Despite having one of the highest pass rates at A-Level (98.9%), many students claim History is one of the hardest A-Levels, mainly due to the amount of time and effort needed to commit to it.
History is such a hard A-Level, because not only is there a huge amount of content to master, you have to develop the critical skills to structure that content for an exam. A Level History consists of three papers – Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 (for A2 only).
History is a very well-respected A-level because it develops strong critical thinking skills through forcing you to adopt a critical approach towards sources of information. It also develops strong essay technique.
A-Level Maths is likely the most popular A-Level out there. The reason this subject is so often considered the most respected A-Level is probably due to it teaching the fundamentals of a lot of other subjects.
A History related degree is useful for a number of careers, including teaching, librarianship, banking and commerce, the law, publishing, museums and art galleries and a wide variety of social work.
Soft Subjects is a controversial term given to some A level subjects that are considered less academic. They are often newer and subjects on this list include: Media Studies, Business Studies, Film Studies, Design Technology, Health and Social Care and Criminology.
Just 4.9 per cent of pupils received an A* (down from 5.3 per cent last year), while 22.5 per cent got an A or A*, down from 23.5 per cent. For other subjects, visit our main subject tables page.
In England, nearly 2.5 times more students achieved A* grades in History compared with 2019 with 12.1% of students achieving the top grades. Overall in England more students achieved higher grades than in 2019, but less than in 2021.
But in the detail of the reports, experts found potentially significant differences in the way subjects were assessed. The most significant of these was between history and geography. At both GCSE and AS (the first year of A-level) history was judged to be more demanding than geography.
Although a degree is a higher level of study, for most students studying at university is not harder than studying for A Levels. The mode of learning can be vastly different, and so is the university lifestyle, so it takes some getting used to.
History A Level is quite academic, which does mean there is quite a lot of reading and writing, but don't worry, we build these skills in very gradually. This is why we would like two Grade 5's from History, Language and Literature from GCSE.
This type of qualifications is given a ranked grade, this is because the awarding body recognises that the student has achieved the qualification and recognises highest to lowest levels in performance. The highest-grade being Distinction star and the lowest grade Pass. Possible grades: DS* = Distinction star.
A pass in an AS subject is indicated by one of five grades A(a), B(b), C(c), D(d), E(e), of which grade A(a) is the highest and grade E (e) is the lowest. grade N indicates that the student's performance fell short of the standard required for grade E (e) by a narrow margin.
A-levels. Some universities will want you to have an A-level in history or a humanities subject. Only some universities will accept general studies or critical thinking towards your points total.
However, if you're wondering “what is the toughest subject in A Levels?”, the answer is Further Mathematics. Not far behind are Modern Foreign Languages and just behind them is Chemistry. So, if you're curious about the hardest A-Level combination, those three will give you a good idea.