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

None of the people replying are taking the NEW A levels - 4 is the maximum you should consider taking as the demands of the new syallabuses are unknown.

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

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

Hope some of this helps 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

From what my 6th form (the one I hopefully end up at) have told me the new a-levels are topic wise similar if not identical to before it just affects the whole A-level not the AS levels whereby if you take certain subjects for the whole A-level you'll have to resit the AS exams as a part of you A level exams as they are two separate qualifications

Wow thanks!
I have started making websites for a friends dad as he used to do it professionally but still has the contacts, so I have created a few in my spare time.
I'll definitely look at the Nuffield Bursary project and the summer schools as they look really interesting!
I did start reading a book about how technology is shaping our future but haven't finished it (exam revision also!) and bought a couple of a level textbooks to read through - once I've got through them I may look at some undergraduate textbooks but maybe not just yet!
I also was looking at a course to learn HTML over this summer which looked really interesting - there were a few other languages but I wasn't sure which one would be the most useful?
I had a look at your blog and it was really good! Thanks for all of the great advice



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It's more complex than that! The exams will all be in Year 13 and the questions will be more demanding than now.

1) What makes you say it will be more difficult
2) Even if it is more difficult it should make no real difference to us as it will be the only thing we know
3) The exams aren't all in year 13, some subjects aren't reformed until next year and we will still have AS level exams

1) That's because the Government have asked the exam boards to make A levels more demanding
2) It will because no-one knows the workload yet
3) I posted that above - I teach maths so I know that doesn't change but your other choices do.

1) Fair enough
2) The whole country will be new to it hence I'd presume we'd struggle equally and consequently bring able the boundaries down
3) Ok

2) Not necessarily - whe A levels changed the last time - the % of top grades fell - I think that's what the Government want. Grade A at A levels used to be much rarer and people with three grade As were very rare. Few people did 4 A levels when they were linear before.

Oh right, at our school 5 AS levels has become somewhat of a normality for those taking Further Maths lets just hope I (and others ) don't struggle too much I feel like A level maths should be rather straight foward considering we've done some of through the AQA level 2 Fm qualification

Oh right, at our school 5 AS levels has become somewhat of a normality for those taking Further Maths lets just hope I (and others ) don't struggle too much I feel like A level maths should be rather straight foward considering we've done some of through the AQA level 2 Fm qualification

In 2000 maths was made considerably harder, the current C1 to C4 was examined over three papers (P1 - P3) and there were three applied modules.

It had to be changed again as too many people were avoiding maths as the % of top grades was so low.

So we get to keep the 'harder' one

I changed my post as some disagree about 'harder' but there is no doubt the new maths A level, when it does arrive, will be harder because it'll be based on the new Maths GCSE.

We don't start teaching it until September and they are still 'arguing' about specimen papers so ask me again in a few weeks!

aha ok, but surely you could just compare the specifications

I am quite busy helping students at the moment and marking past papers!
I did look at them when the consultation was out but can't really recall details - you could look yourself if you are that interested.

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

I didn't mean for me xP Idc about GCSEs once I'm done with them tbf I thought you meant your school was unsure of how to find out the differences