4 A-levels?

Soo, I keep seeing how Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge accept 3 really good A-levels yet so many successful applicants have 4. If 3 A-levels is fine, why would 39.1% of successful Oxford applicants in 2019 bother to take 4, risking their offer compared to having 3 secure A-levels?

I'm just unsure if I should take 4 A-levels to stand out from all the candidates that take 3 and 4 and 5 A-levels but I don't want to jeopardise a future offer from Oxbridge, by getting for example A*AAA instead of a possible A*A*A.

My desired Sixth Form allows a minimum of 4 A-levels at the start of the year which is really strange because if 3 is all you need for Oxbridge, why would top sixth forms / colleges push you to do 4. The best 3 sixth forms near me all require a minimum of 4 A-levels to start off Year 12 with so it worries me that maybe there is a small chance that Oxbridge perhaps do have a preference of 4 instead of 3 A-levels.

To summarise, should I take 4 A-levels or speak to the college and ask if I can drop one to do just 3?

Soo, I keep seeing how Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge accept 3 really good A-levels yet so many successful applicants have 4. If 3 A-levels is fine, why would 39.1% of successful Oxford applicants in 2019 bother to take 4, risking their offer compared to having 3 secure A-levels?

I'm just unsure if I should take 4 A-levels to stand out from all the candidates that take 3 and 4 and 5 A-levels but I don't want to jeopardise a future offer from Oxbridge, by getting for example A*AAA instead of a possible A*A*A.

My desired Sixth Form allows a minimum of 4 A-levels at the start of the year which is really strange because if 3 is all you need for Oxbridge, why would top sixth forms / colleges push you to do 4. The best 3 sixth forms near me all require a minimum of 4 A-levels to start off Year 12 with so it worries me that maybe there is a small chance that Oxbridge perhaps do have a preference of 4 instead of 3 A-levels.

To summarise, should I take 4 A-levels or speak to the college and ask if I can drop one to do just 3?


https://www.quora.com/What-proportion-of-Oxford-undergraduates-do-four-A-levels
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2973443

Possible reasons:

Further maths - while it doesn't give you any actual advantage in terms of admissions looking and seeing 4 a levels, the extra maths is likely to mean people doing it do better on some admissions assessments, especially for maths and physical science. It is generally taken as a fourth a level, which may make it look like 4 a levels helps where in reality it is further maths. (Obv this only applies to a few, but a significant minority, of subjects). In addition, if you're good at maths, further maths doesn't add a whole a level worth of work, because you get through normal maths faster (e.g. at my college you have 7 maths lessons a week instead of 5).
Positive selection - more able students are simply more likely to take another a level, because they can, even if it doesn't help. E.g. i have a friend doing an extra purely because they want to and it isn't relevant to their future. (This is rare, and wouldn't recommend, know many others who dropped the 'extra' one). These students get offers by virtue of ability, not because of the fourth a level (correlation not causation).
The one exception may be nat sci at Cambridge, where four a levels including further maths may give you an edge, enabling you to do two sciences as well as maths and further maths. This is still a risk, and you still would not be disadvantaged for doing three (only in terms of perhaps being worse at a part of an interview/admissions assessment). This itself is still hotly debated haha.

You can just do 3, tbh I think 4 for AS level is perfectly doable for most people, so you almost might as well, to try out something else you might really enjoy/keep options open. I found year 12 to 13 is the big step up. But if you are sure, it may be worth doing 3 to leave more time for reading/epq/etcetc.

Now that you've mentioned it, what exactly are these "EPQs" I'm hearing so much about?? Why are people taking them if they're already doing 3/4/5 A-levels

The thing is AS grades aren’t accounted for anymore

epq stands for extended project qualification. it is equivalent to an as level and involves producing a research essay (6000 words) or an artefact (something you make) and 3000 words.