Politics is a subject that affects our lives every day – so, studying it at A Level can be incredibly enriching and rewarding. But is Politics A Level hard?
Well, yes – it’s certainly a big step up from GCSE. But don’t forget, it’s supposed to be! Here, we’ll look at exactly how hard politics is at A Level, and how to succeed in this subject.
Psst! Finding a Politics A Level tutor is a great way to make sure you can keep up with your class and reach your full potential in the exams.
What is politics at A Level?
A Level Politics is a subject that will take you on a journey through the inner workings of political systems, ideologies and governance – both in the UK and in other countries.
As part of the course, you’ll look at three core ideologies: conservatism, liberalism and socialism.
Plus, you’ll usually study non-core ideology, such as anarchism, feminism or ecologism.
Ultimately, you don’t have to want to be a politician in order to study politics at A Level.
Rather, this is an intellectually stimulating subject that could be interesting to any student who wants to learn more about how societies function.
Is politics a hard A Level?
Yes! Politics is a hard A Level.
There’s a lot of content to get your head around, and you’ll need to develop strong critical thinking skills in order to pick arguments apart, evaluate evidence and recognise biases.
Not only that, but A Level Politics will require you to stay up to date with political happenings in the real world. So, it’s not enough to simply rely on your textbook.
That said, remember that ‘A Level’ stands for ‘Advanced Level.’
So, although A Level Politics is hard, all A Levels are supposed to be!
It’s also worth noting that you won’t normally need to have studied politics at GCSE in order to take the subject for A Level.
Rather, the course is designed to be accessed even by students who don’t have any prior knowledge in the subject.
How hard is A Level Politics?
It’s impossible to say for sure how hard you’d find A Level Politics.
After all, every learner is different.
A lot of it will come down to your skill set, interests, work ethic and learning style.
That said, here are a few key aspects of this subject that many learners find challenging.
Quantity of content
Learners often don’t struggle with the complexity of the content covered in A Level Politics – but the quantity and range of content to learn is another story.
A Level Politics is designed to give you a really thorough understanding of political systems, ideologies and institutions.
As well as covering politics in the UK, you’ll also explore the politics of the US or global politics.
Plus, the topics you’ll delve into are incredibly diverse – ranging from the structure of government to electoral systems, the role of political parties and even international relations.
In this way, there’ll be a lot of intricacies to get to grips with, which can be a challenge!
Independent learning
Politics is all around us, every day.
So, this is one subject where you can’t just rely on your textbook. Instead, you’ll need to stay up-to-date with current affairs and carry out your own independent research to access the top grades.
That might mean keeping track of the news, watching relevant movies and TV shows, listening to podcasts and reading books to give you a more rounded understanding of political concepts and events.
Essay writing skills
A Level Politics requires strong essay writing skills, which can be a challenge for some learners.
In particular, you’ll need to be able to discuss both sides of an argument, and clearly articulate your thoughts in writing – backing up your arguments with evidence.
In the exam, you’ll be given an extract or source to read – such as an article or data. You’ll then need to prepare a written argument for both sides of the debate.
As well as writing skills, this requires strong analytical skills. Which brings us onto…
Analytical and critical thinking
As we’ve touched upon already, you’ll need to sharpen up your analytical and critical thinking skills to succeed in A Level Politics.
This is because there often won’t be one simple answer to a question.
Rather, you’ll need to give different perspectives on the many debates you come across, using your critical thinking skills to pick arguments apart, evaluate evidence and recognise biases.
These are skills that will also serve you well in lots of different situations as you progress through life.
Is A Level Politics hard compared to other subjects?
Not especially. If we look at pass rates by subject, A Level Politics is roughly inline with the average across all A Level courses.
In 2024, the proportion of students who got at least a grade E in A Level political studies was 97.8% (according to FFT Education Datalab).
This is ever so slightly above the 97.2% average pass rate across all subjects.
Similarly, the proportion of A Level Politics students achieving at least a grade C is just above average.
This suggests that A Level Politics isn’t vastly harder or easier than most A Level subjects.
However, it is worth noting that pass rates don’t always give you a full picture of a subject’s difficulty level.
For instance, maths is often seen as one of the hardest A Levels, but it also comes with the highest grades out of all the most popular A Level subjects.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that A Level Maths is easy. Rather, it’s likely to be a reflection of the type of student who chooses to continue studying maths past GCSE level – by which we mean, students who already have a certain aptitude for and interest in the subject.
Is Politics A Level easier than history?
Politics and history are subjects that complement one another in many ways. But which is harder at A Level?
Here’s how the grades were distributed for each subject in 2024.
| Political studies | History | |
| E or above | 97.8% | 98.8% |
| C or above | 79.2% | 81.5% |
| A or above | 28.4% | 24.4% |
| A* | 8.5% | 5.7% |
As you can see, history has a higher pass rate than politics, and more students also achieve a grade C or above.
However, more politics students tend to reach the highest grades.
This suggests that it can be challenging for history students to reach the deeper understanding of the material needed to get the very highest marks.
Head over to our guide on whether History A Level is hard to learn more.
Is politics harder than economics?
Similarly, students often find themselves choosing between politics and economics for their A Level options.
So, is politics harder than economics?
Let’s take a look at how the grades were distributed in 2024 to find out.
| Political studies | Economics | |
| E or above | 97.8% | 98.1% |
| C or above | 79.2% | 81.3% |
| A or above | 28.4% | 30.2% |
| A* | 8.5% | 7.6% |
Again, politics had a lower pass rate and fewer students achieved a grade C or above than they did in economics.
This time, there were also slightly fewer students who achieved a grade A or above – although more students obtained an A* in politics than they did in economics.
That said, the difference isn’t big at all, suggesting that the difficulty level of both subjects is fairly similar.
With that in mind, we’d advise against making your choice based on past results alone – rather, consider your skill set, interests and future ambitions.
Check out our guide to how hard Politics A Level is for more guidance.
Politics A Level revision tips
As you can see, Politics A Level isn’t a walk in the park.
But with the right preparation, hard work and support, there’s no reason why you can’t ace it.
Here are our top Politics A Level revision tips to help you pass with the highest grade possible.
1. Know what to expect
First things first, it’s important to know exactly what to expect in your A Level Politics exams.
This way, you can make sure to cover every element in your preparation.
Plus, you can lower your exam stress knowing that there won’t be any unexpected surprises on the big day.
Each exam board will work a bit differently. However, regardless of which exam board you’re with, you won’t usually have any coursework to do for your Politics A Level.
Rather, you’ll normally have three papers to sit at the end of the course, with a mixture of medium-length and essay-style questions.
2. Start revision early
It can be tempting to leave your Politics A Level revision until just a few months – or even weeks – before the exams.
But you’ll get the best results if you start early.
After all, there’s a lot to learn. And this way, you can spread out your learning across the year instead of panicking when your exams are around the corner.
Taking 10 minutes to review what you’ve learned after each lesson can also help to keep everything at the front of your mind and save you a lot of formal revision time!
3. Get the help of a tutor
Although your college or sixth form will prepare you for the A Level Politics exams, nothing beats one-to-one attention.
An A Level Politics tutor is an experienced professional who’ll know how to help you fulfill your potential. In fact, many are trained teachers and examiners too!
Your tutor will create tailored lesson plans that take into account your strengths, weaknesses and learning style.
In this way, they’ll help to prepare you fully for the exams and will be able to guide you to the best marks possible. In fact, 90% of Tutorful students improve by at least one grade!
Browse expert, vetted tutors, message free, and book instantly.
4. Make the most of Politics A Level past papers
Past papers are an invaluable tool to help you prepare for your A Level Politics exams.
Not only will they familiarise you with the types of questions you might come across in the real thing.
But when you answer them under timed conditions, they’re also an opportunity to practise managing your time and dealing with exam pressure – which can boost your confidence and reduce exam stress when the big day rolls around.
Just bear in mind that marking your own answers to essay questions can be a challenge.
That’s why we’d always recommend getting a teacher or tutor to mark your past papers for you. This will give you a real understanding of the areas you need to work on most before the real thing.
5. Decide how you’ll use your time
Exam success often comes down to time management just as much as subject knowledge.
So, make sure to keep your eye on the clock in the exam room, and allocate your time carefully.
As a general rule, you’ll want to spend the most time on the questions that are worth the most, and vice versa.
This will give you the best chance of unlocking all available marks and getting the highest grade possible.
7. Don’t panic!
Last but not least, don’t panic.
Work through the exam paper calmly and methodically, and read each question twice to be absolutely certain you’ve understood it properly. The last thing you need is to make any silly mistakes.
With hard work and the right support, we believe you can achieve anything!
Is politics a soft A Level?
That depends who you speak to.
The term ‘soft A Level’ is subjective and slightly controversial.
Essentially, it stems from the concept of ‘facilitating’ subjects, also known as ‘hard’ subjects.
These are the subjects most often preferred or required by universities and typically include traditional, academically rigorous subjects such as maths, physics, chemistry, biology, English literature, modern languages, history and geography.
The subjects that don’t fall into this category are sometimes informally referred to as ‘soft’ subjects.
Politics isn’t a facilitating subject as it won’t often be directly requested by universities for admission to a course.
However, it is still academically rigorous and largely respected.
It’s also worth noting that the concept of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ subjects is one that many universities are trying to move away from.
For instance, the Russell Group (a group of top UK universities) scrapped its list of ‘facilitating subjects’ in 2019, after criticisms that this was squeezing out arts and creative subjects (according to The Guardian).
Is it worth taking politics at A Level?
Politics may be a challenge but it can certainly be a challenge that’s worth taking.
It will help you to develop valuable skills, such as critical thinking, analytical skills and essay writing – as well as giving you a thorough understanding of political systems and ideologies both in the UK and abroad.
In this way, it can help to open up many doors in your future studies and career.
In fact, it isn’t just a useful subject for those who want to go on to work in politics. Rather, it can lead to a whole host of interesting career paths, from journalism to PR, marketing to academic research and even charity work.
Ultimately, the skills and knowledge you’ll gain through the course will serve you well in lots of different settings throughout your life – whatever you choose to go into.
Find a tutor to bring A Level Politics to life
To give yourself the best chance of passing your Politics A Level with flying colours, why not find an A Level tutor to support you every step of the way?
An A Level Politics tutor will give you one-on-one attention you won’t get at college, to help you hone your skills and practise applying your knowledge in an exam situation.
From week-by-week plans to practice exams, they’ll tailor their teaching to suit your strengths, weaknesses and learning style, and help you reach your full potential.
Browse expert, vetted tutors, message free, and book instantly.
FAQs
Is politics one of the hardest A levels?
Politics can be a hard A Level, but it shouldn’t be vastly harder than other subjects. In fact, its pass rate is roughly inline with the average across all A Level courses.
Is a politics degree hard?
Yes, a politics degree is hard. However, taking A Level Politics first can help to give you a headstart by exposing you to some of the content and ways of thinking you’ll need to do well in the subject at degree level.
What are the least respected A Levels?
The least respected A Levels can vary depending on your goals and future aspirations.
However, as a rough guide, subjects that aren’t traditionally seen as ‘facilitating’ subjects often won’t be preferred or required by universities.
What 3 A Levels go well together?
Politics A Level goes well with lots of different subjects. However, a particularly strong combination can often be politics, history and economics.
