S6 Subject Advice Needed!

Hi everyone, I’m just as the stage of selecting my S6 Subjects for next year. This year I’m sitting Maths/English/Physics/Chemistry/Biology and Geography at Higher with the aim of getting 6As and applying for medicine. Is doing Advanced Higher Chemistry, Advanced Higher Physics and Crash Higher PE suitable for next year? Or would I be better doing another AH or a harder crash Higher ahead of potential Medicine offers? Anyone advice would be much appreciated!

Reply 1

scottishst25

15

That should be perfectly fine as Scottish universities usually ask for either 3 advanced highers or two advanced highers and a higher with no subject requirements for S6 Studies. However English universities tend to prefer 3 advanced highers so if you are wanting to apply to English unis you might be better off doing 3 advanced highers instead. Hope this helps.

Reply 2

goldilocks12

19

Three advanced Highers would be really beneficial for a medicine application. Maths or biology would probably be the best option because they are more likely to be used in the course than PE. Maybe check out some uni websites, some have ‘recommended’ subjects as well as requirements

OP

Thanks a lot

OP

Hi everyone. I’m currently in 5th Year studying Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics at Higher with the intention of doing Medicine. I’m at the stage of selecting my subjects for sixth year and I am planning to do Advanced Higher Chemistry, Advanced Higher Physics and Crash Higher PE. Is this suitable for medicine or would I be better doing 3AH or a harder Crash Higher? I’ve also heard that you need AH Biology for medicine and I was wondering if the legitimacy of that? Anyone’s help/advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Original post by Andrew.Macleod7

Hi everyone. I’m currently in 5th Year studying Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics at Higher with the intention of doing Medicine. I’m at the stage of selecting my subjects for sixth year and I am planning to do Advanced Higher Chemistry, Advanced Higher Physics and Crash Higher PE. Is this suitable for medicine or would I be better doing 3AH or a harder Crash Higher? I’ve also heard that you need AH Biology for medicine and I was wondering if the legitimacy of that? Anyone’s help/advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I've merged this into your existing thread- please don't keep making duplicates. Thanks :smile:

To answer your question about biology though, certainly Glasgow and Edinburgh don't require it (there are only 5 unis in Scotland that do medicine, the others being Dundee, St Andrews and Aberdeen so these can easily be checked with the online entry requirements).
If you want to go to uni in England, you'll need to check the individual unis to see whether they specify subjects, but they usually need 3 AHs.

Hope this helps :smile:

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 6

Andrew.Macleod7

OP

12

Ok thank you very much! Sorry about the duplicates, I’ve only just downloaded student room so I’m not especially familiar with how to use it.

Original post by Andrew.Macleod7

Ok thank you very much! Sorry about the duplicates, I’ve only just downloaded student room so I’m not especially familiar with how to use it.

That's okay! Happy to help if you're not sure about how to do anything! :smile:

Reply 8

Bio 7

21

I would think doing AH Biology would be useful for doing medicine. Surely it makes more sense than choosing PE, which is always a waste of time.

Reply 9

username4176136

8

I’m only doing five highers, how did you get six?

Reply 10

Andrew.Macleod7

OP

12

For some reason everyone at my school ( Linlithgow Academy ) does six, not sure why.

Original post by Gatonolixo

I’m only doing five highers, how did you get six?

In some schools you do 6 subjects in S5. Some people will also do an extra one either by self studying or by doing an evening course at a college. :smile:

Reply 12

Quick-use

20

Original post by Andrew.Macleod7

For some reason everyone at my school ( Linlithgow Academy ) does six, not sure why.

Hey, I was under the impression that for Medicine you need both AH Biology and Chemistry alongside a third AH in any subject. I'm not sure but maybe you should double check this. Which universities will you be applying to?

Reply 13

Jaden _L

12

Hi, I am a medical applicant too, firmed my offer for Glasgow. For fifth year I did the same subject as you apart from geography, I chose mandarin instead, and this year I picked ADVH math, mandarin, chemistry, biology and H Admin. Yes, Unis don't specify which subject, but obviously, Biology and Chemistry is more relevant and beneficial, but biology is the hardest advanced higher btw the banding are dropped like 10% than normal, eg pass mark was like 40%. A friend of mine chose ADVH math, mandarin, biology, chemistry physics and computing, yes SIX ADVH, and doing the project work is crazy for him.

Reply 14

Jaden _L

12

Also by the way, check each unis websites eg Glasgow wanted AB at ADVH and B in H, so crashing PE, you need at least a B and getting an A in ADVH means harder work. But in my school there's, people still getting straight A's in ADVH so...

Reply 15

Andrew.Macleod7

OP

12

Yeah I was really stuck between doing 3 AHs - Chemistry, Biology and Physics or doing 2 AHs ( Chemistry and Physics as they’re my 2 best subjects ) and Crash Higher PE, however in the end I went for the 2AH and PE as I thought if you don’t need 3 AH, then I might be making it too hard for myself, although I’m not fully decided so may still change. I plan to apply to Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Do you guys think I’d be better doing the 3AHs with AH biology? Responses appreciated!

Reply 16

Quick-use

20

Original post by Andrew.Macleod7

Yeah I was really stuck between doing 3 AHs - Chemistry, Biology and Physics or doing 2 AHs ( Chemistry and Physics as they’re my 2 best subjects ) and Crash Higher PE, however in the end I went for the 2AH and PE as I thought if you don’t need 3 AH, then I might be making it too hard for myself, although I’m not fully decided so may still change. I plan to apply to Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Do you guys think I’d be better doing the 3AHs with AH biology? Responses appreciated!

If you don't mind me asking, do the students from your school generally attain high marks?

If you go to a school that does exceptionally well academically, then they may question why you've chosen to only do 3 subjects and even then with them being 2 AHs and 1 Higher. However, if your school is average or below average, they'll be more understanding and give you the benefit of the doubt.

Competition for Medicine is extremely tough and although you necessarily don't need more than their minimum requirements, they may wonder why you've potentially opted for an easy final year while so many other applicants haven't. This is all speculation, however.

Reply 17

Andrew.Macleod7

OP

12

My school isn’t exceptionally good, although there are numerous people like me who are 6A candidates. My main reasoning for not doing the 3AH is that I’m planning to be quite busy next year outside of my subjects ( working, volunteering, roles in school, extracurricular activities) and I was concerned that if I did 3 AH in addition to that it might make it too difficult for me to ensure I get good marks in my AH. Although saying that, I really have little idea of how much harder AHs are compared to Highers, cause I have managed 6 Highers fine this year.

Reply 18

AzureCeleste

20

Original post by Andrew.Macleod7

Yeah I was really stuck between doing 3 AHs - Chemistry, Biology and Physics or doing 2 AHs ( Chemistry and Physics as they’re my 2 best subjects ) and Crash Higher PE, however in the end I went for the 2AH and PE as I thought if you don’t need 3 AH, then I might be making it too hard for myself, although I’m not fully decided so may still change. I plan to apply to Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Do you guys think I’d be better doing the 3AHs with AH biology? Responses appreciated!

Biology is the preferred subject.
Nothing wrong with what you have but quite a bit of medicine is quite biology based
Make sure the unis will accept your choices without biology