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Is there an advantage to doing 5 A-Levels?

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I would second that. Biology AS/A2 isn't necessarily difficult, but there is a LOT of ground to cover which can render it tiresome. Having said that, it is a BIG step up from GCSE.

* about my previous point: I'm not necessarily an expert, so could be wrong. That's my opinion only, and I don't know Cambridge's official stance.

Hmmm okay. How would the Chemistry workload compare to that of Biology?

Reply 21

Daxen

Original post by TiernanW

Hmmm okay. How would the Chemistry workload compare to that of Biology?

Chemistry is immensely harder 😅 that's all I know!! Commonly polled as the hardest A-Level. I can't say for certain since I don't take it personally, but anecdotal evidence from many of my friends who study both Bio and Chem all find Biology much easier.

My best advice would be to opt for studying what you enjoy most rather than considering primarily workload - trust me, studying a subject you loathe at the intensity of A-Levels is repellent and exhausting. I dropped a subject I got 195/200 UMS in at AS - higher by quite a large margin than my lowest UMS (incidentally, my lowest was Biology). But I don't regret my decision for a minute, even though I now have to work much harder to reach my target in Bio. It really makes such a difference - although workload and ease is important in your choice, studying what you love matters so much more, and you'll likely find you perform better in it.

Reply 22

Daxen

* to provide some scale of Chemistry; my friend got 10 A*s and 2 As at GCSE and has an offer to study Medicine, but even she got a B in Chem AS last year 😁😁😁

Reply 23

TiernanW

Original post by Daxen

* to provide some scale of Chemistry; my friend got 10 A*s and 2 As at GCSE and has an offer to study Medicine, but even she got a B in Chem AS last year 😁😁😁

Wow, and Medicine is quite competitive no matter where you are going.

The only reason I was considering 5 A-Levels in the first place was because there was a boy in a neighbouring school who achieved 5A*s and went to Oxford, so I was looking to improve my chances. I'd rather not go to Oxford, but you'd think that they'd see it as a way of measuring your academic potential.

It seems that Oxford actually has more applications though. Only 9% of applicants were successful - just less than a tenth, whereas, with Cambridge 1 in 6 were successful. Cambridge also interview twice as many (about 80%), while Oxford interviewed 42%. This information was sourced from the universities websites.

I think I've made up my mind now that I will do 4 A-Levels, and I'm leaning towards Biology, with definitely Maths, FM, and Physics. Who knows, maybe the option blocks will have changed due to demand for subjects and I can do Computing instead of Biology. I just hope there is enough demand for FM.

Reply 24

TiernanW

Original post by TVIO

Not at all true. Computing is not as good as physics maths or further maths but equal or better than any other subject. A humanity would be a huge waste and would be straight up ignored by Cambridge as it isn't relevant whatsoever.

Have a question about BTECs at GCSE level. I didn't think it worthy of a new thread. At GCSE level, would Cambridge count a BTEC Level 2 D* as an A*, a D as an A, etc...? I mean to the point that they count it as one of your GCSEs.

Reply 25

Gaiaphage

Just adding my opinion as I have an offer for medicine at cambridge, can't say much about computer science but I do maths/bio/chem so I can help a bit there.

I do not know a single person who finds chemistry harder than biology at AS or A2. Whilst many people expect full marks in every chemistry/maths paper, until a week before the biology exam (ie. after all revision and past papers are done) a B or C is considered decent. To be honest, I'd rather take the whole maths and chemistry courses in one sitting than a biology exam!

You can see what I mean by looking at the UMS conversion... lower boundaries mean harder exams as fewer people get high marks. For biology (BIOL5), you need ~65% to get full UMS but maths and chemistry is nearly always 100% for full UMS.

Reply 26

TVIO

Original post by TiernanW

If they're they'd considered equally then I'd assume so but don't know for sure. In any case, pre AS grades aren't particularly noteworthy unless you did particularly badly or really exceeded your school average by a lot.