5 A-levels... yes or no?

Original post by QuibblerWaffle

Hey

I've chosen my A level subjects and was thinking of taking the following:
Maths
Chemistry
Physics
Further maths
Philosophy
I might end up doing an EPQ in Computer Science

I am an aspiring Chemical Engineer and have high hopes for myself to study at either Cambridge or Imperial :awesome:

I will be dropping further maths and philosophy at A2.

Is the workload of 5 AS subjects too much to cope with?
Will I have a lot of free periods, if any at all?
Will I have time for a social life :frown:

?

I understand there's this whole concept of "it's better to achieve 4A's than 2A's and 3B's" but I know I can do well. I plan on going over briefly all of my subjects during the summer holidays and doing revision regularly (not just because I'll have to but genuinely because I really like learning). When I first made the decision I was thrilled and excited to get GCSE's over and done with but now I feel like I've made the wrong choice and possibly underestimated a-levels? It'd be great to hear some stories of how well people have coped/coping with 5 a-levels or with any of the subjects I've chosen above.

Thanks in advance :cute:

There is zero benefit to doing 5 A-levels, just further your interest in chemical engineering instead of doing the 5th A-level

You probably wouldnt have much of a social life and at my sixform people who did 5 (only 2 did and both regretted doing it) had no frees

Reply 2

username2176541

17

Bro are u stupid or something my mates doing 9 I'm doing 7, 5 alevels is nothing

Reply 3

OP

Original post by Xenon17

Bro are u stupid or something my mates doing 9 I'm doing 7, 5 alevels is nothing

Wow, where I'm from 4 A-levels is considered the norm so 5 to me is quite big

Reply 4

user 42005

18

I don't think doing 5 A levels is really necessary, even if the workload won't bother you. You could always learn the syllabus for one of them and just not bother taking the exams? That's what I've done this year with Further Maths. That way you can learn the info for fun but not have any of the stress :smile:

Reply 5

Charles III

Original post by QuibblerWaffle

Wow, where I'm from 4 A-levels is considered the norm so 5 to me is quite big

I don't think they're serious :giggle:

— I don't think you'd need to take 5… I would totally advise against it if at all possible. :yep:

Reply 6

OP

Original post by madmadmax321

There is zero benefit to doing 5 A-levels, just further your interest in chemical engineering instead of doing the 5th A-level

You probably wouldnt have much of a social life and at my sixform people who did 5 (only 2 did and both regretted doing it) had no frees

Okay thanks :redface:

, maybe Philosophy is a bit irrelevant to the course I want to do

Reply 7

OP

Original post by iEthan

I don't think they're serious :giggle:

— I don't think you'd need to take 5… I would totally advise against it if at all possible. :yep:

Oh right

and why would you be so against it?

Reply 8

Thomb

14

The boy so set on getting to Cambridge he got 22 A-levelsRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1132200/The-boy-set-getting-Cambridge-got-22-A-levels.html

Reply 9

Charles III

Original post by QuibblerWaffle

Oh right

and why would you be so against it?

In my opinion, it is too much of a workload and for almost zero benefit to you. Yes, it might be nice to study alllll of the subjects you're interested in — but think about it in the long run, do you really need to put yourself through so much unnecessary work in order to progress to the degree you'd like? The answer is most likely no! But all the same, whatever you go on to do; the best of luck to you!! :hugs:

Reply 10

username2176541

17

Original post by QuibblerWaffle

Oh right

and why would you be so against it?

Ignore him he doesn't know what hes talking about

Reply 11

Oilfreak1

19

Original post by QuibblerWaffle

Hey

I've chosen my A level subjects and was thinking of taking the following:
Maths
Chemistry
Physics
Further maths
Philosophy
I might end up doing an EPQ in Computer Science

I am an aspiring Chemical Engineer and have high hopes for myself to study at either Cambridge or Imperial :awesome:

I will be dropping further maths and philosophy at A2.

Is the workload of 5 AS subjects too much to cope with?
Will I have a lot of free periods, if any at all?
Will I have time for a social life :frown:

?

I understand there's this whole concept of "it's better to achieve 4A's than 2A's and 3B's" but I know I can do well. I plan on going over briefly all of my subjects during the summer holidays and doing revision regularly (not just because I'll have to but genuinely because I really like learning). When I first made the decision I was thrilled and excited to get GCSE's over and done with but now I feel like I've made the wrong choice and possibly underestimated a-levels? It'd be great to hear some stories of how well people have coped/coping with 5 a-levels or with any of the subjects I've chosen above.

Thanks in advance :cute:

Typical offers for Camb/ICL ChemE are A*A*AA, so there's absolutely no benefit in doing 5, a 5th a level would just detract from getting those important A*s an EPQ would be a better use of time.

Reply 12

I can do this

7

I take 5, and at the start of the year I intended to do an EPQ too. However I simply don't have the time! 5 A levels on its own is okay though. In hindsight, I wish I'd taken 4 and an EPQ because an EPQ shows skills that you wouldn't develop otherwise and allows you to explore your interests. I take Biology, chemistry, physics, maths and FM.

Reply 13

Mathstatician

2

Hello! I actually have a very similar set of interests to you and recently also posted a thread! :biggrin:

I was advised by a philosophy graduate and one of the philosophy faculty at Oxford that studying it at A Level isn't necessary and (from the perspective of the student) may not even be ideal -- ditto CS. At A Level, you have a curriculum, deadlines, etc. to follow. Study philosophy and program in your own time and you get to study what you want. The A Levels aren't required for either or the corresponding degrees.

That way, maths, further maths, physics, chemistry are studied formally, as per requirements, and you can study the rest for your own amusement, using that same 4.5 (or whatever) that would have been contact hours to study what you find interesting in those other areas (or extra studying on examined subjects like maths). Also means less scope to screw up by overloading on subjects. Makes sense, no?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

thatcooldude2.0

15

I did 6 AS levels, it's not too bad really as long as you keep up. :smile:

Reply 15

OP

Original post by I can do this

I take 5, and at the start of the year I intended to do an EPQ too. However I simply don't have the time! 5 A levels on its own is okay though. In hindsight, I wish I'd taken 4 and an EPQ because an EPQ shows skills that you wouldn't develop otherwise and allows you to explore your interests. I take Biology, chemistry, physics, maths and FM.

If you coukd go back and only pick 4 which subjects would you have chosen? Which subject seems the most irrelevant to your future uni course at the moment?

Reply 16

lightwoXd

12

I did 5 AS levels and wouldn't advise it. A lot of the reasons have already been gone through by other people, but in answer to your questions in the OP you won't have many frees (especially compared to other people in your year who aren't doing as many). This will probably have some impact on your social life - if you've got fewer frees you have less time to hang out with people during college time, as well as study. This kind of forces you to make up for lost time outside of college, which reduces opportunities to hang out with people then - although if you manage your time well and are fairly on top of things, you can probably make it work.

This said, there's no reason why you can't get perfectly good grades - in my year a handful of people did 5 AS levels and I know of one person who got 5 As (I'm sure there were more but I honestly wouldn't know). The rest of us got through it but we were constantly talking to each other about how we regretted it because of the extra stress.
I did similar subjects to you (chem, maths, physics, a humanity - I also did bio but you're not taking it so it's not really relevant here haha). On the whole the subjects aren't too bad if you're keeping up with the workload and don't have any major problems with the content. AS chem was mostly just recall, which helped - although I think you'll be starting on a new specification and while I don't think it's hugely different, I'd take this with a pinch of salt :smile:

Physics was also similar in this respect, but there was a lot more calculation-based stuff which required practice. I think the main thing I struggled with was probably the clash between maths and an essay-based subject - maths is fairly demanding in that it requires a lot of practice questions to keep on top of it (I don't have much experience of FM but I'd imagine it's more of the same). This on top of practice essays (because humanities are more qualitative there seems to be a lot more to learn and remember, but when it comes to the exam you can get through it without going into so much detail) meant I was kind of swamped in my free time, but again - this is just my experience, if you think you can handle it then by all means go for it.

All in all it's still up to you - I wouldn't underestimate A levels but if you put the work in and make sure you're understanding the material you'll be just fine. You definitely sound like you're willing to do the former - part of my problem was the fact I struggled to do this for various reasons. Like a couple of people have said, you don't need to do 5 - but if you still want to you can always go ahead with doing all of them for the first few weeks and seeing how it goes (bearing in mind that the workload will increase by quite a lot over the year). If you find it's too much, drop one subject there and then and continue with 4. Weigh everything up and go with what you feel would be best :smile:

Sorry for the essay, but hopefully it helps!

Reply 17

Andy98

20

And these threads are the ones that make me feel worthless; I can't cope with 3 A-Levels.

Reply 18

Tootles

Original post by QuibblerWaffle

Hey

I've chosen my A level subjects and was thinking of taking the following:
Maths
Chemistry
Physics
Further maths
Philosophy
I might end up doing an EPQ in Computer Science

I am an aspiring Chemical Engineer and have high hopes for myself to study at either Cambridge or Imperial :awesome:

I will be dropping further maths and philosophy at A2.

Is the workload of 5 AS subjects too much to cope with?
Will I have a lot of free periods, if any at all?
Will I have time for a social life :frown:

?

I understand there's this whole concept of "it's better to achieve 4A's than 2A's and 3B's" but I know I can do well. I plan on going over briefly all of my subjects during the summer holidays and doing revision regularly (not just because I'll have to but genuinely because I really like learning). When I first made the decision I was thrilled and excited to get GCSE's over and done with but now I feel like I've made the wrong choice and possibly underestimated a-levels? It'd be great to hear some stories of how well people have coped/coping with 5 a-levels or with any of the subjects I've chosen above.

Thanks in advance :cute:

Study only the subjects which will help you advance academically, not the ones which you want to do for their own sake. That way you've got time to work toward getting into uni, and you've got time for studying the subjects you want to just enjoy studying in your own way and at your own pace. Not only that, but studying things you like just because you like them, in an academic setting, is a surefire way to put you off for life.

Reply 19

Kevin De Bruyne