Am I able to do 4 A-Levels?

Hi, I’ve just started sixth form in a new area/school. It will take time to settle in as I’m aware, however, I have bad anxiety which causes me to zone out and ignore my surroundings which causes it to become difficult completing tasks. I’ve taken English Language, French, Sociology and Geography. I’ve loved geography since year 9 during GCSE and I’m sure I will enjoy the A-Level. I liked french in year 11 and gained a grade 7 in GCSE after being predicted a 2 and I am enjoying the A-Level so far. I have forever told myself that I will take English language and told everybody that I was taking English language. My GCSE grade for English wasn’t the greatest and I know the reason behind it (I got a grade 5 but I’m getting it remarked for a 6). I have never done sociology but I know it’s a good subject to get into uni with so I had taken it and it linked perfectly with every subject I have. In the first 2 lessons I’ve had, I don’t understand what the course is about and am struggling to find motivation to complete the work. I have no free hours to complete work for other subjects and am worried I will fall behind if I don’t have any free hours.

My problem is I want to achieve grade B as minimum as I want to get into teaching. I want to become a geography/french/English teacher in a secondary school or live abroad in France and teach English. Sociology links all the subjects together perfectly as that’s the reason I have chosen it. I didn’t revise for my GCSEs and achieved good grades however I know that A-Levels it’s impossible to do the same. If I drop sociology will it make me have a good chance of achieving better grades in the other subjects? I am worried I will regret not taking it if I did drop it so I want to get other peoples opinion on the situation. I have 5 hours free each week on my timetable compared to everybody else with average of 19 hours over 2 weeks. If I drop sociology I will gain much more hours to use for revision and homework which will also help with anxiety. I’m very torn between dropping sociology and taking an EPQ instead but again that is a lot of work but it’s only a year and can get me a good grade for uni. Please tell me your thoughts on my situation. Thank you for reading :smile:

Reply 1

Kingston Reps

Official Rep

Original post

by corford

Hi, I’ve just started sixth form in a new area/school. It will take time to settle in as I’m aware, however, I have bad anxiety which causes me to zone out and ignore my surroundings which causes it to become difficult completing tasks. I’ve taken English Language, French, Sociology and Geography. I’ve loved geography since year 9 during GCSE and I’m sure I will enjoy the A-Level. I liked french in year 11 and gained a grade 7 in GCSE after being predicted a 2 and I am enjoying the A-Level so far. I have forever told myself that I will take English language and told everybody that I was taking English language. My GCSE grade for English wasn’t the greatest and I know the reason behind it (I got a grade 5 but I’m getting it remarked for a 6). I have never done sociology but I know it’s a good subject to get into uni with so I had taken it and it linked perfectly with every subject I have. In the first 2 lessons I’ve had, I don’t understand what the course is about and am struggling to find motivation to complete the work. I have no free hours to complete work for other subjects and am worried I will fall behind if I don’t have any free hours.
My problem is I want to achieve grade B as minimum as I want to get into teaching. I want to become a geography/french/English teacher in a secondary school or live abroad in France and teach English. Sociology links all the subjects together perfectly as that’s the reason I have chosen it. I didn’t revise for my GCSEs and achieved good grades however I know that A-Levels it’s impossible to do the same. If I drop sociology will it make me have a good chance of achieving better grades in the other subjects? I am worried I will regret not taking it if I did drop it so I want to get other peoples opinion on the situation. I have 5 hours free each week on my timetable compared to everybody else with average of 19 hours over 2 weeks. If I drop sociology I will gain much more hours to use for revision and homework which will also help with anxiety. I’m very torn between dropping sociology and taking an EPQ instead but again that is a lot of work but it’s only a year and can get me a good grade for uni. Please tell me your thoughts on my situation. Thank you for reading :smile:

Hey @corford,

Any teaching course you apply to will only ask for three A-Levels, so it's common for schools/sixth forms to advise that students focus their time and revision on three subjects rather than spreading it out across four. It's not always easy to drop a subject - especially if it's one you think fits in perfectly with your subject combination - but having the more manageable workload of three subjects (and hopefully a little less anxiety) can make the revision process a lot easier when it comes closer to exam time. English Language, French and Geography are perfect A-Levels for what you plan to do long-term, so even without Sociology or an EPQ, you should do great. 🙂

Best of luck!
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 2

Asmaaan

just drop it. unis only ask for 3 alevels and as long as you get good grades in them 3 then it doesnt matter. alevels are very stressful so if you dont drop it then youll find it difficult to balance 4 alevels

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