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Should I drop biology as an A-Level fourth subject

I am currently about to start sixth form and I've been a little distressed about my current A-Level subjects I have chosen: history, maths, psychology and biology. I understand that all these subjects are extremely content heavy and I know from gcse's that biology does not come naturally to me and to achieve a good grade it took absolutely all my effort and time into that ONE subject however it paid off and I got a 9 in seperate biology so I am capable, its just in A-levels now however there is only even MORE content in biology and I don't particularly like it as a subject so I'm stressed about how I'm going to maintain an excellent grade in it along with the other 3 subjects. I don't know what I want to be in the future but I know for certain I want to stray as far way from science as possible and the only reason I considered carrying biology on was because I find psychology so interesting and I feared that I could not get far in psychology without biology plus a part of me was terrified of dropping all three sciences when I'm not entirely certain what I want to be yet. I already carry a lot on my plate outside of school, with my competitive netball, my job and my acting academy I do and I fear that doing excellently on 4 a levels will be extremely tiring and stressful for me. I'm definitely an overachiever and I want the type of grades to get into the top universities. Would it be wise to drop biology and go to 3 subjects or would that be closing a lot of doors for me too early on
Original post by zahra.dk
I am currently about to start sixth form and I've been a little distressed about my current A-Level subjects I have chosen: history, maths, psychology and biology. I understand that all these subjects are extremely content heavy and I know from gcse's that biology does not come naturally to me and to achieve a good grade it took absolutely all my effort and time into that ONE subject however it paid off and I got a 9 in seperate biology so I am capable, its just in A-levels now however there is only even MORE content in biology and I don't particularly like it as a subject so I'm stressed about how I'm going to maintain an excellent grade in it along with the other 3 subjects. I don't know what I want to be in the future but I know for certain I want to stray as far way from science as possible and the only reason I considered carrying biology on was because I find psychology so interesting and I feared that I could not get far in psychology without biology plus a part of me was terrified of dropping all three sciences when I'm not entirely certain what I want to be yet. I already carry a lot on my plate outside of school, with my competitive netball, my job and my acting academy I do and I fear that doing excellently on 4 a levels will be extremely tiring and stressful for me. I'm definitely an overachiever and I want the type of grades to get into the top universities. Would it be wise to drop biology and go to 3 subjects or would that be closing a lot of doors for me too early on


Definitely drop it. Top unis only offer on 3 a levels anyways so 4 is useless. I did both and dropped psychology as I wanted to do biology at uni anyways, and all of the biology you need in psychology they will teach you anyways. Focus on 3 and make sure your supracurricular stuff is strong as that’s what sets candidates apart. Your extracurricular are not important for getting into uni, very few places care about competitive sports or acting unless you do sports or acting for a degree as it won’t affect your ability to be a good student. Make sure you can balance all of the a levels with a job and so many extracurricular stuff or you’ll burn out fast.
ABSOLUTELY drop it. People who have done four have had no success than someone who did three and thrived. You're setting yourself up for stress/failure.
Reply 3
Original post by Googley_eyes
Definitely drop it. Top unis only offer on 3 a levels anyways so 4 is useless. I did both and dropped psychology as I wanted to do biology at uni anyways, and all of the biology you need in psychology they will teach you anyways. Focus on 3 and make sure your supracurricular stuff is strong as that’s what sets candidates apart. Your extracurricular are not important for getting into uni, very few places care about competitive sports or acting unless you do sports or acting for a degree as it won’t affect your ability to be a good student. Make sure you can balance all of the a levels with a job and so many extracurricular stuff or you’ll burn out fast.

But do you think history, maths and psychology are strong enough a levels on their own if I don't know what I want to be yet, thats my only concern
Original post by zahra.dk
But do you think history, maths and psychology are strong enough a levels on their own if I don't know what I want to be yet, thats my only concern


I think look at it as what you like to do and then what you can do as a career similar, as opposed to what you want to be as that sounds a bit childish. But overall yeah it’s a strong combination. It leaves you open to a maths route, social science route, or historical kinda route. It’s not strong in the sense if you want to do a degree that has 2 a level requirements, for example some history degrees require a language if they’re specific, or some engineering want maths and FM or physics. But if you don’t know what you want to do you’re unlikely to have this issue, so yeah it’s pretty good.

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