Should I take 5 AS Levels?

I’ve already handed in my form; I chose English Language, English Literature, History and German. I really want to take Politics though, and I don’t want to swap any of my original four. Is five AS Levels doable? I’ve heard of other people doing five, but with two of those being Maths and FM, so it’s a bit different. What do you think?

(I’m aiming for 10ish A*s at GCSE so I'm a decent student and whatnot)

(edited 11 years ago)

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Reply 1

Idle

GCSE's really are not a reflection of what you will attain at A-Levels. Five is doable but it's going to add a whole load more work and pressure, potentially damage your grades and not be that valued as unis make offers based on 3 A-Levels or 3 and an AS.

Reply 2

joostan

Original post by lucyimhimmel

I’ve already handed in my form; I chose English Language, English Literature, History and German. I really want to take Politics though, and I don’t want to swap any of my original four. Is five AS Levels doable? I’ve heard of other people doing five, but with two of those being Maths and FM, so it’s a bit different.

(I’m aiming for 10ish A*s at GCSE so I'm a decent student and whatnot)

Depends how much you love essay writing. :smile:

I am indeed one of those people with M and FM :tongue:

Reply 3

lucyimhimmel

Original post by joostan

Depends how much you love essay writing. :smile:

I am indeed one of those people with M and FM :tongue:

I'm a pretty keen essay writer, aha :tongue:

Reply 4

TheNoobyPotato

Don't people say there's no point in doing both english literature and english language? Maybe choose one?

Reply 5

joostan

Original post by lucyimhimmel

I'm a pretty keen essay writer, aha :tongue:

In all honesty, unless you want to spend the next two years writing constantly, its probably not a good idea.
But it doesn't hurt to try all 5 to begin with then drop one if you don't like it or if there's too much work. :smile:

Reply 6

m-s-96

A friend of mine is taking M, FM, chem, bio, phys and IT and he's managed it. I'm taking M and FM for the full a-level in one year (this year) as well as physics. But it depends on how much work you can handle as well as how dedicated you are. I've seen people with many GCSE A*'s get D-U grades simply because they can not cope. Ask your teachers on how they think you would cope to get the best idead of how you will do.

Reply 7

Student-95

It's certainly doable. A guy in my year did 6 AS levels (got 6 As), carried them all on to A2 and is predicted 5 A*s and an A.
His GCSEs weren't outstanding (2 A*s, 6 As and 4 Bs) but he decided to work really hard for his A-levels.

Getting a good grade in 5 will be very achievable if you're willing to put the work in, the main question is whether or not it's necessary. Aside from Oxbridge / Imperial, universities wont care a great deal about the extra subject.

You could always start the year with Politics and then drop it later on if the workload is too high or your other subjects are suffering.

Reply 8

lucyimhimmel

Original post by Idle

I understand that; I just meant I have a decent work ethic. I want to do five for the love of the subjects more than anything (as opposed to wanting to boost my uni application), but I guess my love for them might dwindle when I realise how stressful A Levels are :tongue:

'Tis a tricky one.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

Idle

Original post by lucyimhimmel

I understand that; I just meant I have a decent work ethic. I want to do five for the love of the subjects more than anything (as opposed to wanting to boost my uni application), but I guess my love for them might deteriorate pretty rapidly when I realise how stressful A Levels are :tongue:

'Tis a tricky one.

You could always try it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Failing that buy a few Politics books and expand your knowledge in your own time at a slower pace when you have some spare time? That's what I have done with philosophy.

Reply 10

lucyimhimmel

Original post by TheNoobyPotato

Don't people say there's no point in doing both english literature and english language? Maybe choose one?

They do, but in my eyes they're completely different subjects, and I couldn't possibly choose

Reply 11

lucyimhimmel

Original post by Idle

Yeah, I might do that. I'll just have to quietly envy my friends going off on their school trips to Parliament and whatnot, aha

Reply 12

iamsherlocked

I would seriously seriously advise against it. Four AS's (and 3 A2's...) is a hell of a lot of hard work, if you want to do each of your subjects properly and fit this in with just a few other activities in your life.

I'm doing my 3 A2's at the moment, in English Lit, Spanish and French. It's a huge amount of work to get high grades. I did 4 AS's, the above 3 plus Maths, and got A's in all, but if I had taken a fifth I would certainly not have got an A in that and would probably have done less well in the others too. I was able to get 9 A* and 1 A at GCSE, but the level of focus you need on each subject goes wayyy up at AS (and then again at A2).

Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 13

Acruzen

Original post by m-s-96

it's easier to do maths f maths and trip science, than it is to do 5 essay based AS-levels IMO

Reply 14

username685301

I'd recommend keeping English Literature but dropping Language; it's not the most interesting, useful, or well-respected of A Levels.

Reply 15

Aardvark1998

Honestly, don't bother. I took 5 and regret it. The workload was alright throughout the year, you can get good grades in class and still have a decent social life. The problem is when you have to start hardcore revision for your real exams. I've got so much to get through and I just can't get it all done. I'm really worried because I think that by taking a 5th subject I've endangered my chances of getting decent grades in the rest. I reckon it would be okay if I was more organised but I seriously underestimated the amount of revision I needed to do, simply because the rest of the year was so misleading.

Reply 16

lucyimhimmel

Original post by Acruzen

it's easier to do maths f maths and trip science, than it is to do 5 essay based AS-levels IMO

Ah, okay. Maybe not the best of ideas then.

Reply 17

L'Evil Fish

You could do "English LangLit Combined!" :biggrin:

Reply 18

lucyimhimmel

Original post by Northern_Ireland

I'd recommend keeping English Literature but dropping Language; it's not the most interesting, useful, or well-respected of A Levels.

I want to study Linguistics at university so Language is kind of essential. Thanks, though.

Reply 19

seana39223

I don't see the point in taking 5 AS Levels. Uni's wont regard you as any higher than someone with 4 AS's so I don't see the point. (I was initially going to take 5 AS's and asked Universities what they thought about it).