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A level choices

Hi all I want to do five a levels. And so far ive chosen maths, further maths, chemistry and physics. For my last option I'm struggling to decide between biology, economics and computing. I'm passionate about them all. Can't decide.
Any help?
Reply 1
Original post by jpeg.idek
Hi all I want to do five a levels. And so far ive chosen maths, further maths, chemistry and physics. For my last option I'm struggling to decide between biology, economics and computing. I'm passionate about them all. Can't decide.
Any help?


I just thought that I’d warn you, that 5 A-levels is A LOT. I’m sure you’re hearing this and thinking ‘yeah, I know’. But honestly when it comes down to it, will it be worth it? You need 3 grades for university. It’s a massive step up from GCSEs and you will not be used to the sheer amount of extra work that you have to do. No matter how smart you are, you can’t excel at A-levels like you can at GCSEs without doing a lot of extra work. I’d really consider thinking of doing only 4.
As said above. Most students take 3, or 4 with the exception of further maths. I promise taking 5 doesn’t benefit you. 4 A*’s, 5A*’s, will not affect how universities perceive you. Not to mention the time you spend on the fifth subject takes away from your others and may damage what you could achieve.

A guy in my sixth form achieved A*A*A*A*A at A-Level, and had an offer for Cambridge Maths. However, didn’t meet this offer due to STEP. (Entrance exams) if he’d spent less time on his 5 subjects and more on his entrance criteria,
he may have achieved his first choice at university.

(Of course it doesn’t mean this guy in anyway failed, I’m just using him as an example to show how it may be best to be cautious)

3/4 brilliant grades, a good PS, some extra curriculars - You’ll have a pretty strong application for whatever University you’d like to attend. 😊
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 3
Thanks it's just I'm not sure what I want to do so I thought that having a broad range of subjects could help me. My school says that you can do a maximum of 4 but you can do further maths as an extra and they said that because you are doing maths it's basically 4 a levels just with an extra qualification and tests.
if you do biology chem phys maths further maths you can go into basically anything sciency you want (medicine, maths, engineering, natural science, a pure science subject, economics, etc). you don't need economics to do an economics degree, and i don't think you need computing to do computer science (but it might help). if you take economics/computing, you'll basically be shutting yourself off from any type of biological/medicine type career, but if you're sure you don't want to do medicine etc then that's fine.

so essentially if you think you might want to do medicine or biological natural sciences, take biology. if not, then just choose whatever you prefer.

i took 5 then dropped to 4 because i decided what i wanted to do halfway through the year, and taking 5 at first is good because you can see what you enjoy, choose a university degree, then potentially drop a subject that you don't need anymore. i doubt you'll need to continue all 5 for the whole two years, so i would recommend dropping one of them once youve decided what you want to do.
Reply 5
Thanks. I'm not sure if I want to go into biological area or not. I think I want to go into stem but I don't think it would be easy to do a computing degree if you don't have the a level for example
Reply 6
Don’t do 5.
Reply 7
You most likely can't even do 5. Your school won't be able to fit you into schedule. A complete waste as well. Even 4 is considered not worth it now.
I wouldn’t even recommend doing four honestly
Original post by jpeg.idek
Hi all I want to do five a levels. And so far ive chosen maths, further maths, chemistry and physics. For my last option I'm struggling to decide between biology, economics and computing. I'm passionate about them all. Can't decide.
Any help?


Absolutely do not do five, I don't want to doubt your ability, however, this seems to be an insane idea, and you should really only consider 4. Even at Harrow School, the ability to do 5 A levels, considering one does further maths is then later reduced to 4 in the second year. The majority, almost all institutions discourage candidates from participating in 5 A Levels, simply because universities base the offers on the 3; in addition to the lack of time to be invested in all 5 subjects. You will be sacrificing something substantial if you were to do 5.
Reply 10
My school actually persuaded people to take 5 because further maths is the extra. I also think that I could work to 5 and if I don't like one I'll drop one. I know that unis only look for three but I'm really unsure as to what I want to do and I'm sure 4 looks better than 3. But I'm not sure

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