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AHs for next year?

K.T.

Perhaps this should have been in the general school discussion, but it was full of A-level students in there so I thought I'd stick to the Scottish board :redface:

Plus, the minute our exams are over, our school's already pressurised us into picking AHs - so it's sort-of linked...

Anyway, I was wondering what everyone else was thinking of taking in 6th year, AHs or otherwise, & if anyone has taken 4 AHs; due to a time-tabling error I'm taking AH French instead of Higher & I'm worrying whether that's actually possible. :confused:

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Reply 1

tiggerish

Sorry please explain. Are you asking if it is possible to do AH French without doing H French?

I did English History Biology and Chemistry for a month then nearly had a nervous breakdown and dropped History. So I wouldn't recommend 4 AHs.

Reply 2

K.T.

Oh no, I've been signed up to do it already, I'm just worrying about my brain capacity...
I see you took Chemistry, which is renouned for being fiendish... but my other AHs are English, Maths & German, so I guess the Head of Languages decided I could cope. :s

Reply 3

Dhesi

Im doing AH Chemistry and AH physics. Was going to do AH maths but now im crashing H human biology instead. My school recommends a maximum of 3 AH's.

Reply 4

tiggerish

Chemistry is fiendish until the very end, at which point we are rewarded because its not bad to revise for, and the exam is generally straightforward if you know your stuff.

Hmm, with English + Chemistry you need to do a coursework element (dissertation/investigation) - do you have to do any of these things for the languages? Like...um a dissertation written in French maybe? I think that is why taking 4 Advanced Highers is difficult: the coursework element takes up a significant amount of time and stress, and if you have 4, then it becomes quite unbearable.

Are you considering Oxbridge? I ask because most people don't wish to put themselves under the strain of studying 3/4 AHs unless they require them.

Reply 5

friendlyneutron

I would seriously, seriously recommend against 4AHs! I did 3 (Chemistry, Biology and Maths) and a crash Higher (Physics), and I have to say that I've had a hellish year in terms of workload. You'll have an investigation to do in Chem which will certainly not take you the recommended 20 hours to do including lab time (more around the 60 mark) and a dissertation to do in English which I'm told can be just as fiendish. French has a lot of coursework as well to do (I started with AH French instead of Maths, but due to timetabling I had to switch: timetabling will I'm sure be an issue for you as well this year). You'll probably have to end up juggling a lot of this coursework at the same time, and teachers aren't always sympathetic. Remember that you'll also be spending a lot of your time on your UCAS form and interview preparation (if this applies).

If you're not aiming for Oxbridge (who incidentally have said they don't think people taking as many subjects as they can shows intelligence, and aren't as impressed by it as people think) then I would seriously think twice. If you are looking towards Oxford or Cambridge, also be prepared for the possibility of getting an offer in all 4 AHs (it's happened). However, I know someone who's know reading Medicine at Oxford with only 2 AHs. Message: they're more impressed by someone with enthusiasm for their subject and an average number of subjects than someone with 4+ AHs who only has time to learn their syllabus.

Oxbridge also expect you to have done further reading (I'm pretty sure all the extra reading I did helped me a lot in my interviews) to show you're interested in your subject beyond school level, and it's important to leave time for that.

If you still end up doing 4, best of luck to you, but I'm not sure the benefits will outweigh the costs. No-one's saying any of this to burst your bubble, but because we're fresh out of AH year and know how tough it can be, especially when half of your year have unconditionals and you're sitting working your buns off! Also, apply to Cambridge :wink:

Reply 6

JennLlama

I did 4 AHs while I was at school (although this is 3 years ago now and I think they've changed a bit since then...), but they were Maths, Applied Maths, Physics and Computing so were kinda linked - there was quite a bit of overlap between some sections. I'd say it's doable, especially if there's only a small coursework element (e.g. for Maths & Applied Maths there was nothing so it was just a case of following what we were learning over the year and revising for the exam at the end) in some of the subjects. If you really want to do the subjects, then go for it - you can probably drop one later if you want to, can't you? If you're not so convinced, you might be better just dropping one now and having a bit more of a relaxing year - take up some extra-curricular activities or something to fill in the free time!
Jenn xx

Reply 7

K.T.

Im doing AH Chemistry and AH physics. Was going to do AH maths but now im crashing H human biology instead. My school recommends a maximum of 3 AH's.

Ah, Human Biology... good choice, it's both very easy and very enjoyable. Oh, and it's almost impossible NOT to get an A. :redface:

Are you considering Oxbridge? I ask because most people don't wish to put themselves under the strain of studying 3/4 AHs unless they require them.

Well yes, I do want to apply to Cambridge, but I'll need 3 AHs to apply to most english unis right?

I remember from last year when I did French & German the courses were the same, so I just translated my essays from one language into the other - so hopefully the overlap will mean I'm not doing 4, seperate AHs exactly. :rolleyes:

Reply 8

J'en ai marre

I would say that people generally exaggerate the workload of 4 AHs. I did French, Music, History and English (probably a rare combination, as most people doing 4 are scientists). I was sometimes a little stressed but I think that was because I had so much else on with music in the form of lessons and orchestras but I still think that's manageable. However, I would warn that AH languages are hard and a big jump from Higher; I'm still having nightmares about the French reading paper. Also, English unis vary on what they require from Scottish students and you'll find that there are few courses outside of Oxbridge and Durham which require 3+ AHs. I also found that Oxbridge tend to regard 4 AHs in the same light as 4 A levels despite the fact 4 AHs are rarer and the number getting straight As miniscule.
Maybe it was easier for me in that my subjects, with the exception of History, were skill rather than knowledge based but I had friend doing 4 last year doing AH English, Chemistry, Physics and Biology and I wasn't aware of her being overly stressed by the workload.

Reply 9

friendlyneutron

J'en ai marre

Also, English unis vary on what they require from Scottish students and you'll find that there are few courses outside of Oxbridge and Durham which require 3+ AHs.

Name me a course that requires 4 AHs!

Reply 10

Duke Flipside

I know someone who tried taking 4AHs. They dropped two due to the workload. 3AH's alone ain't easy, 4 is just silly.

Reply 11

ImperceptibleNinja

If your timetable gets sorted, I reckon 4AH's is pretty possible. I started doing 4 and had to drop English because everything was clashing so badly - even when I went down to 3 subjects I still lost 2.5 periods per week, which doesn't make things any easier, because I had to run about after myself sorting out all the things I'd missed.
However, provided you can do all the AH's at the one school and they don't overlap much, and if you work hard through the year, I'd say yes, it'll be hard work, but not a completely insane idea :smile:

Everyone else thought me trying 4 was madness, but if timetables and travel hadn't been problems, I'd probably have continued doing English. Just be careful about getting project-type things sorted - if you can do them earlier in the year, it's probably worth taking advantage of that, because even doing one at the last minute is chaos.

Reply 12

yossarianlives

I did 3 AH and a crash H, seriously it's no easy feat no matter how 'clever' you are.

& Our school have us picking our subjects in March..

Reply 13

Liz150888

i dont know if its fair to say people exaggerate the workload of AHs. i think people should be warned its no easy ride -especially when u want As. I did three - english, biology and chemistry and an int 2 physics (no im not stupid, its a long story and i never actually agreed to do it :rolleyes:

) I think it was a fair amount of work and its particularly annoying when everyone else is going up the dancin and ur sitting doing a bloody biology project on catalase (damn thee, brown bananas!) so u have to prepare urself for the workload and for sacrificing ur social life (once again) if u want cambridge esque marks. the english dissertation is meant to take about 40 hours but i think mine probs took longer with editing etc, its a lot of work. i think doing AH french when u havent done higher will be difficult. as neutron said cambridge would rather u did three adv highers and did them well than do four and do not so well. plus if u apply somewhere like Christ's i think ull most likely get an offer which involves all of ur subjects and that could be hard (someone on tsr has a AAAA offer at a level for Christ's). applying to somewhere like oxbridge is like a subject in itself as well. anyway basically this is a long way of saying, i wouldnt do four adv highers, especially one in a subject i didnt do at higher, but if u do decide to go ahead, good luck to u and i hope ur application to camb goes well!

Reply 14

quadruple_twist

I did 3 AHs and to be honest the workload wasn't really that intense. I did like no work throughout the year (except revision for NABs and prelims) and when it came to the final exams the workload was only slightly higher than that of 5 Highers.

Wouldn't've liked to have done 4 though...