The Student Room Group

3 or 4 A levels?

Hello all. My first post here.

I got four As in my AS levels, and need advice on whether it is a good idea to continue with all four or drop one of them.

So:

Roughly what percentage of people offered a place at Oxbridge have 4 full A levels?

And would universities be more likely to accept someone who got, say, AABB at A levels, than someone who got 3 As at A levels (plus an A at AS)?
Reply 1
The best advice I can offer is that, if you feel confident in all four subjects, then go for it. Although not by any means essential for a Oxbridge application, it can only help your chances. As for your last question, when it comes to the application, you'll be given predicted A in each of your subjects so doing 4 will be better then doing 3. If you get the offer then it will depend on the individual university as to whether they'll accept UCAS tarriff points, where AABB will be much better, or just straight grades, where they might demand three As. I hope that helps and that someone who hasn't been drinking for 3 hours answers soon enough as they'll probably make more sense. :biggrin:
Reply 2
I think for Oxbridge, AAA at A2 level and an A at AS is better than AABB overall. Universities give out offers if you do 3 A-levels, and if you do 4 and find it too much at the end of next year, you could do yourself more harm than good. If you are confident though that you can cope with the workload and get 4 A's next year then go for it, but you'll easily get offers just with 3:smile: .
AAA is better than AABB.

Oxbridge doesn't care, many schools doen't give you the option of 4 A-Levels.

A2 is much much more work than AS, you've got to love your subjects or you'll be miserable.

If you care about top unis that much go for 3 A-Levels, that way you won't kick yourself if you get AABB and miss AAA offer, knowing that if you dropped an A-Level you'd get 4 As.

I did 4, loved them all to bits, got AAAB, very happy.

Your decision, not ours :smile:
Reply 4
OK, cheers for the advice.

I'll just do three. I don't think I'd be able to get four As, and it would be a lot of extra work.

I hate Computing, so I'll drop that, even though I did relatively well in it. I have to continue with Maths (which was my worst result) since it's required / considered useful for Economics, which I hope to study at university. So I know what I'm doing now. :smile:
Just to back up what's already been said, doing 4 could be a slight advantage for unis, but it won't make that much difference. Since A2s are harder and have a higher workload, you should only do 4 because you love all your subjects and are confident you can do well in them. I took 4 and got AABC, whereas if I'd only done 3 I might have got AAAb instead. I don't really regret it because I enjoyed the subject I got a C in and wasn't too fond of the one I got a B in, but when it comes to uni, you run the risk of not meeting your offer if you try to take on too much, so it's better to get fewer good grades than more average ones.
Reply 6
my problem is that with the new A* grade is it worth dropping a subject, i reckon i could get A in all of them but if i drop one i think i might be able to get some A*s. I do maths, further maths, physics and chemistry and want to go to oxford, imperial or somewhere like that to do maths, and need to decide whether to keep chemistry or not, anybody got any opinions?
Reply 7
Hello all!

Gowland19, I've been exactly where you are now (all the same subjects bar further maths, where I did electronics). I did all my exams on the WJEC, and found the second year of chemistry much harder compared to the first year. Round about christmas time, I came very close to dropping it, but I decided to carry on but pay much less attention to it.

If you carry on with it, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to get an A or A* in it, you can still get your 3 As or A*s but with an additional A level in chemistry. (any A level is better than no A level!) If you get a C or B, without stressing out too much, even better!!!
I am at this stage now, (I am around 20 marks away from a C), therefore if you carry it on, all the work up untill now isn't so much of a 'waste' and you can still get the grades in the subjects you need.

But the decision ultimately, is yours.

Good luck with your exams and I hope this helps!


Cheers

Dan
Reply 8
Gowland19, I am just the same. I'm doing maths, further maths, physics and classics. 4 A's at AS, started this year doing all 4 subjects and now think I might want to give one up. I don't know which one to though - or, indeed, if I should drop one at all. I'm still not sure if 3A's will be better than 4 A levels, though possibly not so good. What did you decide in the end?

RedSky364
Reply 9
Hey I'm in the same problem, I got 3 a's in further maths, maths and physics and a c in chemistry. I enjoy the subject but think it'll be too much work if I keep it on if I want to go to Oxbridge or Trinity College Dublin. My parent's are trying to force me into the position where I'll keep it on and get more points for doing it but I don't want it to bring my other alevels down since I want to get 3 a*s in them. I'm not sure what I will do, I want to study mathematics.
Reply 10
Original post by miri123
Hey I'm in the same problem, I got 3 a's in further maths, maths and physics and a c in chemistry. I enjoy the subject but think it'll be too much work if I keep it on if I want to go to Oxbridge or Trinity College Dublin. My parent's are trying to force me into the position where I'll keep it on and get more points for doing it but I don't want it to bring my other alevels down since I want to get 3 a*s in them. I'm not sure what I will do, I want to study mathematics.

Oxbridge don't work on the points system, they give an offer between A*A*A-AAA depending on the subject so you can easily drop chem and do 3A-Levels (I'm doing 3 and I want to do Biological Science at Oxford)

You'll have to do the MAT anyway so it could better to drop chem and focus I the MAT. Does your college offer the EPQ? You can get points for that,too and it doesn't require as much work as chem A2 would
Reply 11
Original post by miri123
Hey I'm in the same problem, I got 3 a's in further maths, maths and physics and a c in chemistry. I enjoy the subject but think it'll be too much work if I keep it on if I want to go to Oxbridge or Trinity College Dublin. My parent's are trying to force me into the position where I'll keep it on and get more points for doing it but I don't want it to bring my other alevels down since I want to get 3 a*s in them. I'm not sure what I will do, I want to study mathematics.


This is (was!) a very old thread... your best bet would be to have started your own thread :smile:

But for Maths all universities care about is maths, and a bit about physics. You can drop chemistry.

Oxbridge doesn't give any credit at all for extra UCAS points.

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