A Level workload

I’m currently in year 11 and was wondering about how much the workload might be if I did 4 A levels (History, English Lit, Maths and German) as well as an EPQ (and possibly gold DofE). Would I be able to complete the EPQ within a few months before focusing on the DofE and my A Levels or would I just be sacrificing all of my free time to get 4 Bs?

Hi I’m in year 13 and I do English literature and history and I did gold dofe. Gold dofe isn’t that time consuming so I wouldn’t worry about it. At my school you did all the expeditions and the majority of your evidence in year 12 which means most of year 13 doesn’t involve much dofe. I would make sure you do residential earlier rather than later though because that can be time consuming. Overall for gold dofe the work load isn’t time consuming. Both english literature and history are time consuming, history is a lot more time consuming due to all the dates, facts, names etc that you need to revise. On top of that both include NEA which is quite time consuming but once you have finished it you will have a lot more time. As well as that they both balance each other really well which in a way makes it less challenging as sometimes they over lap and they both compliment each other well so I would say that together they aren’t as time consuming. Sorry I can’t help you with the EPQ or your other a levels but I would say that considering you are doing two essay subjects already and you are worried about time consumption than an EPQ might not be necessary. I hope this helps.

I’m currently in year 11 and was wondering about how much the workload might be if I did 4 A levels (History, English Lit, Maths and German) as well as an EPQ (and possibly gold DofE). Would I be able to complete the EPQ within a few months before focusing on the DofE and my A Levels or would I just be sacrificing all of my free time to get 4 Bs?

I’m currently in year 11 and was wondering about how much the workload might be if I did 4 A levels (History, English Lit, Maths and German) as well as an EPQ (and possibly gold DofE). Would I be able to complete the EPQ within a few months before focusing on the DofE and my A Levels or would I just be sacrificing all of my free time to get 4 Bs?

Hi @Drumstick_789,
I see you have already had some excellent answers!
Thought I'd weigh in on the EPQ part. Personally I did an EPQ and thought it was a great experience in preparation for university with essay writing and Harvard referencing. However when it comes to its importance, this depends on the university. It can benefit your application and give you some good skills, however not all universities take EPQ into consideration. I recommend researching if the universities you may be interested in even take he EPQ into account.
If your worried about not having free time, I recommend not doing the EPQ as doing a 4th A-level will benefit you much more. In my opinion, I wouldn't sacrifice your grades for an EPQ, instead focus on achieving the best you can in the 4 A-levels, as this will give you a leg-up in applications as the majority of students only do 3. Also you need to have some free time while doing A-levels, burn out and stress may impact your grades and giving yourself time away can massively benefit your academic life.
I hope this helps, please feel free to ask me any questions,
-Sophia (Business and Management)

Maths, History, and German would allow you to study Law, History, and German at Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, KCL, SOAS, QMUL, City, RHUL, Birbeck, Goldsmiths, Durham, Warwick, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Southampton, Leicester, Newcastle and even Bath. 🙂

I’m currently in year 11 and was wondering about how much the workload might be if I did 4 A levels (History, English Lit, Maths and German) as well as an EPQ (and possibly gold DofE). Would I be able to complete the EPQ within a few months before focusing on the DofE and my A Levels or would I just be sacrificing all of my free time to get 4 Bs?