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Alevel options

Is taking 5 a levels a good option? I'm planning to take design engineering, maths, further maths and physics and I was thinking of taking Spanish at a level too.
I understand that the workload is quite a lot but just wondered how strenuous it can be and whether it is worth doing. Any advice and opinions are appreciated.
Thank you

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by JHENR

No, it's definitely not a good option.

I took the equivalent of 4 at the same time before; wasn't particularly easy. I only know of one person who did 5, but she was exceptional in terms of academics.

Why would you want to do 5 A Levels when 3 would more than suffice? I can understand the need for maths + physics (and further maths for some universities), but the other A Levels don't particularly add any value to your uni application. Design engineering is not a required subject, and you would have met the necessary requirements with maths + physics (it's not theoretical physics or a mathematical degree where you use more of the maths in further maths, for example).
I also wouldn't recommend doing Spanish unless you're a native/fluent speaker and you already know more than what is required for the A Level. I know a couple of people who did it as an A Level to meet grade requirements, but one came from Spain and the other lived in Spain for a while. I don't know of any design engineering or engineering courses that are joint with Spanish (it's usually the humanities or social sciences that offer such degrees). You can do it to study in Spain/Mexico/other Spanish speaking countries, but that's a bit of a stretch.

In terms of intensity, I would say you need on average 600-700 hours on each A Level in order to do well in them.
700hours*5A Levels/100 weeks of study (presuming that you start in June ahead of usual academic year) = 35 hours per week. If you start in September, you need to increase this to 40-45 hours a week. I can't imagine you would be able to work along the side if you are considering it.
You might be able to cut this down due to the overlap between physics and maths.