The Student Room Group

Three or four A-Levels?

Now that the new A-levels are linear, if I take four subjects I won't be able to drop one at the end of year 12. Consequently, at my current school's sixth form we are only allowed to apply for three A-levels, but at the sixth form I am going to, applicants with predicted grades of As/A*s (which is me) can take four.

I'm not sure what I want to do in the future and I'm struggling to chose my A-level subjects, so would it be worth doing four to widen my options? I'm just worried that it may be too much workload but I won't be able to drop on at the end of year 12 and get an AS.

Should I take three or four A-levels?
You could take four and then arrange to drop one after AS if you don't think you're going to do well in it i.e. pay to sit the AS exam idk
Original post by itslibby
Now that the new A-levels are linear, if I take four subjects I won't be able to drop one at the end of year 12. Consequently, at my current school's sixth form we are only allowed to apply for three A-levels, but at the sixth form I am going to, applicants with predicted grades of As/A*s (which is me) can take four.

I'm not sure what I want to do in the future and I'm struggling to chose my A-level subjects, so would it be worth doing four to widen my options? I'm just worried that it may be too much workload but I won't be able to drop on at the end of year 12 and get an AS.

Should I take three or four A-levels?


3 was always the better option anyway, the only reason sixth forms did 4 is because, A) If a student was completely failing a subject they could drop it at the end of the year and still have 3 subjects, or, B) It contributed to your UCAS points when you banked the AS level.

Unless the uni you want to go to uses UCAS points (the top ones don't, they ask for specific grades like AAA rather than 320 points) then you don't need 4 at AS. If you're confident you won't completely fail or not enjoy one of your subjects then you also don't need 4. Having that extra one to drop just gives you a bit of wiggle room if you don't like it.

The only real exception is those who really talented and are doing further maths as the 4th A level as well as normal maths and 2 others - usually sciences. This makes their uni applications extremely strong but it also makes it harder to get good grades. Managing 3 A levels is not easy let alone 4, and getting AAA is considered better than getting ABBB
I'm still deciding whether to take 3 or 4 but it's looking like I'll be taking 4 because I honestly can't get it down to 3 - it was such a challenge getting it down to 4 and I don't think I could knock another one off, I wouldn't know what to choose.

I plan on doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry
Reply 4
Original post by addingishard
3 was always the better option anyway, the only reason sixth forms did 4 is because, A) If a student was completely failing a subject they could drop it at the end of the year and still have 3 subjects, or, B) It contributed to your UCAS points when you banked the AS level.

Unless the uni you want to go to uses UCAS points (the top ones don't, they ask for specific grades like AAA rather than 320 points) then you don't need 4 at AS. If you're confident you won't completely fail or not enjoy one of your subjects then you also don't need 4. Having that extra one to drop just gives you a bit of wiggle room if you don't like it.

The only real exception is those who really talented and are doing further maths as the 4th A level as well as normal maths and 2 others - usually sciences. This makes their uni applications extremely strong but it also makes it harder to get good grades. Managing 3 A levels is not easy let alone 4, and getting AAA is considered better than getting ABBB


Thank you so much that's really helpful
Reply 5
Original post by danielwinstanley
I'm still deciding whether to take 3 or 4 but it's looking like I'll be taking 4 because I honestly can't get it down to 3 - it was such a challenge getting it down to 4 and I don't think I could knock another one off, I wouldn't know what to choose.

I plan on doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry


On enrollment day (after results day) I might ask whether if I start with four I can drop one in the first few months, seen as I am struggling to narrow it down to three at the moment
Reply 6
Original post by Batgirl98
You could take four and then arrange to drop one after AS if you don't think you're going to do well in it i.e. pay to sit the AS exam idk


I asked at my sixth form but they said they aren't going to do any of the AS exams so this won't be possible unfortunately :frown:
I have 1A* 8As and a C. I originally took 5AS levels and found it really tough. They were all facilitating subjects too(Bio, chem, Hist, Geog, and lit), so the workload was huge. I recommend taking 4 subjects at AS level due to the flexibility. Plus if you are predicted As/A*s your work ethic must be decent, that is all that is needed for 4AS levels.

4 seems to be the perfect balance in my opinion.
You need to be taking a minimum of 5 A-levels to register for TSR. I've reported you to mods btw
Reply 9
Original post by Xenon17
You need to be taking a minimum of 5 A-levels to register for TSR. I've reported you to mods btw


For a second I was worried before I realised you were joking lmao 😂
Reply 10
Original post by Piña colada
I have 1A* 8As and a C. I originally took 5AS levels and found it really tough. They were all facilitating subjects too(Bio, chem, Hist, Geog, and lit), so the workload was huge. I recommend taking 4 subjects at AS level due to the flexibility. Plus if you are predicted As/A*s your work ethic must be decent, that is all that is needed for 4AS levels.

4 seems to be the perfect balance in my opinion.


Wow five does sound a lot! Thank you though
Original post by Xenon17
You need to be taking a minimum of 5 A-levels to register for TSR. I've reported you to mods btw


Only 5? That seems a little low....

Original post by itslibby
On enrollment day (after results day) I might ask whether if I start with four I can drop one in the first few months, seen as I am struggling to narrow it down to three at the moment


Only reason I'm taking four is because I can't decide which I wouldn't want to do if I were doing three. And, anyway, I spend far too much time doing school work so the workload won't be a problem...

I'm just worried by how much content there is for biology and chemistry - it seems like so much content.

Quick Reply