Am I mad...?

I'm going to be doing 7 AS levels at my new 6th form from Sept 4th (Bio,chem,eng lit,music,maths...and not by choice----->Critical thinking and GS) n want to do medicine!
Would i be OK if i waited till November for my consultation evening n if I wasn't getting straight A's then drop english lit or music?
Until results day I wasn't gonna do english lit...but I got my best grades for english and i really enjoy it! N cos I got an A for maths I can do fast-track maths.
I want to do rle well for my A levels cos my GCSEs weren't that awesome :p:

(I missed about a term from school with an op)...I'm gonna work my socks off n I'm gonna do some long term work ex with my friend's godfather(he be a doctor).
When uni's look at my GCSEs...would they consider the fact tht my sister was in hospital while I was doing them and I had so much time off school with illness?
Am I crazy doing that many A levels? N does anyone have any advice?

K xxx

Reply 1

Leonidas

Old boys club at its best. You don't have to do that many A levels, but if you want to and think you can cope then fine. But what happens if you need time off again and you've got 7 A levels on your plate?
As for GCSEs, don't worry about them as long as your A levels are fine.

Reply 2

AEH

8

Well, it certainly isn't necessary for medical school. You have to consider the balance of outcomes: Decorative bragging rights that don't really have much bearing on future success against risking a breakdown with workload that loses you an offer (I've been working with one girl in that situation after this year's results day and believe me, she'd be advising you against it). In other words, you really don't need to do it and the flipside of it is so serious I don't consider it worth the risk.

Reply 3

kellywellydoodle

OP

12

I'm never gonna have an operation during exams ever again....EVER!!!! It's not worthit! N i'm much more motivated this year...with a new school n everything :smile:

!

K xxx

Reply 4

Renal

17

kellywellydoodle

I'm never gonna have an operation during exams ever again....EVER!!!! It's not worthit!

(Admitedly, I put other things infront of my health, but not school)

Reply 5

Miss_Scarlett

15

Q: Are you mad?

A: it depends! If you think you can cope then go for it, it may give you the edge over other candidates. But consider whether doing so many may reduce your overall grades. Id rather get AAAA in 4 than AABBBCC doing 7.

Also doing many a levels doesnt guarantee you an offer or an interview. Med schools are looking for a lot more than sparkling grades, as I am sure many people have told you. But getting 7 A's maybe a good start I suppose :biggrin:

Only you can decide whether you can cope...

x

Reply 6

8EnglishRoses

10

Yes, quite frankly, you are mad!!

Don't put yourself out doing 7 when you could do 4 and get the same amount of credit at Med school. 5 maximum. Seriously. I would choose between Eng Lit and Music, both are counted as rigorous academic subjects. I personally choose English Lit because I really enjoyed it and did well at GCSE and I'm so glad I did now because I got a high A as AS level with the minimum amount of work and I really enjoyed the course. My friend doing Music (who also does Eng Lit) says that music is really hard - a lot harder than English.

Anyway, you don't have to do what I say, just consider it.

Reply 7

8EnglishRoses

10

P.S. I'd call 2 A*s, 8 As and a B pretty awesome considering you're personal issues!

Reply 8

Miss_Scarlett

15

I also really enjoyed english lit :biggrin:

Reply 9

icapturethecastle

16

if you can cope with that many subjects, go for it!
goodluck!

Reply 10

Emily17

Personally, i think doing less subjects with time to read around the subject in more depth will be much more rewarding than doing as many as the time table allows.. both in terms of grades and your own enjoyment of the subject.

Reply 11

bosongyin

Critical thinking and general studies are waste of time. they have no use what so ever for persuing an application for medicine, I would say keep five and drop 1 or 2 at A2. You should know that extra sudjects wont earn you any credits. 3 is more than enough.

Reply 12

sean.phoenix

Critical thinking for me was a huge waste of time - I did it at AS for an hour and a half a week with a teacher who didn't really know what she was doing. All we learnt was that 'cranium' is a horrible game to play if you don't know certain songs and how to act them out (yet I managed to get an A???).

English literature A level, on the other hand, if you're serious about it requires a lot of time with reading and essays etc., but can be quite fun.

Speaking as one of the 2 people who did 5 A levels, 3 A levels is enough to get into med school, 4 if you like the subjects. so 5 subjects at AS, then dropping one to do 4 gives you enough time to do everything perfectly, with the insurance of an extra subject of you fail one (e.g. I did bio, chem, maths and physics - the bio and chem had to be As, and I had to get an A in maths or physics. English lit wasn't taken into account at all, nor the crit think AS, but as I said. lit is fun).

Reply 13

maria737

yeah...i think 7 is a bit ott....no offence but why are you whining about your awesome GCSE grades?

Reply 14

b9muslove

1

maria737

yeah...i think 7 is a bit ott....no offence but why are you whining about your awesome GCSE grades?

Yeah the OP's grades are pretty awesome

Reply 15

kellywellydoodle

OP

12

Not whining in the slightest :redface:

I was really really pleased with my results...but I know I could have done better if I hadn't had such a damn lot of time off!

K xxx

Reply 16

Skipper

I would advise doing 4 at AS and then 3 at A2. Remember that if you want to do medicine you will need to do lots of extra stuff aswell like volunteering etc. Doing 7 A-Levels won't leave much/any time for this.

Good luck and congrats on the great GCSEs :smile:

Reply 17

work_til_failure

2

If you wants to apply for med your suposed to take 8 A-levels arent you? :rolleyes:

Reply 18

kellywellydoodle

OP

12

lovely bit of saarcasm there :p:

!

K xxx

Reply 19

petzneo

15

I hope that you are prepare for some hard work, and your going to have to be very organised. Are you sure you want to do 7 AS levels, trust me 4 is enough for some people and for medicine that is the typical amount. I think you need to be asking the teacher that knows you and your capability this question, they'll be able to answer it for you in a way that we won't. But if you pull this off and get like 7 A's, that would be amazin!

Am I mad...?

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