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Fourth A level subject for medicine

I'm in Year 11 and I've been told to consider which Alevels I would like to do. At the moment I'm fond with medicine as a university course - so on that basis the three A levels I would choose are: Chemistry, Biology, Maths.
Is Maths essential for a Russell Group uni?
And for the fourth subject, I'm torn between art and history, I love both subjects equally, but which do I choose? Both have advantages and disadvantages. Do you have any advice/ experience you'd like to share about History or Art A level?
Original post by simply_a_ Δ
I'm in Year 11 and I've been told to consider which Alevels I would like to do. At the moment I'm fond with medicine as a university course - so on that basis the three A levels I would choose are: Chemistry, Biology, Maths.
Is Maths essential for a Russell Group uni?
And for the fourth subject, I'm torn between art and history, I love both subjects equally, but which do I choose? Both have advantages and disadvantages. Do you have any advice/ experience you'd like to share about History or Art A level?


Maths isn't essential for most medicine courses at university although a fair few people would consider a useful subject in combination with biology and chemistry. Equally most universities don't have much/any preference for the fourth subject - I did history to AS and really enjoyed but it depends quite a lot on the topics you're covering - it might be worth finding out what periods you would cover as that will shape the course quite a lot. I hope this is useful :smile:
Original post by simply_a_ Δ
I'm in Year 11 and I've been told to consider which Alevels I would like to do. At the moment I'm fond with medicine as a university course - so on that basis the three A levels I would choose are: Chemistry, Biology, Maths.
Is Maths essential for a Russell Group uni?
And for the fourth subject, I'm torn between art and history, I love both subjects equally, but which do I choose? Both have advantages and disadvantages. Do you have any advice/ experience you'd like to share about History or Art A level?


Maths is not required for any medical school, although Cambridge requires 3 sciences/maths.

For your 4th the most important things to consider are whether you can get an A in it, and whether it is going to detract from your important main 3. The only downside with art is the sheer amount of time it takes up. History can also take a fair amount of time as there is a large volume of material to cover and mastering the essay technique can take time and practice, but it's not as bad as art coursework. Good idea to make sure the history topics your school does are ones you are interested in though otherwise it's a bit of a slog.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 3
Avatar for humzzay
humzzay
8
Original post by simply_a_ Δ
I'm in Year 11 and I've been told to consider which Alevels I would like to do. At the moment I'm fond with medicine as a university course - so on that basis the three A levels I would choose are: Chemistry, Biology, Maths.
Is Maths essential for a Russell Group uni?
And for the fourth subject, I'm torn between art and history, I love both subjects equally, but which do I choose? Both have advantages and disadvantages. Do you have any advice/ experience you'd like to share about History or Art A level?


I'm in the actual same position, they say that maths open more job opportunities if your doing chemistry and biology some unis think that its actually good to use maths, However art and history do a subject that you enjoy more than work hard in if your doing history gcse then you know how much work there is to cope with iv also had a taster at a college about what there to do in a level history id saying alot of pressure since you are doing sciences
Reply 4
Avatar for Shakz
Shakz
20
do media studies, its banging i heard
Original post by violin101
Maths isn't essential for most medicine courses at university although a fair few people would consider a useful subject in combination with biology and chemistry. Equally most universities don't have much/any preference for the fourth subject - I did history to AS and really enjoyed but it depends quite a lot on the topics you're covering - it might be worth finding out what periods you would cover as that will shape the course quite a lot. I hope this is useful :smile:


I appreciate the reply! The topics are Mao's China and Russia for AS, which sound ok. I guess I want to take history because it's interesting and would you agree that it is a good way to develop essay writing skills?
Original post by theresheglows
Maths is not required for any medical school, although Cambridge requires 3 sciences/maths.

For your 4th the most important things to consider are whether you can get an A in it, and whether it is going to detract from your important main 3. The only downside with art is the sheer amount of time it takes up. History can also take a fair amount of time as there is a large volume of material to cover and mastering the essay technique can take time and practice, but it's not as bad as art coursework. Good idea to make sure the history topics your school does are ones you are interested in though otherwise it's a bit of a slog.


Yeah absolutely agree. GCSE art requires a lot of effort and I can't imagine what alevel art would be like. In that case history may be a better option... aargh but I procrastinate so how on earth do I complete the essays haha!
Original post by simply_a_ Δ
I'm in Year 11 and I've been told to consider which Alevels I would like to do. At the moment I'm fond with medicine as a university course - so on that basis the three A levels I would choose are: Chemistry, Biology, Maths.
Is Maths essential for a Russell Group uni?
And for the fourth subject, I'm torn between art and history, I love both subjects equally, but which do I choose? Both have advantages and disadvantages. Do you have any advice/ experience you'd like to share about History or Art A level?


You don't need maths usually, no, sometimes unis say 'another science from biology/maths/physics' but you don't need it. I did art GCSE and wanted to do it for a level also, however if you look on some uni websites they specify a fourth AS level in an academic subject and ive seen a few which don't include art in this. I decided to do history AS level in the end. If you look at UCL's(think its this uni) entry page, they like to see a non-science subject often- and history could be this :smile: I did find that there was a lot to learn for history and that I had to finish lesson tasks at home simply because there wasn't enough time in school, but even so, I imagine it's less consuming than art

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Original post by Phoebe♥
You don't need maths usually, no, sometimes unis say 'another science from biology/maths/physics' but you don't need it. I did art GCSE and wanted to do it for a level also, however if you look on some uni websites they specify a fourth AS level in an academic subject and ive seen a few which don't include art in this. I decided to do history AS level in the end. If you look at UCL's(think its this uni) entry page, they like to see a non-science subject often- and history could be this :smile: I did find that there was a lot to learn for history and that I had to finish lesson tasks at home simply because there wasn't enough time in school, but even so, I imagine it's less consuming than art

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Yeah good point! I reckon I am leaning towards history at the moment. :smile:
I'm doing biology, chemistry, maths and French for medicine :smile: Personally, I think you should go for history. Either would be brilliant contrasting subjects, but I know from my best-friend who does AS Art that the workload is quite enormous and she's having to sacrifice her other subjects to complete coursework. I did GCSE art myself and found it pretty intense so the fact you're considering it alongside 3 STEM subjects is already brave :biggrin:

Out of the 10 odd in my year group applying to medicine, its about half split for physics and history as a fourth subject (and two of us for French haha) and who would do A Level physics?! :wink:
economics
Original post by simply_a_ Δ
Yeah absolutely agree. GCSE art requires a lot of effort and I can't imagine what alevel art would be like. In that case history may be a better option... aargh but I procrastinate so how on earth do I complete the essays haha!


I did art anyway as I loved it, but I spent all my frees and some of my after school time in the studio, although it depends what you choose to focus your work on as some things in art are more time-consuming than others. If you are a procrastinator, art is even worse than history (unless you enjoy it enough that you won't procrastinate). Most history essay writing is to learn how to do it in exams, so we did them as practice tests in class - no procrastination possible!

EDIT: I did drop history before I finished AS though because I was doing too many subjects and I wasn't that interested in the topics we were doing, but if you enjoy it then it's a good A-level to do.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by theresheglows
I did art anyway as I loved it, but I spent all my frees and some of my after school time in the studio, although it depends what you choose to focus your work on as some things in art are more time-consuming than others. If you are a procrastinator, art is even worse than history (unless you enjoy it enough that you won't procrastinate). Most history essay writing is to learn how to do it in exams, so we did them as practice tests in class - no procrastination possible!

EDIT: I did drop history before I finished AS though because I was doing too many subjects and I wasn't that interested in the topics we were doing, but if you enjoy it then it's a good A-level to do.


I don't think I'll be able to devote so much time for art. History seems like a wiser choice -thanks!
Original post by Bethaaaaany
I'm doing biology, chemistry, maths and French for medicine :smile: Personally, I think you should go for history. Either would be brilliant contrasting subjects, but I know from my best-friend who does AS Art that the workload is quite enormous and she's having to sacrifice her other subjects to complete coursework. I did GCSE art myself and found it pretty intense so the fact you're considering it alongside 3 STEM subjects is already brave :biggrin:

Out of the 10 odd in my year group applying to medicine, its about half split for physics and history as a fourth subject (and two of us for French haha) and who would do A Level physics?! :wink:


Yeah I want to make sure that my fourth subject won't be too time-consuming as I want to focus on my core subjects. Thanks for the help :smile:
Maths isn't a prerequisite for medicine so as long as you have Chemistry and Biology you'll be fine (unless it's Cambridge you're into, in which case you'll need in addition to those two one from physics and maths). I'd go for History given it's highly respectable and apparently you get a truck load for Art and might be too much to take on given your other subjects are more than demanding.
Reply 15
Avatar for Jehaan
Jehaan
19
You don't need maths but it is helpful. History and art both have their merits but i would just like to remind you that Art has a LOT of coursework= more time taken up by it which may mean you wouldn't get as a high a grade in the subjects you do need. Just some ideas. I would say do history as i know people who enjoy it but art is also enjoyed but those people also say its relaxing but has a lot of coursework if you want a good grade

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