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help in choosing my a levels

Hi, i will be in year 12 next year and I am starting to reconsider my alevel options. So initially I wanted to do Maths, chemistry biology and psychology, however some people have been saying i should do further maths instead of psychology as it is not as hard as people say it is.

So, i was hoping that students that either do psychology or further maths could give me some information on how their course has been like for them and whether they consider it to be challenging or not. I hope that you may also give me an insight as to whether you think i should switch or not. Just to mention i am hoping to do medicine in the future, so do you think it would benefit if i do further maths?

Thanks so much.

Reply 1

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

Original post by qwerty.12345

Hi,
It is great that you are putting lots of thought into this decision.
Almost all UK medical schools only want you to achieve 3 A Levels, and taking an additional A level will not benefit you in your application. The offers are usually given on grades (AAA/A*AA) rather than on points, so they will just discount whichever A level you got the lowest grade in. It is more important to focus your effort on achieving the required grades in the 3 subjects. I started off doing 4 A levels, but ended up just doing the 4th one as an AS level because I enjoyed it, because none of the medical schools I applied for took it into account.
However, I am aware that some schools will want you to take 4 A levels and maybe you also want to do 4 too. So it is completely up to you, I would recommend that for the last choice you pick the subject that will be easier for you and not take up as much time so you can focus on the other subjects. Also have a look into the entry requirements for specific medical schools as I remember when I was applying, some did not include psychology or further maths as options.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!
Evie (4th year medic at UoS)