Taking on 5 A-Levels

I am considering taking on 5 A-Levels at College, and of course i am expecting to drop one or a couple after AS level. But i wondering what sort of grades should i be attaining in order to be 'good' at 5 A-Levels.

As they usually say;

5 C GCSEs :: 3 A-Levels
6 C GCSEs :: 4 A-Levels

I was planning on taking the following;
Mathematics
Computing
Media Studies
Business Studies
English Combined

The latter are whom i cannot decide between wether to choose one and continue with 4 a-levels or to just do both of them.

Reply 1

tis_me_lord

14

4 A2's with 6 C's at GCSE... did I misinterpret?

Reply 2

33.33.33

2

personally i dont see the point in doing that many, universities dont really ask for it so it could be that you are giving yourself extra work.

Reply 3

kitsune

12

tis_me_lord

4 A2's with 6 C's at GCSE... did I misinterpret?

that's exactly what I thought... maybe its was more of... 6 or more A GCSE, 4 A2s :P

Reply 4

poltroon

michaelbenson

I am considering taking on 5 A-Levels at College, and of course i am expecting to drop one or a couple after AS level. But i wondering what sort of grades should i be attaining in order to be 'good' at 5 A-Levels.

As they usually say;

5 C GCSEs :: 3 A-Levels
6 C GCSEs :: 4 A-Levels

I was planning on taking the following;
Mathematics
Computing
Media Studies
Business Studies
English Combined

The latter are whom i cannot decide between wether to choose one and continue with 4 a-levels or to just do both of them.

To be honest I think you will find doing 5 A2's very difficult. The people who do 5 A2's will have normally have achieved outstanding results at GCSE. A-levels are not like GCSE's they are a lot of work. Granted the subjects you are taking are not generally considered particulary difficult but you will have to do a lot of work to acheive even reasonable grades across all those subjects.

Also you are wrong on the 6 C thing. As Kitsune said it more like 6 A or more.

Reply 5

kellywood_5

17

Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. Speaking from experience, ASs are a hell of a lot more work than GCSEs. I take 4 and that's more than enough! If you wanted to, you could always continue all of them on to A2, as I plan to, but I don't really see the point in doing 5. Nobody in my school does, and I would have thought those at other schools/colleges who do would be taking similar subjects, ie maths and further maths. I definitely advise you to choose just 4 of those subjects. You could always drop a subject after AS and pick up the other subject you didn't take as an extra AS in Year 13, leaving you with 3 A-levels and 2 ASs. By the way, out of curiosity, did you leave a year between GCSEs and A-levels, or are the grades in your signature predictions?

Reply 6

kellywood_5

17

tis_me_lord

4 A2's with 6 C's at GCSE... did I misinterpret?

No, I think that's right. The minimum requirement to do A-levels is 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, but some sixth forms and colleges, including mine, will only let you take 4 subjects if you get 6 or more A*-Cs.

Reply 7

Johnny 5

12

For 5 AS, I would recommend (as my college did) at least 7/8 A/A* grades.

I took 5 (with GS on top), and at times it's been hard. But judging by the amount of time spent here, it wasn't that hard.
(Although, let's wait for the exams before we make any judgments... :wink:

)

Reply 8

trev

15

michaelbenson

I am considering taking on 5 A-Levels at College, and of course i am expecting to drop one or a couple after AS level. But i wondering what sort of grades should i be attaining in order to be 'good' at 5 A-Levels.

As they usually say;

5 C GCSEs :: 3 A-Levels
6 C GCSEs :: 4 A-Levels

I was planning on taking the following;
Mathematics
Computing
Media Studies
Business Studies
English Combined

The latter are whom i cannot decide between wether to choose one and continue with 4 a-levels or to just do both of them.

I would recommend 4 AS levels in the first half, then do 3 A-levels in the second half. In addition, the subjects you are doing have a lot of work to do. Furthermore, I'm not quite sure if 5 A-levels would fit into the timetable of the college.

If you are confident of doing 5 A-levels, I think you should go for it.

Reply 9

Muse

13

in my school you needed to have at least 6A* and 4As at GCSE to do 5AS levels. there's little point in getting CCCAA when AAA would look much better.

Reply 10

Madelyn

13

I'm actually doing five A2s (English Lit, French, German, History, Latin, as well as General Studies which doesn't really count), having got GCSEs of 3 A*, 6 A, 1 B, 2 C, which isn't really all that great.
While it is a lot of work, and you do feel rather dismissive of all these people who complain about their workload with three subjects, if you feel up to it it's definitely worthwhile, and will probably help when you apply to uni - tutors etc. will know that you can handle that amount of work and can manage your time effectively and everything, but they will probably still only ask for three grades in an offer (so even if you're doing five subjects, they'll only ask for, say, AAB - at least, that's what they did for me), which gives you more flexibility - so my relatively low history marks won't matter, as long as I do ok in three of my other subjects.
Basically, if you want to try doing five and it fits into the timetable ok, go for it. Everyone finds the first term tough, so stick at it and see how it goes. If it really gets too much, pack one of them in. You'll have gained a term's experience of that subject and will suddenly fail like you now have a huge amount of free time.

Reply 11

Mata

16

My school doesn't allow 5 A-levels to anyone. And it's a grammar with a high percentage of A/A* grades. If we want to do more than 4, we have to do evening classes at the local college.

If you really, really *want* to do all those subjects, though, and your school will let you... go for it. But make sure you're not going to get 'average' grades in 5, when you could get brilliant grades in 3 or 4. And if you're applying to Oxbridge, don't tell them you're doing 5; I've heard of people who get AAAB offers because they let slip they were doing a fourth. Good luck.

Reply 12

kitsune

12

kellywood_5

No, I think that's right. The minimum requirement to do A-levels is 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, but some sixth forms and colleges, including mine, will only let you take 4 subjects if you get 6 or more A*-Cs.

that's stupid! well... actually in my previous school where I did year 12... I WAS THE ONLY PERSON TAKING 4AS!!! People took 3 or even 2!!! but not because they didnt let them take more... just because they didnt fancy the other subjects available... and they have offers from unis!!! (they all also have A2 in Spanish which they did in Year 11 :P)

Reply 13

kitsune

12

Madelyn

I'm actually doing five A2s (English Lit, French, German, History, Latin.

I'm not trying to be mean... but you are doing three languages plus English! ... everyone in my school gets As in Alevel French and Spanish... you cannot compare it to Chemistry, Physics, History or Maths...

Reply 14

moosaka

Oh my gosh are you crazy?
I really struggle with my AS Levels, I used to do 3 but dropped to 2!! and my GCSE's were
1 x A
4 x B
4 x C

:eek:

Reply 15

Gaz031

15

michaelbenson

I am considering taking on 5 A-Levels at College, and of course i am expecting to drop one or a couple after AS level. But i wondering what sort of grades should i be attaining in order to be 'good' at 5 A-Levels.

As they usually say;

5 C GCSEs :: 3 A-Levels
6 C GCSEs :: 4 A-Levels

I was planning on taking the following;
Mathematics
Computing
Media Studies
Business Studies
English Combined

The latter are whom i cannot decide between wether to choose one and continue with 4 a-levels or to just do both of them.

Don't let people put you off. A-Levels are easier than most people say but you do need to work a lot. The more you work the higher your grades really.
I've advise you to cut media and business out of the list though. Replace them with something else.

Reply 16

Sugar_Puff_Fairy

13

I'm doing 6 AS's at the moment, and find it a huge workload, and I'll be dropping to 5 or 4 next year. My GCSEs weren't fantastic... If you think you can cope with it go for it, you always have the opion of dropping one if you find it's too much work. just make sure you don't sacrifice 3/4 really good A2s for 5 OK grades. 3 or 4 really good grades will always look better to unis, or employees

Reply 17

kitsune

12

gonnabavet

I'm doing 6 AS's at the moment, and find it a huge workload, and I'll be dropping to 5 or 4 next year. My GCSEs weren't fantastic... If you think you can cope with it go for it, you always have the opion of dropping one if you find it's too much work. just make sure you don't sacrifice 3/4 really good A2s for 5 OK grades. 3 or 4 really good grades will always look better to unis, or employees

... SIX AS??????!!!!!!!!! What subjects are they??? and what you mean with that your GCSE's weren't fantastic??? just all A* but some As??? If not... I dont explain myself how can you cope with 6 AS! Please tell me what subjects they are... I'm like... :eek:

Reply 18

Lillith Grimore

kitsune

... SIX AS??????!!!!!!!!! What subjects are they??? and what you mean with that your GCSE's weren't fantastic??? just all A* but some As??? If not... I dont explain myself how can you cope with 6 AS! Please tell me what subjects they are... I'm like... :eek: