How big of a problem is spending 3 years doing A-levels?

Will you do the 2 A levels and EPQ during 2 years and start A level maths during year 2? So essentially you should have 2 A levels, an EPQ, and AS Mathematics by the start of the 3rd year before A2 Maths, correct?

Correct.

I will also have completed the IT BTEC.

Do the exams and apply at the start of the third year. This way you would have less pressure during the first two years, but also you can say that you simply took a rest from education and decided to self teach yourself some A2 maths, instead of stating your original intentions.

Depends what university. Most will be completely fine, you should not have any issues. I was in deepr sh!t, and managed to go where I wanted. So you will be fine.

Hi everyone, I am planning to take a degree in computer science, as it is a subject I am good at and I enjoy, so I want to pursue it after I have finished my A-levels. To do this, I am taking Computer Science and Philosophy, along with an EPQ in my 1st year and a BTEC in IT.

However, I am planning to sit a 3rd A-level (mathematics) in my 2nd year through an online course as a private candidate, due to clashes with the timetable set by my sixth form (I personally also feel I need to improve my maths skills as I only just got a B grade in GCSE). This means that I would spend 3 years doing my A-levels, as I would have to do the A2 in mathematics in my 3rd year.

Will this be a major problem when applying for universities? If I made sure that I got work experience and achievements in the 3rd year (as I would only be doing one A-level), will this make up for it? Thanks.

It really isn't a problem and most uni don't care (me and friends also spent 3yrs doing A-levels, and got accepted to all our choices). The unis which do not accept applicants who take more than 2yrs that I know of are Edinburgh and Manchester (mostly for STEM courses)

That sounds ok - your title makes it sound like you would be taking 3 years for the whole A levels, rather than 2 years, which is sometimes a problem as top unis don't allow things like resits/retakes in a 3rd year. But if you mean you're just staggering your A levels and will still only be taking the usual 2 years (so year 1 and 2 for the first lot, year 2 and 3 also for maths) that sounds fine as it's still the usual time frame per course

Thanks for your reply. I checked the entry requirements for Edinburgh and it said 'ABB in one sitting' - do you know if this means that as long as I don't retake any of the A-levels, I should still be OK?