The Student Room Group

Should I do the EPQ?

I'm in year 12 and only started with 3 A level subjects (which I'll do till the end!), so I feel like I'm at a disadvantage to many of my peers who started with 4. I won't be doing ASs. I feel like as everyone used to do 4 subjects to AS and then drop one, they had more to do, so I should do the EPQ to make up for it.
Anyone else in the same/similar situation or anyone got any tips on whether to do it?
If I did it I would want to get an A or (preferably) A*.
Are these easy or impossible to get?
I'm considering top unis and it would be for the mention in the Personal Statement not the points.
Any advice greatly appreciated! :smile:
Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown: Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile: Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:
Hi,
Don't worry about not taking four, people who I know that have done four have ended up finding it too much and having to drop one after not doing well enough. Doing and EPQ is a good idea as it shows different skills to A-levels and you can focus it on what you would like to do at university or as a career. We just got out EPQ results and quite a few people I know got As and A*s so they're definitely not impossible to get. At some universities, getting an A or above can reduce the grade requirements as well.
Reply 3
Original post by TSR Jessica
Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown: Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile: Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:


Thanks.
Reply 4
Original post by Jasmine528
Hi,
Don't worry about not taking four, people who I know that have done four have ended up finding it too much and having to drop one after not doing well enough. Doing and EPQ is a good idea as it shows different skills to A-levels and you can focus it on what you would like to do at university or as a career. We just got out EPQ results and quite a few people I know got As and A*s so they're definitely not impossible to get. At some universities, getting an A or above can reduce the grade requirements as well.


Ok thanks for your advice. Were lots of people doing 3 essay subjects and the EPQ, can you remember?
EPQ would be useful for your personal statement so maybe consider it, but only do it if you really want to. The last thing you want is spending time on an EPQ that you dont even enjoy - which is what many people end up doing
I'm doing 3 A-Levels and I started the EPQ, but dropped it because it was far too much work for me (seeing as two of my subjects are essay-based). 3 good A-Levels is better than 4 poor A-Levels and an EPQ. :smile:

BTW, not saying that everybody who does an EPQ will get worse A-Level results, many people have the capacity to study that much at once. Sadly I do not, haha.
One of my friends was doing Film, English and Psychology and I did it doing Psychology, History and Biology (two essay subjects) which I found fine. I think quite a few people were doing at least two essay subjects with it. Why do you want to know?
Reply 8
Original post by blackvoid17
EPQ would be useful for your personal statement so maybe consider it, but only do it if you really want to. The last thing you want is spending time on an EPQ that you dont even enjoy - which is what many people end up doing


Ok thank you.
Reply 9
Original post by wastedcuriosity
I'm doing 3 A-Levels and I started the EPQ, but dropped it because it was far too much work for me (seeing as two of my subjects are essay-based). 3 good A-Levels is better than 4 poor A-Levels and an EPQ. :smile:

BTW, not saying that everybody who does an EPQ will get worse A-Level results, many people have the capacity to study that much at once. Sadly I do not, haha.


Yes, honestly I'm kind of feeling the same way haha. I guess it's the thought that just 3 A Levels doesn't seem as good but you're right and I do feel like it might be too much.
Which subjects are you doing?
Reply 10
Original post by Jasmine528
One of my friends was doing Film, English and Psychology and I did it doing Psychology, History and Biology (two essay subjects) which I found fine. I think quite a few people were doing at least two essay subjects with it. Why do you want to know?

Ok thanks that's good to know. I was just wondering as I'm doing English lit, history and politics so was wondering how others doing lots of essay subjects found it, but both of these combinations prove that EPQ (often an essay) + essay subjects is do-able (I know lots of people who are doing lots of maths/science subjects do it as it's a bit different).
Don't worry. There really aren't many people who do 4 A-Levels and EPQ.
Doing 3 full A-Levels and an EPQ is more then enough :smile:
An extra A-Level is a lot of extra work.
I did my A-Levels a couple years ago now, and in year 12 we still had AS' so I had done 4 AS' and EPQ. It was actually okay to handle.
In terms of doing year 13 though, I dropped to 3 A-Levels and that was good- year 13 is stressful enough with just 3!!!
Then again, if you think you could do 4 A-levels, adding EPQ on in year 12 wouldn't kill you. Year 12 is seriously less intense than year 13.
Original post by xxxooo
Yes, honestly I'm kind of feeling the same way haha. I guess it's the thought that just 3 A Levels doesn't seem as good but you're right and I do feel like it might be too much.
Which subjects are you doing?

I take Psychology, History and RS :smile: As history has coursework, I just felt like an EPQ was way too much for me.
Reply 13
Original post by wastedcuriosity
I take Psychology, History and RS :smile: As history has coursework, I just felt like an EPQ was way too much for me.


Ah ok yeah. I do history too and from what I've heard, the coursework seems tough!
Original post by xxxooo
I'm in year 12 and only started with 3 A level subjects (which I'll do till the end!), so I feel like I'm at a disadvantage to many of my peers who started with 4. I won't be doing ASs. I feel like as everyone used to do 4 subjects to AS and then drop one, they had more to do, so I should do the EPQ to make up for it.
Anyone else in the same/similar situation or anyone got any tips on whether to do it?
If I did it I would want to get an A or (preferably) A*.
Are these easy or impossible to get?
I'm considering top unis and it would be for the mention in the Personal Statement not the points.
Any advice greatly appreciated! :smile:

1) youre not at a disadvantage for doing 3 a levels, unis only need 3 alevels
2) 3 a levels is stressful enough, 4 is even worse (i know i did 4)
3) EPQs are good if they are relevant to your course in a way bc it shows the uni that your interested in the subject and organised enough to do an EPQ by yourself
4) that being said, do an EPQ because you genuinely want to/find something interesting, dont do it bc you want to be on the same 'level' as your peers, bc then its not fun or helpful in any way at all and you wont get an A/A* in it

do the EPQ if you have a legitimate interest in it otherwise dont, dont worry about your peers doing 4 bc working for 3 alevels is easier than working for 4 as you can spend more time and effort on them so you totally could come out with better grades than the people doing 4. unis only want 3 a levels, an AS grades are only for extra credits, and lots of unis dont even look at AS levels so its quite pointless.
Reply 15
Original post by borborygmus
1) youre not at a disadvantage for doing 3 a levels, unis only need 3 alevels
2) 3 a levels is stressful enough, 4 is even worse (i know i did 4)
3) EPQs are good if they are relevant to your course in a way bc it shows the uni that your interested in the subject and organised enough to do an EPQ by yourself
4) that being said, do an EPQ because you genuinely want to/find something interesting, dont do it bc you want to be on the same 'level' as your peers, bc then its not fun or helpful in any way at all and you wont get an A/A* in it

do the EPQ if you have a legitimate interest in it otherwise dont, dont worry about your peers doing 4 bc working for 3 alevels is easier than working for 4 as you can spend more time and effort on them so you totally could come out with better grades than the people doing 4. unis only want 3 a levels, an AS grades are only for extra credits, and lots of unis dont even look at AS levels so its quite pointless.

Thank you so much! Glad to hear that 3 A levels is ok and ASs aren't that important. Thanks - I know that the EPQ is helpful and I'm sure I could find something I'm really interested but you're right to say I shouldn't do it just to be as good as everyone else, as it were.

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