Do I do 3 or 4 A levels?

I’ve just started my new 6th form and I’m taking 4 A levels (geography, history, politics, English literature) I’m worried because these past 2 years for my gcses we were barely in school and the content got cut and I’ve always been told it’s such a jump from gcses to A level. I feel like I might struggle and all my friends and majority of the people in the 6th form are only doing 3. I also don’t even know what I would drop (I took them at gcse and enjoyed them a lot but I know A level can be very different) I feel history is the one I need the least but I’m not sure on what to do. Can anyone help?😅

Reply 1

Squiggles1238

20

it depends on if you want to go to uni and if so what you would study. On the whole, you're better off sticking with 3, but if your school/college doesnt allow that then you can drop one of them after the 1st year?

Reply 2

H.J.K

6

Original post by Gem7912

I’ve just started my new 6th form and I’m taking 4 A levels (geography, history, politics, English literature) I’m worried because these past 2 years for my gcses we were barely in school and the content got cut and I’ve always been told it’s such a jump from gcses to A level. I feel like I might struggle and all my friends and majority of the people in the 6th form are only doing 3. I also don’t even know what I would drop (I took them at gcse and enjoyed them a lot but I know A level can be very different) I feel history is the one I need the least but I’m not sure on what to do. Can anyone help?😅

I'd recommend you give it a few months and the one which you least enjoy/ are not doing well in you can drop out of. I'm sure in January you would get term exams too so if you fail you would be dropped out of the subject. Well, that's how it worked in my sixth form.
Hope that helped :smile:

Reply 3

eve9

14

Hi! In my school, we were told that if you got As and A*s at GCSE, you could probably manage 4 A Levels. If you were getting more Bs, Cs or below, you should stick to 3. In my first year of 6th form, I took 4 A Levels, but now I’m going into year 13 I’ve dropped one. It is manageable to do 4 if you’re organised. The only reasons I dropped my fourth subject is bc I wasn’t enjoying it as much and I’d rather focus on getting 3 good A Levels rather than 4 mediocre ones. At the end of the day, you’ll come out with the qualifications you need, whether it’s 4 A Levels or 3 A Levels and an AS. Hope this helps you in some way :smile:

Reply 4

000aga00

11

Original post by Gem7912

I’ve just started my new 6th form and I’m taking 4 A levels (geography, history, politics, English literature) I’m worried because these past 2 years for my gcses we were barely in school and the content got cut and I’ve always been told it’s such a jump from gcses to A level. I feel like I might struggle and all my friends and majority of the people in the 6th form are only doing 3. I also don’t even know what I would drop (I took them at gcse and enjoyed them a lot but I know A level can be very different) I feel history is the one I need the least but I’m not sure on what to do. Can anyone help?😅

The vast majority of Unis ask for 3 A-levels so I'd only choose 3 since the 4th is basically just extra bother but take all 4 if you want to open yourself up to more options for uni courses. It's important to do the A-Levels you think you'll enjoy so if you do decide to take 4 but don't like one you can always drop it! Same thing applies if you find it too difficult to do 4 since the subjects that you've listed are very essay-based. Personally, I'd drop geography or history.

Reply 5

Ylife

12

Original post by Gem7912

I’ve just started my new 6th form and I’m taking 4 A levels (geography, history, politics, English literature) I’m worried because these past 2 years for my gcses we were barely in school and the content got cut and I’ve always been told it’s such a jump from gcses to A level. I feel like I might struggle and all my friends and majority of the people in the 6th form are only doing 3. I also don’t even know what I would drop (I took them at gcse and enjoyed them a lot but I know A level can be very different) I feel history is the one I need the least but I’m not sure on what to do. Can anyone help?😅

I would personally recommend taking four then dropping one later on. A level subjects can be very different from GCSE, and taking 4 gives you the opportunity to drop one if you don't like it.
I think your A levels have a lot of work (and NEAs) so it might be quite difficult to keep 4 all the way through to year 13.

Reply 6

dayaspersonalgf

5

Original post by Gem7912

I’ve just started my new 6th form and I’m taking 4 A levels (geography, history, politics, English literature) I’m worried because these past 2 years for my gcses we were barely in school and the content got cut and I’ve always been told it’s such a jump from gcses to A level. I feel like I might struggle and all my friends and majority of the people in the 6th form are only doing 3. I also don’t even know what I would drop (I took them at gcse and enjoyed them a lot but I know A level can be very different) I feel history is the one I need the least but I’m not sure on what to do. Can anyone help?😅

I strongly recommend dropping an A Level as 4 subjects do not give you any advantage over those with 3 subjects, and most universities (Russel Group) ask for your top three subjects when making an offer. Also, I would like to add as someone who took History and gave the exam this year, I DO NOT recommend history. Especially, if the exam board is Edexcel. It was a NIGHTMARE. Lol.

Do I do 3 or 4 A levels?

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