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Picking 4 A Levels

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So pretty tough subjects then. Well, you have definitely reassured me so thanks a bunch!
Original post by hamzakalinle
Bio,Chem,Spanish,History and General studies.
GS is an actual A Level but I should have probably said 4 + general studies regardless lol.
and don't worry you're welcome!
Original post by Lisa.Williams
Wow! That's a lot more than I thought (which is a good thing). Thanks! :smile:


It depends on the school, I did 4AS levels and had 6 periods of 45minutes free per week
Also don't worry about workload my school set us 20hours of hwk a week on top of my revision, and it was all good. Just put in the work and have an interest in your subjects :tongue:
So it is manageable. Even in secondary school, i did 2 hours of studying every night just to get ahead so i'm a pretty hard worker. None of my A Levels are continuations from my GCSE subjects but i enjoyed them on the preview days. Hopefully, i'll have a huge passion for all of them. Thanks for your reassuring replies - honestly does mean a lot! :h:
Original post by SuperHuman98
Also don't worry about workload my school set us 20hours of hwk a week on top of my revision, and it was all good. Just put in the work and have an interest in your subjects :tongue:
Reply 24
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Doones
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I don't know if this has already been asked but which 4 A-levels are you considering and for which course at university?

Just because it's "manageable" doesn't make it a good idea. No university course requires 4 A-levels and all universities will prefer you to do well in 3 than less well in 4. A*AA is better than A*ABC...
Hello, the courses I'll be taking are: accounting, business studies, economics and government and politics. I'd like to do some form of degree based on my A Level choices but so far don't know which subject I will be most passionate about.

Also, you're not the first person to bring up the issue with the grades but I have thought long and hard about my decision and it's final. Thank you for your concern and I fully understand where you are coming from. Truth is, I'm a bit of a nerd and have a real passion for learning and working hard so I sincerely think that I'll enjoy the challenge.:colondollar:
Original post by Doonesbury
I don't know if this has already been asked but which 4 A-levels are you considering and for which course at university?

Just because it's "manageable" doesn't make it a good idea. No university course requires 4 A-levels and all universities will prefer you to do well in 3 than less well in 4. A*AA is better than A*ABC...
Reply 26
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Original post by Lisa.Williams
Hello, the courses I'll be taking are: accounting, business studies, economics and government and politics. I'd like to do some form of degree based on my A Level choices but so far don't know which subject I will be most passionate about.

Also, you're not the first person to bring up the issue with the grades but I have thought long and hard about my decision and it's final. Thank you for your concern and I fully understand where you are coming from. Truth is, I'm a bit of a nerd and have a real passion for learning and working hard so I sincerely think that I'll enjoy the challenge.:colondollar:


You have a LOT of crossover with those choices. I'd strongly recommend dropping Accounting, and considering Maths instead.

For example, if you wanted to do Economics at university Maths will be much more useful (and is required by some universities).

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I absolutely agree with the crossover thing and the maths. Unfortunately, I simply cannot do maths for the life of me. I've looked at some universities and luckily there is one which doesn't require maths for economics. Honestly, if i could do maths, i'd probably drop business studies as that's quite vague but maths would actually depress me at A Level because i simply can't stand it.

You got it bang on though with the economics thing. Do you study it?
Original post by Doonesbury
You have a LOT of crossover with those choices. I'd strongly recommend dropping Accounting, and considering Maths instead.

For example, if you wanted to do Economics at university Maths will be much more useful (and is required by some universities).

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Reply 28
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Original post by Lisa.Williams
You got it bang on though with the economics thing. Do you study it?


Nope. Just a helper on here...

And don't you think there's some reason why many are advising against doing 4 A-levels? :wink:

Especially with linear A-levels you will be revising 2 years worth of work across 4 subjects for your Year 13 exams.

Previously you would know you had already banked half your marks after AS. This is no longer the situation.

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(edited 6 years ago)
Hahaha! Yeah but I'm a stubborn one! :tongue:
Original post by Doonesbury
Nope. Just a helper on here...

And don't you think there's some reason why many are advising against doing 4 A-levels? :wink:

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Reply 30
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Original post by Lisa.Williams
Hahaha! Yeah but I'm a stubborn one! :tongue:


See my edit. Being stubborn is a perfectly good idea, when it's a good idea...

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I fully understand. Are all A Levels affected by this? I'm sure that it's just accounting and government and politics, however, I'm also sure that I read somewhere that the A Levels on the older course still do AS exams but the marks achieved don't go towards your overall A Level grade. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?
Original post by Doonesbury
See my edit. Being stubborn is a perfectly good idea, when it's a good idea...

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Reply 32
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Original post by Lisa.Williams
I fully understand. Are all A Levels affected by this? I'm sure that it's just accounting and government and politics, however, I'm also sure that I read somewhere that the A Levels on the older course still do AS exams but the marks achieved don't go towards your overall A Level grade. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?


Assuming you aren't doing WJEC or CCEA, Business Studies and also Economics have been linear since Sept 2015. Accounting and Gov & Pol will be linear in Sept 2017.

So this means the ASs are optional (depending on your school policy) and don't count towards the final A-level for any of your subjects.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-the-facts-gcse-and-a-level-reform/get-the-facts-as-and-a-level-reform#timetable
Original post by Lisa.Williams
Hello,

I was wandering how many free periods people who have chosen 4 A Levels typically have in a day/week since I will be choosing to study 4.

Also, how many lessons of each subject you have in one week.

Thank you!


My school has a 6 period day and I think only had around 4 free periods a week. That being said, my timetable would also be filled up with some periods of things like tutorial and careers which we are made to do. Still, those 4 periods really felt like nothing and I found myself doing work in every free period throughout my year due to such a heavy workload whilst some of my friends who did 3 were able to sit out and talk during them haha. What A-levels are you planning to do?
Oh right. Thanks for the info - you've been a great help!
Original post by Doonesbury
Assuming you aren't doing WJEC or CCEA, Business Studies and also Economics have been linear since Sept 2015. Accounting and Gov & Pol will be linear in Sept 2017.

So this means the ASs are optional (depending on your school policy) and don't count towards the final A-level for any of your subjects.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-the-facts-gcse-and-a-level-reform/get-the-facts-as-and-a-level-reform#timetable
Wow! It's funny how varied people's timetables are!

I'll be doing accounting, business studies, government and politics and economics. How about you?
Original post by illmatics
My school has a 6 period day and I think only had around 4 free periods a week. That being said, my timetable would also be filled up with some periods of things like tutorial and careers which we are made to do. Still, those 4 periods really felt like nothing and I found myself doing work in every free period throughout my year due to such a heavy workload whilst some of my friends who did 3 were able to sit out and talk during them haha. What A-levels are you planning to do?
Original post by Lisa.Williams
Wow! It's funny how varied people's timetables are!

I'll be doing accounting, business studies, government and politics and economics. How about you?


I did gov & politics and business studies too! I also did english lit and history. If you're going to do 4 AS subjects my best advice, from experience, would be to keep on top of it from the beginning! I know that sounds so cliché but I found doing 4 quite stressful at times even though I believed I had stayed on top of everything from the beginning, so god knows what it would have been like if I hadn't. That's not to scare you though, doing 4 subjects is great and I'm sure you'll enjoy gov & politics and business as much as I did :smile:
That's great! Yeah, i've already planned my revision techniques by bringing forward experience from my gcse's.

Thank you for the support - it's extremely reassuring...
Original post by illmatics
I did gov & politics and business studies too! I also did english lit and history. If you're going to do 4 AS subjects my best advice, from experience, would be to keep on top of it from the beginning! I know that sounds so cliché but I found doing 4 quite stressful at times even though I believed I had stayed on top of everything from the beginning, so god knows what it would have been like if I hadn't. That's not to scare you though, doing 4 subjects is great and I'm sure you'll enjoy gov & politics and business as much as I did :smile:
Reply 38
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Original post by illmatics
I did gov & politics and business studies too! I also did english lit and history. If you're going to do 4 AS subjects my best advice, from experience, would be to keep on top of it from the beginning! I know that sounds so cliché but I found doing 4 quite stressful at times even though I believed I had stayed on top of everything from the beginning, so god knows what it would have been like if I hadn't. That's not to scare you though, doing 4 subjects is great and I'm sure you'll enjoy gov & politics and business as much as I did :smile:


Just to remind the OP, presumably this would have been before the A-level reforms...

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(edited 6 years ago)

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