Doing 4 A2s?

Universities will only consider your 3 highest a-levels (or relevant) ones. Is doing another A-level realistically going to be worth it? I was going to do 5 A2's this year but opted out since like you say, it decreases prep time. In case you're curious, I was going to do Maths, Further Maths, Product Design, Physics and Art. I didn't do Physics and Art at A2. Another thing, I self-taught myself the entire Further Maths A level.

Are you going for maths at cambridge?

I had considered it, but I have decided to put The University of Nottingham as my firm choice. This was basically due to the fact that teaching myself the ENTIRE further maths A-level in one year and STEP would be too much. Nottingham is also closer to home, and is far more convenient for me. Still need a minimum of 3 A's to get in though

Ah, I wish you good luck.

Apparently some places consider maths and further maths as one a level. Is this ever actually true do you know. I've looked and can't find any info

Hi,

I do Maths, Further Maths, Economics and French at AS. I did 8 maths modules this year (C1234, S12, M12), so next year only have FP123 and M3 - that is how my school does it. Typically people doing further maths in my school are seriously advised to do 4 A2s as we only do 4 modules in further maths in Y13, so handling an extra A2 is fine. However, after coming back from study leave and starting A2 lessons, I have really hated French lessons. I enjoyed AS as it was mostly learning vocabulary daily on the bus and learning to speak and write fluently about mostly trivial things - it was easy. However A2 seems like it would take up a huge amount of time. I have to prepare for speaking exams that cover 8 times the AS content and writing exams that require literature,arts etc. in French. I honestly despise literature and am going to do maths at university.

So, do I drop French and have more time preparing for STEP for cambridge maths. OR do I continue powering through the impossible A2 and boring lessons in French in order to have 4 A2s. Doing French will certainly seriously decrease the STEP prep. time that I have.

Thanks

If you're applying for Maths, Cambridge will absolutely NOT be interested in how well or bad you do in French at all. They're only interested in 3 relevant subjects you're applying for. They usually count Maths and Further Maths as one subject, though, so it may put you in a better position if you take up Additional maths if that's possible. If you just continue with Maths, FM and Economics, how that'll present you in comparison to other candidates I'm not too sure. But there're so many mathmos here on this forum, I'm sure someone else will come and answer this question.

Do you think it is worth doing French for later careers e.g. in the city being able to speak French, given the immense amounts of extra work needed?

Do you think it is worth doing French for later careers e.g. in the city being able to speak French, given the immense amounts of extra work needed?

As someone who used to work in the City, I can tell you unless you're really frequent in French (or other foreign language), it's not much use. If they want someone who can speak French (or whatever) they can easily find one, either native French speaker with good command of English or someone who read French at university or that sort of level. A-level language is not really useful for what they need.
If you really like the language and you think you'll find the time (and energy) to brush it up to almost-native level while you're reading Maths at university, do it by all means, but if not, you really don't have to bother.

Mandarin is a better language for business than French. Most unis have language centres, including Cambridge, to help with learning languages outside your degree.

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Except getting to a useful level of mandarin is much more difficult than most people imagine. I knew very few who took it on from GCSE to A level and even fewer (maybe one from an original group of 30) who did it for a degree. I have hear people say you need ten years study or one to two years in the country to have the sort of fluency than means English isn't the natural language when you do business.

As someone who used to work in the City, I can tell you unless you're really frequent in French (or other foreign language), it's not much use. If they want someone who can speak French (or whatever) they can easily find one, either native French speaker with good command of English or someone who read French at university or that sort of level. A-level language is not really useful for what they need.
If you really like the language and you think you'll find the time (and energy) to brush it up to almost-native level while you're reading Maths at university, do it by all means, but if not, you really don't have to bother.

I agree with this, the city is full of europeans (and others) although as somebody who had done a French A level and let it lay dormant for five years I do find it useful when dealing with French documents and meetings in France. I think it adds to a CV. I would still agree that for most people they should concentrate on getting high marks in the relevant subjects.

Hi,

I do Maths, Further Maths, Economics and French at AS. I did 8 maths modules this year (C1234, S12, M12), so next year only have FP123 and M3 - that is how my school does it. Typically people doing further maths in my school are seriously advised to do 4 A2s as we only do 4 modules in further maths in Y13, so handling an extra A2 is fine. However, after coming back from study leave and starting A2 lessons, I have really hated French lessons. I enjoyed AS as it was mostly learning vocabulary daily on the bus and learning to speak and write fluently about mostly trivial things - it was easy. However A2 seems like it would take up a huge amount of time. I have to prepare for speaking exams that cover 8 times the AS content and writing exams that require literature,arts etc. in French. I honestly despise literature and am going to do maths at university.

So, do I drop French and have more time preparing for STEP for cambridge maths. OR do I continue powering through the impossible A2 and boring lessons in French in order to have 4 A2s. Doing French will certainly seriously decrease the STEP prep. time that I have.

Thanks