Best 4 A Level Combinations for Medicine

OP

Original post by Muttley79

Don't do 4 - you need to do volunteering so you'll need time for that plus prep for entrance tests.

Biol, Chem + 1 would get you into most Medicine degrees but do check any unis you are looking at for their requirements.

Thanks for your reply, personally, I think I can handle doing 4 on top of everything else, I am currently predicted eight 9s and I don't revise much. However, if it does get too much, then yes I plan to drop one or only take one to AS? Is AS even worth it?

Reply 4

Original post by ismaelishere

I think I can handle and do exceptionally well in 4. But the issue is, which 4 should I do? Should I do all sciences or maybe mix in some humanities like English Lit?

bio chem maths is enough. since you said you have predicted gcse's I assume you are in yr 11. maths is best choice for medicine at Cambridge. maths is also good for a different career path like lets say you dramatically switch to comp sci maths is the required subject. with further maths at the top unis being preferable. this combination is quite common and quite popular due to diversity of fields you can go into.

Reply 5

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by ismaelishere

Thanks for your reply, personally, I think I can handle doing 4 on top of everything else, I am currently predicted eight 9s and I don't revise much. However, if it does get too much, then yes I plan to drop one or only take one to AS? Is AS even worth it?

Remember, medicine at year 12 will require you to get 1 a star and 2 as. to increase your chances have all 3 a stars/4.
volunteering is important/ work experience. so you should set some time out of your week to do this.
you will also need to research the field, and just know a few things (outside reading I guess) a levels are slightly older than the newest research.
you also have your medical entrance exam, with of course the bmat being removed means that you need to get high, as you can't rely on the other exam. this also means you need to practise this.

your school hours will have lessons. which will take 9-4. lets say. you will also need to spend time revising. your school typically recommends for every 1 hour you have a lesson, you revise 1 hour outside the lesson times. not many people follow this, but a levels gets a lot easier if you do. you will also spend 1-2 hours volunteering. that + work experience which you may do during your holidays. avdice for medicine do work exp this summer. there is also an entrance exam which you should also prepare. The end-of-year mocks as well for your predicted are essential. you will also slack off, party most likely so that too will eat some hours.

point being, while you may be predicted 9s. do not get complacent. revise the content and make sure your 9s are guaranteed as for medicine at Oxford it will help getting all 9s. it will help for all unis. you also need to build good habits. even if your "Naturally" good at memorising, at a level 99% of the time ,your work ethic will matter a lot more. try and start the course earlier and see how much you can finish after your gces.

one more thing most unis need chem for med and bio. any other option is fine for most med unis. good luck, wish you the best. 3 a levels are completely fine, no need to do 4 for medicine.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 6

Muttley79

20

Original post by ismaelishere

Thanks for your reply, personally, I think I can handle doing 4 on top of everything else, I am currently predicted eight 9s and I don't revise much. However, if it does get too much, then yes I plan to drop one or only take one to AS? Is AS even worth it?

I teach in a selective school - believe me that getting top grades at A level takes time.

Reply 7

lalexm

16

Rather than 4 A levels, you are better off doing 3 plus a relevant EPQ, especially for medicine where on top of all your studies you will need to spend a lot of time on work experience, UCAT prep, interview prep, and super curriculars etc.

Reply 8

artful_lounger

21

Original post by ismaelishere

I think I can handle and do exceptionally well in 4. But the issue is, which 4 should I do? Should I do all sciences or maybe mix in some humanities like English Lit?

Doing 4 A-levels confers no benefit and the only medical school that cares what subjects you do beyond biology and chemistry is Cambridge (where to achieve a competitive score in interview generally applicants need a third STEM subject) and UCLan/Leeds (I think, it was UCLan and another northernish one - in which case they just want the third subject to be academic which is pretty much anything that isn't applied or vocational, so most subjects are acceptable).

All others don't care what your third (or fourth) subject(s) are.

Just do 3 A-levels, with biology, chemistry, and any third subject that you are confident you can get an A or A* in.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 9

Ariichu

11

Original post by ismaelishere

Thanks for your reply, personally, I think I can handle doing 4 on top of everything else, I am currently predicted eight 9s and I don't revise much. However, if it does get too much, then yes I plan to drop one or only take one to AS? Is AS even worth it?

I was originally going to apply for medicine, and I chose Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Phyiscs. As long as you have biology and chemistry thats all you need for medicine, but I would suggest maths if you wanted to apply to a med school like Cambridge. As for your fourth it really doesn't matter for the application itself, but I would definitely suggest a subject like further maths or physics, where if you change your mind about medicine, then you have a subject combination that still works for other subjects (e.g. natsci, biochem, bioeng)

Reply 10

AriTem

Bio/Chem/Maths. Maths primarily is for stats really. Can't begin to read a paper and make sense of the results without some basic understanding of maths. Helps with understanding why abnormal blood tests don't equal disease etc. If you're going to do research (and for a hospital career most have to do an MD/PhD) then maths helps in a big way here when you're having to write your results up. Physics is also useful for understanding pathophysiology e.g. why you get into a positive feedback loop in hypertension as a result of increasing pressure that's inversely proportional to resistance.

Bio/Chem are the big ones of course. Lots of relevance and I would pick maths next with physics last. I know EPQs are fashionable these days. Doing physics would provide you with much more understanding that will aid your medical understanding vs the EPQ imo. More learning of the sciences/maths is always helpful even if the benefits are not immediately apparent.

I also don't buy into the argument that 4th A level is too much work. If you think 4 A levels is too much work then studying medicine will be a very rude awakening 😀

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 11

OP

Original post by AriTem

Bio/Chem/Maths. Maths primarily is for stats really. Can't begin to read a paper and make sense of the results without some basic understanding of maths. Helps with understanding why abnormal blood tests don't equal disease etc. If you're going to do research (and for a hospital career most have to do an MD/PhD) then maths helps in a big way here when you're having to write your results up. Physics is also useful for understanding pathophysiology e.g. why you get into a positive feedback loop in hypertension as a result of increasing pressure that's inversely proportional to resistance.

Bio/Chem are the big ones of course. Lots of relevance and I would pick maths next with physics last. I know EPQs are fashionable these days. Doing physics would provide you with much more understanding that will aid your medical understanding vs the EPQ imo. More learning of the sciences/maths is always helpful even if the benefits are not immediately apparent.

I also don't buy into the argument that 4th A level is too much work. If you think 4 A levels is too much work then studying medicine will be a very rude awakening 😀

Thanks for the reply. And yeah I agree with you on 4 a-levels; I mainly want to take 4 because I love learning, which all med students should. I was thinking of taking English Lit instead of Physics, as I have heard some unis like to recruit students with different backgrounds, and I also enjoy it over Physics. What do you think?

Reply 12

AF2Dr

Original post by ismaelishere

Thanks for the reply. And yeah I agree with you on 4 a-levels; I mainly want to take 4 because I love learning, which all med students should. I was thinking of taking English Lit instead of Physics, as I have heard some unis like to recruit students with different backgrounds, and I also enjoy it over Physics. What do you think?

If you want to do a 4th, I'd just pick whichever one that you would actually prefer out of Physics and English Literature. I don't think that decision would have much/any impact on admissions.

Reply 13

OP

Original post by lalexm

Rather than 4 A levels, you are better off doing 3 plus a relevant EPQ, especially for medicine where on top of all your studies you will need to spend a lot of time on work experience, UCAT prep, interview prep, and super curriculars etc.

do you think that instead of an EPQ i could run a blog site on topics around medicine. this way i have more freedom, it requires less research as i can use quick facts from chatgpt (but i also plan to read a scientific study for each post) and i can cover a broader range of topics or if i want make multiple posts on one. they both show my interest in medicine, right?

Reply 14

Original post by ismaelishere

do you think that instead of an EPQ i could run a blog site on topics around medicine? this way i have more freedom, it requires less research as i can use quick facts from chatgpt (but i also plan to read a scientific study for each post) and i can cover a broader range of topics or if i want make multiple posts on one. they both show my interest in medicine, right?

yes but why not both. EPQ will teach necessary skills to learn at university and will give you research in a key topic that your interviewer would ask about it. while it is half an a level, it is fine. ( epq is not needed for medicine, but can decrease grade requirements for some unis I think)

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 15

OP

Original post by jacksmith23

yes but why not both. EPQ will teach necessary skills to learn at university and will give you research in a key topic that your interviewer would ask about it. while it is half an a level, it is fine. ( epq is not needed for medicine, but can decrease grade requirements for some unis I think)

i guess my main concern is time. i've heard others regret their epq as they wish they would've spent that time revising their a level subjects. i feel like i can also show these skills with my blog: research, writing, understanding high-level scientific studies, or are blogs too unprofessional? also I'm not too concerned about lower entry requirements (the unis i want to go to don't lower based on epq)

Reply 16

imco143900

2

Original post by ismaelishere

I think I can handle and do exceptionally well in 4. But the issue is, which 4 should I do? Should I do all sciences or maybe mix in some humanities like English Lit?

If you think you can handle it; bio, chem, maths, futher maths will get you into almost any course and if you can get A*s shows that you are a very capable student as these are some of the hardest A Levels.

Reply 17

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by ismaelishere

i guess my main concern is time. i've heard others regret their epq as they wish they would've spent that time revising their a level subjects. i feel like i can also show these skills with my blog: research, writing, understanding high-level scientific studies, or are blogs too unprofessional? also I'm not too concerned about lower entry requirements (the unis i want to go to don't lower based on epq)

blogs should be fine then. epq is still useful tho but it is up to you. like you said you want to show interest in medicine

Reply 18

raindropxox

10

I am doing 4 A Levels, and although I’m doing well and love my subjects, I honestly wish that I had done 3. Everyone told me that it wasn’t really worth it and that universities only require 3 and that it could lower my grades in the other 3, despite me having been predicted all 8s and 9s in my GCSEs, but I didn’t listen, and now I wish I had! I’m not planning on doing medicine and I don’t do much outside of school, and still I wish I had chosen to do 3. Of course, it’s your decision, but honestly I think since all you need for most courses is Biology and Chemistry, you should honestly just pick any other subject which will be an “easy” A for you. Whether that be a humanity, a creative subject, science etc! And use that extra time to revise for the UCAT! A lot of my friends are planning to do medicine and our teachers have told them that they need to treat the UCAT like it’s another subject. A lot of med schools (as far as I know) place A LOT on the UCAT so your best bet is to work on that instead of another 4th A Level that you don’t need and might put the A*s in your other subjects in jeopardy! That way you also have more time to volunteer, do work experience, and doing other things that make you stand out! I hope this helps, and good luck with your journey :smile:

<3

Reply 19

MedMama