A-Level Update:

Hello Everyone,

I started sixth form last September following a rather turbulent journey through GCSE's, however, despite this, I now love studying for subjects I actually enjoy. For anyone who doesn't know I do English Literature, business, psychology and government & politics. I just thought that in this post I would give you a brief overview of what each subject entails and whether I would recommend them...

Firstly, English Literature, this is not the same as GCSE English, the skills you need are completely different. I noticed this from the first term when reading things like 'The Great Gatsby' (which I would highly recommend) instead of focusing on the language analysis the exam board assessment objective requires you to focus on the context. This means that you have to know what is going on at the time the novel/play/poem was written and about the time in which it was set. So I'll use 'The Great Gatsby' again, that was set in the 1920's during the prohibition period, therefore meaning that the consumption and production of alcohol were illegal. Despite this, there was a huge increase in the use of speakeasies which advocate the extent of America's social/moral corruptness. In terms of choosing this as an A-Level subject, I would highly recommend this if you enjoy reading - you will be doing a lit of this. Also if you are able to adapt your skills depending on what the objectives require you to do, for example switching between context and language analysis.
I have studied the Christina Rossetti anthology which is a collection of 15 poems from the 19th century, likewise to Gatsby, this section is mainly assessed on the context analysis. More recently, I have started to study Shakespeares 'Hamlet' and Williams 'A streetcar named desire' these are both instances where the language analysis is key. This can be emphasised through the use of stage directions and various production interpretations.

Secondly, Business Studies. My first piece of advice would be to those who didn't take this at GCSE level - please do your pre-reading... I personally did do this at GCSE, however, there are people in my classes who didn't therefore as you are pushed for time in regards to teaching hours there isn't the availability to go over all the content again. I am doing the AQA Applied general course so this is structured into 50% exam and 50% coursework. I have already sat one of the exams for which I received a merit which equates to around a B - although this may be a good grade to some people, I wasn't overly pleased. I was given the opportunity to re-sit however, that was a big risk to take so after having second opinions from various members of staff at my school we came the decision that we would aim to get my coursework grades up so that the A/A* grades are still possible to achieve. In terms of the content that we cover, the first exam was primarily about finance, this was for both small and large businesses. You would be given a scenario such as "John wants to expand his business from a sole trader to an Ltd, what would be the best source of finance to use" these questions would also come with a long case study highlighting everything about John. This is a subject where you will have a lot of deadlines - if you did this at GCSE and felt confident with the knowledge then yet again that shouldn't be an issue but it's being able to manage your time efficiently in order to succeed in this subject.

Next is Psychology... A subject which was brand new to me! In most cases this isn't a subject that is taught at a lower level, therefore, you have to give yourself time to learn the studies and take in the new information - due to this, it is unlikely that you will get good grades for the whole of year 12. My teacher told me that 99% of first-time psychologists such as myself will not get above a C in year 12 and the majority of the time for their first few assessments will get a U. So, there's no need to become disheartened if you do receive a bad grade - this is perfectly normal! I personally find that psychology is one of those subjects that you never feel like you fully know. So far I have studied, Approaches, Social Influence, Memory, Research Methods and I have just started Attachment. Because this is a completely new subject for me, I really do have to put the work in, perhaps more than I do for any of my other subjects.

Finally, Government & Politics - I took this because I thought it was going to be like Citizenship which I took at GCSE. The simple answer is that it's nothing like citizenship. At first, it took me a while to get into the subject, mainly because I had to move schools in order to do this. If anyone has any questions about starting out at a new school then be sure to comment down below and I would happily answer any of your questions. Around Christmas time I had a bit of breakdown over the ideologies module because none of it was sinking in. However, I spoke to my teacher and we went back through everything together. Now a few months on, I feel like all the topics make sense because the ideological beliefs of each of the parties underpin many of the central ideas towards this subject. My least favourite part of this subject is the debating, I would say I'm quite an opinionated person, however when doing an activity like this some people fail to understand that everyone is different and is still entitled to their own viewpoint. As a result of this, it's not really a debate - more of an argument. I think this may change as we delve further into the course.

If you enjoyed this pose be sure to subscribe to see more of my posts, I also post about fashion and beauty. If you are currently doing A-Levels, let me know what subject you're doing - I would love to know. Also, I have been thinking about possibly doing a post about what I would like to do post-18 if this is something you would be interested in then please let me know?