3 or 4 A levels, also Physics or Maths?

I was curious about the ratio of people that are doing or did three A levels compared to four on TSR. The ones that are doing or did four, do you regret it? Or did it help you to work harder and manage your time well? The ones that did three, do you feel you could have picked up a fourth one? Or are you completely satisfied with the three?

Now onto the subject of whether to pick Physics or Maths. If you're only planning to do three A levels and you already have two picked out, but can't decide whether to choose Physics or Maths as the third one. Imagine that you're good at both. So how do you decide from there?

I was curious about the ratio of people that are doing or did three A levels compared to four on TSR. The ones that are doing or did four, do you regret it? Or did it help you to work harder and manage your time well? The ones that did three, do you feel you could have picked up a fourth one? Or are you completely satisfied with the three?Now onto the subject of whether to pick Physics or Maths. If you're only planning to do three A levels and you already have two picked out, but can't decide whether to choose Physics or Maths as the third one. Imagine that you're good at both. So how do you decide from there?

Four A Levels should really only be done if it's an easy option (e.g. if it's a language, and you're a native/fluent speaker of it) and you don't have a history of overestimating your abilities (I speak from experience). It confers no advantage in university admissions except in limited circumstances, and there's a risk of spreading yourself too thinly - A*AA always looks better than A*ABB. Bear in mind that there aren't many resit opportunities anymore so, once the damage is done, it can be difficult to rectify.

Physics or maths - depends on what you like more. Physics, in my view, is the harder of the two purely because maths papers at A Level are quite repetitive, even if they've started throwing a few curveballs in there in recent years.

I did 3 a levels and that's a crap load of work already so I personally would have never chosen to do 4 as 3 was already a lot of work. It was difficult to contain it all especially in the second year where the amount of information is even more than double the AS year.

However, from what I've seen/hear on here and from people I know personally who did 4 a levels, almost all of them dropped one of the 4 in the A2 year. Usually the one they got the worst grade in. They all dropped it as it brought their AS grades down as they had to focus on 4 subjects instead of 3 and believe me, there's a humongous difference between doing 3 a levels and 4.

It's not worth doing 4 either as if you want to go to uni, then you only need 3. The uni will disregard one of the a levels if you chose to do 4 so it won't even be considered.

When it comes to physics or maths. I would say don't look at how good you could do at either one but at whether you'd actually enjoy doing the subject. If you know you won't enjoy it then don't bother choosing it. Think of both in terms of how much you'd like to do the two and then pick one or the other. But you have to remember that physics & maths at a level are one of the toughest a levels out there

What if you love both?! Like every single time you open a Maths or Physics book, they elicit a smile from your face.

What if you love both?! Like every single time you open a Maths or Physics book, they elicit a smile from your face.

what other 2 a levels are you thinking of doing? Maybe think about all 4 and pick 3 that you're most interested in. I mean it's all up to you in the end but as someone said, it's better to get A*AA than A*ABB. That B instead of an A could potentially lose you a place in a uni while the other will be practically invisible to the admissions.

Also, what grades did you get at GCSE level?That could also determine if you could manage 4 instead of 3

Why not do both? It's certainly reasonable to do 4 AS's, and even if you aren't doing AS's it would seem like a good idea to do 4 subjects in year 12 and drop one at the start of year 13 if you need to.

Doing Biology and Chemistry for first two choices, since those two subjects are sort of compulsory for most medical schools. I got A's and B's in GCSEs.



Four AS is standard isn't it? But how many people carry on all four to A2?

...choose your top 3 and go with them !

I was curious about the ratio of people that are doing or did three A levels compared to four on TSR. The ones that are doing or did four, do you regret it? Or did it help you to work harder and manage your time well? The ones that did three, do you feel you could have picked up a fourth one? Or are you completely satisfied with the three?

Now onto the subject of whether to pick Physics or Maths. If you're only planning to do three A levels and you already have two picked out, but can't decide whether to choose Physics or Maths as the third one. Imagine that you're good at both. So how do you decide from there?

I'm still struggling to decide between Maths and Physics.

I'm still struggling to decide between Maths and Physics.

I've heard the majority of Oxbridge applicants have 4 a levels, but not sure if its required. You will almost certainly do better in 3 than if you pick 4, so there's no need to take an extra one

do maths for less stress ...

Don't want to spread myself too thin doing 4. There are Oxbridge students who only did 3 A-levels.



Physics must not be worth it, if I keep reading/hearing people prefer to do Maths over Physics.