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Assistance about A-level subject choices

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Original post by justlearning1469
4 A levels, an AS and an EPQ for me, it'll still be alright. Additionally if I understand more than 85% of the content of the lesson for AS level, or 93% for A2 level, I can skip the lesson, so basically more free periods.

Your clearly just making things up now. How is any teacher going to test if you know 93% of a particular lesson's content before the lesson happens? Are you imagining that your teacher is going to abandon the rest of the class to give you your own special quiz, before waving you off to your free period?
Original post by kaorimiyazono
Ok. You clearly aren't listening to anyone's advice. Stop thinking about the far future. Think about the now. The present. What actually matters. Those gaps might be bigger yes, but by the time you get there you'll be used to things getting harder more quickly so you'll be prepared for it better. You'll know how to deal with the difficulty increase. Right now you won't. This is the first big jump you'll make and you're being way too overconfident. I'm not saying you can't do it. I don't know you. Maybe you can. But you won't be able to do it if you don't accept the challenges, struggles and lack of free time that you will undoubtedly have. You won't be able to deal with something so difficult if you go in thinking that it'll be a piece of cake because it won't.

If you really don't believe that you'll struggle, would you mind explaining what your "exceptional case" is?


Completely agree but it is kinda important to think about uni at this point too.
They’re saying they wanna do phd at Oxbridge.
Doing 6 A-Levels + EPQ gives you less of a chance of getting to Oxbridge than 3. Unless you have the IQ of Einstein…or the social life of a brick…or the sleeping schedule of fish… you’re MUCH less likely to get into uni with 6 rather than 3 A-Levels.
As someone previously posted, say if you ace your 6 A-Levels with A* A*AAAA…you’re at no advantage compared to someone with A*AA. People who got A*A*A* at A-Level (INCREDIBLY hard) and generally have the same intelligence of someone doing 6 A-Levels of BCCCDD. Those who got 6 crap grades won’t get into uni compared to those with 3 amazing grades.
Moral of the story- sort out your ego and stay humble guys!
Original post by justlearning1469
I could be attempting A-levels soon, I'd be picking Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English Literature. Does anyone have tips for them? Additionally for Further Maths I can simply self-study, since it requires no laboratory. And what about EPQ (just asking)?


Heya! I took Biology, chemistry, maths, further maths and history at a level (5 was the maximum we were allowed, else physics would have made the cut too) in 2017.

I think you're very ambitious to do all of those subjects and respect you for it! I do want to say though: chemistry, biology and english are very heavy A levels and you need to learn an insane amount. Chemistry in particular can be very tricky mark-scheme wise because it is very different from GCSE (the grade boundary for my A-level chemistry exam was about 50% for an A). Additionally, science is clearly your passion! I am glad you're also taking English because having an appreciation for writing is actually essential in science. However, it's a lot of work and taking one humanity with several sciences can be pretty jarring! Especially if you realise that you're essentially taking the humanity/art as a hobby alongside the science... I'm not trying to discourage you at all, I definitely think you should go for it but I think it is something that I'd wished I'd known. I ended up dropping history pretty quickly because it was too much and too different, even though I love the subject. There's no shame in dropping a subject when you start your A levels as you find out what you want: everyone I know who started with 5 A levels dropped down to 3 or 4.

With respect to tips about the subjects themselves.... I'd recommend trying to understand the core concepts in chemistry and biology as opposed to memorising them. I know that sounds obvious, but it's very important to keep in mind: in A-level chemistry I had to learn pages and pages of different, specific reactions for transition metals, acids + salts etc. and memorise how they can be visually identified (colour changes, effervescence etc.). Once I'd realised that if you understand WHY these reactions work the way they do and why they visually appear how they do (all down to electron shells, really) suddenly it was so much easier and I did really well. It'll also put you in amazing stead for study at university, and we need scientists who actually understand things! It's a tip that my teachers never bothered to explain, and they wonder why everyone hated chemistry...


Another tip I have: don't treat your subjects like descrete topics. Biology relies on chemistry relies on physics relies on maths. Plus, statistics is core to all biology - definitely don't forget that (biologists who lack an understanding of statistics is actually a very major problem in the sciences currently).

EPQ-wise, it's not really essential; I didn't do one and got into a good university completely fine. Having seen my friends attempt them, they're kind of a lot of work and if you're not interested it's just a slog. So if you have something you really want to do then you should go for it, but only really as a hobby! Definitely don't put too much pressure on it, it's a bit of fun and should help you learn how to research, but that's about it.

Oh! Last piece of advise: university level maths is not at all like A level maths or further maths. Sure maybe it's a bit early to be thinking of university, but that's something I wish I'd known before I suffered through a year of university maths ahaha

Good luck!
- Toxicology PhD student


EDIT: Okay now I've read through the rest of the thread a bit more, I have stuff to add.
You should study because you want to learn and want to contribute. I also had massive aspirations to do all my studying at oxbridge, and I am in fact doing my phd at cambridge, so I 100000% understand why this is your motivation! But I also want to try put things into perspective:
The hardest subjects that I have ever studied were
- Mathematics in first year university
- Chemistry A-level

I have a first-class degree from a leading university. And that **** was no-where near as hard as A-level chemistry. I'm not saying you'll find it tough, maybe you're a natural or maybe (I hope) they've changed the syllabus since I did it (though my syllabus was brand new when I did it, so possibly not), but it is difficult.

Additionally, sure it's great to say you're from a leading university (God knows I love saying it), but what's more important is actually understanding your subjects. So while by all means, aim for the best, please don't forget to actually understand what you're studying and why. You can get 100% on every exam just by happening to memorise stuff, but still not actually understand anything. Science needs people who understand, so I hope this is your main motivation.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by justlearning1469
I could be attempting A-levels soon, I'd be picking Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English Literature. Does anyone have tips for them? Additionally for Further Maths I can simply self-study, since it requires no laboratory. And what about EPQ (just asking)?


Dude wtf are you doing. Everyone who wants to do 5 a levels is crazy but thinks they’re superman and can do it. They never do and always fail.
Original post by pricklyhedgehog
Completely agree but it is kinda important to think about uni at this point too.
They’re saying they wanna do phd at Oxbridge.
Doing 6 A-Levels + EPQ gives you less of a chance of getting to Oxbridge than 3. Unless you have the IQ of Einstein…or the social life of a brick…or the sleeping schedule of fish… you’re MUCH less likely to get into uni with 6 rather than 3 A-Levels.
As someone previously posted, say if you ace your 6 A-Levels with A* A*AAAA…you’re at no advantage compared to someone with A*AA. People who got A*A*A* at A-Level (INCREDIBLY hard) and generally have the same intelligence of someone doing 6 A-Levels of BCCCDD. Those who got 6 crap grades won’t get into uni compared to those with 3 amazing grades.
Moral of the story- sort out your ego and stay humble guys!


Exactly!
Original post by pricklyhedgehog
Completely agree but it is kinda important to think about uni at this point too.
They’re saying they wanna do phd at Oxbridge.
Doing 6 A-Levels + EPQ gives you less of a chance of getting to Oxbridge than 3. Unless you have the IQ of Einstein…or the social life of a brick…or the sleeping schedule of fish… you’re MUCH less likely to get into uni with 6 rather than 3 A-Levels.
As someone previously posted, say if you ace your 6 A-Levels with A* A*AAAA…you’re at no advantage compared to someone with A*AA. People who got A*A*A* at A-Level (INCREDIBLY hard) and generally have the same intelligence of someone doing 6 A-Levels of BCCCDD. Those who got 6 crap grades won’t get into uni compared to those with 3 amazing grades.
Moral of the story- sort out your ego and stay humble guys!

Yes I completely agree with you.
Recent posters should be aware that the OP has been banned. They should reflect on why that might have happened...
Original post by ageshallnot
Recent posters should be aware that the OP has been banned. They should reflect on why that might have happened...

@Muttley79 called that one correctly, after only about a page's worth of comments :smile:
Original post by Reality Check
@Muttley79 called that one correctly, after only about a page's worth of comments :smile:

Yep. And I raised it with the powers that be...
Original post by ageshallnot
Yep. And I raised it with the powers that be...

And people still think that 'old people' (i.e. any aged over about 17) have no place being on TSR.
Original post by ageshallnot
Recent posters should be aware that the OP has been banned. They should reflect on why that might have happened...


Original post by ageshallnot
Yep. And I raised it with the powers that be...

Not saying that they shouldn't have been banned, I got a bit bored of reading the whole thread :wink: I was just wondering what the rule was that they broke? (I'm new to using TSR so just wanna check I'm not gonna get banned myself ahaha)
Original post by Tessa Moltres
Not saying that they shouldn't have been banned, I got a bit bored of reading the whole thread :wink: I was just wondering what the rule was that they broke? (I'm new to using TSR so just wanna check I'm not gonna get banned myself ahaha)

Their persona sounded familiar. I suspect they were a dupe.
Original post by ageshallnot
Recent posters should be aware that the OP has been banned. They should reflect on why that might have happened...


wait is it our fault op was banned? I’m so confused we were just tryna be direct and honest and not give sh*tty advice
Original post by pricklyhedgehog
wait is it our fault op was banned? I’m so confused we were just tryna be direct and honest and not give sh*tty advice


Original post by ageshallnot
Recent posters should be aware that the OP has been banned. They should reflect on why that might have happened...

He was probably banned due to this thread:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7067438&p=95617447&page=2#post95617447
Original post by tej3141

OMG yes that makes so much more sense than being banned for being a cocky 16 year old
Original post by tej3141

It goes back long before then, if it's the person ASN and I are thinking of.
Original post by Tessa Moltres
OMG yes that makes so much more sense than being banned for being a cocky 16 year old

If 'being a cocky 16-year-old' was a reason for a ban, then there wouldn't be many TSR members left :laugh:
Original post by Reality Check
If 'being a cocky 16-year-old' was a reason for a ban, then there wouldn't be many TSR members left :laugh:

ahahaha very true
Original post by tej3141


Phahaha wtf 😂
Original post by pricklyhedgehog
They’re still not giving their predicted GCSE grades…I mean the fact they think they’re better than 99.9% of people who take A-Levels and can fly through 6…and 2 EPQs…absolutely delusional 😂
I’d say they’re just very very naive

He did say he could be dropping Eng lit, and he's probably given up on the idea of Further Maths, so it's not six A levels it's four A levels and 1 AS. That AS could be replaced by an EPQ. That means 4 A levels and 2 EPQs. It's a heavy workload, but it's not like 6 A-levels and 2 EPQs, the OP didn't even want that.

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