This discussion is now closed.
Check out other Related discussions
- Can I self study the entirety of CAIE A Level Further Maths in one year?
- How can i sit A level further maths?
- Which program is better for self-study IB DP or A-levels with additional subjects?
- Can you learn a whole A-level in 4 months?
- should i self study alvl further maths over summer
- sfe help
- Maths or Maths and Economics degree
- how hard is it to self teach 5 alevels
- Is it possible to complete A-Level Biology in 1 year?
- A Level Maths over year 11 summer
- study blog : self teaching : at 18 years old
- Further maths year 13
- self studying A levels
- How many hours for A level math in year 12?
- Intensive One Year A level Courses (State Colleges?) in London
- Further maths in one year
- examss!!!!
- Yes or no to gap years …
- a level study : BLOG
- Does a certificate of higher education and a diploma make a degree
4 A Levels - 1 year - Self study: Is it possible?
Ok well, firstly a little about me. For personal reasons that I'd rather not go into, I didn't sit GCSEs at school. I left with no qualifications whatsoever and I had been working in conservation since. Then, last year I decided I was going to give education another go. I decided, for reasons related to why I didn't sit my GCSEs in the first place, that I was going to study them on my own at home. I sat 10 GCSEs, all as a private candidate and to my delight and surprise, I did rather well. This has made a huge difference to my confidence and my ambitions. I have decided I want to go to medical school and become a Doctor.
Now onto my dilemma; I have suddenly found myself in quite a hurry. I feel like I have catching up to do (I am already 21) and consequently, I plan to study/self teach four A levels intensively in a year. I realise this may be pushing my luck/ability too far, but I want to give it a go. Obviously, I understand A levels are quite a lot harder than GCSEs and attempting to cram them into a year is a risk.
My two questions to the users of TSR are:
1. Do you think it is possible (with enough hard work and ability) to achieve good grades at A level i.e. AAAB/AABB or something like that, studying 4 of them intensively in a year?
2. How would doing this affect my university application? Obviously, I would not have AS level grades to back up my application. Neither of course would I have predicted grades, due to my method of study. All I would have is my GCSEs, my personal statement and my UCAT.
Thanks for your advice
.
Now onto my dilemma; I have suddenly found myself in quite a hurry. I feel like I have catching up to do (I am already 21) and consequently, I plan to study/self teach four A levels intensively in a year. I realise this may be pushing my luck/ability too far, but I want to give it a go. Obviously, I understand A levels are quite a lot harder than GCSEs and attempting to cram them into a year is a risk.
My two questions to the users of TSR are:
1. Do you think it is possible (with enough hard work and ability) to achieve good grades at A level i.e. AAAB/AABB or something like that, studying 4 of them intensively in a year?
2. How would doing this affect my university application? Obviously, I would not have AS level grades to back up my application. Neither of course would I have predicted grades, due to my method of study. All I would have is my GCSEs, my personal statement and my UCAT.
Thanks for your advice
.Scroll to see replies
no way will you be able to do 4 alevels in 1 year....maybe 3 if you work veryvery hard
Self studying chem and biology (which I assume you will be doing) may prove tricky if you have to do practicals for 2 of your modules (as I have to on AQA). What were your gcse's exactly? I think 4 full A-levels in one year is a bit much in my opinion. I'd do it over 2, simply because I think your grades will be better if you do it over 2.
Why do you want to do them in 1 year? You are definatly not too old - someone on my brothers course is ~45. Whether you can actually cope with doing 4 in one year, no one can say for sure as you've not really given that much (academic) information on yourself.
I'd recommend doing them over two years, firstly you'll stand a better chance of getting AAA+ then you otherwise would, and secondly, you'll have more time to get work experience/volenteering/practicing for enterence exams/ect. all of which are v. important when applying for medicine.
I'd recommend doing them over two years, firstly you'll stand a better chance of getting AAA+ then you otherwise would, and secondly, you'll have more time to get work experience/volenteering/practicing for enterence exams/ect. all of which are v. important when applying for medicine.
indifferencepersonified
Self studying chem and biology (which I assume you will be doing) may prove tricky if you have to do practicals for 2 of your modules (as I have to on AQA). What were your gcse's exactly? I think 4 full A-levels in one year is a bit much in my opinion. I'd do it over 2, simply because I think your grades will be better if you do it over 2.
I have, of course researched the practicals issue. There are certain exam boards in which you do not have to do them, one I believe was edexcel, the other escapes me. As for my GCSEs I got 7A*s and 3As (A*s in Biology and Maths and an A in Chemistry). I do not doubt it would be extremely hard work, but if it is possible I am willing to put in this work.
A for Andromeda
Why do you want to do them in 1 year? You are definatly not too old - someone on my brothers course is ~45. .
Like I said I am already 21, I'd be 22 on completion of my A levels (if I do them in a year) and then I'd have 6 years of medical school. So I'll be 28 before I begin my career, even if I do them in a year!
I think it's possible but you'd have to work REALLY hard and you wouldn't have time for anything else. I've done 5 ASs this year along with a lot of extra curricular stuff and have had a bit of a social life too. If you have the natural ability and are willing to put in a lot of hours it should be possible. Also, self-teaching can be quicker anyway because school lessons can be quite slow because they have to cater for everyone and it's quite easy to get into an off-topic discussion. If you plan to do 4 sciences they're often less time consuming than essay subjects anyway which could be a help
I've done Biology AS and we had to do "Internal Skills Assessments" as 20% or 30% of the mark so I don't know how you'd be able to do that if you self taught?
I've done Biology AS and we had to do "Internal Skills Assessments" as 20% or 30% of the mark so I don't know how you'd be able to do that if you self taught?
Phasma
I have, of course researched the practicals issue. There are certain exam boards in which you do not have to do them, one I believe was edexcel, the other escapes me.
Not true - you have to do practicals in both AS and A2 Edexcel Chemistry. I think they're worth 60 UMS a year. (Don't do Edexcel, anyway; I also did AQA Physics and it doesn't even compare. For one thing, I actually had enough time in AQA exams to finish the paper without rushing - and the extent to which the UMS marks were scaled up in Edexcel proves that it's not just me.)
The workload would be immense, and you really do need time to go over a topic so you know it inside-out before building on it in the next module (especially Chemistry and Maths). Maybe you're a super-quick learner, though, in which case this wouldn't be an issue for you. You also wouldn't have to take the school holidays off.
The extra year wouldn't make that much difference anyway (you'd be 29 instead of 28, big deal?), and at least the universities would have your AS grades to look at before they make a decision. You'd also have more time to make sure your UCAS form and PS really shine.
Obviously no one can tell you whether or not that is possible - it really does depend on what sort of person you are, how well you study alone and how well you can self-motivate - but I've just finished taking accelerated chemistry and I would have found it a lot harder without the support of my teachers. And I might have coped with taking a second subject, but definitely not four. It is a huge amount of work to cram into one year and you'd have a LOT of exams to take in January and June.
You also have to think about how you'd divide your time between the two years. I did AS and A2 at the same time, which effectively gave me a full year for the A2 part of the course (which I really needed, as the second year is a lot more difficult). This obviously isn't how the course was meant to be learnt and I struggled in the first few months because I hadn't covered the AS material which is built upon in A2. My teachers were able to fill in the gaps a bit before I caught up on the AS work, but if you're learning from home you'd probably have to do the AS material first, and this would leave you with only half a year to cover a year's worth of material in four subjects, which is really not a lot of time, especially if you're doing sciences.
Personally, I'd take two years. You're much more likely to succeed. If you try to take all four subjects in a year and fail or do really badly, you'd have just wasted a year and it won't look good on your record. And please don't worry about being too old - I probably won't graduate until I'm 28-30 because of the path I've taken so I know how you feel, but there are a lot of mature students at university (including many doing medicine) and it really shouldn't make any difference to universities or other students.
You also have to think about how you'd divide your time between the two years. I did AS and A2 at the same time, which effectively gave me a full year for the A2 part of the course (which I really needed, as the second year is a lot more difficult). This obviously isn't how the course was meant to be learnt and I struggled in the first few months because I hadn't covered the AS material which is built upon in A2. My teachers were able to fill in the gaps a bit before I caught up on the AS work, but if you're learning from home you'd probably have to do the AS material first, and this would leave you with only half a year to cover a year's worth of material in four subjects, which is really not a lot of time, especially if you're doing sciences.
Personally, I'd take two years. You're much more likely to succeed. If you try to take all four subjects in a year and fail or do really badly, you'd have just wasted a year and it won't look good on your record. And please don't worry about being too old - I probably won't graduate until I'm 28-30 because of the path I've taken so I know how you feel, but there are a lot of mature students at university (including many doing medicine) and it really shouldn't make any difference to universities or other students.
It certainly is possible.I've done three in one year and it was definitely manageable.The practicals are a problem though, but there is a college in london that lets you sit them as a private canditate, it's called pascals college, in borehamwood.
EDIT:
About point 2, you can get predicted grades from some private colleges that will let you sit mock exams with them.If you're taking a full set of AS mock exams expect them to cost around £600 altogether.The actual exams cost as well, usually around £60 per module and the practicals cost about £100 each at pascals. college.
EDIT:
About point 2, you can get predicted grades from some private colleges that will let you sit mock exams with them.If you're taking a full set of AS mock exams expect them to cost around £600 altogether.The actual exams cost as well, usually around £60 per module and the practicals cost about £100 each at pascals. college.
1- do 3 A-levels and if you wana push ur self 3 a levels and an AS, 4=waste of time if you want do it in a year.
2- do it in two years, your 21 yes but imagine if u miss the AAA and get ABB because you crammed way to many subjects and med unis do not like retake students. Take two years and get the grades
whatever you do GOOD LUCK and I hope you get in
2- do it in two years, your 21 yes but imagine if u miss the AAA and get ABB because you crammed way to many subjects and med unis do not like retake students. Take two years and get the grades
whatever you do GOOD LUCK and I hope you get in
Perfectly possible, it'd be hard work but i'm sure you're aware of that.
Phasma
Like I said I am already 21, I'd be 22 on completion of my A levels (if I do them in a year) and then I'd have 6 years of medical school. So I'll be 28 before I begin my career, even if I do them in a year!
Yes, but doing them in two years would give you a far greater chance of getting in on the course. Unless you're a genius then doing four A-levels over one year will be pushing it in terms of getting the AAA you need.
Add to that the fact the medicine (unlike most other subjects) also looks heavily at admission tests as well as work experience and extra ciricular activities. Taking them over 2 years gives you time to add this in as you go along, but really it's ultimatly up to you and how confident in your abilities you are.
Phasma
I have, of course researched the practicals issue. There are certain exam boards in which you do not have to do them, one I believe was edexcel, the other escapes me. As for my GCSEs I got 7A*s and 3As (A*s in Biology and Maths and an A in Chemistry). I do not doubt it would be extremely hard work, but if it is possible I am willing to put in this work.
Only for international students can you do a paper instead of the practicals.
Just do AS in one year then A2 the next, like everyone else. It's only one year, and it'll give you the chance to get better grades.
There's a lot more to going to uni than just picking somewhere then going. You have to sort your UCAS out, personal statement, go on open days.. all of which takes a lot of time, meaning that you certainly wouldn't have enough time to study for 4 full A Levels in the space of one year- particularly as you'd have to sit your AS Levels in January, leaving yourself with only 4 months to learn a whole years worth of material.
There's a lot more to going to uni than just picking somewhere then going. You have to sort your UCAS out, personal statement, go on open days.. all of which takes a lot of time, meaning that you certainly wouldn't have enough time to study for 4 full A Levels in the space of one year- particularly as you'd have to sit your AS Levels in January, leaving yourself with only 4 months to learn a whole years worth of material.
Related discussions
- Can I self study the entirety of CAIE A Level Further Maths in one year?
- How can i sit A level further maths?
- Which program is better for self-study IB DP or A-levels with additional subjects?
- Can you learn a whole A-level in 4 months?
- should i self study alvl further maths over summer
- sfe help
- Maths or Maths and Economics degree
- how hard is it to self teach 5 alevels
- Is it possible to complete A-Level Biology in 1 year?
- A Level Maths over year 11 summer
- study blog : self teaching : at 18 years old
- Further maths year 13
- self studying A levels
- How many hours for A level math in year 12?
- Intensive One Year A level Courses (State Colleges?) in London
- Further maths in one year
- examss!!!!
- Yes or no to gap years …
- a level study : BLOG
- Does a certificate of higher education and a diploma make a degree
Latest
Trending
Last reply 19 hours ago
Edexcel A Level Politics Paper 1 (9PL0 01) - 21st May 2024 [Exam Chat]A-levels
10
Trending
Last reply 19 hours ago
Edexcel A Level Politics Paper 1 (9PL0 01) - 21st May 2024 [Exam Chat]A-levels
10
