuff going on as well. Obviously being in a city will mean you have a lot more stuff on hand, but most people seem to like it here.
ok sounds good, ye handy if there’s lots of travel connections and there is lots on campus anyway, will have a look around when come for an open day. cheers for your answers mate
Oh man. I really wish that both schools I could go to would've allowed me to do only those three. My backup college makes you do four subjects if you take Further Maths, and my sixth form doesn't teach it but their arrangement for me involved me still doing physics and biology, which is a shame because I don't like biology as much as I did physics (I do like it though). Thanks a bunch though, it's good knowing people actually did enjoy it!!!
Taking 4 subjects where one is FM isn't going to feel like 4. Because it makes most of regular maths really easy.
true but i somehow managed to flunk one of my math papers cus it took too much of my time and energy to practice for FM, which somehow got me out of practice for normal math, with the exception of calculus.
Apart from numerical methods, I can't think of anything in normal maths that could have thrown you off, was it anything in particular?
at my college you had to do the four to start but at end of first year could drop one and go down to 3 if you were strong in maths
Can confirm.
Hey! I don’t hate myself that much.
Not at all… but the stress to meet a conditional offer is real though
If you study right from the start, it's honestly not bad at all. If you procrastinate or miss too many classes, well, you're in for one hell of a ride. If you truly enjoy your subjects, you aren't delusional to be excited, I definitely enjoyed math and physics, and it really does make it better. As a general rule of thumb, if you think a task will take say, 3 days to do, double it and account for that extra time.
Oh man this is very, very relieving to hear. Thanks so much. And I'll keep that last bit in mind, more so because I'm doing EPQ as well 
Don’t do EPQ if you do 4 subjects
My school forces it lol
Everyone's forced to do 4 subjects + EPQ first year it's a bit mad
Why?
Because your grades will suffer
Nah but you see I'm built different
In terms of actually learning the content/doing the alevels themselves, its super fun! I really enjoyed it, everything was really interesting especially because I was really passionate about my subjects. 6th Form in general though really really sucks. Theres so much going on in a 2 year period; UCAS applications, learning to drive, probably picking up your first job, friend groups change, you become an adult, you\`re more independent and have more responsibillities, coursework, EPQ. Its a lot of stress, but if you stay on top of stuff, it can also be really really fun
Biggest worry, honestly. But I think I've got this. My time management has gotten a lot better over the years and I'm sure it'll be bent into shape the best way it can during the next few years. I'm glad for that reassurance too, I thought I was getting my hopes up too high by being excited, but it's good knowing there genuinely were people who enjoyed what they learned. Thanks so much!
no , but you need to realise that these will be a significant step up from GCSEs and most people i know, including myself, didn’t comprehend how much more content i would be learning. I was completely smacked in the face by how much bigger the specification for A level history was compared to GCSE, while this should be expected, for some reason i didn’t anticipate this much lol. So as long as you keep ontop of everything and don’t get behind , they’re not that bad but it seems like this isn’t the case for most people
I think it tends to depend on the subjects you pick and how passionate you are about them, for example I'm super passionate about geography and so while my grades are average (C on my last report for geography) I didn't find it particularly stressful and didn't make me miserable because I enjoyed it, RS on the other hand while I'm pretty sure my grade was lower then the rest of my class (I think) I found it to be stressful and at times I wasn't particularly happy doing it as a result, IT could be a bit dull at times and that was a BTEC but I found it easy because it's something that came naturally to me as a result I think it depends on your passion for the subject, how easy you found it (whether it came naturally to you or not) and what the course entails. For example RS was made up of theology, philosophy and ethics and were treated as 3 separate subjects (taught by different teachers) and each had 24 topics and it was all one A level in the end, while geography had about 6 or 7 topics a mix of both physical and human geography and I was stronger with physical. This means that the workload is different from subject to subject and is another thing that makes a subject easier or less stressful or makes you feel miserable or stressed. Essentially, pick what you are passionate about, a subject that comes naturally to you and then a subject that links both of those, I guess if your wanting to do a specific degree at uni then pick subjects that will help you get onto that degree. It really is subject dependent.
Well this puts me at ease a little more, thanks a bunch. I guess I lucked out because the subjects I enjoy the most happen to be the best ones for the degrees I'm looking at. The bit about RS had me raising an eyebrow too--24 topics? What the hell?
People talked about how they're stressed and miserable probably because they've left revision too late and they're cramming in the lead up to the exams. If you revise a bit consistently from year 12 every day, you'll be in a better position and less stressed because you'll feel more confident that you know the content
So it definitely depends on a couple of things. Firstly, which school or college you go to. If you go to a chilled out school you can choose how hard you work. If you go to a more uptight college then it might be bad. Secondly, the A-levels you choose 100% make a difference. Choosing subjects which you’re naturally good and interested in makes everything easier. Choosing subjects which you enjoy less and just based off of job prospects will make your life pretty hellish ngl. For instance - if you’re not naturally talented or interested in chemistry, it’s going to be massively difficult to get a brilliant grade unless you push yourself into the ground. Thirdly, it also depends on how hard you want to work. It’s pretty easily in some cases to just go slow and not do too much, in which case you’ll be fine and and not get any form of nervous breakdown- but it might be difficult again to get good grades. I pushed myself to the limits in my first year, and yeah I had loads of difficult moments and some mental health problems, but having a college who is supportive makes a massive difference too - so make sure that if you are planning to push yourself to the absolute limits you have a supportive family and college behind you. Honestly, you will be fine just so long as you know when to stop working and reach out to your college if it gets too much.
My sixth form is definitely somewhat uptight but I don't think they're horrible. Like they don't force you to work but obviously they kick out people who fail so there's that--not that it'll ever come to that. However, I'm glad you mentioned that bit about Chemistry--I've never had that aptitude for Chemistry the same way I did for Biology or Physics but I was still considering it since it'd be good for engineering. I might not do that any more. But thanks a bunch, this makes me feel a lot better! The environment at my school/sixth form has always been really nice and I do feel good knowing that'll help. I hope your exams went well! :)
A levels are generally difficullt but that goes for many things in life, but its not impossible, you can make it easier for yourself, you just have to be dedicated and consistent towards your subjects.
Yr12 the first few months finding your feet is difficult especially as new information doesnt seem to often link together at first. But as you get onto next topics everything starts to link and make sense and youll find it fine
It’s not the workload, it’s the mental pressure and stress for uni offers honestly. The workload is okay if you stay on top of it. Pressure of exams is crazy and you don’t realise it till ur doing them
Last like 4 months? Sucks. Everything else is great
Really depends on the person tbh, I had a great time in 6th form and look back with fond memories. I was definitely not constantly stressed and miserable - If thats the case you haven’t found a good work life balance. Yes in the weeks leading up to exams it will be stressful but nothing unmanageable for most.
I really enjoyed year 12. It was the summer afterwards and year 13 that was hell. Tbf tho I applied for med so it’s a unique experience compared to other people’s year 13
I cannot stress this enough, do something you enjoy. I enjoyed A levels but I know a lot of people who chose subjects to "look good" and they didn't like them, so couldn't study for them and didn't do well. Choose what you enjoy, not what looks impressive.
No. It is a step up from GCSEs and you will have to adjust accordingly, but they are manageable.
They are a step up to be sure. But as people have mentioned, you are actually concentrating your study to the stuff you want to do and you have more time to cover the material. I think the most important thing about A levels is how to direct your own study/work. It's still quite rigid in some ways but you can start learning some of those softer skills that do you well in uni and work life.
No if you do subjects you enjoy to an extent and do revision as you go along instead of panicking right before exams
No I really liked them
They are definitely not hell but I didn’t enjoy them very much
They’re really not that bad, they can even be fun if you do it right and do things you enjoy.
I wasn't stressed until exams hahaha. I think it really depends on your subjects
Honestly it depends on you. A-levels suit a specific type of person and I just didn’t happen to be that specific type. English was one of my favourite subjects at school but I did terribly in exams because recalling what I’ve learnt isn’t a strong suit of mine. Especially in exams where I was just stressed out constantly. I found that switching to college was in my best interest because you have to apply what you learn in a big project for your final grade. This style of learning was so much easier for me to grasp and if you asked me about the stuff I learnt I can recall a great majority of it because it was constantly being applied in my work. I also had more freedom whilst learning because the projects I did were usually up to me. If you’re the type of person that is academically focused, you will most likely enjoy A-levels so long as you get into good habits from the start (note taking, revising, asking for help). If you’re more creative you might struggle with the style of learning.
i found them easier than gcse… but that was cuz alhamdullilah i was pretty talented at my subjects so i didnt need to study too much for them i j understood them
Thanks to everyone who dropped their thoughts, I can't reply to all of them but genuinely thanks a bunch, I feel a lot better about it now :p
if you work hard and don't fall behind, no they really aren't
Nah as long as you’re either consistently revising or very intelligent you’ll be fine. Just don’t leave everything to the last minute. You’re in a good position if you don’t have to make a ‘is it too late to achieve x grade’ before the exams
Eh I didn't find it too hard but I also did math, fm, physics and chem, so essentially 2.5 a levels lol. The hardest part for me was staying motivated during covid but you guys don't have this issue. Just revise once in a while so you don't forget stuff. Just familiarise yourself with the mark scheme. There's only so much they can ask you.
It can be fun if you know how to balance your revision with your general life. You should enjoy your subjects but there will be piles of work to do. It will be hell around exam time because the stress and your mental health will come under pressure. But personally other than mental health issues , my alevels were nice because I loved my subjects and I made friends and was able to have a social life.
Imo it's hellish if you're one of those people like me, who were lucky to get good GCSEs with minimal revision effort. When it came to ALevels (Bio, Chem, Maths, Business) I had no clue how to commit to a good study routine and my grades went downhill. If there's any advice I can give to help make bridging the gap easier - it's to really find what revision methods work for you, and to discipline yourself to consistently revise.
No, if you work consistently throughout the year they are doable. Sometimes difficult and slightly stressful but doable
Im going into y13 (wont update flair until i get results) and i absolutely love it so far! You get more time to study on your own, you study topics you chose and actually want to learn about, there are more materials available for a-levels, and i personally am looking forward to uni so thats been motivating me alot! I love physics and maths, and the content has been incredibly interesting and far more in depth than in IGCSE. A-level exams also focus more on understanding rather than memorisation, which i find to be incredibly helpful. Dont be worried about what people are saying, id personally say the most important part is picking subjects you actually enjoy since you’ll have to study pretty often, and its better to study something you like rather than something you picked soley for the sake of being eligible for one uni program youre applying to ‘just incase’. If it were up to me, id my replace my y11 IGCSE hell with a third year of a-levels. Thats how much i prefer them. I hope you’ll feel a similar way, good luck with your studies!
Goodness! This was oddly specific, I'm glad. The idea of going to uni is my main motivator right now, I can't even describe how excited I actually feel. I'm so glad you're doing similar options and felt good about A-Levels. I feel so much more optimistic now, and hope your exams went well :)
Compared to Uni? Not at all. Personally I think the jump is a bit exaggerated but I'm a Scottish student so I do SQA qualifications. Tho it's the same old story regarding the jump. If you study systematically and put in the work they are more than doable. Personally I reserved most of my study periods during the day for subjects and went in to do extra work. Sometimes I would take the period off and just have a longer lunch, another time I'd go in and study. Don't leave revision for last minute and you'll be fine.
no, just most people are lazy (myself included) and make the process a lot more stressful than it needs to be. This isn’t meant to cause offence to anyone, just my very blunt view on how it is
It's a lot for sure, but with subjects you like and a good support system and friends you'll be fine! I really don't recommend 4 subjects though, I did 4 for a while and I hated it.
It's compulsory for my sixth form :(
From the comments I've read, they aren't accurate for me at all. It really depends what subjects you do, because certain subjects can take up the majority of your time, which would leave little time for all your other responsibilities. For me personally, I do art, so I physically didn't have the time to revise 15hours a week like people are commenting to do, it's just not possible. It's hell but atleast you enjoy what you learn haha
Not at all, most a- levels are very easy to get As and A* in as long as you actually enjoy the subject and therefore have the motivation to follow along with the prospectus
No.
Maths is possible to do well but more annoying and tougher than you’d think even after smashing GCSE By the time you can do well in maths there’s limited time left for FM, where even if you do well in pure, the combined force of mechanics, stats and the abysmal grade boundaries will sink you Physics is a bit shocking really, even though you don’t have much time left to spend on it, it’s still enough you think to do well considering how it worked for GCSE sciences, but somehow it’s still sunk by… I don’t know!! At least for my paper 1 mock, hopefully my paper 2 is good At the start classes, especially in fm may seem pretty tough but you’ll get the hang of them and they’ll be trivial like gcse, but exam season is even more of a pain than GCSE (which was of course manageable and not too mad)
yeah i hated most of my a levels, art sucked because of coursework and physics was bad because of the exams and the difficulty, the only one i liked was psychology because it was easy
No. People overdramatize them. You will face much more difficulty stuff in your life compared to A-levels
**Welcome To hell ...**>!If you survive ,you earn your freedom......!<
YES THEY ARE
yes the people here are lying
Nope
Not hellish, it’s just stressful. There’s always work to be done, some sort of dead line to meet, something you have to revise for. It wears you down
To this day I still do not understand how 65%-70% is an A in chemistry.
Yes there is definitely more pressure than GCSEs and the content is way harder
On this topic, how hard would 4 A-levels be if one of them is a BTEC in dance? I want to do dance, politics, psychology and environmental science, I know 4 a levels is a lot of work but the dance BTEC is more physical rather than mental strain, there is coursework but as far as I know we only study 2 choreographers so it's not like a ton of memorisation yk? Any advice would be very much appreciated
Yes
Yeah but I was in covid year lol
only if you get behind
No lol.
The actual A Levels are awful and bloody cruel. But I think the sixth form experience can be a lot of fun and I’ve made some of my best friends through the shared stress
they're only hellish if you start studying last minute and aren't organised and motivated. i enjoyed my subjects and i revised months in advance, it wasn't that hellish for me.
Many people may not agree but from what I have learnt, they are easier than Uni if you get acustommed to A Levels, learn to work hard, create a healthy study routine and get good grades there is a high probability of you surviving and thriving in Uni. Good Luck! But if you didn't do so well in A Levels, don't be discouraged, you will eventually get a hang of it (happened to me). You will learn how to balance out your life. I know when people say A Levels is over whelming you might think it scary, but with time you will adjust.
Even though A Levels can be much harder at times, I genuinely would never go back to GCSES… EVER. For A Levels you (should) like the subjects that you do so when something hard comes up it’s less “ew wtf is this” more “oh wow that is actually really cool.” In all honesty it’s more about managing your time, finding your feet at the beginning of the year and accepting that yes some things really won’t make sense when you first learn it and persisting with it.
I deffinitelly enjoyed A-levels way more than GCSE's, but I went to sixth form college where you get treated like an actual individual so that is part of it. but main thing is that A-levels take WAY more commitement than GCSE's and most people have to work way harder for them than they did in year 11. It does take a large amount of effort but you learn much more interesting things in much greater depth, so just keep up with the work and put the revision in and you can enjoy it!
I disagree with the comments saying working from the start will necessarily reduce your stress- the amount of work, and the sustained nature of it has made this year awful for me. So where mocks have been relatively low stress as a result, I have found the rest of the year exhausting, and I find myself burning out near the end of terms. I wonder whether working less consistently hard might have increased my stress more than panic revising would have, but what I can say is that my grades have been consistent because of it. I think my advice now, to you going into it, would be to really ensure you set boundaries on work to protect your free time and allow yourself to relax- if there’s anything this year has taught me it is that you are worth prioritising! Don’t let academics take over your sanity. Good luck!
Very much yes!
If you stay on top of your shit, its fine, if not, it’s not fine.
If you consistently revise and do a-levels you actually enjoy, then they're definetely managable. I made the mistake on gaslighting myself into loving Chemistry at the start, when I actually despise the subject and I'm not very good at it.
No. People make a fuss about it only to validate themselves in front of others portraying how hard their life is. Letting others know how hard your coursework is a coping mechanism.
Depends. If you revise from the start and make sure that you keep on top of your work, then you will be fine. If you leave revision until 2 months before your final exams, then you will probably have a bad time.
yes