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Reply 20
RObTRIP
oh and im thinking of dropping further maths a level to AS, which would mean i would end up with (hopefully!!) AAAa rather than AAAB which one looks worse? i want to apply for computer science next year,
cheers


The AAAa definately looks better
bOdOING2
If Oxbridge want more A levels y dont they make levels based on 4A levels (or more) then? I mean if they like it soo much woulnd they wanna make sure u wont drop it, so y dont they make alot/most of their offers based on 4 A levels, and if they dont care would u get in the 4th just make AAAD or AAAE then???

they do, my friendhas an offer of AAAA
Reply 22
darkenergy
they do, my friendhas an offer of AAAA

They do that occasioanlly, it seems English is popular for that offer, though I Doubt it will becmoe standard
Reply 23
no don't drop further maths to apply for compsci. i think it would genuinely harm your chances of getting an offer. looks bad that you're not committed to the full fmaths alevel. I think they'd expect an A in the full alevel without too much difficult for you to study compsci. I'm sure you can do it if you apply yourself.
Reply 24
I'm doing further maths AS level. My offer for Computer Science at Oxford is

AAA + A in AS further maths.

I did get asked at one college why I didn't take full further maths when my school offers it. I said I wanted to cover a breadth of subjects, and that I always intended to take up further maths AS. They seemed pleased enough with this.


I would say that performing well in the Oxford maths test is the most important thing. If full further maths will help you to do this, then I stick with it.
Reply 25
Hash
I'm doing further maths AS level. My offer for Computer Science at Oxford is

AAA + A in AS further maths.

I did get asked at one college why I didn't take full further maths when my school offers it. I said I wanted to cover a breadth of subjects, and that I always intended to take up further maths AS. They seemed pleased enough with this.


I would say that performing well in the Oxford maths test is the most important thing. If full further maths will help you to do this, then I stick with it.


I agree that performing in any tests is more important than your alevel. But I'm not sure most tutors would warm so well to the "I want to cover a breadth of subjects" reason, in cambridge at least.
Reply 26
im still undecided about it :s-smilie:
in pure im sure i could cope
but mechanics i just turning into a foreign language for me, especially m4-m5 argh!

at the end of the day the odds are I would get an interview with AAAa right? and its the maths test you gota focus on no? and having seen the math test papers it really does not require much further maths if any (or did i just look at it all wrong??)

im thinking of teaching myself AS computing during the gap year, but one of the AS modules is coursework, do you think its possible to take a written paper from the A2 modules and then sit 3 written papers and get an AS in it? this module stuff confuses me..

thanks for the advice
Reply 27
The Messiah
if u do less than 4 a-levels man, Cambrigde cud be a dream forever man, i suggest u drop one, and work inordinately hard.

peace, best wishes

You CAN do less than 4 (i.e. 3) and STILL get in.
You CAN do less than 4 (i.e. 3) and STILL get in


I really do agree with this, i got an offer from oxford and two friends got offers from cambridge and we're all doing ONLY 3 A LEVELS.
Reply 29
I only did 4 ASs and 3 A2s, and got rejected from Trinity for physics and philosophy. Phys+phil is supposed to be a pretty intensive course, so I imagine the pretty minor workload of 4/3 subjects wouldn't really be considered enough. If I took a gap year and reapplied, doing double maths during the gap year, do you think they'd look on them more favourably?

Also (a bit off the subject), is double maths really necessary for physics? Most people I know who do physics at Oxford are doing further maths, but I feel it would look quite poor if I had a whole year off (even with work experience) and only did 3 more modules. Also, do you think they'd make me a conditional offer based on my double maths result?
Reply 30
Double maths for physics is definitely useful as physics contains a LOT of mathematical content.

I've got an offer and I only do 3 A levels. I dropped music so I could read more maths. Music A2 involves composing, performing, listening and writing essays. I compose, perform and listen without doing the A level. Writing essays isn't music. Also, I'd have dropped to a B.
Reply 31
RObTRIP

at the end of the day the odds are I would get an interview with AAAa right? and its the maths test you gota focus on no? and having seen the math test papers it really does not require much further maths if any (or did i just look at it all wrong??)




Yes, you would probably get an interview with less than that.

The actual knowledge required for the test is only P1-3. But applying that knowledge is difficult in the type of questions they ask. So doing further maths may just improve your "mathematical thinking".
Reply 32
I got an offer for Computer Science at John's Cambridge and I'm only doing 3 subjects: maths, further maths and physics (I already have an a for French AS). They didn't ask why I had dropped French.

3 subjects gives you a LOT of free time, especially if the subjects overlap as much as mine. I have 25 blocks per week of which 12 are lessons and 13 free blocks. If you put all my lessons in a contiguous block I could take half of Wednesday off and then have a four day weekend. :biggrin:

It can be dull at times but I can do all my homework at school and have time left over to relax.

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