How does it feel to do 5 A-Levels?

Has anyone done 5 A-Levels (4 A2 and 1 AS or 5 A2)? If yes, how does it feel as in how hard and pressurising is it overall and especially before exams?
I am in year 11 and I have chosen to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computer Science and am confused whether to take up History AS. Would it be too hard to cope up with so many subjects or would I be ok if I study and revise properly like five times every week.
Thanks a lot. :biggrin:

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

19

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Why not try posting in a specific subject forum- you might have more luck there.

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses. :redface:

Reply 2

username2284419

12

Well i do the IB so...

Reply 3

h8skoooooool

15

Feels like hell, in all honesty :colonhash:

I do Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology

Reply 4

jessyjellytot14

17

If you do that amount of subjects, you will definitely have to study way more than 5 times a week and the workload will be incredible. Saying that though, a guy at my sixth form did 5 A2s and left with A*A*A*A*A* and now goes to Cambridge, so its definitely possible.
The most important thing to consider is do YOU think you're capable of managing 5 A-levels?

Reply 5

CSLady

11

Original post by Darshan98

Has anyone done 5 A-Levels (4 A2 and 1 AS or 5 A2)? If yes, how does it feel as in how hard and pressurising is it overall and especially before exams?
I am in year 11 and I have chosen to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computer Science and am confused whether to take up History AS. Would it be too hard to cope up with so many subjects or would I be ok if I study and revise properly like five times every week.
Thanks a lot. :biggrin:

I did 5 As and am now doing 4 A2. I think the 5 As were manageable but not near the exam time then I started to fall apart a bit. I did all the same As as you except chemistry instead of computer science. The thing I would note is that History compared to the other options is much more time consuming outside of class due to the essays. I really struggled with the essays because I had no other essay subjects. You will find though that maths and further maths and physics will have a lot of overlap so that brings the work load down a bit.
If you think you can cope and you can fit them into your timetable then I would say have a go. I would note however I got quite ill during the winter and had no time to rest (no free periods) and so missed a lot of school which made me more ill (had a consecutive cold throughout winter term and beginning of spring term I tegu rally had to bring a large flask of hot water with tea bags and lemsip to get me through the day). Doing 5 As is not going to put you at an advantage at university if you get 5 average grades. Don't do 5 because you feel you have to or because you think it will make you look clever do it because you are passionate about your subjects and are happy to give up your time to study something extra that you enjoy. Any questions please ask!!!

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Reply 6

CSLady

11

Original post by CSLady

I did 5 As and am now doing 4 A2. I think the 5 As were manageable but not near the exam time then I started to fall apart a bit. I did all the same As as you except chemistry instead of computer science. The thing I would note is that History compared to the other options is much more time consuming outside of class due to the essays. I really struggled with the essays because I had no other essay subjects. You will find though that maths and further maths and physics will have a lot of overlap so that brings the work load down a bit.
If you think you can cope and you can fit them into your timetable then I would say have a go. I would note however I got quite ill during the winter and had no time to rest (no free periods) and so missed a lot of school which made me more ill (had a consecutive cold throughout winter term and beginning of spring term I tegu rally had to bring a large flask of hot water with tea bags and lemsip to get me through the day). Doing 5 As is not going to put you at an advantage at university if you get 5 average grades. Don't do 5 because you feel you have to or because you think it will make you look clever do it because you are passionate about your subjects and are happy to give up your time to study something extra that you enjoy. Any questions please ask!!!

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As a guide our school says 5 hours a week outside of lesson time. I had 24 hours of lesson time a week and then had to do on average 25 hours outside of school which amounts to a full time job!

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Reply 7

Darshan98

OP

4

Original post by CSLady

I did 5 As and am now doing 4 A2. I think the 5 As were manageable but not near the exam time then I started to fall apart a bit. I did all the same As as you except chemistry instead of computer science. The thing I would note is that History compared to the other options is much more time consuming outside of class due to the essays. I really struggled with the essays because I had no other essay subjects. You will find though that maths and further maths and physics will have a lot of overlap so that brings the work load down a bit.
If you think you can cope and you can fit them into your timetable then I would say have a go. I would note however I got quite ill during the winter and had no time to rest (no free periods) and so missed a lot of school which made me more ill (had a consecutive cold throughout winter term and beginning of spring term I tegu rally had to bring a large flask of hot water with tea bags and lemsip to get me through the day). Doing 5 As is not going to put you at an advantage at university if you get 5 average grades. Don't do 5 because you feel you have to or because you think it will make you look clever do it because you are passionate about your subjects and are happy to give up your time to study something extra that you enjoy. Any questions please ask!!!
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Thank you very much for your reply.
Yeah I am doing those subjects because I am really passionate about them and because you pointed that thing out I am a bit relieved.
I hope it is manageable because I have to CompSci by myself and be entered as a private candidate as my school does not offer it. So hopefully it would not increase the work load as there would be no one to explain stuff to me :\ .
Also, can you have 2 AS exams on the same day? If you do is it really hard to cope with the pressure ?

Reply 8

ImagineCats

19

Did 5AS' for a bit but that with a part time job just made me go insane. Gave up the job, and now I'm sitting 3AS this year and 3 A2+ 1AS next year after I had a complete meltdown and my parents were worried about me

Reply 9

Sciatic

11

I did 5 A-levels (actually more) and got A*s. It's very demanding especially if you haven't had previous experience studying lot more than what is average. IMO it all depends on how well a planner you are (assuming you have the ability, memory and intelligence, to actually do well). I did everything to a very strict timetable.

That said I should admit that I'm finding first-year medicine to be way more difficult (time and energy consuming) than all those science AL subjects put together. :redface:

Reply 10

ombtom

17

Original post by Darshan98

Has anyone done 5 A-Levels (4 A2 and 1 AS or 5 A2)? If yes, how does it feel as in how hard and pressurising is it overall and especially before exams?
I am in year 11 and I have chosen to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computer Science and am confused whether to take up History AS. Would it be too hard to cope up with so many subjects or would I be ok if I study and revise properly like five times every week.
Thanks a lot. :biggrin:

I'm doing 5 A2s and 1 AS this year, including Maths, Further Maths, and Physics. Last year I did 5 AS-levels. It's fine if you genuinely enjoy all of the subjects, and you don't want a social life. If you have any questions feel free to ask me by message, or on here. :smile:

Reply 11

username1560589

20

It's alright. A fair amount of work, but doable. Getting good enough GCSEs for uni was a lot more stressful. You'll have a lot of exams at the end of second year.

Reply 12

CSLady

11

Original post by Darshan98

Thank you very much for your reply.
Yeah I am doing those subjects because I am really passionate about them and because you pointed that thing out I am a bit relieved.
I hope it is manageable because I have to CompSci by myself and be entered as a private candidate as my school does not offer it. So hopefully it would not increase the work load as there would be no one to explain stuff to me :\ .
Also, can you have 2 AS exams on the same day? If you do is it really hard to cope with the pressure ?

I had two AS exams on one day twice last year (maths in the morning and history in the afternoon and then the same one or two weeks later). Not too much pressure but did have one day where the mags in the morning felt like it went terribly (it didn't but missed some of the questions cause those question booklets in edexcel are huge) and absolutely bombed the history in the afternoon. I think as long as you stay focuses on the next exam (this goes for all exams) and not focus on the previous ones unless they have gone well the pressure is not too bad. While I was ill asked my further maths teacher for the six hours I missed and completed it all in 2 and felt very comfortable about it. So self studying if you do it effectively can be much quicker than being taught by a teacher.

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How does it feel to do 5 A-Levels?

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