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Taking 5 A-levels with no free periods

I am taking Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and English Literature, going into Year 12. Anyone who has also done 5 A-levels, what did you do? Did you drop one going into Year 13? Did you cut down on extracurricular activities? I really want to get this right.
Original post by thevoid265
I am taking Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and English Literature, going into Year 12. Anyone who has also done 5 A-levels, what did you do? Did you drop one going into Year 13? Did you cut down on extracurricular activities? I really want to get this right.


You crazy?! WTH!!

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Reply 2
Original post by fandom-queen
You crazy?! WTH!!

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Hey, thanks for replying. Unfortunately I can't really drop English, as I'm looking to apply to MIT and it is recommended I take 4 years of high-school English to apply there. I could potentially only do Further Maths as an AS, though. :/
Reply 3
I know a guy who took Maths, Chemistry, French, English Lit and Geography. He also worked from 6-10pm half of the week and still ended up with AAABB at AS. So yeah it's possible.
Original post by thevoid265
Hey, thanks for replying. Unfortunately I can't really drop English, as I'm looking to apply to MIT and it is recommended I take 4 years of high-school English to apply there. I could potentially only do Further Maths as an AS, though. :/


Yeah, understandable. You could drop further maths, but, tbh, I think you'd have a edge over other applicants if you kept it. MIT is fond of students with mathematical ability, no matter what the course, so, any chance you could drop any of the other one?

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Original post by thevoid265
I am taking Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and English Literature, going into Year 12. Anyone who has also done 5 A-levels, what did you do? Did you drop one going into Year 13? Did you cut down on extracurricular activities? I really want to get this right.


How did you do at GCSE? It's a pretty good indicator.
Reply 6
Original post by thevoid265
I am taking Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and English Literature, going into Year 12. Anyone who has also done 5 A-levels, what did you do? Did you drop one going into Year 13? Did you cut down on extracurricular activities? I really want to get this right.


I did more than 5 A-levels.... (see my profile). I think I did 5 AS and 2 A2 in Y12, then 5 A2, 2 AS and an EPQ in Y13 :tongue: And it was fine, and I had time to do extracurricular things 2 or 3 evenings each week and all day Saturday, and most weekday lunchtimes. :smile: I had plenty of free time in Y12, possibly it was a bit stressful getting all the work done in Y13. I tended to spend free time doing olympiad/Cambridge interview prep though.

If you're very good at maths and memorising things, then you may find maths, FM, physics and chemistry to not be particularly difficult, and only English lit is likely to be time-consuming of what you've listed.

Getting hold of say an AS chemistry and physics textbook and having a read through before the start of term may be helpful, and similarly before the start of Y13. Generally keep on top of work throughout the year, and then do lots of past papers before exams.

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Original post by thevoid265
I am taking Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and English Literature, going into Year 12. Anyone who has also done 5 A-levels, what did you do? Did you drop one going into Year 13? Did you cut down on extracurricular activities? I really want to get this right.

I took 5 subjects at my AS-Levels and I am continuing the same 5 subjects at my A-Level as well. I didn't feel like there was a need to cut back much on extracurricular activities or any competitions that came up. The only forthcoming issue I faced was that I'd chosen, Mathematics, Economics, Business, English Language and Accounting as my subjects and clearly 3/5 of the subjects were nothing but write-ups, analysis and essays so I had a terrible shortage of time trying to complete my work while Math and Accounting were calculations based(YAY!). And the results didn't end up too bad, I had AAABB(but I'm resitting the papers I got B's in).

Most importantly, don't feel too burdened like I felt at times because you'll hate seeing others have spare lessons everyday of the week because they only take 3 or 4 subjects at year 12 and year 13 while you have to make up extra time to cover the 5th subject.

As long as you've got good time management I think you'll be fine. Also, because you've chosen Math and Further Maths, they are likely to complement each other which would cut a bit of your workload. Physics and Chemistry, as long as you've taken them previously in your GCSE's, you can easily keep up with, as for English Literature.......invest in a trunkload of lined sheets. You'll need them.

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