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4 a levels?

Thinking of taking four a levels, biology, English literature, maths and history. Providing I get all 8/9 grades in my gcses, what do you think the workload will be like? Will I be able to manage with a weekend job? Is it worth it?
The workload will be hellish, especially if you are taking biology, english lit and history. No you wont if you want do well in all of them. It's not worth it
Hello. I’m currently a year 12 student doing 4 a levels; biology, chemistry, maths, and geography. I would say the workload is manageable and if you are passionate about your subjects and work hard, you’ll excel. People think doing 4 a levels is pointless, but really, when applying for university, your 4th subject will boost your UCAS points, so even if for some reason you don’t do well in your 4th it’s still to your advantage. Furthermore, university offers will only be for 3 grades so it’s not too much pressure, however ideally you want to do your best in all 4. Also, statistically, students who do 4 a levels do better in their top 3 than students who do only 3. Currently my workload is quite nice actually, I get plenty of time to relax and enjoy myself. However, a part time job on top of it will most likely leave you exhausted and burnt out. Especially with 4 subjects, you’ll probably need that time to study! Teachers at my school strongly discourage part time jobs. I’m so happy I do 4 subjects, I love them and would definitely pick the option to do 4 again.

What I would say is that time management is absolutely paramount. At the beginning of the year, I regretted doing 4 subjects as I wasn’t good at managing and planning my time, so felt as if I was always drowning in work and never had a moment to myself. After I started planning my time ( and be realistic too) it’s a lot more enjoyable. I tend to do 1hr 30 mins of work before school and 2 hours after school. I do homework’s in the morning and if I don’t have any, I don’t need to get up early! And after school is revision and practise. Weekends I enjoy myself or do some extra reading ahead. Make sure you really love and can engage with the subjects you pick. You’ll find that a levels are a lot more demanding than GCSE, and the only way to stay motivated enough to do 4, is if you really love your subjects! Look at your sixth forms exam boards in those subjects and look at what the spec covers just to be sure you actually want to study this.

I would definitely recommend doing 4 a levels, if your willing to work hard, and maybe sacrifice a little social time😂. Anyway good luck!
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Sinnoh
22
Original post by Anonymous778
Hello. I’m currently a year 12 student doing 4 a levels; biology, chemistry, maths, and geography. I would say the workload is manageable and if you are passionate about your subjects and work hard, you’ll excel. People think doing 4 a levels is pointless, but really, when applying for university, your 4th subject will boost your UCAS points, so even if for some reason you don’t do well in your 4th it’s still to your advantage. Furthermore, university offers will only be for 3 grades so it’s not too much pressure, however ideally you want to do your best in all 4. Also, statistically, students who do 4 a levels do better in their top 3 than students who do only 3. Currently my workload is quite nice actually, I get plenty of time to relax and enjoy myself. However, a part time job on top of it will most likely leave you exhausted and burnt out. Especially with 4 subjects, you’ll probably need that time to study! Teachers at my school strongly discourage part time jobs. I’m so happy I do 4 subjects, I love them and would definitely pick the option to do 4 again.

What I would say is that time management is absolutely paramount. At the beginning of the year, I regretted doing 4 subjects as I wasn’t good at managing and planning my time, so felt as if I was always drowning in work and never had a moment to myself. After I started planning my time ( and be realistic too) it’s a lot more enjoyable. I tend to do 1hr 30 mins of work before school and 2 hours after school. I do homework’s in the morning and if I don’t have any, I don’t need to get up early! And after school is revision and practise. Weekends I enjoy myself or do some extra reading ahead. Make sure you really love and can engage with the subjects you pick. You’ll find that a levels are a lot more demanding than GCSE, and the only way to stay motivated enough to do 4, is if you really love your subjects! Look at your sixth forms exam boards in those subjects and look at what the spec covers just to be sure you actually want to study this.

I would definitely recommend doing 4 a levels, if your willing to work hard, and maybe sacrifice a little social time😂. Anyway good luck!


With regards to having more UCAS points due to a 4th subject - most universities don't make offers based on your UCAS points anyway. It's not as if it's that hard to get offers most of the time - for the majority of universities and majority of courses, you will get the offer if you have the predicted grades and your personal statement doesn't completely suck. In practical terms it just doesn't warrant doing 33% more work for the same chances at uni offers.

As for students taking 4 A-levels doing better in their top 3 - there's a bit of bias in this sample. Because really, if you're the type of person to actually choose to take 4 A-levels... I'd also make the sensible assumption that many people doing 4 A-levels are doing further maths as one of them, and if you do further maths then a high grade in single maths is pretty much a given.

But if you're interested enough in all four that you want to study them at this level for two years, and assuming your 6th form actually lets you do that, then go for it. You can always drop one with no consequence.

Although one more caveat - I hope you have an excellent memory. Excluding maths, your subjects rely quite a lot on you just having to memorise things. With biology the level of detail required is a significant step up from GCSE.

I did take 4 A-levels, but the way my uni offer was laid out and due to how my school delivered further maths, I never really had a huge workload. However this will not be the case if you're taking bio, english lit, maths and history.
(edited 4 years ago)

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