A Level Music, Chinese or AS Futher Maths?

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 1

burnt_t0ast

10

AS further maths and if you can do A level do that. that would be my suggestion. if possible you could look into a different qualification for Chinese? and I don't think you need more qualifications for music- grade 8 is amazing already!

Reply 2

Redstone492

OP

1

Original post by burnt_t0ast

AS further maths and if you can do A level do that. that would be my suggestion. if possible you could look into a different qualification for Chinese? and I don't think you need more qualifications for music- grade 8 is amazing already!

Thanks so much for the advice i was leaning towards the further maths anyway just because its not something ive ever done before

Reply 3

ims_m

9

Original post by Redstone492

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

I will say that music A level is very different to GCSE - it's much more academic and there's actually a LOT of theory involved (kinda touches on some of the grade 6 material) and I know a lot of my friends found it a huge step up.

I don't think it matters which you do as far as medicine is concerned, seeing as you're already doing 3 sciences (I only did two) so I would say choose whatever you think you'll enjoy and find interesting :smile:

Reply 4

tasha_1306

10

Original post by Redstone492

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

Personally I also take 4 subjects including biology and chemistry as well as mandarin/Chinese. Universities generally don’t have a preference for 4 a levels and it is a lot of extra workload to take on. However, if you really enjoy a subject I would go for it. For me I took mandarin as an extra 4th a level because I loved it so much at GCSE and couldn’t imagine not taking it any further. If you want to pursue medicine the subjects you are already choosing are sufficient so if you really want to do a 4th option I would choose the one you most enjoy since you have high grades in all of them.

Reply 5

Userwbss

4

Original post by Redstone492

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

I recently spoke to someone in Cambridge admissions and i think what he made most explicitly clear in the conversation is that doing four a levels is only an advantage if you do exceptionally well in them. I dont think medicine will have a preference to what exactly your fourth subject is since you do bio chem math, and since further math is widely regarded as the hardest a level, you may want to hedge your bets and do Chinese or music if you’re more confident you can get an a star in them. Doing further math might not be worth the workload and difficulty for medicine, in my opinion, and keep in mind medicine requires a lot of super/extra curricular so you need all the time you can get.

Reply 6

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

19

Original post by Redstone492

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

Id do either chinese or AS maths.
If you are already a grade 7 cellist, then you can still do that outside. of your a-levels anyway. And that is something else (apart from your studies) to talk about in your application.
You could always so AS level maths, as you will only be doing it in your first year, and will have less stuff to do in your second year. And then do something to do with chinese (an outside qualification or something) on the side. Even if you dont do anything qualification wise to do with chinese, its still a good thing to talk about thats seperate from your studies. A language always looks good.

Reply 7

Adam8905

6

Original post by Redstone492

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

Don’t take a 4th a level. It doesn’t give you any advantage over people with 3 A levels and it just increases your workload. Better to get 3 A than 4 B at ur a levels. (Med applicant here) only take 4 if the 4th one is something ur really passionate about

Reply 8

Redstone492

OP

1

Original post by Emma:-)

Id do either chinese or AS maths.
If you are already a grade 7 cellist, then you can still do that outside. of your a-levels anyway. And that is something else (apart from your studies) to talk about in your application.
You could always so AS level maths, as you will only be doing it in your first year, and will have less stuff to do in your second year. And then do something to do with chinese (an outside qualification or something) on the side. Even if you dont do anything qualification wise to do with chinese, its still a good thing to talk about thats seperate from your studies. A language always looks good.

yeah i think ill do the AS further maths and do the other things outside of school just to take some pressure off the a levels themselves
thanks :smile:

Reply 9

Redstone492

OP

1

Original post by Userwbss

I recently spoke to someone in Cambridge admissions and i think what he made most explicitly clear in the conversation is that doing four a levels is only an advantage if you do exceptionally well in them. I dont think medicine will have a preference to what exactly your fourth subject is since you do bio chem math, and since further math is widely regarded as the hardest a level, you may want to hedge your bets and do Chinese or music if you’re more confident you can get an a star in them. Doing further math might not be worth the workload and difficulty for medicine, in my opinion, and keep in mind medicine requires a lot of super/extra curricular so you need all the time you can get.

I guess ill listen to the Cambridge advice lmao. Would it be worth taking AS further maths tho if it doesn't take too much away from the main 3 a levels? Also would unis prefer i do that or more super curriculars?

Reply 10

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Redstone492

I'm planning on taking A Level Maths, Chem and Biology to do medicine at uni. However, because I know medicine is a very competitive course I've been thinking about a 4th a level and can't decide between music, chinese or AS further maths. I'm a grade 7 cellist (doing 8 in march) and am predicted 8/9 in both music and mandarin chinese (non-native) so to me all the options seem as good as each other. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :smile:

Edit: i have hsk3 chinese

UK medical schools (with I think one or two exceptions - I forget which ones. I think QUB used to and maybe Cardiff used to, although I don't think either does anymore) don't award "bonus points" for doing any extra A-levels beyond the required three. In any event UK medical schools are also extremely clear about their requirements and shortlisting methodologies so it's very easy for you to verify this for yourself (which you should do anyway...).

So oing any of those three subjects will not benefit your medicine application in any direct way (except for the one or two exceptions which may not even exist anymore). It may of course harm your application if you end up doing worse over 4 subjects than just having done excellently in 3 subjects, so it's really not recommended.

Just take 3 A-levels and do well in them and do very well in the UCAT. And apply tactically and don't apply to universities that you don't meet the requirements for or your profile is weak for (e.g. applying to a GCSE heavy uni with average GCSEs, applying to a UCAT heavy uni with average UCAT, etc).

A Level Music, Chinese or AS Futher Maths?

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