Is doing 5 A levels hard?????

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

Tbh 3 a levels alone is hell😭😭

Reply 2

lesgo21

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

just do 3

Reply 3

lanky_giraffe

15

Don’t do 5. Law would absolutely not help at all anyways.

Just do 3: psychology, chemistry, biology.

Physics is very hard without maths

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 4

cherrycosmos

17

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

I think you greatly misjudge how hard and time consuming alevels are. With 5 alevels, theres no way your going to be tutoring alot with all the revision you will have to be doing, homework and understanding the content. If your an aspiring student, do 4 alevels and then an EPQ. Thats more than enough.
So yes doing 5 alevels is time consuming and will be incredibly draining. There are other methods in order to stand out to unis

Reply 5

limbobimbo

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

Bro r u tryna off urself? Just 3 is a headache. Trust the unis wont care how many a lvls u do. Stick with 3 or 4 but dont do physics without maths.

Reply 6

OP

Original post by lanky_giraffe

Don’t do 5. Law would absolutely not help at all anyways.
Just do 3: psychology, chemistry, biology.
Physics is very hard without maths

Thanks😀, but most med schools require either physics or maths 😕

Reply 7

OP

Original post by cherrycosmos

I think you greatly misjudge how hard and time consuming alevels are. With 5 alevels, theres no way your going to be tutoring alot with all the revision you will have to be doing, homework and understanding the content. If your an aspiring student, do 4 alevels and then an EPQ. Thats more than enough.
So yes doing 5 alevels is time consuming and will be incredibly draining. There are other methods in order to stand out to unis

Thank you so much😁

Reply 8

Alm_xo

15

Original post by *bookworm27*

Thanks😀, but most med schools require either physics or maths 😕

i think chemistry and biology is the only ones that are REQUIRED
people usually go with MATHS as an option
but not PHYSICS

Reply 9

Joemama156

Original post by *bookworm27*

Thanks😀, but most med schools require either physics or maths 😕

You dont need physics or math for medicine just do bio chem and psych trust me

Reply 10

desperate-peculi

6

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

5 a-levels is insane especially since you want to do stem subjects. doing 3 and doing them WELL is so much better than taking 5 and not doing as well as you could because you simply didn't have enough time to devote to each one.

Reply 11

OP

Original post by desperate-peculi

5 a-levels is insane especially since you want to do stem subjects. doing 3 and doing them WELL is so much better than taking 5 and not doing as well as you could because you simply didn't have enough time to devote to each one.

Thanks😄

Reply 12

whyiswatersour

1

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

tbh in year 12 i did do 5 a levels, biology chemistry physics mathematics and further mathematics and it was pure hell, i barely scraped an A in A level mathematics, i got all As in my AS studies (bio chem phys) except for further maths for which i got a B. i absolutely hated further mathematics and dropped it when i went on to do a2. these grades while they were good, i was doing nothing but studying all the mf time ppl alw joked about me not having time to do fun things or leave the house n genuinely i can say with confidence it was the worst year of my life. pls do not take 5 a levels especially law, no med schools require it and it will do nothing but make u feel burntout. i also wanted 2 study med but ended up not applying cos i was so burntout from my exams and completely **** on the ucat (2720) + im intl and + im underage so yeha but fr gl w u 3 alone is hell

Reply 13

Studentlife007

i did maths, bio, chem, psychology and the welsh bacc and went completely fine apart from the exam board lying and screwing us up (first exams after covid), i wouldn’t recommend 5 but if u have the dedication and really interested in 4 of them then there’s no harm in doing 4. if that’s what u want to do then go for it and prove people wrong. It isn’t impossible and i was coping fine. I was taking more than 3 just because i wanted to and wanted to prove myself, universities aren’t fussed though so don’t do it for the uni’s if that’s ur only reason.
Its work life balance🤷*♀️

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 14

limbobimbo

Original post by *bookworm27*

Thanks😀, but most med schools require either physics or maths 😕

They dont require maths or physics, its a preferred subject. 2 different things. And you can get into med without maths or physics so long as you do bio and chem. I know some ppl who did sociology, psychology, english, media studies. Doesn't really matter too much so long as the grades are there.

Reply 15

OP

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Original post by whyiswatersour

tbh in year 12 i did do 5 a levels, biology chemistry physics mathematics and further mathematics and it was pure hell, i barely scraped an A in A level mathematics, i got all As in my AS studies (bio chem phys) except for further maths for which i got a B. i absolutely hated further mathematics and dropped it when i went on to do a2. these grades while they were good, i was doing nothing but studying all the mf time ppl alw joked about me not having time to do fun things or leave the house n genuinely i can say with confidence it was the worst year of my life. pls do not take 5 a levels especially law, no med schools require it and it will do nothing but make u feel burntout. i also wanted 2 study med but ended up not applying cos i was so burntout from my exams and completely **** on the ucat (2720) + im intl and + im underage so yeha but fr gl w u 3 alone is hell

Thank you, really appreciate the advice

Reply 16

jacksmith23

12

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

if you planning on doing med, please don't do 5 unless your willing to remove any social life and be working like 2-4 hours a day from the get go.

3 is enough, 4 is fine. treat your ucat as your 5th a level if you do 4. Doing 4 isn't going to magically make you have an edge, they may prefer a high ucat score, or more super circulars and a better written ps. extra credit is a bit of a USA term,. the system is holistic or it looks at like 20% gcse 30% ucat and the rest being your a level predicted. you can see the entry requirements on a page.

also choose the subject you want to be passionate in. no point doing med and working in the NHS and regretting it, sure you may be paid privately. but do what you like, many people quit or leave all together. so do understand that you should be passionate in med if you want to do it

Reply 17

Emma:-)

19

Original post by *bookworm27*

As a student aspiring to study medicine, I'll be taking Biology, chemistry and physics for A levels, but is passionate about psychology and law(mainly the forensic side), will doing those two in addition help in getting into a better uni or is doing 5 a levels utterly worthless and time consuming ?(considering the fact that I am also hoping on tutoring during sixth form) will it gain me extra credit?

Theres no need to do 5.
Either just do the 3, or start with 4 and see how you go (you can always drop one after a few weeks/after AS level if your 6th form will let you do that etc).

Reply 18

OP

Original post by jacksmith23

if you planning on doing med, please don't do 5 unless your willing to remove any social life and be working like 2-4 hours a day from the get go.
3 is enough, 4 is fine. treat your ucat as your 5th a level if you do 4. Doing 4 isn't going to magically make you have an edge, they may prefer a high ucat score, or more super circulars and a better written ps. extra credit is a bit of a USA term,. the system is holistic or it looks at like 20% gcse 30% ucat and the rest being your a level predicted. you can see the entry requirements on a page.
also choose the subject you want to be passionate in. no point doing med and working in the NHS and regretting it, sure you may be paid privately. but do what you like, many people quit or leave all together. so do understand that you should be passionate in med if you want to do it

Thank you 😊

Reply 19

OP