How many is too many?

If you got a drive and passion to study those subjects, by all means go for it. But just be careful though; GCSE is in no way like A-Levels. Where you could study summary pamphlets containing formulas in the space of 3 days to hit top grades in GCSE, A-Levels require consistent, full-on focus from the get go if you aim to achieve those high grades you aspire for, especially with content heavy subjects like Chemistry and Physics, probably 2 of the hardest subjects at A-Level, so you could imagine with the new rules implemented how stressful it would be to try remember everything in the space of 2 years for those exams.

At the end of the day, as much of a merit completing 5 A-Levels may seem, universities only really care at the end of the day about the top 3 grades you achieved at the end of the 2 years of your course. No advantage would be given to you over other applicants who have done only three A levels.

Take this for example; one of my friends dropped a subject mid-way through her first year and continued with doing Maths, French and Geography; at the end of 2 years she achieved A*AA and got into Bath to do Economics. Bare in mind she only got 3 A's at GCSE.
One of my other friends got all A*/A grades at GCSE. This got over his head, leading him to do 5 A-Level subjects including Maths, F.Maths, and the 3 sciences. In the first year he got ABBBD with the D coming in Physics, which he ended up dropping. The year after he got ABBC, consequently missing a place in Durham to do medicine. Was it worth it?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not cajoling you into going out of your way to do less subjects than you desire, but life doesn't always work the way we want it to work, and sometimes it's just best making sacrifices to get a better end result than otherwise. All the best of luck however direction you choose tho homie

especially with content heavy subjects like Chemistry and Physics, probably 2 of the hardest subjects at A-Level

No problem g, I respect the passion you have as well. At the end of the day, as long as you consistently put in work, I don't see why your dreams can't become reality. But it's also best to have a serious sit down and think all the possible directions and the likely outcomes before making your final decision. On the end note, I may not know you, but I'm proud of you son

& tbh I did Maths, F.Maths, Geography and Economics so I wouldn't know. But word around the block is that they're both quite challenging subjects. Take a look at these links:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1056088
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2376785
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3100975

I'm still in high school and I want to take 5 subjects at AS level and possibly through to A-level. I just wanted to know your views and how you found them?

Thanks

I'm considering maths, futher maths, chemistry, physics and geology (or German) if geology isn't offered.

If you are a student that aims for the top grade(A*) with a number of subjects yes but if any lower no. 5 a-levels is a lot more than you think it is and with the new a-levels some subjects you'll have to remember two years worth of work which is equivalent to 4/5 years worth of GCSE work in one summer

When applying to top universities, they look at the grades you get and do not have a preference for people with 5 AS Levels as opposed to 4.
For example, A*A*A*A is better than AAAAB.

Please remember that the A-Levels are not as easy as they were even one year ago. It used to be that after AS exams you could forget that year and focus on A2s. Now, you have to remember everything from 2 years. Bare in mind that the people that did 5 AS who are posting above did them on the old, easier system.

Are they really the hardest? Which one is worst?

I took 5 AS and A2. I took maths a year early so only took 4 A2s in year 13, but I took extra modules and STEP which more than makes up for that.
If you enjoy the subjects then it's interesting but unnecessary. As others have said, it won't help your application and may disadvantage you if the time taken studying extra subjects makes the grades in your main subjects worse. Good unis will still want the same grades in your three most relevant A-levels and won't care what you got in your others, so you might lose a place at uni by taking extra subjects if you lose a grade in one of your main subjects due to this. The exception to this is bad grades in your AS results might look bad, even in subjects that aren't directly relevant. A thing to consider is the extra pressure on the second year in the new A-level system. A lot of people are only advised to take 3 AS and A2 now.
You can always drop one or two after AS, or even towards the start of year 12 if you're finding it too much.

If you so decide to take 5, that's a good choice. The maths and science work well together. I took the same but biology instead of geology. I know plenty of people who did geology and I'd say it'd be similar to biology in terms of working with your other subjects.





In the old system we had to remember nearly everything from two years anyway. There were a few things that we knew didn't come up in the A2, but those topics are negligible. Not much has changed in that regard.
The big difference between the systems is that in the new system the full A-level is 100% weighted on the second year, so good AS grades don't give you any security like they used to.

It depends on you, but I'd say chemistry. It's all subjective anyway.
edit: By "all" I mean the argument of which one is harder.

Thanks for posting this. To be honest geology has only just sort of made it onto my list, because I take geography at GCSE and prefer the physical side rather than human, but only one of the colleges I can apply for actually offers it.

In terms of dropping them, that is one of the reasons I was considering so many in the first place. And if I went to the college I had in mind, then the Maths is done in the first year completely, and then Further Maths in the second so I would sort of be only doing 4 in the second year.

Wow! Haven't I got a lot to think about.

Yeah I get what you mean. I'm thinking of doing Physics at Uni but I also quite enjoy chemistry so I would be torn between the two - but that's a decision for the next couple of years

Maybe go to the first few weeks for geology. If you don't love the subject, then drop it. There's no point in doing it otherwise.

You'd be doing 2 A-levels' worth, the equivalent of 4A2s. AS further maths would be quite easy though after you'd finished C3-4.

Yeah I probably will do that. Can I ask what did you do after college?

Studying maths and physics at Warwick.

I'm still in high school and I want to take 5 subjects at AS level and possibly through to A-level. I just wanted to know your views and how you found them?

Thanks

I didn't cope with 4, let alone if I'd tried 5

Hi! I did 5 AS levels last year, and got 4 As and a B. My subjects were Mathematics (self-taught), Physics, Geography, Media, and Music Technology. I also did a couple of music exams (grade 7 piano and grade 5 theory) around the same time.

It is certainly possible, but you will have to be extremely organised. Keeping ahead of your teacher in the syllabus really helps.

I've since dropped Music Technology, and taken up AS and A2 Further Mathematics (both self-taught), so I'm now doing a workload equivalent to six subjects. You'll need to consider the A-level reforms; I don't know much about them, but I think you might not be able to drop subjects after one year unless you plan to from the start? Ask someone who knows about this! You don't want to get stuck with a subject that you get bored of. (+I'm pretty sure that maths and further maths aren't changing for a couple of years.)

"I'm considering maths, further maths, chemistry, physics and geology (or German) if geology isn't offered." This is a great combination. Maths, further maths, and physics will all complement each other, and I assume you have a particular interest in geology/German, which will make them much easier (as with any subject).

If you have any questions I'll be happy to help.