4 A - Levels for medecine

Does doing 4 A-levels give you a better chance of getting into university for medecine? I'm doing biology, chemistry, psychology and maths at the moment but I'm thinking of dropping maths. All my teachers are trying to convince me to keep maths because apparently universites prefer it and your more likely to get in. Is this true? Can you guys please give me some advice Thank you.

Your teachers are wrong. They have no idea what they are talking about.

Reply 2

user993990

9

maths helps with the BMAT and UCAT i think - both test at a challenging maths level and its easier if you do maths

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 3

Honey57

17

Original post by user993990

maths helps with the BMAT and UCAT i think - both test at a challenging maths level and without it it's possible you could struggle

The maths alevel doesn’t help with the ucat, you just need simple gcse maths.

Reply 4

user993990

9

Original post by Honey57

The maths alevel doesn’t help with the ucat, you just need simple gcse maths.

yes obviously but if you havent done maths for 2 years its gonna be a bit harder

Reply 5

Sinnoh

22

The one instance where it would be helpful to keep maths would be if you were applying to Cambridge, because applicants with 2 science subjects (not counting psych) have much lower chances of getting an offer.

Reply 6

Jpw1097

19

Original post by student12349_

Does doing 4 A-levels give you a better chance of getting into university for medecine? I'm doing biology, chemistry, psychology and maths at the moment but I'm thinking of dropping maths. All my teachers are trying to convince me to keep maths because apparently universites prefer it and your more likely to get in. Is this true? Can you guys please give me some advice Thank you.

Nope, 4 A levels doesn’t help one bit.

Reply 7

Honey57

17

Original post by user993990

yes obviously but if you havent done maths for 2 years its gonna be a bit harder

Not really but ok

Original post by student12349_

Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate it a lot. So if I do Bio, chem and psychology and get a good ucat score and get a bit of work experience do I have the same chance of getting into medicine as I do if I do 4-alevels (maths being the 4th one). My teachers told me that maths is a more academic subject so it will be valued more than psychology but I enjoy psychology a lot more. I checked University websites and most only require biology and chemistry so would it make a difference?

did these comments just go into one of your ears and out of the other?

Reply 9

user993990

9

Original post by Honey57

Not really but ok

yes really. if someone doesnt practice something for 2 years goes against someone that does, even if they were at the same skill level before, its obvious the person that does will be better

Reply 10

username5319484

19

No point in doing 4 A-levels. AAA will always look better than ABBB. Cambridge is the only medical school that requires 3 science A-levels and the only medical school that looks at UCAS tariff is QMUL so you won't gain any advantage with other medical schools.

Reply 11

Honey57

17

Original post by user993990

yes really. if someone doesnt practice something for 2 years goes against someone that does, even if they were at the same skill level before, its obvious the person that does will be better

I didn’t do maths and I was fine. I had a friend that did alevel maths but didn’t get a great ucat score because the maths is a different kind of maths that’s more wordy and more hands on. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done the alevel or not.

Reply 12

Reality Check

22

Original post by student12349_

Does doing 4 A-levels give you a better chance of getting into university for medecine?

No.

Reply 13

username5319484

19

Original post by user993990

maths helps with the BMAT and UCAT i think - both test at a challenging maths level and its easier if you do maths

I didn't do maths for A-level and my QR score for my UCAT was 800

Reply 14

username5860114

9

Original post by Honey57

I didn’t do maths and I was fine. I had a friend that did alevel maths but didn’t get a great ucat score because the maths is a different kind of maths that’s more wordy and more hands on. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done the alevel or not.

It's different for each person I guess, but for me, A-Level Maths helped a lot. I know it's not the same content, but it's the fact that when you work with numbers, your mental maths ability naturally improves and this allowed me to do QR without relying too much on the UCAT calculator. I managed to get 880 with 5 minutes to spare.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 15

Oxford Mum

21

Original post by student12349_

Does doing 4 A-levels give you a better chance of getting into university for medecine? I'm doing biology, chemistry, psychology and maths at the moment but I'm thinking of dropping maths. All my teachers are trying to convince me to keep maths because apparently universites prefer it and your more likely to get in. Is this true? Can you guys please give me some advice Thank you.

Short answer? Nope.

you will have enough on with the admissions tests. Your time would e better spent on research into an area of medicine that interests you or an epq

Reply 16

username5637224

20

Original post by user993990

yes really. if someone doesnt practice something for 2 years goes against someone that does, even if they were at the same skill level before, its obvious the person that does will be better

Do you really think that someone who obviously has no real problems with maths is going to take more than a couple of hours practice to get back up to speed? I haven't done any real maths since I left Uni 30 years ago and I still manage to help my children with their "A "level homework!!
O.P does NOT need to do maths unless he's really considering Oxbridge!!

Reply 17

user993990

9

Original post by Nobody2u

Do you really think that someone who obviously has no real problems with maths is going to take more than a couple of hours practice to get back up to speed? I haven't done any real maths since I left Uni 30 years ago and I still manage to help my children with their "A "level homework!!
O.P does NOT need to do maths unless he's really considering Oxbridge!!