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advanced highers or highers?

hey im in the middle of choosing my subjects for 6th year and i want to take advanced higher maths and biology, and also another higher (possibly art) but i was just wondering is it better to take more highers rather than 2 advanced highers?
any advice would be helpful! :smile:

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Reply 1
Depends if you know what you want to do if you leave school. If you want to go and do Maths and Biology at Uni then 2 AH would be ideal (if you meet the entry requirements obviously). However if you did not know what you wanted to do or a specific course asks for a higher that you have not got then you would be inclined to do that higher.
Depends. Obviously if you are going to apply for Uni in England you need at least two AH's sometimes three. Some courses in Scotland require 2 AH's so double check the entrance requirements for any courses you might want to take.

If you really enjoy a subject and are really interested in it, do carry it on to AH.

Personally I'm taking 3 (well essentially 2 2/3) AH's next year + a higher + an enhancement course. It's up to you and up to what your school offers.

Edit: Why the neg rep "/ ?
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 3
thanks :biggrin: well they are my 2 best subjects, and i'm thinking that i would like to do something maths or biology related at university. unfortunately my school doesn't offer AH biology but some of the other local schools do so i'm hoping that i will be able to go there to do it but nothings definite yet.
anyway, good luck with the subjects you've choosen for next year :smile:
Strangely enough, a boy last year at my school was recommended by universities to take any higher than take advanced higher modern studies for a law degree...
Reply 5
Original post by kikimckenzie

Original post by kikimckenzie
Strangely enough, a boy last year at my school was recommended by universities to take any higher than take advanced higher modern studies for a law degree...


It's my hobby at the moment to go round English uni websites and scowl at the ones that need 3 Advanced Highers across the board. On my list at the moment is Cambridge, Imperial College and, oddly enough, Liverpool John Moores.
Original post by Armaros
It's my hobby at the moment to go round English uni websites and scowl at the ones that need 3 Advanced Highers across the board. On my list at the moment is Cambridge, Imperial College and, oddly enough, Liverpool John Moores.


The reason they require 3 Advanced Highers is because the courses in England expect knowledge to A Level standard. The 1 year Higher course is nowhere near equivalent to the 2 year A Level course (which is roughly the same as a Higher + an Advanced Higher, although some would argue the Scottish qualifications are slightly harder).
Depends on the course you're applying for and your results from 5th year.
Original post by Armaros
It's my hobby at the moment to go round English uni websites and scowl at the ones that need 3 Advanced Highers across the board. On my list at the moment is Cambridge, Imperial College


I'm curious: why the scowl? I can see it for cases where there's a huge disparity in the difficulty of the offers, as in the LMJ case (IIRC) or as with Cambridge a couple years ago. But Cambridge now commonly require A*AA or A*A*A of A level students, and Imperial require an average of 90% in all maths modules. These are top tier universities. I can't speak to Imperial's courses, but if you cannot handle the workload of 3 Advanced Highers, then heaven help you when you get here.

(On a side point, it's worth noting that a good number of the Cambridge colleges are more flexible than the university-centric stuff would suggest.)
Reply 9
Original post by TheUnbeliever

Original post by TheUnbeliever
I'm curious: why the scowl? I can see it for cases where there's a huge disparity in the difficulty of the offers, as in the LMJ case (IIRC) or as with Cambridge a couple years ago. But Cambridge now commonly require A*AA or A*A*A of A level students, and Imperial require an average of 90% in all maths modules. These are top tier universities. I can't speak to Imperial's courses, but if you cannot handle the workload of 3 Advanced Highers, then heaven help you when you get here.

(On a side point, it's worth noting that a good number of the Cambridge colleges are more flexible than the university-centric stuff would suggest.)


Yeah, it's no properly developed reason :P
I'm personally not able to do 3 because of my school's limited course selection at AH combined with its restricted timetabling, so some of the universities I'd previously been interested in are now unavailable to me. So I don't really logically justify my scowls; they're just kneejerk.
Reply 10
Original post by kikimckenzie
Strangely enough, a boy last year at my school was recommended by universities to take any higher than take advanced higher modern studies for a law degree...


Lol I did advanced modies in college and everyone in my class apart from me did it because they were told by unis that it was good for law. Not only that but there was a woman in her final year of a law degree doing the modies course because she never did it at school and was advised to take it by her law lecturer.
Original post by ZombieCharge
Depends on the course you're applying for and your results from 5th year.



well I'm undecided just now but it will most likely be something related to maths or biology because those are my strongest subjects and the ones I enjoy the most. As for results, I'm predicted to get 5 A's and hopefully I will :biggrin:

I decided to go for 2 advanced highers just now but I might change and drop biology after the summer because it's at another school and I have to make my own way there each day. I really enjoy the subject but I don't want to have to go to all that trouble if I end up not doing something biology related at uni.
Original post by rainbowness-xo
well I'm undecided just now but it will most likely be something related to maths or biology because those are my strongest subjects and the ones I enjoy the most. As for results, I'm predicted to get 5 A's and hopefully I will :biggrin:

I decided to go for 2 advanced highers just now but I might change and drop biology after the summer because it's at another school and I have to make my own way there each day. I really enjoy the subject but I don't want to have to go to all that trouble if I end up not doing something biology related at uni.


:wavey:

If you're only applying for Maths or Biology at uni then there's no need to do three AHs unless you're applying for 2nd year entry. If you haven't done Higher Chemistry in 5th year, then something like that would be a good crash Higher to accompany the two AHs.

Spoiler

Reply 13
Original post by rainbowness-xo
hey im in the middle of choosing my subjects for 6th year and i want to take advanced higher maths and biology, and also another higher (possibly art) but i was just wondering is it better to take more highers rather than 2 advanced highers?
any advice would be helpful! :smile:


I did my Advanced Highers in Maths and Biology too. :smile: I also did two Highers on top of that (Chemistry and Psychology) but it was quite a big workload. Go for it if they are your best subjects and you enjoy them.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Kelz_26
I did my Advanced Highers in Maths and Biology too. :smile: I also did two Highers on top of that (Chemistry and Psychology) but it was quite a big workload. Go for it if they are your best subjects and you enjoy them.


you'll be able to help me then :wink: how did you find maths and biology? were they interesting?
I'm trying to go for an easy-ish year so I also chose higher art as you have to take at least 3 subjects. I'd really like to do psychology but my school doesn't run it :frown: I did chemistry this year and quite enjoyed it, it was also one of my better subjects.. I was considering asking if I could do AH chemistry as well but that would mean 2 subjects at another school and I don't know if my school would let me haha!
Reply 15
Original post by rainbowness-xo
you'll be able to help me then :wink: how did you find maths and biology? were they interesting?
I'm trying to go for an easy-ish year so I also chose higher art as you have to take at least 3 subjects. I'd really like to do psychology but my school doesn't run it :frown: I did chemistry this year and quite enjoyed it, it was also one of my better subjects.. I was considering asking if I could do AH chemistry as well but that would mean 2 subjects at another school and I don't know if my school would let me haha!

I found them both really interesting. Some parts of the Biology course are quite dull but it just depends on what you enjoy. I enjoyed the first unit on cell and molecular biology more than the second unit on environmental biology. For the third unit you have an option of three topics. Our school did physiology, health and exercise which was my favourite part of the course. The course isn't too difficult but the investigation takes a lot of time. You also need to memorise a lot of terms and the problem solving can be tricky. Maths was my favourite subject this year, the Advanced Higher course is really interesting and definitely worthwhile if you enjoyed Higher. However, it is a big jump from Higher and even though I got an A at Higher I will be lucky if I pass AH, we were given an awful paper this year. Saying that, even if I don't pass I won't regret taking it because I thoroughly enjoyed the course and learnt a lot from it. If you want to ask anything about the courses just ask. :smile:
Original post by Kelz_26
I found them both really interesting. Some parts of the Biology course are quite dull but it just depends on what you enjoy. I enjoyed the first unit on cell and molecular biology more than the second unit on environmental biology. For the third unit you have an option of three topics. Our school did physiology, health and exercise which was my favourite part of the course. The course isn't too difficult but the investigation takes a lot of time. You also need to memorise a lot of terms and the problem solving can be tricky. Maths was my favourite subject this year, the Advanced Higher course is really interesting and definitely worthwhile if you enjoyed Higher. However, it is a big jump from Higher and even though I got an A at Higher I will be lucky if I pass AH, we were given an awful paper this year. Saying that, even if I don't pass I won't regret taking it because I thoroughly enjoyed the course and learnt a lot from it. If you want to ask anything about the courses just ask. :smile:


I'm glad to hear that! I think the first unit in Biology looks really interesting after skimming through the scholar notes we were given. I think we will be doing that topic for unit 3 as well which I'm happy about cause it looks the best one. Yea our teacher wants us to know what our investigation topic will be pretty soon after we go back to school haha. I did like the higher maths course, thought it was alot better than standard grade so hopefully AH will be alright as well.
I heard people saying that the paper was horrible this year, but don't think that way.. hope you've passed! :biggrin: and thank you :smile:
Reply 17
Original post by Armaros
Yeah, it's no properly developed reason :P
I'm personally not able to do 3 because of my school's limited course selection at AH combined with its restricted timetabling, so some of the universities I'd previously been interested in are now unavailable to me. So I don't really logically justify my scowls; they're just kneejerk.


The universities in England which ask for 3 AHs aren't necessarily unavailable to you. When I went to the Cambridge conference before I applied they said that they were aware that some in some schools you can only do 2 AHs and if this is mentioned to them in a reference then they will consider that before making their decision.

So just because you're only allowed to do 2 AHs it doesn't mean that you're excluded from universities that say they require 3. The best thing you can do is email them about your situation :smile:
Reply 18
Original post by davidmarsh01

Original post by davidmarsh01
The universities in England which ask for 3 AHs aren't necessarily unavailable to you. When I went to the Cambridge conference before I applied they said that they were aware that some in some schools you can only do 2 AHs and if this is mentioned to them in a reference then they will consider that before making their decision.

So just because you're only allowed to do 2 AHs it doesn't mean that you're excluded from universities that say they require 3. The best thing you can do is email them about your situation :smile:


That's brilliant news; I was only so negative because I'd had more pessimistic input from the school's guidance squad. I'll get to emailing :biggrin:
Reply 19
Original post by Armaros
That's brilliant news; I was only so negative because I'd had more pessimistic input from the school's guidance squad. I'll get to emailing :biggrin:


Most schools don't really know much about university admissions, especially to English universities. My school told us all to apply early because it would mean we had more of a chance of an offer (which is a load of crap by the way).

I know what I said applies to Cambridge, and they're supposed to be good when dealing with applicant issues, but I should think that other universities which require 3 AHs will have some form of provisions for people who can only do 2. Good luck with your applications :smile:

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