Do universities care about your 4th AS level that you dropped?

Do universities care about your 4th AS level that you dropped for A2? because the offers are based on the 3 A2 grades you have, i was just wondering do they care about your other AS grade? I am taking chemistry, biology, maths and philosophy would they care if i got a poor grade in philosophy even though i am only taking it for AS? i hate philosophy

I want to do natural sciences first year at cambridge then go onto chemical engineer

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

Guru Jason

21

just put it anyway, just get the extra ucas points for it

Reply 2

JD12

1

They wouldn't put particular emphasis on it but it wouldn't be overlooked, if your AS grades were something along the lines of A A A E/U then they'll obviously be interested to know why you didn't do as well in that subject.

Also if it is similarly based to the same kind of subject you want to study then they will definitely care about it. E.g. you want to study Law, an analytical subject with essay based assessment yet you got an E in History at AS and dropped it. They'd probably not look favorably on that.

Reply 3

iamthedon

OP

Original post by JD12

They wouldn't put particular emphasis on it but it wouldn't be overlooked, if your AS grades were something along the lines of A A A E/U then they'll obviously be interested to know why you didn't do as well in that subject.

Also if it is similarly based to the same kind of subject you want to study then they will definitely care about it. E.g. you want to study Law, an analytical subject with essay based assessment yet you got an E in History at AS and dropped it. They'd probably not look favorably on that.

i wana do chemical engineering

Reply 4

iamthedon

OP

Original post by Guru Jason

just put it anyway, just get the extra ucas points for it

what

Reply 5

JD12

1

Original post by iamthedon

i wana do chemical engineering

Then I highly doubt a bad grade in Philosophy will have a huge impact on your application :smile:

good luck btw! :smile:

Reply 6

iamthedon

OP

Original post by JD12

Then I highly doubt a bad grade in Philosophy will have a huge impact on your application :smile:

good luck btw! :smile:

cheers m8

Reply 7

Guru Jason

21

Original post by iamthedon

what

Unis require BBB or 300 ucas points whatever the entry requirements are, each grade equates to points. For example at A2 an A=120 points I think B=100 so on and so forth. Some unis require points rather than grades (equals the same thing anyway). At AS, the points are halved so A=60. Therefore AS levels still help should you not reach the required grade. However this was 2-3 years ago when I applied and i'm not sure what they assigned points to A* as.

Reply 8

iamthedon

OP

Original post by Guru Jason

Unis require BBB or 300 ucas points whatever the entry requirements are, each grade equates to points. For example at A2 an A=120 points I think B=100 so on and so forth. Some unis require points rather than grades (equals the same thing anyway). At AS, the points are halved so A=60. Therefore AS levels still help should you not reach the required grade. However this was 2-3 years ago when I applied and i'm not sure what they assigned points to A* as.

cheers m8

Reply 9

fiona_x

Unless they specify a grade in a 4th AS then most probably not. I applied for a science based course (albeit far more relevent to biology) with a D in AS Chemistry as my fourth subject and I still got offers :smile:

Reply 10

iamthedon

OP

Original post by Geosmi

I got AAAD at AS, hoping that D won't bring down my overall chances.

A - English Lit
A - Business
A - Geography
D - Philosophy

Thing is, I still don't see why I did so badly. At least I didn't have the issue of having to choose which subjects to carry forward to A2.

i swear philosophy is so frustrating, like its nice the first time you do it but its just so airy fairy and it tries to be clever but because im even more clever and think deeper which isnt on the syllabus its just not fun

Reply 11

iamthedon

OP

Original post by fiona_x

Unless they specify a grade in a 4th AS then most probably not. I applied for a science based course (albeit far more relevent to biology) with a D in AS Chemistry as my fourth subject and I still got offers :smile:

what uni and what degree

Reply 12

EffieFlowers

3

Original post by fiona_x

Unless they specify a grade in a 4th AS then most probably not. I applied for a science based course (albeit far more relevent to biology) with a D in AS Chemistry as my fourth subject and I still got offers :smile:

Your case applies to me exactly,
I was worrying about that d in chemistry!

Reply 13

AspiringGenius

15

hmmm... when Cambridge take in AS UMS and find an average, do they take into account the fourth AS you aren't continuing?

Reply 14

iamthedon

OP

Original post by Geosmi

Yeah it is balls. There is no opportunity to think for yourself, it is just like history, memorising material and then relaying it on paper.

You basically just learn about what some bloke said 100 years ago, not how everyone sells it like "you'll become a deep thinker" and "you'll really learn about yourself". Balls.

It's just reciting facts.

yes totally agree, philosophy itself is very interesting but taking it at A level is not interesting, i would of much rather just read around the subject.