A-levels English Lang & Lit

pboae

I don't want to derail the other thread, so I thought it was better to start a seperate one.

Is it that case that some (most?) universities won't consider English Language A-Level and English Literature A-Level as two seperate A-Levels (as distinct from the combined Lit & Lang A-Level, which is obviously just one qualification).

I hadn't heard of this before, and there seems to be some disagreement on it, I was wondering what people's experiences had been.

Gingernutmeg

When I was doing A-Levels (over 10 years ago now) we were advised not to take A-Levels in both Lit and Lang, as they weren't seen by universities as being dissimilar enough to provide enough breadth at A-Level. I have no idea whether this came from 'official' policy or whether it was being based on anecdotal evidence but it was definitely what we were told. We were also guided very much towards Lit rather than Lang, as Lang wasn't seen as being as 'serious' a subject.

Gemmzie

It was massively discouraged at my college at there's absolutely no advantage to it, because, as you say, most universities will not consider it separately. The same is often true of Business and Economics at A Level.

If you have a passion for both English strands, then the combined is the best option.

BigBouncyBall

its a bit unfair and silly of universities to see it that way - especially as almost every maths uni student has "mathematics, further mathematics and physics" - 3 almost identical subjects.

melancholly

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

its a bit unfair and silly of universities to see it that way - especially as almost every maths uni student has "mathematics, further mathematics and physics" - 3 almost identical subjects.

well maths and further maths are quite different in that they guarentee a student has done statistics and mechanics, rather than just one. the other key thing is that further maths is harder than single maths, certainly in the pure maths elements. can't comment on how these overlap with physics though.

Singer_Of_Flames

Physics and maths are very similar at A-level. I was doing physics (I dropped out last month because the sixth form was ****) and two guys in my class were doing maths and kept doing the same stuff over and over. It's a case of the basic knowledge you need for physics is very equation based but I would say physics is more difficult because it is still more than maths.

dmg24

We were also discouraged from taking Language and Literature, as well as Business Studies and Economics as a combination.

I have to agree with melancholly about Mathematics, there are distinct advantages to taking both Maths and FM. The only time they were not encouraged was if you were not planning to use the subjects at a higher level.

Singer, as you did not study Maths, I am not sure how you can say that Physics is more difficult?!

Singer_Of_Flames

dmg24 wrote: »

Singer, as you did not study Maths, I am not sure how you can say that Physics is more difficult?!

From the amount of complaining my two physics buddies did about it! They had a debate about it and decided that whilst they had a distinct advantage over people that didn't have a good maths knowledge (my GCSE was A* so I had about the same maths nous as them) it was more difficult than maths but easier than further maths. If that makes sense!?

BigBouncyBall

further maths was easy.

pboae

When I left school only Literature was an option, they were talking about bringing Language in but I don't think it happened then. But my niece is at the same school now and they offer Lit and Lang now, but only seperately, not a combined option. She is intending to take them both at A Level and AFAIK no-one has told her that they may not count when it comes to applying to Uni.

melancholly

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

further maths was easy.

hmm..... unless the course has drammatically dumbed down in the last 10 years since i did it, that surprises me! perhaps relatively easy for those who are good at maths - but the only people taking it tend to be good so you have to be 'better' to be 'average' on those exams. i certainly enjoyed it (geek!), but it took a lot more work to understand topics in the last pure module that solving simultaneous equations in P1!