The Student Room Group

Would Six Highers be too much?

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(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 1
Why not just do biology in 6th year? If your timetable for 5th year was anything like mine, you'll have no free periods at all, so all your self-study would have to be done at home.
Reply 2
Do 4/5 5th year then any others 6th year.

Done 6 highers this year, 2 exams left, but it's hard.
Reply 3
Drop one subject this year, take Biology and retake that subject next year?
Reply 4
Original post by nerd434
I want to study Advanced Higher Biology in S6!


What is it you intend on doing after leaving school if you don't mind me asking?
Reply 5
Original post by nerd434
I mentioned it in the question - Medicine! That's the reason why I want to do a little more, to make myself stand out.


Sorry didn't see that bit. In all honesty I would just put all your effort into 5 highers and getting As in them and spend your extra time doing extracurriculars instead. Some sort of volunteering would probably look better on your PS than 1 extra A and it would be probably stress you out a hell of a lot less.

In summary: drop history.
Reply 6
Wouldn't it be wiser to spend the time that you would have to allocate to studying the 6th Higher to volunteering or charity work instead? Unless you were planning on still doing the 6th Higher along with volunteering etc.
If you can't do three sciences, then logically you have to drop one of them. If you want to do Advanced Higher Biology, You have to drop Physics or Chemistry. For Medicine I'd drop Physics. I'd say 6 Highers wouldn't be to much work, but would be very stressful. Maybe the best thing to do would be to look at the courses, and choose the sciences that interest you the most.
Reply 8
Original post by nerd434
I'm posting this to ask for some advice on whether or not I should do 5 Highers and an Intermediate 2 or 6 Highers in total?

This is due to the fact my school won't allow me to study three sciences at Higher so I was planning on doing one of the following options:

1. H Maths, English, History, Chemistry, Physics and Biology.
2. H Maths, English, History, Chemistry, Physics and Human Biology.
3. H Maths, English, History, Chemistry, Physics and Intermediate 2 Biology.

Would six highers be too much work in order to achieve AAAAAA? I'm not too sure whether it's within my limits considering the workload. I'm definitely doing the initial five Highers so I won't be changing any of them.

The reason for this is due to the fact after sitting my Standard Grades I feel like I may have slipped up and gotten two or three 2's/B's. I know this sounds ridiculous considering they are still good grades but I want something to set my aside/make me stand out again when I come to apply to a medical school.

Has anybody had any experience of sitting six Highers? How did you get on?

Would you guys recommend taking Biology or Human Biology? Which is the easiest to get an A in and which requires the least background knowledge?


If you're naturally good at getting As, no, it's fine. If you rely more on studying to achieve, I'd say that you'll struggle. If you can't manage all 1s at Standard Grade, which, trust me, you'll soon regard as ridiculously easy, I'd say that you should just focus on getting five As.


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Reply 9
Do 5 highers. Get 5 A's. Do some charity/volunteer/hospital experience.

Without the experience, very slim chance of doing medicine.
Reply 10
Honestly, do five this year and work hard to get your A's - this also leaves you time to do volunteering and work experience outside of school which are critical for medical school. Doing an extra higher won't really add much "extra" to your application I think, your academics are meant to only be a small part of the application.

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