Do I take five a-levels inc. further maths or four?

Original post by Ian Roberts

Hi, I'm a student currently in year 11 and am about to sit gcses. Next year I'm moving school to a sixth form where I can take 4 a-legels inc. Further maths or 5. If I took five I would take one only to AS. Which option should I do? I'm currently down to do five:
Maths
Further maths
Physics
Chemistry
RS (the subject I'd drop)
It's really a question of work load compared to the gain of doing 5.
Thanks for any help

There really isn't any benefit to taking more than 3. My friend took 4 and had to take a year out following college due to stress. I'd focus on 3, and concentrate your revision! Besides, RS doesn't exactly fit with the others you've picked!

Reply 68

Ian Roberts

OP

2

The syllabus changes are minimal, personally I hope for a Labour government to reverse things before september

Reply 69

Original post by AMT6

There really isn't any benefit to taking more than 3. My friend took 4 and had to take a year out following college due to stress. I'd focus on 3, and concentrate your revision! Besides, RS doesn't exactly fit with the others you've picked!

There is a benefit if you want to apply for natural sciences at Cambridge

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Reply 70

username1528889

Original post by samb1234

There is a benefit if you want to apply for natural sciences at Cambridge

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I wasn't aware of this! Even so, there is definitely a benefit to concentrating your work on three subjects. I doubt RS would help for a scientific degree at Cam.

Reply 71

Original post by AMT6

I wasn't aware of this! Even so, there is definitely a benefit to concentrating your work on three subjects. I doubt RS would help for a scientific degree at Cam.

Op is asking whether he should do maths FM physics chem and rs or just do 4. If he wants to do nat sci it makes sense for him to do 4 science a levels as it will give him more options for modules when he gets to Cambridge (and will probably help his application).

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Reply 72

username1528889

Original post by samb1234

Op is asking whether he should do maths FM physics chem and rs or just do 4. If he wants to do nat sci it makes sense for him to do 4 science a levels as it will give him more options for modules when he gets to Cambridge (and will probably help his application).

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In that case, totally agree with 4>5.
I should learn to read questions. I apologise. Please don't hate me.

Reply 73

Original post by samb1234

If you want to apply to cambridge, taking a2 maths in year 12 will actually disadvantage you. Cambridge will not include any subjects you have already completed in an offer, so if you had already completed a2 maths you would be expected to get **A out of fm physics and chemistry. If you don't take a2 maths in year 12, your offer would probably be **AA which would be slightly easier to meet as you should be able to get an A* in maths so only need *AA out of fm physics and chem.

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If you are doing Further Maths anyway though, they usually will give you this offer (A*A*A including Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics) - whether or not you have already completed A2 maths. This is because some schools teach A2 maths in the AS year then A2 Further Maths in the A2 year for students taking double maths.

(From personal experience (this was my offer - although A*AA since my year was before the grade requirement increase) + talking to other students here about their offers - I don't know ANYONE who was taking double maths who didn't get a further maths (and NOT a normal maths) requirement in their offer. The one NatSci student I know who didn't do Further Maths was given a tougher offer - I think A*A*A or A*A*A* in her three science subjects, including normal maths. However, it is worth considering that other unis may do things differently, and so having the A2 Maths already may mean they require a particular Further Maths grade rather than a normal maths based conditional offer).

Reply 74

Original post by 0-8-4

The one with only 4 A Levels is more appealing as it think there is a nicer atmosphere, and they both had virtually the same results last year for the A Levels I am taking (95% A*-B).
However it involves getting up at 5AM to get a train there as the station is about a 30 minute walk both ends.
The 'volunteering' is just what they call it - you can actually just do anything, such as learning a language, joining a club, tutoring year 10/11's, but have to change every 6 months - they say it is to make you more diverse.
I was thinking of doing the EPQ on something related to the uni course I would like (Maths + Computer Science) and plus I would find that fun so it would probably make me want to do it!
What else is there to do to boost an application to the best universities? I've competed in competitions for maths and got through to do it nationally so presume things like that would be what they would be looking for if I wanted to study maths at uni?

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If you're likely to do all those extra things anyway, then go for the school that has a better atmosphere or is more convenient to get to - depending on your priorities. I have to say, getting up at 5am doesn't sound particularly appealing to me (and having voluntarily got up at similarly ridiculous times last year for rowing will say that the lack of sleep can really get to you if you're not the kind of person who goes to bed at 9pm)...

Ok, the volunteering doesn't sound quite so bad then - my school had a similar policy where you had to do at least one activity/ volunteering each week. Since you'll probably want to do something like this anyway it's not that bad. I'd recommend picking activities which are relevent to the degree - e.g. I joined the Chemistry club (sounds a bit nerdy, but was really good fun...) and volunteered to help younger students at lunchtime workshop sessions :smile:

Things like the Maths Challenge/ Olympiad is definitely good for your uni application - particularly if you get through to later rounds. There are similar Olympiads for all science subjects (Biology, Chemistry, Physics), the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, The National Cipher Challenge, etc. too so ask your school if they are offering those if you're keen (if you ask early enough, they may be willing to register even if they hadn't previously offered them).

An EPQ is great if it's on a relevant topic, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to work on it - I would recommend trying to get a lot of it done over the summer between AS and A2 if possible.

Since you're interested in computer science, learning some programming languages now would be really helpful - the Cipher Challenge I mentioned earlier is a great way to practice Python, and you can do things like creating your own website too :smile:

Running a blog writing about interesting topics in maths/ CompSci is a great way to demonstrate a long-term interest in the subjects.

It's also a good idea to read a couple of relevant books - if you look around your school/ local library there should be a popular science section, where maths and Computer Science will almost certainly be well represented (along with Biology, although I have always been disappointed at the lack of interesting Chemistry popular science books :frown:

). Most students will mention a couple of books in their personal statement, and if you really want you can read a few undergraduate level textbooks to demonstrate you are genuinely interested in studying the subject at uni.

You should also consider applying for summer schools and taster days - for example the Headstart, UNIQ and Sutton Trust summer schools (all one week courses in the summer holidays between AS and A2), and I think some of the Smallpiece Trust courses too (you may even be able to do one of those this summer, last time I looked they were advertising places left on ones for yr 11 students). There are London, Cambridge and Oxford taster days too - the London ones are held at random times throughout the year (I think they also announced some new ones recently too - google it), whereas the Cambridge and Oxford ones I think are after Christmas/ around Easter time (although they fill up REALLY quickly, so sign up for an email reminder to apply as soon as applications open). Summer schools and taster days are usually free or heavily subsidised, and some prioritise students from particular backgrounds. If you don't meet their widening participation criteria, you may be unlikely to get a place on the more competitive ones - but if you are able to you could go on a less 'outreach'-y course which would probably require more money (but usually not ridiculously so). Try and avoid any courses that promote themselves as Oxbridge admissions workshops or seem a bit dodgy - these tend to just try and get loads of money off you for no real benefit.

You could also consider applying for a Nuffield Bursary project - these generally take up most of your summer between AS and A2, but allow you to spend time at a university getting involved in their research (and you may get paid). This would be a fantastic experience - not just from a getting into uni point of view, but also work experience for when it comes to applying for internships/ graduate jobs. Many of the projects are more science focused, although there are some maths ones, but there are often a lot of opportunities to get involved in the computing side of them which seems pretty good for you :smile:

Applications open pretty early (I think around Christmas time) and are reasonably competitive, so look into this soon.

Hope some of this helps :smile:

I'm currently working on a blog, www.passionateaboutscience.co.uk, which promotes outreach opportunities etc. which you may find interesting - it hasn't been updated in a while unfortunately (exam revision...) but there's a pretty useful summary document listing annual opportunities which you may find useful :smile:

Reply 75

Original post by dragonkeeper999

If you are doing Further Maths anyway though, they usually will give you this offer (A*A*A including Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics) - whether or not you have already completed A2 maths. This is because some schools teach A2 maths in the AS year then A2 Further Maths in the A2 year for students taking double maths.

(From personal experience (this was my offer - although A*AA since my year was before the grade requirement increase) + talking to other students here about their offers - I don't know ANYONE who was taking double maths who didn't get a further maths (and NOT a normal maths) requirement in their offer. The one NatSci student I know who didn't do Further Maths was given a tougher offer - I think A*A*A or A*A*A* in her three science subjects, including normal maths. However, it is worth considering that other unis may do things differently, and so having the A2 Maths already may mean they require a particular Further Maths grade rather than a normal maths based conditional offer).

Ah OK I didn't realise that if you were doing 4 they specified that the **A had to come in physics FM and chem. Are you currently doing nat sci at Cambridge?

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Reply 76

Original post by samb1234

Ah OK I didn't realise that if you were doing 4 they specified that the **A had to come in physics FM and chem. Are you currently doing nat sci at Cambridge?

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Yeah, I think it's a pretty standard requirement - although technically it's up to each college to chose the conditions of the offer. I just know that most NatScis have done further maths, and all of those I have talked to had a further maths requirement in their offer rather than a normal maths one. Obviously the other subjects in the offer will depend on what A levels you are doing - but they basically will want A*/A in all your science subjects.

Yep, currently in my second year of NatSci :smile:

Reply 77

Original post by dragonkeeper999

Yeah, I think it's a pretty standard requirement - although technically it's up to each college to chose the conditions of the offer. I just know that most NatScis have done further maths, and all of those I have talked to had a further maths requirement in their offer rather than a normal maths one. Obviously the other subjects in the offer will depend on what A levels you are doing - but they basically will want A*/A in all your science subjects.

Yep, currently in my second year of NatSci :smile:

Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?

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Reply 78