a level subject selection

hello, im soon going to start my a-levels and ive thought about taking bio, chem and maths. however, im confused on whether i should take computer science or english as a 4th subject, or not take a 4th sub at all. i jus wanna expand my options for uni, please tell me what would be better

Heya!

I’m about to start university and I took 4 A Levels and an EPQ when I was at college. I studied English Language, French, Computer Science and Economics.

There’s a few things to consider when taking four subjects.

1) It’s a LOT of work. And I feel qualified to say this because I was were you were sat about now going yeah it’ll be fine and I was but it was also kinda stressy because it is a lot of work. You need to be prepared to actually want to do the work too so that even when it gets hard you are happy (or at least motivated) to get on and do it as well as all the revision closer to the exams.

2) it is important to consider whether you actually need to do 4 A Levels. I’m not gonna lie and say it isn’t great telling people I’ve done 4 BUT it didn’t actually change which university I got into. The only thing is that it meant if I did slightly worse in one subject then it could be my backup. But the problem with that is that unlike most people who can split their time and energy and effort between 3 subjects, you’re splitting yours between 4 so it will be harder to do really well in all Also many unis don’t actually look at the 4th a level (including Oxford and Cambridge).

3) my options were mostly essay based and the main reason I think I was able to balance four subjects was because I was studying French, which I had already got a gcse in and was fairly confident with so the stretch to a level wasn’t too pressurising for me. I do know of one or two people (out of my whole college) to do four a levels with maths and chem (or other sciences) but trust me when I say they spent 90% of their time just doing homework or revision.

I love Computer Science and English (language specifically but idk which you were thinking of) and if you weren’t doing 3 already I would say for sure go for it. But without a degree in mind, four a levels is a big undertaking and can be a struggle which if the subjects aren’t needed for what you want to do may be a bit of a waste of time.


Saying that, I don’t regret doing four, I enjoyed all my subjects and even though I didn’t take them all further I think they all helped with my general understanding and studying. If you’re convinced you want to do it and are ready for the work - go for it.

If have you have any other questions feel free to ask me

Best of luck and I hope that helps

thank you for explaining it thoroughly, ive gotten a better idea on what to choose now. if you dont mind answering, do you think computer science was helpful at all for as levels?