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4 A-levels-which 3 due Unis look at?

Im planning on continuing will all four of my AS levels to A2. Howver, when unis look at results which three are they looking for? E.g. would it be ok if I did really well in three of them and bad in the other one?

Reply 1

rotor

14

im not year 12 but id have thought that like if you think you're gonna fail one then you shouldn't take it?

Reply 2

emstar

Most of them will look at it like this; if you feel confident that you can do well in four a levels then we'll put four grades on your offer.
I'd think about it very carefully as you hold little if any advantage over other applicants with four a levels, only do it if you feel that your intellect won't be satisfies with three.

Reply 3

kellywood_5

17

If you apply for a course that doesn't require any specific subjects at A-level, your offer will probably just be grades xxx or xxx points, but usually there's at least 1 subject that will be specified as part of your offer because it's relevant to the degree you applied for. For example, I took A-levels in French, English lit, history and sociology and applied for French and beginners' Spanish. My offers were AAA including French and English lit, ABB with an A in French x 2, ABC/BBB with a B in French and BBB including French. So I needed either an A or a B in French to meet all my offers because that's the degree I applied for, but in most cases, it didn't matter which 2 of my other 3 A-levels I used to meet the offers.

Reply 4

wackysparkle

14

depends on which subjects are relevant to your course, - if they require AAA including Art - that means you have to get an A at art as well,
but if you believe that you may not do well in one A level - contemplate dropping it really -As uniz do look at all grades in the end when you apply - coz they get your AS grades + predicted A level grades

Reply 5

stumpy

I took 4 A2 levels (Chemistry, Maths, English Lit and Geography - plus the unnecessary but unfortunately compulsory general studies :frown:

) and applied for Chemistry. All my offers were for 3 A Levels (not including gen studies) but including Chemistry. Only one of my offers specified that maths was also part of my offer. Therefore, the least relevant subjects (English and Geog) were left unspecified, so I only need to meet the offer in one of these. Although this varies between universities and courses, it is unlikely that you will be made offers on all 4 subjects (though there are exceptions, such as certain Oxbridge colleges). If they are all equally relevant to your course, the A Levels may not be specified, but the most relevant 1 or 2 could be part of your offer. So, yes, dependant upon your offer, you could theoretically do badly on the one that you don't need. However, I imagine it's much more rewarding to do well in them all (though I admit there is a certain amount of reassuring security in knowing I don't need AAAA :p:

) I hope this helps somewhat. :smile:

Reply 6

Jacket Potato

OP

2

I currently do french, economics, sociology and government and politics. I definitely want to do something with french so that would automatically be part of the offer. However, I'm really not sure what with. If I did anthroplogy for example then I guess the most relevant would be sociology. However, it's also possible that they would ask for G and P which is the subject I'm worried about failing as sometimes I do well and other times not :redface:

ARGH I dunnoooo :s-smilie:

Reply 7

wackysparkle

14

well look at some possible universities and check out their requirements - if there aren't any [apart from french] , then you have to fulfill their requirements regardless of subjects --- i mean, this was me: i am doing architecture - but i still had to get AAB - and i did bio, maths and art - clearly bio wasn't a requirement - but it had to be the subject that i get one of those grades in

Reply 8

kellywood_5

17

Jacket Potato

I currently do french, economics, sociology and government and politics. I definitely want to do something with french so that would automatically be part of the offer. However, I'm really not sure what with. If I did anthroplogy for example then I guess the most relevant would be sociology. However, it's also possible that they would ask for G and P which is the subject I'm worried about failing as sometimes I do well and other times not :redface:

ARGH I dunnoooo :s-smilie:

I'm no expert on this, so don't take my word for it, but if you applied for French with anthropology, I think they'd most likely only ask for a specific grade in French.

Reply 9

Jacket Potato

OP

2

Generally on here it's seen that having 4 AS levels looks better than three. However, was talking to my friend who goes to a very posh school and apprently they mostly do three because the unis like the fact they are so concentrated on three because then they will be better at those subjects. What have you heard?

Reply 10

Talya

16

emstar

Most of them will look at it like this; if you feel confident that you can do well in four a levels then we'll put four grades on your offer.

Er... no they won't?

I had 5 offers from 2 x Durham, St Andrews, Southampton and York and NONE had more than 3 grades required.

I feel like a more well rounded person academically after taking 4 a levels :smile:

I would do it for yourself if you think you can manage it.

I only ended up with 4 Bs but I don't think I would have done any better if I'd only done 3. And 4 Bs still looks pretty darn impressive :smile:

Reply 11

discombobulation

2

I did 4 A levels (5 if you include general studies pfft) & applied to some pretty good unis to do English and got offers from Newcastle, Notts & Cardiff asking for just 3 A levels with no mention of the need to even pass my fourth.
When I changed my mind to languages, Manchester again only asked for three A levels but I like having 5 :p: