Do universities prefer 4 aLevels?

2

I'm a year 12 student and I'm doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry as my aLevels. I want to do biochemistry in uni but I feel like i don't have enough time to do 4 aLevels, so I want to know if universities prefer 4 aLevels, if not, which one i should drop.

Reply 1

bibachu

14

Original post

by jessw666

I'm a year 12 student and I'm doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry as my aLevels. I want to do biochemistry in uni but I feel like i don't have enough time to do 4 aLevels, so I want to know if universities prefer 4 aLevels, if not, which one i should drop.

If a university has a preference for 4 A levels, they will state it. The vast majority do not and never have I come across any course with 4 A levels in the entry requirements, as 3 is the minimum expected for you to have. If you cannot manage the workload, drop a subject while you’re still early into A levels. The workload will only get more demanding from here. Biology and chemistry would be enough for biochemistry at most universities, but having maths in the mix may open up your options even further. Further maths would be the easiest subject to drop in this case.

Reply 2

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

18

Original post

by jessw666

I'm a year 12 student and I'm doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry as my aLevels. I want to do biochemistry in uni but I feel like i don't have enough time to do 4 aLevels, so I want to know if universities prefer 4 aLevels, if not, which one i should drop.

Hi @jessw666

I would recommend having a look at the websites for some universities that you might be interested in studying at to check their entry requirements as some universities will only look at 3 A-Levels. You could also check if there are any specific subject requirements as that might help you decide which subject to drop if you decide to drop one.

Hope that helps!

Sophie.
BCU Student Rep.

Reply 3

nutz99

19

Original post

by jessw666

I'm a year 12 student and I'm doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry as my aLevels. I want to do biochemistry in uni but I feel like i don't have enough time to do 4 aLevels, so I want to know if universities prefer 4 aLevels, if not, which one i should drop.

There aren't any universities that say they prefer a certain number of A levels. Actually one of the drawbacks to doing 4 A levels is that some universities will give you an offer based on marks from 3 but some will give you an offer based on marks from 4. So if you didn't do particularly well in your worst subject (4th A level) then that could make a huge difference.

Which one you should drop is usually determined by how well you expect to do in each subject. However for Biochemistry it seems that Biology and/or Chemistry are in every universities requirements. Some require one of them, some require just Chemistry but some (Imperial for example) require both. This is obviously dependent on which universities you intend applying to, but it would appear that Further Maths is the obvious choice to drop.

If you feel that 4 A levels will affect your grades then drop one asap, but if you think you could manage 4 until the end of year 12 then maybe reconsider it again then.

Reply 4

thegeek888

18

Original post

by jessw666

I'm a year 12 student and I'm doing maths, further maths, biology and chemistry as my aLevels. I want to do biochemistry in uni but I feel like i don't have enough time to do 4 aLevels, so I want to know if universities prefer 4 aLevels, if not, which one i should drop.

Which optional papers are you taking for Further Maths? 😧 FM1 and FD1 are very popular choices here in London. Because FM1 only has a few topics and FD1 assumes no prior knowledge. So, perhaps change to FM1 and FD1 if you're studying FP1 and FS1? Because in a Biochemistry degree you will cover the A-Level Further Maths content in Year 1, so it would be advantageous to continue all 4. Are you using the Solutionbanks online which Pearson issue with the textbooks? 😉

40% of Russell Group university applicants have 4 A-Levels or more.

60% of Russell Group university applicants have 3 A-Levels.

(edited 1 year ago)

Do universities prefer 4 aLevels?

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