4 or 3 A-Levels?

I've got my AS results today:

English literature - A (97%)
English Language - A (88%)
History - A (80%)
Art - B (73.5%)

My Head of Sixth Form has advised me to drop Art, and concentrate on my other 3 A-Levels. Whereas my parents give the impression that I should keep Art (they try and hide it not to put pressure on me, but I know). Personally, I can see positives and negatives of both sides. I just don't know what to do. Should I drop Art?

Reply 1

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by Gilgamesh

I've got my AS results today:

English literature - A (97%)
English Language - A (88%)
History - A (80%)
Art - B (73.5%)

My Head of Sixth Form has advised me to drop Art, and concentrate on my other 3 A-Levels. Whereas my parents give the impression that I should keep Art (they try and hide it not to put pressure on me, but I know). Personally, I can see positives and negatives of both sides. I just don't know what to do. Should I drop Art?

Four A levels aren't necessary for university admission. Art is tremendously time consuming at A2. I'd drop it and stick with 3. (And believe me, I'm a big advocate of Art A level.)

Reply 2

mementomori

8

It's entirely up to you. Art is a very demanding subject and as the workload will increase next year and you'll have all the stresses of applying to university on top of that, only continue with it if you're certain it won't affect your other subjects. At the end of the day, it's your life and your education, not your parents'. I know they'd both feel really bad if you were to continue with art and then not do as well in your other subjects. What do you want to apply for at uni? If art isn't relevant then I personally think you should drop it. Better to be safe than sorry after all.

Reply 3

natashaaarr

10

If you did drop art you could achieve some excellent grades at A2, however if you enjoy it the most then you shouldn't feel pressured by the grading system. Also if you want to go to uni, does art have any relevance to a course you would want to do?

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Reply 4

Gilgamesh

OP

11

Original post by mementomori

It's entirely up to you. Art is a very demanding subject and as the workload will increase next year and you'll have all the stresses of applying to university on top of that, only continue with it if you're certain it won't affect your other subjects. At the end of the day, it's your life and your education, not your parents'. I know they'd both feel really bad if you were to continue with art and then not do as well in your other subjects. What do you want to apply for at uni? If art isn't relevant then I personally think you should drop it. Better to be safe than sorry after all.

Original post by natashaaarr

If you did drop art you could achieve some excellent grades at A2, however if you enjoy it the most then you shouldn't feel pressured by the grading system. Also if you want to go to uni, does art have any relevance to a course you would want to do?

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Original post by carnationlilyrose

Four A levels aren't necessary for university admission. Art is tremendously time consuming at A2. I'd drop it and stick with 3. (And believe me, I'm a big advocate of Art A level.)

I want to do English Literature at uni. I do enjoy Art, but I admit that I lost some of my love for it earlier this year with all the stress. The only thing that's holding me back is the feeling I might not be pushing myself and sort of "giving up".

Reply 5

adil_1806

Original post by Gilgamesh

I've got my AS results today:

English literature - A (97%)
English Language - A (88%)
History - A (80%)
Art - B (73.5%)

My Head of Sixth Form has advised me to drop Art, and concentrate on my other 3 A-Levels. Whereas my parents give the impression that I should keep Art (they try and hide it not to put pressure on me, but I know). Personally, I can see positives and negatives of both sides. I just don't know what to do. Should I drop Art?

Firstly congrats on your results! well done there!....Now my advice to you would be that if you are considering applying to a uni like oxford/cambridge or another top prestigious uni then it would be a good option (your GCSE's need to be also top dollar for that to be possible too though).

If your planning to go to other uni's wether it be Manchester to even small scale known uni's eg. salford/UCLAN Then there really is no point tbh. its just extra workload for no reason.

Hope that was helpful. well done and good luck in the future. In terms of getting good offers when you apply to uni's you'll be sorted !!!!

Reply 6

SixteenHundred

12

I did 4 A2s and it's a lot of work, especially with History in there as well. You don't want to be dropping grades at the expense of an extra A-level which isn't relevant or necessary for your course.

If you're applying for humanities, I've been to taster days for English at Cambridge and Classics at Oxford where it has been explicitly said that 4 A2s aren't preferred in any way.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7

Gilgamesh

OP

11

Original post by adil_1806

Firstly congrats on your results! well done there!....Now my advice to you would be that if you are considering applying to a uni like oxford/cambridge or another top prestigious uni then it would be a good option (your GCSE's need to be also top dollar for that to be possible too though).

If your planning to go to other uni's wether it be Manchester to even small scale known uni's eg. salford/UCLAN Then there really is no point tbh. its just extra workload for no reason.

Hope that was helpful. well done and good luck in the future. In terms of getting good offers when you apply to uni's you'll be sorted !!!!

Thank you! the universities I'm interested in are Oxford, St Andrews, Durham, York and Warwick. My GCSEs were alright, but not the best (4A*s, 2As and 4Bs).

Reply 8

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by Gilgamesh

I want to do English Literature at uni. I do enjoy Art, but I admit that I lost some of my love for it earlier this year with all the stress. The only thing that's holding me back is the feeling I might not be pushing myself and sort of "giving up".

I'm an English teacher, a sixth form tutor and I have an art graduate son, so if I say I wouldn't bother unless you really want to carry on with art, I hope you will believe that I've weighed up the factors carefully!

Reply 9

smd4std

art is a huge waste of time. drop it (unless you're planning on doing art at uni)
but if you want to do history/english or w/e at uni the 3 a levels and the as is more than enough

Reply 10

Gilgamesh

OP

11

Original post by carnationlilyrose

I'm an English teacher, a sixth form tutor and I have an art graduate son, so if I say I wouldn't bother unless you really want to carry on with art, I hope you will believe that I've weighed up the factors carefully!

You sound like a perfect person for advice! Hmm, 3 A-Levels is looking increasingly attractive at the moment.

Reply 11

Miss_Nellie

Original post by Gilgamesh

I've got my AS results today:

English literature - A (97%)
English Language - A (88%)
History - A (80%)
Art - B (73.5%)

My Head of Sixth Form has advised me to drop Art, and concentrate on my other 3 A-Levels. Whereas my parents give the impression that I should keep Art (they try and hide it not to put pressure on me, but I know). Personally, I can see positives and negatives of both sides. I just don't know what to do. Should I drop Art?

Just out of interest, how did you find out your overall percentages?

Reply 12

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by Gilgamesh

You sound like a perfect person for advice! Hmm, 3 A-Levels is looking increasingly attractive at the moment.

It's the advice I would give my own students.

Reply 13

mementomori

8

Original post by Gilgamesh

I want to do English Literature at uni. I do enjoy Art, but I admit that I lost some of my love for it earlier this year with all the stress. The only thing that's holding me back is the feeling I might not be pushing myself and sort of "giving up".

I don't think you're giving up at all. It's completely logical to drop an AS Level and this means you'd be able to devote much more time to English Literature, making sure you have a really good application and striving for the best universities. You could see dropping art as being able to challenge yourself further with the subject you enjoy most and are hoping to do at university.

Reply 14

Gilgamesh

OP

11

Original post by Miss_Nellie

Just out of interest, how did you find out your overall percentages?

Well for instance I got 79/80 UMS on English Literature LT2, and 115/120 UMS in English Literature LT1. This equals to 194/200 in my overall UMS for English Literature AS. 194/2 = 97%

Reply 15

monkyvirus

13

Drop it.

If you'd gotten 90+% (i.e. you could guarantee an excellent grade) then I would've suggested keeping it but it isn't a facilitating subject and it's irrelevant to your chosen degree. Art is a lot of work and this could affect your other studies. Don't risk losing out on good grades to keep your parents happy!

Most people drop an AS before A2 so it's perfectly normal to reduce your workload now. Also art is something you can do in your spare time so you can easily continue pursuing it if you enjoy the creative process.

Reply 16

Ripper-Roo

I'd drop Art. A2 levels aren't terribly hard but it is extra work and universities only require 3, not 4. If you can handle the pressure then go ahead but I don't think it's necessary to continue with 4.

Reply 17

svasstheo

i'd say choose the subjects you enjoy the most. remember that the workload for art is big in the second year. your other three grades are excellent, so maybe if you're considering it in terms of grades you should drop art. however if you really enjoy art and are okay with the workload, drop a big subject like history instead?

Reply 18

BeckyPanda

I did 4 A Levels and at the end of the year ended up with 12 exams totalling 21 hours so you need to be willing to work really hard and be able to manage your work load, personally I am so glad I did 4 but uni's don't look for 4 so you may get better results if you just do 3

Reply 19

wkazma

Hey there!

Well done on getting great results!

My advise would be as an Art student is to follow your heart and study something you could be passionate about. There's no point in doing something you don't enjoy. I can't see why you would drop Art if you want to do something creative.

You might also want to go right onto an Art and Design Foundation degree instead of doing A2s. I did mine at the University for the Creative Arts and the foundation helped me understand what it was going to be like to do a creative degree.

You can check out the pre-degree courses at UCA here: http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/pre-degree or why not email the UCA at: [email protected] to discuss your options or visit http://clearing.ucreative.ac.uk/

Hope this helps and feel free to ask anything :smile:

Good luck!

Widad (Dodi)

BA (Hons) Fashion student

Original post by Gilgamesh

I've got my AS results today:

English literature - A (97%)
English Language - A (88%)
History - A (80%)
Art - B (73.5%)

My Head of Sixth Form has advised me to drop Art, and concentrate on my other 3 A-Levels. Whereas my parents give the impression that I should keep Art (they try and hide it not to put pressure on me, but I know). Personally, I can see positives and negatives of both sides. I just don't know what to do. Should I drop Art?

4 or 3 A-Levels?

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