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Is doing 4 A-levels worth my time?

I literally don't know where to go with this issue. I know I'm only in the second week of college but should I do 4 A-levels? I love all of the subjects I'm doing but I feel so lost...I want to do Art so badly as a fourth and yet I don't know whether or not this is a good idea. I got A*s in all of these subjects at GCSE (Spanish, Art, English Combined and History) and generally find Spanish really easy/don't need to dedicate a lot of time to it, but I genuinely don't know whether I should do Art. I don't mind the work load (I had loads of frees doing three, and decided to do four instead) and I genuinely love and have a passion for all four subjects. Will doing four affect my grades a lot, or should I just not do Art? I'm scared I'm making the wrong decision! All my friends are doing four. I'm generally good at doing work and managing my time, so will doing four help or hinder me for getting into university? I need to know soon because I really don't want to waste my time on Art and not do it in Year 13. Should I just see how it goes or not bother? I'm really torn up...I don't want to have to give up Art. It's such a fun subject for me. I love all my others too.
You can do it and drop 1 subject at the end of AS since AS grade doesn't count anymore. :P
Original post by CallMeJamesss
You can do it and drop 1 subject at the end of AS since AS grade doesn't count anymore. :P

oh what do you mean AS grades don't matter anymore?
Don't bother with 4. Universities will simply ignore the 4th subject and it'll be a waste of your time (especially if you end up getting lower grades than expected). If you're really interested in studying a 4th, do it in your spare time as independent study. Admission teams will find it much more impressive if you tell them how you're reading about other subjects in your spare time all the while dedicating your school time to your main subjects. Prioritising is a very valuable skill that universities will respect.
Original post by aesthetic21
oh what do you mean AS grades don't matter anymore?

I don't know about art but in general, the new specification only considers grade from your A2 exam. Your AS exam result will only be used as a predicted grade. My college even does an internal exam for the first year of A-Level. If you want to confirm this, ask your teacher but I don't see any harm in taking 4 subjects on the first year since it will give you a better idea of what subject you wish to drop.
Original post by jupiterzhang
I literally don't know where to go with this issue. I know I'm only in the second week of college but should I do 4 A-levels? I love all of the subjects I'm doing but I feel so lost...I want to do Art so badly as a fourth and yet I don't know whether or not this is a good idea. I got A*s in all of these subjects at GCSE (Spanish, Art, English Combined and History) and generally find Spanish really easy/don't need to dedicate a lot of time to it, but I genuinely don't know whether I should do Art. I don't mind the work load (I had loads of frees doing three, and decided to do four instead) and I genuinely love and have a passion for all four subjects. Will doing four affect my grades a lot, or should I just not do Art? I'm scared I'm making the wrong decision! All my friends are doing four. I'm generally good at doing work and managing my time, so will doing four help or hinder me for getting into university? I need to know soon because I really don't want to waste my time on Art and not do it in Year 13. Should I just see how it goes or not bother? I'm really torn up...I don't want to have to give up Art. It's such a fun subject for me. I love all my others too.

Hi. I did Fine art for A-level, alongside History and English.
Please listen to my words: no matter how you try and divide your time equally Art will ALWAYS be there.

I've had a few friends attempts to do 4 a-levels and I promise you, you'd get more worthwhile grades focusing on 3.
I understand the attractiveness of doing 4 levels but as the school year progresses, it will be Christmas time and you'll struggle to manage 4.
I've also found may other people doing 4 alevels made the decision very naïvely, since they didn't really understand that 4 levels are not needed to get somewhere.

Of course its your own decision. But AS mean nothing now, and you need to focus on just doing alright on the 3 required A-levels.

I hope you make an informed decision. Best of luck
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Avatar for pollydee
pollydee
3
I might be biased but I did 4 and got A*AAA this year so it is doable. It really depends on whether you want perfect grades or not, as it is much harder to get 4A*s than it is 3. Also are you considering Oxbridge/Competitive courses? If you are then you need to be really confident you can get at least AAA in three of your four subjects. If you enjoy art and don't find it too stressful it could be a good fourth subject to do but bear in mind none of your subjects have any crossover (I did further maths which is the only reason I got an A* in single maths).

TLDR; do four, drop one if you decide it's too much.

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