Continuing all AS to A2?

My boyfriend did your subject combination - although he did Maths and Further Maths AS in the first year and both in the second year rather than one then the other - and he survived, but his grades did suffer a little. He still had time for a social life and to continue with his sports, but he only came out with one A* and the rest As when he was expecting at least three A*s. If he'd dropped the sports and the social life he probably could have got good marks in them all but he also wouldn't have had an enjoyable year, and he did still get into his firm choice university.

My brother is doing a similar combination to you this year, but the Biology is substituted with Additional Further Maths.

So to answer your question, it's doable, but you have greatly reduced free time and might not get such good grades unless your time management is impeccable and you have strong natural ability in all the subjects. If I were you, I'd drop the Further Maths. It's not needed for Natural Sciences, especially not if you're persuing the Chemistry route in the end, and you'll still be studying three science subjects so universities shouldn't be too funny about you no longer taking Maths. But it's up to you, and you know best whether or not you can handle all those subjects. Speak to your teachers about it and see what they think.

Hi,

I am now back at school and we are being told to choose which subject we want to drop. I have a maths A level (AS + A2) from last year already, and so this leaves me with further maths (AS+A2), physics (A2), chemistry (A2), biology (A2), and general studies (A2) to do. Unfortunately I am unsure of which to drop - I have heard that universities dislike people doing maths in the first year and not second (and given I am applying to mostly sciences it would seem better to continue it).

The courses I want to apply to are primarily Natural Sciences and Biochemistry/Chemistry, and so all subjects are pretty relevant. Out of the sciences I did best at physics and chemistry, but only by a small margin (which was primarily due to the coursework in which my school did badly at), and physics and chemistry are necessities for some modules. On the other hand, I enjoy biology and find it interesting.

Has anyone done all of these at A2? Is it doable? Do you still have free time? Which subject would you recommend I drop?

Thanks!

All I can say is that you shouldn't take more subjects than is necessary for your desired uni course/s. Any subjects that aren't required any longer, or wont make your application stronger (e.g. Further Maths A level for Economics), should probably just be dropped until you are left with 3 A-Levels (with the exception of further maths possibly making it 4). It will likely be less stressful and result in very high or much higher grades in those 3 subjects.