Whats your opinion on doing 4 A Levels?

I'm doing 5 AS subjects at the moment (although one of them is critical thinking so doesnt really count) and next year my school says we should carry on to do 4 A Levels... but I dont know if that would be too much work...?

do you think it would be better to have 3 A Levels, or 4 not-quite-as-good ones?

Reply 1

Small123

15

-kit-kat-

I'm doing 5 AS subjects at the moment (although one of them is critical thinking so doesnt really count) and next year my school says we should carry on to do 4 A Levels... but I dont know if that would be too much work...?

do you think it would be better to have 3 A Levels, or 4 not-quite-as-good ones?

AAA>BBBB but AAAA>AAA.

Reply 2

BlAcK oUt

Hey personally i think as long as you are committed to your studies and pay attention in class it wont be too much! :smile:

i know a LOT of people who continue to do 4 at A2 and they do fine! just dont go off track!

Reply 3

Adamn

9

Which subjects are they? With sciences/maths, I think 3 would be the limit because I have seen my friends have so much work. I do 4, but mine are mainly essay subjects and I don't feel the work amount has increased that much, and I am coping. It means, of course, that there's so much more revision and stuff, but I think it is worth it. See how well you do at AS :smile:

Reply 4

Dusty12

13

It's obviously better to have three good ones than four that aren't so good. That said, you might get four As. I suppose it depends on your confidence in your own ability.

Reply 5

oliver5084

1

-kit-kat-

I'm doing 5 AS subjects at the moment (although one of them is critical thinking so doesnt really count) and next year my school says we should carry on to do 4 A Levels... but I dont know if that would be too much work...?

do you think it would be better to have 3 A Levels, or 4 not-quite-as-good ones?

Only do it if you can get top grades in them... 3 A Levels of AAA is better then AABB..

Reply 6

Flajamafloffl

14

-kit-kat-

I'm doing 5 AS subjects at the moment (although one of them is critical thinking so doesnt really count) and next year my school says we should carry on to do 4 A Levels... but I dont know if that would be too much work...?

do you think it would be better to have 3 A Levels, or 4 not-quite-as-good ones?

AAA is by far much better than BBBB or even AABB. The thing is, regards to 4, it depends what Alevels your doing, and therefore the work load regarding A2.

I mean, I do the IB, so i've learnt to deal with 6 subjects and TOK, and for some people if you've got good planning skills etc, its more important than intelligence.

However at the end of the day AAAA wont be a massive advantage over AAA. No Universities will penalise you for it.

Reply 7

areyoucool/symmetrical?

-kit-kat-

I'm doing 5 AS subjects at the moment (although one of them is critical thinking so doesnt really count) and next year my school says we should carry on to do 4 A Levels... but I dont know if that would be too much work...?

do you think it would be better to have 3 A Levels, or 4 not-quite-as-good ones?

you wont find a uni who'll discriminate against someone getting AAA than AAAA (cos surely you wouldnt know if they wouldve been able to get AAAA) so really in most situations go for 3 A Levels

look at me - ive only been doing 3 (eng lit, econ, maths - in all fairness fairly hard a levels compared to rest) and its been fine and you get plenty of time for UCAS shizz and most of all jammin' innit :cool:

enjoy your last year cos you dont wanna be working your ass off fo' sho'

Reply 8

Toneh

8

Well I do 4 and I think it's fine. I think it depends on several things:
1. Are you the kind of person who puts lots of work in, in which case you will be doing lots of work all the time? (In which case it's probably not a great idea) [if so see 2., otherwise 2. is irrelevant]
2. Do you do lots of other extra-curricular things
3. Which subjects are these, contrary to Adamn, I reckon science subjects are probably less work than essay subjects
4. What reason do you actually have for doing it - is it a good one
5. Is having 4 subjects going to affect your grades in them, ie are you likely to get AABB as opposed to AAA (see 1 and 2 - if they don't apply this shouldn't)
6. Bear in mind you might get a 4 grade offer...

Reply 9

Aubydoll

2

Um I don't know... I'm doing 3 atm, but last year someone close to me died and that messed me up a little so I'm resitting some of my AS this year. Without the resits it would be a lot more managable, so I guess with the resit it's equivelant to four but without the extra classes. I think if I didn't have my resit I would be able to focus a lot more on my current exams and probably be a little less stressed out. I tend to kind of push film out of the way as it is possibly easier than my others, although that's foolish to do as it requires just as much work to get the good grade so that would be avoided. Why don't you wait and see what your results are? If you're doing well in all of them and [love] them all, then continue. If you enjoy doing something you'll manage easier. It depends how heavy your current ones are though, I think English is quite a heavy A Level with the amount of reading we have to do so if you have one like that it might be worth only doing three. Then again I can remember being so unbelievably stressed this year and claiming that I have too much work - English again! Seriously if you do English just drop everything but English, it's a complete joke the amount you have to do.

Reply 10

IWantSomeMushu

17

It's better to get AAA than AABB IMO. Just stick with the 3.

Reply 11

Jemmmy

3

well i'm doing four and finding it fine, but my subjects are not that hard :smile:

Which subjects were you thinking of doing?

Reply 12

Mirose

I prefer 4 A-levels, as I'm doing similarly well in all 4 and if i manage to slip up in one subject (subjective subjects), i still have 3 to save me. I can cope with them all however, but I feel if you are struggling with one heavily, it's best to drop it to 3.

Reply 13

MadnessRed

1

One advantage of doing 4 is that your offer will probably only be based upon 3 of them. Say you get an AAA offer, with 4 A levels you then have a backup if you mess up.

Reply 14

-kit-kat-

OP

4

Thanks so much for all the advice! :smile:

atm I'm doing DT, EBS, Maths and IT (and critical thinking)
Im the type of person who is willing to put in the effort, but DT takes up a lot of time, and if I continue maths, i will need to work hard at it
I think I might drop to three...I have no idea which subject to drop though...

Whats your opinion on doing 4 A Levels?

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