Sciences as a whole are often called the hardest A Levels, but there is usually some debate among students as to which of the three is actually the hardest. Although the courses may share a similar foundation to each other, there are typically a few key differences that affect the difficulty of each science subject.

1. Biology

Biology is sometimes thought of as the ‘easier’ science, but this is most likely only going to be the case if you’re good at memorising things. A lot of biology content lacks the complexity you find in subjects like chemistry but there are so many topics you could be questioned on in any number of ways that it is very difficult to predict what will come up. Providing you can put aside time to learn the details of the content and do a variety of practice papers, then you should be okay as you will eventually pick up how they want you to answer the questions.

2. Physics

Whilst it’s not as common, physics is often considered to be relatively easy if you are taking it alongside maths or further maths. Physics typically contains a lot of maths (the amount may change depending on your course) so if maths and logic are normally your strong points then to you it may seem like an easier subject. However, it does also deal with abstract concepts (which biology doesn’t really) and these can be quite hard to grasp for some people, depending on their level of complexity.

3. Chemistry

In this sense, chemistry is similar to physics in that it can sometimes deal with quite complex theories that you cannot actually see. For some people these may be difficult to get their head around so they will struggle with the application of it like you will be expected to be able to do. A lot of chemistry also requires you to learn the equations for specific conditions alongside other formulas, which is similar to the rote learning required for biology A Level. However, it is easier to ‘practise’ for chemistry exams in a sense as some of the questions are just repeated but within slightly different conditions. If you know your content then by the time you’ve done a few papers it should become a little easier because you’ll build up a picture of what to expect.

At the end of the day for some students biology is the hardest as they find it difficult to memorise content and prefer the ability to understand and apply it, like in chemistry or physics. If you sometimes struggle with maths then physics may not come naturally to you and biology may seem much easier. However, the general consensus among students and teachers is that chemistry is the hardest A Level science. In some senses it combines the sheer amount of content in biology with the mathematical skills required for physics, which can often be seem daunting to some students. For us, we would say the hardest science depends on your weaknesses more than anything else because everyone will struggle with different things.