Our son is aiming for Computer Science at Cambridge.
He has an unusual history (for various reasons but not "extenuating circumstances") and took his exams young, over a couple of years, and in a bit of a strange order. His GCSE grades are eclectic (including Bs and Cs) but the ones that matter are good: Maths A*, Chemistry A*, Physics A.
This past year he did all of A-level Maths (A*, UMS 96), the first year of A-level physics (A), and several GCSEs. Next year he will take Further Maths A-level, Physics A2, and what used to be Chemistry AS (and is now just the first year of Chemistry A-level).
He will apply post-results and will have Maths, Further Maths and Physics A-levels, and that first-year-of-Chemistry. He has interesting supercurriculars and we're hopeful for him.
During his application year, he is interested in doing an industry placement and has good chances at some relevant and challenging work. Our concern is whether he should pursue any more academic work that year as well or instead.
1) Will it be all right to have only that first year of chemistry, or would it be a better idea for him to complete the chemistry A-level during his gap year alongside or perhaps at the expense of a full-time industry placement?
2) We understand that universities like to see that students have taken their three or more A-levels the same year, to give an indication of their ability to manage course load. He will have not done precisely that, but will have done something perhaps equivalent enough (Maths A2, Physics-first-year + 3 GCSEs last year/FM A2, Physics A2, Chemistry-first-year this coming year). That means he'll have one A2 result (Maths) from 2016 and two A2 results (FM, Physics) from 2017. Is that likely to be seen as acceptable, given that he had other courses at the same time, just not all A2 courses?
Thanks very much for any guidance, and for all of your participation here :-)