Can I be a doctor?

So would you recommend doing Chemistry instead of which subject?

Regardless of this, I don't think we should detract from the fact that without Chemistry it is going to be incredibly difficult to get into medicine. The Med Schools still want medicine even though you say a lot of it doesn't relate to medicine. It is already hard enough to get an offer, why should the OP make this any harder by severely restricting where they can apply?

Whichever you enjoy least of Physics, Psychology or History. Once you have Biology and Chemistry, it doesn't really matter what your third subject is (unless you're applying to Cambridge) as long as it's not something like General Studies.



Elaborating upon the limited relevance of chemistry to medicine is not equivalent or related to detracting from its necessity.

Elaborating upon the limited relevance of chemistry to medicine is not equivalent or related to detracting from its necessity.

I wouldn't advise doing 4 A levels - particularly if you struggle with chemistry, no point jeapardising your chemistry grade by spreading yourself too thin. No unis give extra credit for more than 3 A levels, except maybe Barts who I think decide to interview on UCAS points. So do the chemistry AS and if it goes well continue to A2 and then you will have maximised the courses you can apply to.

So would you recommend doing Chemistry instead of which subject?

I looked at the entry requirements for Barts.

"All eligible applicants must have the following subjects at GCSE level, at grades AAABBB or above (in any order) to include Biology (or Human Biology), Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics (or Additional Mathematics or Statistics). The Science double award may substitute all sciences at GCSE."

Say if I had A* in maths,biology,physics and chemistry but a B in english language. Would I be at a disadvantage?

If you love physics, I would drop history. Your third subject should be one you enjoy and are most likely to score well in.

At GCSE I am set to get an A* in Ancient History and an A in physics.

That doesn't necessarily say much about how you'd do in either at AS or A-Level, unfortunately. Can you grab some revision guides from the library and see how you feel about the topics covered for each?

Question about A-level:

Is it like GCSE where there is not actually context but the issue is when you have to apply the knowledge learnt in exams or is it where there is a lot more context to learn and is mainly about memorizing everything?

Thanks

I presume you mean content, not context. A-Level is certainly not more about rote-learning than GCSE is.

This is purely my own personal view:

But I would do Chemistry (we've established it's almost a must) instead of Psychology.

I did Psychology for AS because I thought it would interest me, and I still have respect/interest for the subject in general. But at AS/A-level? It was disappointing. There was no real discussion or exploration of Psychology at all. From what I recall it was like a weird mix of a bit of statistics, a bit of making ad verbatim arguments for and against various study designs, and memorising endless key studies. It was like the study of the study of Psychology, not the subject itself. I felt it really let the subject material down. We also spent at least a few lessons doing things like making hats, colouring, watching films.. I'm not a complete square, but an entire lesson making hats?

I dropped it even though it was my best mark, I found it that uninspiring.

EDIT: I think it would be daft to go on my hearsay alone, though. You might feel very differently or the course might be different now or where you are. A lot can depend on the teacher. Why don't you start with Bio, Chem, Physics, Psych and History and decide which one to drop after a period of weeks? This can't do you any harm. You can even do 5 AS levels, it's perfectly possible - but ofc don't compromise your grades to do this if you are struggling with a key subject for medicine.

So would you recommend doing Chemistry instead of which subject?