4 A-levels and an EPQ is a lot of work - I did Maths, Biology, Chemistry, French and an EPQ and it was just about manageable but only because I got the EPQ out the way as quickly as I could. If I did it again I’d keep the EPQ (really useful for building academic reading and writing skills as prep for uni, gave me something to talk about in my personal statement, and I got reduced offers at a few unis because I had a good grade in it so it gave me more options for an insurance uni choice - check if this is relevant to any unis you’re considering) and drop an A-level, I didn’t actually need 4 anyway and the stress wasn’t worth it.
As long as History, Maths and Economics would work for your chosen uni subject I’d suggest considering dropping Physics, but definitely do the EPQ. If your school would be open to letting you drop a subject after a couple of months it might be worth trying out the 4 A levels and the EPQ to see how manageable it is for you.
As long as History, Maths and Economics would work for your chosen uni subject I’d suggest considering dropping Physics, but definitely do the EPQ. If your school would be open to letting you drop a subject after a couple of months it might be worth trying out the 4 A levels and the EPQ to see how manageable it is for you.
Original post by eeeli
4 A-levels and an EPQ is a lot of work - I did Maths, Biology, Chemistry, French and an EPQ and it was just about manageable but only because I got the EPQ out the way as quickly as I could. If I did it again I’d keep the EPQ (really useful for building academic reading and writing skills as prep for uni, gave me something to talk about in my personal statement, and I got reduced offers at a few unis because I had a good grade in it so it gave me more options for an insurance uni choice - check if this is relevant to any unis you’re considering) and drop an A-level, I didn’t actually need 4 anyway and the stress wasn’t worth it.
As long as History, Maths and Economics would work for your chosen uni subject I’d suggest considering dropping Physics, but definitely do the EPQ. If your school would be open to letting you drop a subject after a couple of months it might be worth trying out the 4 A levels and the EPQ to see how manageable it is for you.
As long as History, Maths and Economics would work for your chosen uni subject I’d suggest considering dropping Physics, but definitely do the EPQ. If your school would be open to letting you drop a subject after a couple of months it might be worth trying out the 4 A levels and the EPQ to see how manageable it is for you.
hi, i'm also doing Maths, Chemistry, Biology and French. I am deciding whether to do an EPQ or French A Level.
did you talk about your French A Level in interviews/personal statement, and what are you doing at uni?
also, where did you apply to?
Original post by KKS12345
hi, i'm also doing Maths, Chemistry, Biology and French. I am deciding whether to do an EPQ or French A Level.
did you talk about your French A Level in interviews/personal statement, and what are you doing at uni?
also, where did you apply to?
did you talk about your French A Level in interviews/personal statement, and what are you doing at uni?
also, where did you apply to?
I applied for Psychology at Oxford, Bath, Lancaster, York and Birmingham, and went to Oxford. I didn't talk about my French A-level at all in my personal statement or interview as it wasn't relevant, but my EPQ featured in both. I took French as I was interested in learning French, and because I was considering Psychology and Linguistics courses as one of my possible uni choices when I picked my A-levels so I thought having a language would help if I went down that road (but obviously I didn't in the end).
Original post by The0_0
I am currently doing 4 A Levels, Economics, Physics, History and Maths. Should I drop Physics and do an EPQ on economics or should I do 4 a levels and an EPQ on economics?
Hey this depends. Do you want to attend uni in the UK or perhaps the US? I went to a British School and half of my cohort did 4 A levels + the EPQ (they made it mandatory). One of my friends even took the same subjects as you did and ended with 5As and a perfect EPQ grade. So it is manageable, but she did this because she wanted to be more competitive when applying to schools like Harvard, Duke, MIT, etc. I, on the other hand, decided to drop one of my subjects (Chinese) after Y12 to focus more on my other subjects and since I felt that Chinese ended up taking too much of my time. An EPQ is, like the others have said, really useful. I got into medical schools and talked about the EPQ in all my interviews and in my personal statement. With the grade inflation last year, EPQ was definitely a saving grace for many who did not achieve the expected grades on results day. My friend needed an A in her 3rd main subject to secure a med offer but got a B. An A* in EPQ helped confirm her offer still.
Original post by eeeli
I applied for Psychology at Oxford, Bath, Lancaster, York and Birmingham, and went to Oxford. I didn't talk about my French A-level at all in my personal statement or interview as it wasn't relevant, but my EPQ featured in both. I took French as I was interested in learning French, and because I was considering Psychology and Linguistics courses as one of my possible uni choices when I picked my A-levels so I thought having a language would help if I went down that road (but obviously I didn't in the end).
Ohh okay!
Was it difficult doing these 4 A Levels?
If it’s okay with you, can you tell me what grades you got?
i think next year you don't do a personal statement.... that's where it was handy to do an epq. many unis give a 3 alevel based offer, one offer is lower if I get an A for EPQ. if you are keen you can always write up over the summer holiday - if you are starting year 12, and then if your teachers are OK with that you present it and write it up in year 13. Watch out for the mark schemes which are available online, you can deliver a great "product" (essay, play, programme etc) but if you don't do a good production log you get marked down.
Original post by KKS12345
Ohh okay!
Was it difficult doing these 4 A Levels?
If it’s okay with you, can you tell me what grades you got?
Was it difficult doing these 4 A Levels?
If it’s okay with you, can you tell me what grades you got?
Yes it was difficult, not unmanageable though. I got A*AAA in the A-levels (the A* was in Biology) and an A* in my EPQ. However these were teacher assessed grades as my A-levels were cancelled in 2020 - I think if I sat the exams I probably would have done better to be honest as I'd only just started really putting the revision work in and then everything shut down. I think doing 4 is manageable if there's at least one of them you're really confident with - for me that was Biology, I really enjoyed it and found it easy to understand and remember so it didn't take up much of my time. I know people who took 4 and ended up having to drop one so it isn't manageable for everyone, it's worth really thinking if you're the kind of student who can cope with the workload. I don't mean to be harsh - generally it's better to get 3 really good grades than 4 slightly worse ones because you overworked yourself.
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