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Reply 60
SouthernFreerider
someone I know does 9...

granted 2 of them are languages he doesn't need lessons for, and music... well he's like diploma level in 2 or 3 instruments so doesnt really need proper lessons for that either.


i know someone at eton who did 11.. genius
rachelcee
i know someone at eton who did 11.. genius

yeah my etonian friend mentioned him

he got like 10 full A2s at least. I forget the exact number.
What the hell, how did that person manage!?? Did they even have like a social life or something?! Did he have like 20 GCSEs? Crazy stuff, what did he want to read at uni?
Reply 63
Shrayans
What the hell, how did that person manage!?? Did they even have like a social life or something?! Did he have like 20 GCSEs? Crazy stuff, what did he want to read at uni?


he did have a social life, played a bit of sport and was good at music..i think he's doing ppe at magdalen, oxford now.
rachelcee
he did have a social life, played a bit of sport and was good at music..i think he's doing ppe at magdalen, oxford now.


Wow, a super human, he does deserve his place at oxford, but it makes me think, what kind of other super humans must be there?! Its good I didn't get in then, I would have had a very big inferiority complex, but then again, maybe that's why I didn't get in! Not superhuman enough ::p:
Good on him!!
How did he manage though? Did you know him personally? What subjects did he do?
hcblingbling
in my 6th form, 4 applied to oxbridge, 3 with 3 A-levels and 1 with 4 and only the girl with 4 got an offer!


I did three, and three Bs at that, and got an unconditional from Durham. Yet there are people in that forum who think the minimum is something like GCSEs: 3A*5A1B and 'A' levels: AAAAa.

Personally I'd do fewer subjects but pursue more in depth studying like an undergraduate diploma at the Open University or something.
Epitomessence
1) Five isn't too much. I studied five, as did a few of my friends, and we still had time to keep up our many extracurriculars and meet up at the weekends.


You don't need a squillion extracurriculars as people seem to think. I only stated scouting and my greatest achievements from that, though it can be a life itself if developed properly. And the further reading I did for law, politics and criminology, and what I learnt from them.
Reply 67
Shrayans
Wow, a super human, he does deserve his place at oxford, but it makes me think, what kind of other super humans must be there?! Its good I didn't get in then, I would have had a very big inferiority complex, but then again, maybe that's why I didn't get in! Not superhuman enough ::p:
Good on him!!
How did he manage though? Did you know him personally? What subjects did he do?


i think he got all As... naturally. a little, i've spoken to him and met him in person but i'm not a very good friend or anything. pretty traditional ones.. quite a lot of languages i think. he won the julia wood (oxford) history prize as well!
rachelcee
i think he got all As... naturally. a little, i've spoken to him and met him in person but i'm not a very good friend or anything. pretty traditional ones.. quite a lot of languages i think. he won the julia wood (oxford) history prize as well!


Well obviously... too good... oh well, that's the kind of competition we are up against nowadays... he deserves whatever he gets he is too good...
Reply 69
i think 2 languages would really help your chances
Fresh Idea
Hello,

We had to submit our choices for A Levels a few months back but thankfully we can change them easily up until September. I originally put down English Literature, French, Spanish, Maths and Physics. I'm really into languages and am getting practically full marks in both French and Spanish at GCSE so I chose both because I enjoy them.

However, originally I didn't really want to choose five. I'm a busy person generally and love getting involved in the school plays and filmmaking outside of school. Over the next few years I'd like to improve my fitness, so I'm going to be swimming regularly too. The thing is that - without meaning to sound precocious - I am aiming for Oxbridge.

Their websites say they only want 3 As, but I can't help but feel somebody with 4 or 5 would be at a better position than someone with only 3, even if I mentioned all of my extra-curricular activities. The thing is that my year at school is exceptionally bright and so many people are choosing five, it would seem almost out of place for me not to do so. In fact, many teachers have been shocked that I'm not the person trying to do something ridiculous like six.

In addition to my worries about the number I should study, I'm unsure about my subject choices. I'd like to keep my options as open as possible, since I have no clue about what I'd like to read at university. European Law, Economics, Politics, Maths, Science or English would all interest me a lot.

I'm currently thinking of changing to English Literature, Spanish, Maths, Physics and then either Chemistry or Further Maths. Science is fascinating and most of the time I have a good grasp of everything but I don't see myself as a 'sciencey' person. I prefer words and expression to numbers and formulae but I get by in both the arts and the sciences. It's just I think universities would prefer a science to anything else.

As I'm sure you can tell from my rambling, I really am very undecided about my options. I'd like to keep as many opportunities open as possible whilst still studying the subjects I enjoy. Is five too many to still have time to do other things? Would four put me at a disadvantage? Are my subject choices good?

Thank you so much for your time. :smile:



FIRSTLY A levels are NOTHING like GCSEs. Trust me, I know. The work is 10x harder and you are no longer spoon fed answers like GCSE (it may not seem like it now but you are).
3 a levels is a substantial amount of work; 4 a levels is a LOT of work and (5!) is a tremendous amount of work. I do 5 but including general studies which is not really a proper subject but doing 5 PROPER is really asking for it. It is easier to juggle 15 GCSEs than 5 a levels. I'm not saying it's impossible but you MUST be very organised and be prepared to sacrifice a lot of your time. In all honesty, you'll probably have to drop a few of your extra-ciricular activities to keep up.

SECONDLY you think you may do chemistry. Think, then rethink about this. You MUST enjoy it because believe me Chemistry is NOTHING like GCSE. I got A* A* in double science and do a level chemistry but its hard to scape even a C because it's SO much more complicated. GCSE was a complete doss compared to what we're doing now and I sadly wished I realised that then. Because of this I think I'm going to drop Chem this year. So saying you are not a "sciency" person should make you worried; you HAVE to be passionate about Chemistry to succeed in it.

FINALLY Don't worry about what the other bright students are doing. I doubt any of them have a real idea of the difficulty of 5 subjects; believe me, when I was in your position it was easy to believe you could easily get by with 5. My advice is to do 4 strong subjects and continue with your extra cirricular activities because out of the sea of AAA Oxbridge looks for something "special" in their canditdates that a sheet of paper with letters can't provide. If your love lies with languages go with that; then have maths so you can study maths /economics: French, Spanish, English & Maths. By all means you can do 5 subjects but you should be aware of the implications.
:smile:
I do history, english lit, maths and economics but i still don't know what to do at uni, so choosing my a levels was hard. as i discovered, whatever you choose, you've got to choose something that will definatly maintain your interest and something that is a genuine possibility at uni because of course, if you start to dislike a subject then it may hinder your performance - especially for oxbridge.

I was so similiar to you - that i wasn't sure whetehr to split into the sciences or arts, and for some reason, which i still don't know why now lol i chose to go into the arts. I do miss doing the sciences and sometimes i think i should have gone into the sciences but of course, nothign can be done now, so just make sure you choose wisely, make sure no one pressures you into anything and good luck.
Reply 72
I did 5 AS levels (well 6 including General Studies) and I have been offered a place at Cambridge - but I still think it was a mistake to take 5. (Bio, Chem, Phys, Maths, French)

I was very, very lucky to get an offer for Cambridge as my module marks were definitely below average for an Oxbridge applicant. I don't think that I wasn't coping with 5 academically, I just felt far too overworked and tired to be honest ...and this had an impact upon studies.

It was fairly impossible to look over things or do a bit of extra work if I didn't fully understand something in class because I just seemed to have too much homework etc.

I was just tired and quite down for a lot of the year!
pretzel89
I did 5 AS levels (well 6 including General Studies) and I have been offered a place at Cambridge - but I still think it was a mistake to take 5. (Bio, Chem, Phys, Maths, French)

I was very, very lucky to get an offer for Cambridge as my module marks were definitely below average for an Oxbridge applicant. I don't think that I wasn't coping with 5 academically, I just felt far too overworked and tired to be honest ...and this had an impact upon studies.

It was fairly impossible to look over things or do a bit of extra work if I didn't fully understand something in class because I just seemed to have too much homework etc.

I was just tired and quite down for a lot of the year!


How many you doing now? I have carried on all 5 of mine, and its a killer! My courseworks are taking forever and I am always really stressed... But in the end of the day, it will be worth it, hopefully.
Reply 74
Shrayans
How many you doing now? I have carried on all 5 of mine, and its a killer! My courseworks are taking forever and I am always really stressed... But in the end of the day, it will be worth it, hopefully.


I'm doing four now, I dropped French and kept on all three sciences and maths. I was getting loaads of homework from French so I reckon it was a good choice for me!

With doing all the sciences and maths I sort of crave creativity to be honest - so it gives me more of a chance to do other things! I managed to leave doing grade 8 piano 'til now... to coincide with A-levels nicely... fantastic planning innit:s-smilie: ! So I needed to cut back!

Good luck with all five, I'm sure you'll do fine... I just don't have the will power to study that hard, so good on ya!:smile:
pretzel89
I'm doing four now, I dropped French and kept on all three sciences and maths. I was getting loaads of homework from French so I reckon it was a good choice for me!

With doing all the sciences and maths I sort of crave creativity to be honest - so it gives me more of a chance to do other things! I managed to leave doing grade 8 piano 'til now... to coincide with A-levels nicely... fantastic planning innit:s-smilie: ! So I needed to cut back!

Good luck with all five, I'm sure you'll do fine... I just don't have the will power to study that hard, so good on ya!:smile:


Fair enough, I was considering until about 2 weeks ago about dropping Computing! Lol... I hate the subject, feels just a shame though doing all this hard work and dropping it now, so I am persevering. The CW is killing me!!! Without it I would be stress free right now. The huge problem for me was that both my firm and insurance don't want it, so I was really debating doing it or not, but the pain will be worth it hopefully. I will certainly not give it priority during spring break though where I plan to do quite a bit of revision.
i think u should stick with 5 ASs...

as u can see from my signature, my subject choice is also very varied.
to be honest, i actually found the workload for ALL my GCSE subjects to be much greater than the workload from these 5ASs...i know this is going against what a lot of people think, but this is what i found.

Basically, I NEVER get ANY economics homework - the only homework i've beens set is past paper Qs nearer the exams.

For Biology, i hardly get any hw, apart from coursework which is just like, if not easier, than GCSE science coursework.
for exams i use the collins module books which are really useful, and tell u 95% of what u need to know..

Chemistry , howver, is probably the hardest AS there is...and so as someone previously stated, u realy do need a passion for it...involves a LOT of private study/note making/learning...

Finally, if u have a natural flair for languages u shouldnt find them too hard at AS...though the workload is loads...A2 languages are extreemyl difficult, and workload is even greater than AS, of course.

All in all, if ure a good student and have the ability to organise yourself well, 5 ASs should be no problem for you..though be aware, ORGANISATION is the key, and u shouldnt have to be told to work!