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A level advice

I've chosen to do chemistry, biology and physics at A-level next year but I've heard that physics without maths is super hard. I do enjoy maths and was considering taking but what would you say about doing 4 A-levels, is it manageable?

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Reply 1
Original post by eatingkiwi
I've chosen to do chemistry, biology and physics at A-level next year but I've heard that physics without maths is super hard. I do enjoy maths and was considering taking but what would you say about doing 4 A-levels, is it manageable?


Honestly, I would recommend doing maths because it will lead to broader options and will compliment very well with your other 3 choices. I don't do physics, but I believe doing maths will improve your mathematical thinking, which would make physics easier. Plus, if you ever plan on doing a physical science at university, maths would more than likely be a requirement. Also,, you enjoy maths anyway, so why not?

4 A-Levels are definitely manageable. In fact, most people I know in sixth form do 4 and then drop 1 after AS. In my school, doing 4 AS levels means getting 9 1 hour free periods a fortnight, so there's plenty of time to work during school hours.

It's definitely manageable, but you need to ensure you are on top of your work. This includes understanding stuff taught in lessons, and making 'revision ready' notes along the way.
Reply 2
Original post by Baaah
Honestly, I would recommend doing maths because it will lead to broader options and will compliment very well with your other 3 choices. I don't do physics, but I believe doing maths will improve your mathematical thinking, which would make physics easier. Plus, if you ever plan on doing a physical science at university, maths would more than likely be a requirement. Also,, you enjoy maths anyway, so why not?

4 A-Levels are definitely manageable. In fact, most people I know in sixth form do 4 and then drop 1 after AS. In my school, doing 4 AS levels means getting 9 1 hour free periods a fortnight, so there's plenty of time to work during school hours.

It's definitely manageable, but you need to ensure you are on top of your work. This includes understanding stuff taught in lessons, and making 'revision ready' notes along the way.


My school doesn't offer AS anymore so I'd have to stick with the 4 subjects for the 2 years and school is also continually telling us that a levels are a lot of work and hard to manage so it's a bad idea to take more than 3 as we're likely to perform better with fewer subjects and I've also been getting the same message from other sixth formers too, so far nobody has recommended taking 4
Reply 3
Original post by eatingkiwi
My school doesn't offer AS anymore so I'd have to stick with the 4 subjects for the 2 years and school is also continually telling us that a levels are a lot of work and hard to manage so it's a bad idea to take more than 3 as we're likely to perform better with fewer subjects and I've also been getting the same message from other sixth formers too, so far nobody has recommended taking 4


I also do reformed A levels, but my school enters me both for the AS and A2 exam, so that if I drop a subject, I will still get an AS qualification. I don't think most schools do this.

Yes, a levels are a lot of work and you will only need 3 to apply to universities. If you want to take 3 a levels to ease workload, then it is definitely a solid reason. 4 a levels is definitely manageable, and an advantage of this is if you do badly in a subject, you still have a 4th subject as a back-up option.

If you decide to pick 3 however, I would recommend doing A level maths over 1 of the sciences.
Reply 4
Original post by Baaah
I also do reformed A levels, but my school enters me both for the AS and A2 exam, so that if I drop a subject, I will still get an AS qualification. I don't think most schools do this.

Yes, a levels are a lot of work and you will only need 3 to apply to universities. If you want to take 3 a levels to ease workload, then it is definitely a solid reason. 4 a levels is definitely manageable, and an advantage of this is if you do badly in a subject, you still have a 4th subject as a back-up option.

If you decide to pick 3 however, I would recommend doing A level maths over 1 of the sciences.


Originally I wanted to do physics chemistry maths but if I were to do medicine some universities also require medicine. I love physics so that's an absolute must, no question about that; chemistry is crucial to be able to do medicine anywhere which left me with having to do biology instead of maths. Thanks for your advice though you've been really useful! 😄
Reply 5
Original post by eatingkiwi
Originally I wanted to do physics chemistry maths but if I were to do medicine some universities also require medicine. I love physics so that's an absolute must, no question about that; chemistry is crucial to be able to do medicine anywhere which left me with having to do biology instead of maths. Thanks for your advice though you've been really useful! 😄


No problem :smile:

It's okay to apply for medicine with only chemistry, maths, physics. However, this will limit some university choices since some have Biology as an essential a level.
Make sure you do your research into the courses and subjects needed.
Reply 6
Do maths If you can !!! I do those three and maths and it really does help so much, I originally wanted to do medicine but I changed my mind so now I'm dropping bio to go down engineering/physics route, doing 4 gives you more options and those 4 go together so well there's some crossover topics and without them all I think I'd struggle to understand some things, if you really don't want to do maths keep in mind that chemistry and physics are very maths based and you will need strong maths for those, also if you're planning to do medicine it is so competitive and having maths will boost your application as strong numeracy skills are always desired. I would say 4 a levels at AS is absolutely manageable! I have managed to still have a life and do other things though it does take up a LOT of time but if you're really committed I would say do 4 because that extra As will look good despite it not being required especially if it's in maths !!! :smile:
Reply 7
I do biology, chemistry and physics at A level, did psychology at AS, people always used to say im going to flop physics for doing it without maths, but honestly in AS physics theres only upto GCSE maths and in A-level the only new things are logs which can be easily learnt, I got A at AS and predicted A*, so it is certainly possible
Original post by eatingkiwi
I've chosen to do chemistry, biology and physics at A-level next year but I've heard that physics without maths is super hard. I do enjoy maths and was considering taking but what would you say about doing 4 A-levels, is it manageable?


In my opinion I would say do maths..it will help you with chemsitry, physics as most of it is purely maths calculation
I do those A level subject except Biology ...(second year ..in the middle of my exams)

If you decide to pick 3 however, I would recommend doing A level maths over 1 of the sciences.

As you want to do Medicine why do you want to do Physics? (for medicine there are university which offer places for people whom dont have biology a levels)
first priority is chemistry than second is bioplogy and third is maths&physics for doing medicine at universITY

I know friends who are at university doing medicine without biology as he chose uni which accept people who have done chem ,maths and physics

at the end of the day its your choice
I would recommend to do maths, also you might also change your mind after to do another career
Reply 9
Original post by Shadowfire123
In my opinion I would say do maths..it will help you with chemsitry, physics as most of it is purely maths calculation
I do those A level subject except Biology ...(second year ..in the middle of my exams)

If you decide to pick 3 however, I would recommend doing A level maths over 1 of the sciences.

As you want to do Medicine why do you want to do Physics? (for medicine there are university which offer places for people whom dont have biology a levels)
first priority is chemistry than second is bioplogy and third is maths&physics for doing medicine at universITY

I know friends who are at university doing medicine without biology as he chose uni which accept people who have done chem ,maths and physics

at the end of the day its your choice
I would recommend to do maths, also you might also change your mind after to do another career


Physics is my absolute favourite subject that's why I'm doing it, I know some unis don't necessarily require biology but I want to keep my options open just in case and do biology as well. Thank you so much for your advice and good luck with your exams!!!
Original post by Mil23333
Do maths If you can !!! I do those three and maths and it really does help so much, I originally wanted to do medicine but I changed my mind so now I'm dropping bio to go down engineering/physics route, doing 4 gives you more options and those 4 go together so well there's some crossover topics and without them all I think I'd struggle to understand some things, if you really don't want to do maths keep in mind that chemistry and physics are very maths based and you will need strong maths for those, also if you're planning to do medicine it is so competitive and having maths will boost your application as strong numeracy skills are always desired. I would say 4 a levels at AS is absolutely manageable! I have managed to still have a life and do other things though it does take up a LOT of time but if you're really committed I would say do 4 because that extra As will look good despite it not being required especially if it's in maths !!! :smile:


Aw this is so encouraging haha would you say it would be manageable to carry all 4 subjects over 2 years for a level? Thank you!!!
Thank you everyone for your advice, I think I'm going to go for it and do maths too 😄
Original post by eatingkiwi
Aw this is so encouraging haha would you say it would be manageable to carry all 4 subjects over 2 years for a level? Thank you!!!


Ahhh glad to hear! Yeah I would say so! Loads of people at my school do 4 for 2 years and still do well! If my I have good enough grades in my maths AS I'm thinking of picking up FM next year so I will be doing 4 lol, I'm surprised your school won't let you drop one after as though? Especially as maths requires you to take the AS as it hasn't yet reformed 🤔(That might have changed for your year so It's something to look into) Have you tried speaking to careers advisors or teachers at your school?
Original post by eatingkiwi
I've chosen to do chemistry, biology and physics at A-level next year but I've heard that physics without maths is super hard. I do enjoy maths and was considering taking but what would you say about doing 4 A-levels, is it manageable?


I chose the exact same subjects as you. We had a class of 25 in my physics by the end of AS we had 14. The 13 people in that class all were taking A-Level maths. I was the only 1 to not take it. I was the only 1 to get an A* and there were 2 A's the rest were C and B. If you have always been good at physics at GCSE and your passionate about it then you will do well like i did. The maths in physics is not very hard but will require you to do more work. I recommend you take physics if you at least got an A at GCSE maths, otherwise you'll be struggling with rearranging and the use of Log and e. Good Luck!

Also the maths in chemistry is a joke its easy. Nothing in A-level chemistry has difficult maths. The hardest topic for maths is what like pH? its 1 equation you don't even need to know how it works you just input the numbers. Physics you need to understand equations as a lot o physics is based on units so just go for it. If you struggle then focus on learning the maths for it. Honestly it's not very difficult to self teach how to rearrange
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Mil23333
Ahhh glad to hear! Yeah I would say so! Loads of people at my school do 4 for 2 years and still do well! If my I have good enough grades in my maths AS I'm thinking of picking up FM next year so I will be doing 4 lol, I'm surprised your school won't let you drop one after as though? Especially as maths requires you to take the AS as it hasn't yet reformed 🤔(That might have changed for your year so It's something to look into) Have you tried speaking to careers advisors or teachers at your school?


My school suffered quite badly after the government cut the funding of schools in the area so everyone originally opted for 4 but afterwards we got told we had to drop one as school couldn't afford to allow everyone to do 4 the first year and then drop. I had a meeting with the careers advisor but that was before we had to drop one. The main message we're getting anyway is that universities only require 3 and they don't look at AS anymore. I think the maths has reformed so we'll be the second year to do that I was just worried about doing 4 because EVERYONE is constantly emphasising how much work it is and I don't really have perspective of how much more it is than gcse but I've spoken to a maths teacher and she said although maths is hard it's way more in depth so will be easier to learn as gcse is pretty broad and covers a range
Original post by eatingkiwi
My school suffered quite badly after the government cut the funding of schools in the area so everyone originally opted for 4 but afterwards we got told we had to drop one as school couldn't afford to allow everyone to do 4 the first year and then drop. I had a meeting with the careers advisor but that was before we had to drop one. The main message we're getting anyway is that universities only require 3 and they don't look at AS anymore. I think the maths has reformed so we'll be the second year to do that I was just worried about doing 4 because EVERYONE is constantly emphasising how much work it is and I don't really have perspective of how much more it is than gcse but I've spoken to a maths teacher and she said although maths is hard it's way more in depth so will be easier to learn as gcse is pretty broad and covers a range

Oh that's such a shame!!! I think really it's a personal thing and while taking on other people's advice you must remember to consider your own capabilities, you don't have to be a genius or smash ur GCSEs with no work to be able to do very well in 4. It would be a good way of showing your capabilities though if you are willing to put in the effort. Like your maths teacher said, a level maths gives you a deeper understanding and I do think that is useful, I mean you could probably do just as well in the other three without maths but it gives a more thorough understanding which can only be a good thing, whilst also strengthening your application! But yeah I guess it comes down to whether you're willing to work extra hard because it sounds like you're more than capable :smile:
Original post by eatingkiwi
I've chosen to do chemistry, biology and physics at A-level next year but I've heard that physics without maths is super hard. I do enjoy maths and was considering taking but what would you say about doing 4 A-levels, is it manageable?


I wouldn't advise doing 4 dude.
I would say drop biology or chemistry and do maths and physics
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
I wouldn't advise doing 4 dude.
I would say drop biology or chemistry and do maths and physics


It's the biology and chemistry I need if I want to do medicine, are you doing a-levels? What do you do and how do you find it?
Original post by Mil23333
Oh that's such a shame!!! I think really it's a personal thing and while taking on other people's advice you must remember to consider your own capabilities, you don't have to be a genius or smash ur GCSEs with no work to be able to do very well in 4. It would be a good way of showing your capabilities though if you are willing to put in the effort. Like your maths teacher said, a level maths gives you a deeper understanding and I do think that is useful, I mean you could probably do just as well in the other three without maths but it gives a more thorough understanding which can only be a good thing, whilst also strengthening your application! But yeah I guess it comes down to whether you're willing to work extra hard because it sounds like you're more than capable :smile:


Aww that's so sweet!!! What you've said is so true I never really considered the fact that everyone is individual which sounds silly but I'm definitely prepared to put in more work you've been so so helpful!!
Original post by eatingkiwi
It's the biology and chemistry I need if I want to do medicine, are you doing a-levels? What do you do and how do you find it?


I do Maths It and Computing
I'm finding it easy to keep up, so go with what you are comfortable with, but I'd advice 3 a-levels

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