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5 As-level choices to get a balance?

i'm in Y11 + choosing As levels
TMG is A for everything apart from german which is B + i'm not intending to get more than 2/3 Bs (everything else has to be As + A*s) so grades shouldnt be an issue
currently taking: history, geog, art, german, eng, maths, sci (core + additional), ict, RE, 1/2 in citizenship.

narrowed down choices to:
1) history - modern
2) english - lit
3) philosophy + theology (all one subject)
4) psycology
5) graphics or art (definately not doing both)

but i cant decide which subject i shouldn't do.
i love history + english
i'm really interested in philosophy + ethics + i know the teachers are good
i'm interested in psycology + it would be a slightly more sciency subject which would help balance out the other humanities
i enjoy doing art at the moment + it'd be a nice less academic subject to balance other options with

my school would let me take 5 so long as i kept up my grades, but everyone i've spoken to says i shouldn't take that many coz its an insane workload.

should i take 5 or if i shouldn't, what should i drop?

THANKYOU :smile:

Reply 1

Potally_Tissed

How's the workload for Art or Graphics? Presumably they have a load of coursework, so maybe not something you'd want to do as well as four other subjects.

Reply 2

abiiiii

I took 5 (History, Politics, English Lit, Maths and Further Maths) and didn't find it difficult to manage that along with a social life and voluntary work. I mean it will get stressful at times, but its nothing unmanageable. The only thing I would say is that art may make it difficult as no matter how clever/efficient you are it would have a very big workload so you may have to be careful of that, maybe ask art students in the year above you? :smile:

Reply 3

Unvincibledudeman

I did 5. It's manageable but not really worth it in my opinion, although I did take science subjects, with maths and German, so maybe the workload will be different (I only ever had to write the odd essay for General studies, and towards the end of the year something like 2 German essays a week. The rest of it was stuff like maths problems and worksheets, where the time it takes to complete depends on your ability more than anything).
My advice is to pick courses that are both academic and complimentary. There's no point trying to achieve balance at all (If you're that unsure what exactly you want to to, stick to core respected academic subjects, like both English courses, History etc.). That way your options are open and you've got a strong foundation in the essential skills needed for most arts degrees.

Reply 4

EmManzo

Original post by Unvincibledudeman

There's no point trying to achieve balance at all (If you're that unsure what exactly you want to to, stick to core respected academic subjects, like both English courses, History etc.). That way your options are open and you've got a strong foundation in the essential skills needed for most arts degrees.

i'm not too fussed about balancing subjects, but having a mix along with core subjects is supposed to help with uni applications.............

abiiiii

The only thing I would say is that art may make it difficult as no matter how clever/efficient you are it would have a very big workload so you may have to be careful of that, maybe ask art students in the year above you?

yeah. the ones i know say it's quite alot. but i guess i would get 5 hours of lessons a week plus lunchtimes if i needed it + after school

also i want to have the option of doing a foundation course, and for that i'd need art or graphics.

how much extra time does the extra lesson take up roughly - a lot or a little?

Reply 5

Unvincibledudeman

Original post by EmManzo

i'm not too fussed about balancing subjects, but having a mix along with core subjects is supposed to help with uni applications.............

I wouldn't say so. For example, the physics departments I've applied to couldn't care less about the standard of my German, or my ability to analyse prose. They want a solid grounding in the relevant subjects -maths and physics.
It'll be the same for whatever you apply for. If you're going for history, they wont care about your competence with differential equations, they're only interested in your knowledge of history and your essay writing skills. Your application is much stronger if you have strongly complementing subjects instead of a broad range.

Reply 6

infintywhirls

Original post by EmManzo

i'm not too fussed about balancing subjects, but having a mix along with core subjects is supposed to help with uni applications.............

yeah. the ones i know say it's quite alot. but i guess i would get 5 hours of lessons a week plus lunchtimes if i needed it + after school

also i want to have the option of doing a foundation course, and for that i'd need art or graphics.

how much extra time does the extra lesson take up roughly - a lot or a little?

+ weekends. It started taking up my weekends during the first few weeks. I dropped it soon after :P I think it's a good choice, but the workload is immense, do if your doing art, maybe cut it down to 4? Besides, no course ever needs 5 A Levels and trust me, you will want to have some free time. If you want variety have you considered the IB?