3 or 4 A levels?
For A levels I want to take:
Maths, Further Maths, Physics and History.
How hard are 4 A levels? Some people tell me to do them and others say to not do them. At the school i want to go to, further maths has to be taken as a 4th subject and you are not allowed to drop subjects at the end of year 12.
These are my GCSE predicted grades:
English Language: 7
English lit: 8
Maths: 9
Further Maths: A^
Physics: 8
Biology: 7
Chemistry: 7
Drama: 8
Business and Economics: A*
Computer Science: 7
History: 7
Thanks for the advice.
Maths, Further Maths, Physics and History.
How hard are 4 A levels? Some people tell me to do them and others say to not do them. At the school i want to go to, further maths has to be taken as a 4th subject and you are not allowed to drop subjects at the end of year 12.
These are my GCSE predicted grades:
English Language: 7
English lit: 8
Maths: 9
Further Maths: A^
Physics: 8
Biology: 7
Chemistry: 7
Drama: 8
Business and Economics: A*
Computer Science: 7
History: 7
Thanks for the advice.
I personally do 5 A levels, which are maths, further maths, physics, chemistry and economics and so far find it very manageable(Im in year 12), so I would say that if you personally feel confident with your 4 A level choices then you should go ahead and do it. It is true that universities often only look at your first three a levels, but if you really enjoy maths I would take further maths, plus your A^ in FM gcse and 9 in maths show that you are clearly capable.
That's a good mix and it'll be perfectly manageable if you're interested in the subjects! The knowledge and practice you get from further maths make maths easier as well, so it won't be quite as difficult as four completely different subjects.
Just tagging in @_gcx since he does those exact four subjects
Just tagging in @_gcx since he does those exact four subjects
can't really give a "proper" reflection on the workload because I've self-studied a "significant" proportion of maths/fm a-level.
Maths and further maths tend to merge into one when studied in parallel, which is probably why some view it as being more comparable to the workload of 3 A-levels. Granted, fm makes "single" maths seem far easier by comparison; by the time you've finished fm at the end of y13, the pure portion of single maths in particular will be a doddle, especially so if you're planning on studying for STEP/similar.
Physics is the option I'm not really enjoying at the moment. I wasn't sure at the time of picking it, I only did it because it complemented maths well, but on reflection I should have erred on the side of caution and maybe picked another writing subject or chemistry, perhaps. Few people I know enjoy physics at the moment, so do think about this, but don't let me dissuade you if you're sure.
History works well particularly well with maths/fm and physics in my opinion. For someone who wants to take maths or a related field further, but doesn't want to go overboard taking another heavily theoretical A-level, and has a talent for writing, it's a pretty decent choice. English literature would also work well. Your predicted grades suggest that you probably fall in this category. You might want to look up the period of history studied by your school.
As to whether you should do 4 A-levels, echoing what sonya says above, if you're interested there isn't much harm. It's always nice to have a fallback if one of your A-levels don't quite go as planned.
Maths and further maths tend to merge into one when studied in parallel, which is probably why some view it as being more comparable to the workload of 3 A-levels. Granted, fm makes "single" maths seem far easier by comparison; by the time you've finished fm at the end of y13, the pure portion of single maths in particular will be a doddle, especially so if you're planning on studying for STEP/similar.
Physics is the option I'm not really enjoying at the moment. I wasn't sure at the time of picking it, I only did it because it complemented maths well, but on reflection I should have erred on the side of caution and maybe picked another writing subject or chemistry, perhaps. Few people I know enjoy physics at the moment, so do think about this, but don't let me dissuade you if you're sure.
History works well particularly well with maths/fm and physics in my opinion. For someone who wants to take maths or a related field further, but doesn't want to go overboard taking another heavily theoretical A-level, and has a talent for writing, it's a pretty decent choice. English literature would also work well. Your predicted grades suggest that you probably fall in this category. You might want to look up the period of history studied by your school.
As to whether you should do 4 A-levels, echoing what sonya says above, if you're interested there isn't much harm. It's always nice to have a fallback if one of your A-levels don't quite go as planned.
I do not take History, morerather your 3 subjects, with Chemistry and CompSci (Self-studied), on top.
I would say, if you're predicted an A^ in Further Mathematics GCSE, you are more than capable of handling the demands of A Level Single Mathematics, and as someone who, from the looks of it, likes to challenge themselves and take it one step further than the norm (i.e your taking of FM GCSE), I feel that you possess the capabilities and satisfy the prerequisites to take FM A Level, it is by no means an easy A Level, but if you're getting predicted 9s and A^s at GCSE, it sounds like there's nothing to worry about on this front, if you enjoy Mathematics or seek to enter any field of Mathematics, I'd highly suggest it, it's fun.
Physics, on the other hand, is more of a love it or hate it ordeal at AS Level. The first thing you will say is that the AS course is quite dry, that's what I said at first, but as you advance through the modules they not only improve in rigour but they also delve into more interesting content, our class recently finished the 'Quantum Physics' Module, looking at Quantum Theory, and various hypotheses and fun equations. My personal favourite was the Electricity Module, but each to their own. A2 Physics is certainly more rigorous, and has all the big name topics, Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, you name it.
May I be the first to say that you will rarely feel the weight of 4 subjects including FM being 4, it feels more like 3, and I'll explain why.
1) Your school's FM policy may vary, they may want you do take Single Mathematics AS and A2 in the first year, so you will only really be doing Single for the whole year, and then Further in the next. Please check with your prospective sixth form's mathematics department to find out more about their policies, the policy for my school was to finish AS Mathematics in the first 2 months, and then do AS Further Mathematics for the rest of Y12.
2) The policy may be to teach it in parallel, do not worry, AS Further Mathematics is designed to be no harder than AS Mathematics content wise, their difference is the content delivered is much, much different. When I began AS Further Mathematics, it was when I was still finishing AS Mathematics applied (Stats and Mechanics), and more often than not, it felt merged into one subject.
I would say, if you're predicted an A^ in Further Mathematics GCSE, you are more than capable of handling the demands of A Level Single Mathematics, and as someone who, from the looks of it, likes to challenge themselves and take it one step further than the norm (i.e your taking of FM GCSE), I feel that you possess the capabilities and satisfy the prerequisites to take FM A Level, it is by no means an easy A Level, but if you're getting predicted 9s and A^s at GCSE, it sounds like there's nothing to worry about on this front, if you enjoy Mathematics or seek to enter any field of Mathematics, I'd highly suggest it, it's fun.
Physics, on the other hand, is more of a love it or hate it ordeal at AS Level. The first thing you will say is that the AS course is quite dry, that's what I said at first, but as you advance through the modules they not only improve in rigour but they also delve into more interesting content, our class recently finished the 'Quantum Physics' Module, looking at Quantum Theory, and various hypotheses and fun equations. My personal favourite was the Electricity Module, but each to their own. A2 Physics is certainly more rigorous, and has all the big name topics, Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, you name it.
May I be the first to say that you will rarely feel the weight of 4 subjects including FM being 4, it feels more like 3, and I'll explain why.
1) Your school's FM policy may vary, they may want you do take Single Mathematics AS and A2 in the first year, so you will only really be doing Single for the whole year, and then Further in the next. Please check with your prospective sixth form's mathematics department to find out more about their policies, the policy for my school was to finish AS Mathematics in the first 2 months, and then do AS Further Mathematics for the rest of Y12.
2) The policy may be to teach it in parallel, do not worry, AS Further Mathematics is designed to be no harder than AS Mathematics content wise, their difference is the content delivered is much, much different. When I began AS Further Mathematics, it was when I was still finishing AS Mathematics applied (Stats and Mechanics), and more often than not, it felt merged into one subject.
Original post by AryanGh
I do not take History, morerather your 3 subjects, with Chemistry and CompSci (Self-studied), on top.
I would say, if you're predicted an A^ in Further Mathematics GCSE, you are more than capable of handling the demands of A Level Single Mathematics, and as someone who, from the looks of it, likes to challenge themselves and take it one step further than the norm (i.e your taking of FM GCSE), I feel that you possess the capabilities and satisfy the prerequisites to take FM A Level, it is by no means an easy A Level, but if you're getting predicted 9s and A^s at GCSE, it sounds like there's nothing to worry about on this front, if you enjoy Mathematics or seek to enter any field of Mathematics, I'd highly suggest it, it's fun.
Physics, on the other hand, is more of a love it or hate it ordeal at AS Level. The first thing you will say is that the AS course is quite dry, that's what I said at first, but as you advance through the modules they not only improve in rigour but they also delve into more interesting content, our class recently finished the 'Quantum Physics' Module, looking at Quantum Theory, and various hypotheses and fun equations. My personal favourite was the Electricity Module, but each to their own. A2 Physics is certainly more rigorous, and has all the big name topics, Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, you name it.
May I be the first to say that you will rarely feel the weight of 4 subjects including FM being 4, it feels more like 3, and I'll explain why.
1) Your school's FM policy may vary, they may want you do take Single Mathematics AS and A2 in the first year, so you will only really be doing Single for the whole year, and then Further in the next. Please check with your prospective sixth form's mathematics department to find out more about their policies, the policy for my school was to finish AS Mathematics in the first 2 months, and then do AS Further Mathematics for the rest of Y12.
2) The policy may be to teach it in parallel, do not worry, AS Further Mathematics is designed to be no harder than AS Mathematics content wise, their difference is the content delivered is much, much different. When I began AS Further Mathematics, it was when I was still finishing AS Mathematics applied (Stats and Mechanics), and more often than not, it felt merged into one subject.
I would say, if you're predicted an A^ in Further Mathematics GCSE, you are more than capable of handling the demands of A Level Single Mathematics, and as someone who, from the looks of it, likes to challenge themselves and take it one step further than the norm (i.e your taking of FM GCSE), I feel that you possess the capabilities and satisfy the prerequisites to take FM A Level, it is by no means an easy A Level, but if you're getting predicted 9s and A^s at GCSE, it sounds like there's nothing to worry about on this front, if you enjoy Mathematics or seek to enter any field of Mathematics, I'd highly suggest it, it's fun.
Physics, on the other hand, is more of a love it or hate it ordeal at AS Level. The first thing you will say is that the AS course is quite dry, that's what I said at first, but as you advance through the modules they not only improve in rigour but they also delve into more interesting content, our class recently finished the 'Quantum Physics' Module, looking at Quantum Theory, and various hypotheses and fun equations. My personal favourite was the Electricity Module, but each to their own. A2 Physics is certainly more rigorous, and has all the big name topics, Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, you name it.
May I be the first to say that you will rarely feel the weight of 4 subjects including FM being 4, it feels more like 3, and I'll explain why.
1) Your school's FM policy may vary, they may want you do take Single Mathematics AS and A2 in the first year, so you will only really be doing Single for the whole year, and then Further in the next. Please check with your prospective sixth form's mathematics department to find out more about their policies, the policy for my school was to finish AS Mathematics in the first 2 months, and then do AS Further Mathematics for the rest of Y12.
2) The policy may be to teach it in parallel, do not worry, AS Further Mathematics is designed to be no harder than AS Mathematics content wise, their difference is the content delivered is much, much different. When I began AS Further Mathematics, it was when I was still finishing AS Mathematics applied (Stats and Mechanics), and more often than not, it felt merged into one subject.
Yeah at my school, A level Further Mathematics can only be taken with A level Mathematics.
Original post by ayesha11012
For A levels I want to take:
Maths, Further Maths, Physics and History.
How hard are 4 A levels? Some people tell me to do them and others say to not do them. At the school i want to go to, further maths has to be taken as a 4th subject and you are not allowed to drop subjects at the end of year 12.
These are my GCSE predicted grades:
English Language: 7
English lit: 8
Maths: 9
Further Maths: A^
Physics: 8
Biology: 7
Chemistry: 7
Drama: 8
Business and Economics: A*
Computer Science: 7
History: 7
Thanks for the advice.
Maths, Further Maths, Physics and History.
How hard are 4 A levels? Some people tell me to do them and others say to not do them. At the school i want to go to, further maths has to be taken as a 4th subject and you are not allowed to drop subjects at the end of year 12.
These are my GCSE predicted grades:
English Language: 7
English lit: 8
Maths: 9
Further Maths: A^
Physics: 8
Biology: 7
Chemistry: 7
Drama: 8
Business and Economics: A*
Computer Science: 7
History: 7
Thanks for the advice.
I would go to 3, I started off with 5 and regretted it, but I could go down to 3. You only need 3 for university and you have a better chance of acing 3. A*A*A* is better than A*A*AA etc.
All the best
Original post by Chichaldo
I would go to 3, I started off with 5 and regretted it, but I could go down to 3. You only need 3 for university and you have a better chance of acing 3. A*A*A* is better than A*A*AA etc.
All the best
All the best
the problem is that i want to go into the maths/physics field and to do maths at university, majority say further maths is required but at the college i want to go to, i have to do 4 a levels all the way.
Thanks for the help though.
Original post by ayesha11012
the problem is that i want to go into the maths/physics field and to do maths at university, majority say further maths is required but at the college i want to go to, i have to do 4 a levels all the way.
Thanks for the help though.
Thanks for the help though.
Maths, Further Maths and Physics is like the standard combo for ppl who wants to do highly mathematical degrees at uni (Maths/Physics/Engineering etc) so you have made a smart choice.
I have slight doubts in History though, it's a completely contradictory subject to the other three you have chosen, very essay-based and no numbers are involved. So the question is how confident are you in, or how much do you like History?
I think Chemistry, Computer Science or Economics will complement your other 3 choices better if a 4th subject has to be taken, but again it all depends on your personal interest.
History seems a bit of an odd option, and might require a bit more work due to the different nature of the course than another STEM subject, but it's perfectly fine if you're good at it. As above, the double maths and physics combination is pretty standard.
I’ve chosen history because I love it and it sort of gives me a ‘break’ from the other subjects. It also keeps other doors open for me like law, politics, journalism etc. I have considered taking chemistry but I am not sure. I hate computer science at gcse so there’s no way I’m continuing with that. And economics seem a bit boring to me.
(edited 6 years ago)
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