12 Easiest A-Level Subjects (2023)
A-Levels are the ticket to your future, so it makes sense to study subjects that give you the best chance of getting a high grade.
While there’s no such thing as an A-Level you can ace without doing any revision, there are definitely subjects that are easier to grasp and excel at, if you put in the work.
Of course, whether you find an A-Level easy or not will depend on your natural strengths, and whether you have a more technical, logical mind, or if you enjoy creative expression and analysis.
Let’s look at the 12 easiest A-Levels, and whether you’ll benefit from taking them.
What are the 12 easiest A-Level subjects?
The 12 easiest A-Level subjects are Classical Civilisation, Environmental Science, Food Studies, Drama, Geography, Textiles, Film Studies, Sociology, Information Technology (IT), Health and Social Care, Media Studies, and Law.
You might be looking at some of these and thinking, surely not! Those would be impossible to study. Well, let’s dive right in, and look at why these subjects are the 12 easiest A-Levels.
Classical Civilisation
Classical Civilisation is a particularly easy A-Level, especially as you don’t need to learn languages such as Greek or Latin.
In Classical Civilisation, you get to enjoy some fascinating texts from the ancient world, as study culture such as art, architecture and theatre.
Your Classical Civilisation A-Level is made up of three parts: “The World of the Hero”, where you’ll look at tales from famous ancient writers like Homer and Virgil, “Culture and the arts”, where you’ll explore, for example, Greek vase painting, statues and temples, and “Belief and Ideas”, where you’ll look at, for example, religion or love poetry.
A lot of Classical Civilisation A-Level is about stories and the meanings within them, which makes it very easy to grasp, as there are no rigorous formulas or concepts to get your head around.
The stories you’ll look at and analyse, for example Virgil’s The Aeneid, have relatable themes like love, duty, honour and revenge, which are all relevant today, and so are easier to learn and understand.
You’ll look at some really beautiful artwork, for example, scenes of myths painted on vases or carved out of stone, which could be a much more pleasant experience than learning painful amounts of facts like you’d have to for other subjects, depending on what you’re interested in.
Environmental Science
Environmental Science is a fairly easy A-Level, especially when you compare it with traditional science subjects such as Chemistry, Physics and Biology. While it combines some facts from the sciences, as well as Geology, Sociology and Political Science, Environmental Science is conceptually easier.
Environmental Science goes very well with certain subjects, and makes them easier to study too. The topics you cover in A-Level Environmental Science will link to Geography, Sociology and Biology (where there is a whole ecology unit).
If you choose subjects which go well with Environmental Science, you’ll get to practice the same skills and learn some of the same information for both, which makes it super easy. We tend to find things easier when they’re fun, and the field trips you’ll go on as part of your course makes Environmental Science much more fun, especially if you like hands-on learning.
Environmental Science is also very interesting, as it looks at really pressing issues today, such as our relationship with the planet we live on. Environmental Science is pretty well-paid as a field, as most businesses now need sustainability officers to enforce their Green policies. So, not only is A-Level Environmental Science an easier A-Level than the traditional sciences, it could lead to a very rewarding career!
Food Studies
Food Studies is one of the easiest A-Levels you can take, because it involves a lot of practical tests, which are great if you’re not keen on doing endless writing.
There is content to learn about the composition of foods, digestion and the food manufacturing industry, but as long as you keep up with memorising the facts, you’ll be fine.
You’ll learn to make healthy meals with different nutritional requirements, which means you’ll be putting your learning into practice in an enjoyable way. Depending on the exam board you take, your Food Studies A Level is usually made up of three papers – Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3.
In Paper 1, you’ll have a written paper which tests what you know about nutrition, the food industry and how to handle food safely. Again, if you learn to memorise facts well, this should be easy.
A great way to memorise is to create a colourful mind-map, with all the facts you need to know. Associate a colour to each fact or set of facts, which will help you visualise them more easily in your mind. Alternatively, record yourself reading the facts, if you’re more of an auditory learner.
Paper 2 is your practical test, which is your chance to make your own dish. The great thing about Food Studies is that it really is one of those A-Levels where practice makes perfect (unlike a subject like Physics, where you might study and study but a concept still won’t make sense to you when it comes up in an exam), and if you rehearse correct food preparation and handling, and learn nutrition information, you have a real chance of excelling.
Drama
Drama is one of the easiest A-Levels, partly because there isn’t tonnes of reading to drag yourself through. Drama A-Level has a whopping 99.3% pass rate, which is very encouraging for students who want an easier A-Level.
In A-Level Drama, you’ll watch and read plays and critique them, as well as do your own acting. There are three main parts to your Drama A-Level, and this is fairly consistent across any exam board you might do.
As well as a live theatre review, which involves you watching a performance and discussing it later on in your exam, you’ll study a play and write about how you would direct it, or act in it.
Then of course, there’s the performance part of your exam, which is easy to prepare for. All you have to do is practice your acting, and it is likely that this comes naturally if you’re choosing Drama A-Level. Even if it doesn’t come naturally, there are loads of techniques you can find from your Drama teacher or on Youtube to improve your acting skills.
The two written papers you’ll have in Drama are also fairly easy to prepare for. A great tip to make your live theatre review a lot easier is to watch a recorded version of the play you’ve seen, or, if you can’t get hold of this, make very careful notes while you’re watching the play.
Geography
Geography A-Level has a fantastic 98.6% pass rate, and is an easier A-Level in comparison to some of the others. It’s not massively content heavy, and it’s also fairly interesting, according to the research we’ve done on students’ opinions.
If your course is engaging, your brain is far more likely to absorb the information, which makes doing well in Geography easy – the pass rate speaks for itself.
With Edexcel Geography, for example, you’ll do 2 exams: one on Physical Geography and one on Human Geography, as well as a non-examination assessment, which includes field data you collect yourself.
This is what makes Geography a particularly easy and enjoyable subject – the fact that you can go on a lot of field trips and gather data practically, which is a fantastic way of learning the subject naturally.
You could find yourself on a beach measuring coastal erosion, or even somewhere like the French Alps, examining mountains (though, this depends on your school and course).
Another nice thing about Geography A-Level is that your non-examination assessment is worth a significant amount of your marks, which means that your entire mark doesn’t rest on the fate of one exam day.
Although Geography requires some basic knowledge of Maths and graphs these are pretty simple equations, nothing too scary, which makes the whole experience easier.
Textiles
Textiles tends to be an easier A-Level than something like English Literature or Maths, because it’s extremely hands-on and coursework based (although whether you’d find this easy, depends on your views on coursework vs exams!).
If you hate exams, and the pressure of spitting out everything you’ve learned for two years in two hours, you’ll find Textiles A-Level a lot easier.
Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s 100% easy, though, as Textiles – like all Art and Design courses – is time consuming. You’ll have both a portfolio that you’ll create throughout the year, which is worth 60% of your marks, and a ten hour exam where you’ll create something.
If you enjoy working with materials and fabric, or you love art but can’t wait to get away from the more Maths-based subjects, you’ll find this A-Level a delight, and won’t notice the hours of work you need to put in. Time flies when you’re having fun!
Film Studies
Film Studies can be a very easy A-Level, especially if you’re interested in how directors create meaning in films. It can’t help but bring a smile to your face, when you see your friends staggering off to learn about polymers and redox equations, while you’re getting stuck into Casablanca.
While Film Studies isn’t all sitting around and watching films, it’s still a pretty big part of it. If you take Film Studies with the EDUQAS exam board, you’ll get to watch six feature length films, including two Hollywood films, one from 1930-1960, and the other from the New Hollywood period (1961-1990).
What makes Film Studies an easier A-Level is that it’s fun. Even the ‘harder’ stuff, like writing on film movements for your written exams is enjoyable, because it’s all in the context of films and the stories, which can be very absorbing. It’s a world away from having to learn dry facts for the sake of knowing them.
Best of all, 30% of your A-Level is making either a short film or screen play, with your own photographed storyboard. This is a really fun chance to express your creativity, and things are always easier when we enjoy them.
You’ll have to write an evaluation of your film or screenplay of 1600-1800 words, this is much easier than having to write an essay, say, on a theorist or someone else’s set of ideas. You’ll be writing about your own work, what you did and why, and who knows that better than you?
Sociology
Sociology A-Level is definitely easier than other A-Levels. As long as you make an effort to learn the facts, you have a high chance of doing really well.
YouTuber Jess Louise changed schools and started her A-Levels again in January, and in her personal opinion, Sociology was one of the easiest subjects to catch up on.
While Sociology is a content-heavy course, and it’s a good idea to find some creative ways to memorise the theories you’ll learn. One of the best ways to do this is to make your own videos presenting the topic as though you were a news presenter.
As this revision method makes you automatically learn the information as you try and present it as interestingly as possible, you’ll find learning a lot easier.
What makes Sociology an easier A-Level is that the topics you study link together very well, and it’s very easier to apply one topic – for example, feminist theories – to another part of the course, which makes the learning process smoother.
This is a lot easier than, for instance, Religious Studies A-Level, which is often split into two separate subjects – Philosophy and Ethics – and it feels like you’re studying an extra A-Level!
Unlike some subjects, for instance Computer Science, where you can study and study something but not necessarily get your head around it, your revision will really pay off with Sociology, if you put in the time to learn the facts.
Information Technology
Information Technology (IT) can be a very easy A Level, especially because you get to take your answer into some of your exams! I’m not kidding. You might not get lucky enough to take Information Technology if you live outside of Wales, although some international exam boards may run it.
The WJEC specification for A-Level IT states that for one of your written papers you’ll “be required to prepare a spreadsheet on a specific topic in advance of the written paper. Hard copies of the spreadsheet are taken into the exam and used to answer questions in Section B”.
So, you get to go into your exam knowing exactly what you’re going to be questioned on (your own work, no less) and then, if that weren’t enough, you actually take a physical copy of the information into the exam. If that isn’t easy, I don’t know what is.
For A-Level IT, 16% of your AS exam, and 24% of your A2 exam is entirely coursework, which works out very well, as you can do the work without time limits and ensure that you’ve achieved some of your grade before you even start writing your exams.
Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care is one of the easiest A-Level subjects out there. Health and Social Care is technically a BTEC, which means that the whole course is equivalent to two A-Levels.
Vlogger Rebekah Adewole says that she found her Health and Social Care A-Level (or Health and Social Care Level 3, which is its formal BTEC name) much easier than the regular A-Levels she’d already been doing, which she describes as “a lot of headache, concentration and time”.
What makes Health and Social Care relatively easy is that a big chunk of your course is practical placements and work experience, for example, in a school or hospital, which is perfect if you’re not a fan of endless essays.
Rebekah says that, as long as you keep on top of your coursework, Health and Social Care isn’t very hard at all. There’s a 100% pass rate for Health and Social Care, and 69% of students achieve a Distinction.
Nearly all universities accept BTECS in relevant subject areas, despite the false stereotype that they are less academic than A-Levels. However some universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, would like you to have one or two traditional A-Levels as well, alongside your BTEC.
Media Studies
With a pass rate of 100% in 2019, Media Studies is definitely one of the easier A-Levels. It’s not necessarily the soft option’ that some people make out, but it’s relevant and enjoyable.
When something’s easy, you get that amazing ‘aha!’ moment, when your learning all clicks together. As Media Studies is very much about with advertising, social media and the privacy issues caused by some tech companies, it’s much easier to have those ‘aha!’ moments, because you’re already consuming the very content you’re studying in class (social media and news, for example) every day.
Also, 30% of your A-Level is making a media-production of your own, and it’s usually easier to do well on tasks like these, because it’s all your own work. You can get very interested in it, and no one knows it better than you, which puts you in the perfect position for getting those high grades. .
Law
A-Level Law is surprisingly easy, especially compared to degree-level Law. A-Level Law is content heavy, but as long as you’re good at committing things to memory and willing to get stuck in, you’re likely do well.
If you do Law A-Level, you’ll usually have three exam papers. Paper 1 is on the nature of law and the English legal system, and is worth 33% of your A-Level. Paper 2 is also on the nature of law and the English legal system and Tort Law, and is worth another 33%. Paper 3 is another written exam, also worth 33%, and you get to choose some interesting topics, for example, Human Rights Law.
You don’t need to worry about endless writing on your exam, either. If you do AQA Law A-Level, you’ll get to do multiple choice and short answer questions as well as extended writing questions.
Memory is one of the easiest ways of learning, and as a huge part of Law is knowing facts, this makes the subject easier. Law A-Level is also a really easy for those who can’t stand coursework, as it is entirely exam-based.
One of the best ways you can practice for your Law A-Level is to get to know the exam extremely well, as it’s a subject where if you rehearse the exam structure over and over, you’ll be able to excel.
So, that’s it. We’ve gone through the 12 easiest A-Levels to take. I hope you’ve gained insight into some really enjoyable and interesting A-Level subjects, and that you have a clearer idea of what you might want to study at A-Level.