Harris Westminster Opinions ?

You know Mr. Handscombe said to me on the open evening that they might scrap Saturday school? Hopefully they do

Do you think that they may try and sugarcoat it in the interview and play it down a bit? Schools nowadays are kinda run like businesses. I don't think they would tell the truth. There should still be students around at the time, so it could be better to ask a student in the school.

1. They have Saturday school which is entirely unnecessary even if you are aiming for top grades
2. They force you to do 4 A Levels and won't let you drop any unless you get to the point where you're on Us the entire time - this happened to someone I know. And the worst thing is they don't do AS grades so you have nothing to show for your efforts
3. They do the hardest exam boards for no real purpose. At the end of the day, you want to get the best grades. I understand you may want to challenge yourself, but you can do that without risking your grades. (And who on earth does course work for maths???)
4. You don't have to go to HW to get 3/4 A*. I abondoned it and chose a normal state school over it. I left coming in the top 1% in terms of A Level results. Some people say that going to HW makes your uni application more 'impressive' but this isn't true - they accept students based on the individual, not their school.

Basically, I had a feeling that I would fail if I went there and I think I was right. I took physics as one of my options but it was honestly the hardest thing I've ever had to endure with to date. I managed to scrape an A in AS and then dropped it. If I had gone to HW, I would not have been able to drop it and would have gotten a rubbish A Level result with nothing to prove that A in the year before - it also could have affected my other results.

Obviously, everyone is different so you could end up thriving and loving it. But it's something to bear in mind - especially considering this is coming from someone who was besotted with HW right up until results day

Coursework in maths?!?! That seems pointless. Is that an old spec thing?

1. They have Saturday school which is entirely unnecessary even if you are aiming for top grades
2. They force you to do 4 A Levels and won't let you drop any unless you get to the point where you're on Us the entire time - this happened to someone I know. And the worst thing is they don't do AS grades so you have nothing to show for your efforts
3. They do the hardest exam boards for no real purpose. At the end of the day, you want to get the best grades. I understand you may want to challenge yourself, but you can do that without risking your grades. (And who on earth does course work for maths???)
4. You don't have to go to HW to get 3/4 A*. I abondoned it and chose a normal state school over it. I left coming in the top 1% in terms of A Level results. Some people say that going to HW makes your uni application more 'impressive' but this isn't true - they accept students based on the individual, not their school.

Basically, I had a feeling that I would fail if I went there and I think I was right. I took physics as one of my options but it was honestly the hardest thing I've ever had to endure with to date. I managed to scrape an A in AS and then dropped it. If I had gone to HW, I would not have been able to drop it and would have gotten a rubbish A Level result with nothing to prove that A in the year before - it also could have affected my other results.

Obviously, everyone is different so you could end up thriving and loving it. But it's something to bear in mind - especially considering this is coming from someone who was besotted with HW right up until results day

Well... we'll have to:

a) Implicitly ask to see if we can catch them out

or

b) Show them the TSR reviews and see what they say

What do you think?

Coursework in maths?!?! That seems pointless. Is that an old spec thing?

Option B seems to be easier as they cannot squirm their way out of that. A seems harder to execute. But B is a very good idea. I will try option B.

Tbh I'm not sure, my sciences were new spec but maths was still old spec. If you're considering HW, I would definitely enquire about this because they only told us this on their induction day in July.

Go for it! I wouldn't recommend showing them to your interview teachers, however - it might skew their opinion of you. Maybe show it to one of the current students or chaperones?

Thank you so much x that was really helpful. It’s always great to get the different points of views and opinions apart from the smiley faced compliments of the students at the open evenings x

So you did Maths, physics and what else at A-level? Thank you so much for telling us all of this stuff.

No problem, you should definitely consider them as they do get good results, but I just wanted to draw you attention (and others in your position) about some of the other aspects which aren't so obvious until hindsight.

Whatever you choose to do, good luck

OK! I'm doing Politics - it's a great opportunity for me to talk about how capitalism and socialism has affected our lives in modern-day England... (and maybe I'll add in some Donald Trump as well)

Welp! That does not sound good for me. I need to really do well in that interview and I wish you all the best of luck.

i suggest you mention something about the effect of both mainstream and non mainstream media sources on the general public~ shows you have wider knowledge ^.^

i suggest you mention something about the effect of both mainstream and non mainstream media sources on the general public~ shows you have wider knowledge ^.^

No problem, you should definitely consider them as they do get good results, but I just wanted to draw you attention (and others in your position) about some of the other aspects which aren't so obvious until hindsight.

Whatever you choose to do, good luck

Biology and chemistry are my other A Levels. Are you considering any of these at all?

All of them really