3 or 4 A-levels?

hi can someone give me some help please

basically i took four a-levels at AS because as far as i was aware that was just standard thing to do lol but literally in my college i'm the ONLY one i know doing four??? everyone else does three! i look at them n just pity how much less work they do compared to me lol

i'm finding politics really really hard atm and i would consider dropping it... but when i apply for uni is it going to make a big difference if i only do 3 a-levels compared to four? i also wanna be at a really good uni too like i'm trying to aim high

does it make a big difference if its 3 or 4? obv i'm gonna drop one in aug anyway if i carry on with four now but it just feels too hard and watching everyone else do 3 is sucky lol because i'm trying so hard

Are you in AS now?

The big difference is if you get 3 A-Levels, you'll need good grades in all three. Full stop. If you screw up one exam and that gives you a bad grade, and you need your high grades to get into Uni, then that's that.

With 4 A-Levels, you of course have a back-up, you can screw up 1 A-Level and still have the other 3 to rely on. But of course, that clearly means less time spent revising each individual A-Level.

If you're going from 4 to 3 when you transition from AS to A2, then you'll probably get into Uni based on those 3 A-Levels anyway, so the AS would barely matter. Depends on your grade requirements, and whether that will be the factor on whether you get in or not, or UCAS points.

At my school the majority of us did 5 for AS level then dropped one for A2, so you ended up with 4, but it ended up with over half the year dropping one - I did 5 at AS (ABBBC) and 3 for A2 (leaving me with a final grade of BBC).

Most unis (aka not the very top ones) only really ask for 3 A Levels, but as far as I knew it was pretty common to do 4 for AS then drop the one you like the least/is the least relevant/that you did the worst at to carry on 3 for the full A Level.

Doing an extra one to AS does sort of give you an extra qualification, and it also helps with some UCAS points if you end up with a points offer - and then if you actually do quite well in the hard one and **** up one of the others, then you have a safety choice! As you've already done the majority of the hard work by now (over halfway through the year) it seems a bit of a waste!

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Originally Posted by Kardan

Are you in AS now?

The big difference is if you get 3 A-Levels, you'll need good grades in all three. Full stop. If you screw up one exam and that gives you a bad grade, and you need your high grades to get into Uni, then that's that.

With 4 A-Levels, you of course have a back-up, you can screw up 1 A-Level and still have the other 3 to rely on. But of course, that clearly means less time spent revising each individual A-Level.

If you're going from 4 to 3 when you transition from AS to A2, then you'll probably get into Uni based on those 3 A-Levels anyway, so the AS would barely matter. Depends on your grade requirements, and whether that will be the factor on whether you get in or not, or UCAS points.

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Basically this. When I did my A levels, a teacher graded my coursework totally wrong and I obviously didn't find out until I got my results. So I took less time on that subject and concentrated on others to try and bump them grades up, anyway I ended up doing really bad in that one subject and I ended up being like 30 UCAS points short of getting into the university I wanted to get into. I didn't even take general studies as time tables clashed and one of my subjects I had to take during the general lessons. I ended up having to go to college and do another course to get the points to get into uni.

In the long run I would rather have done 4 subjects and saved a few years of my life. I could be doing my masters right now but instead I'm still only half way through a degree. Be strong with the work load as it will only get harder when you get into uni hahaha :'(

I have 5 as and 3 a levels. Dropped one as (film, most pointless alevel ever) before completing the first year so I could focus on others.

Really you just have to weigh up how important the subject is to you and your desired course, what the workload is like and whether it's going to affect your ability to perform well in your other subjects. I'd say take politics for the remainder of your as levels but focus more on what you enjoy and will do well in and drop it when it comes to a2 so at least you have a few ucas points from it (providing you don't flop entirely)


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Can I step in and be the **** that did 6 AS and 5 A? Soz

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Serious note; take 4 assuming you believe you will get good grades in all of them. No point continuing Politics if you think you will get a C or something - would be better just to have 3 straight As (or A*s)

Totally depends on what you want to do at Uni and at which Uni.

If it's a more educational course (like something you can study at A-Level) and at a higher ranking university (say, Maths at Loughborough) they will ask for grade requirements at A2, in this case for example, AAA. So if you don't get your 3 A's at A-Level, no matter if you took another 30 AS Levels to go with them, you won't get in.

Generally for courses that are more specialised and perhaps at a lower ranked university, they will ask for UCAS points. So take Film Studies at Derby, and they want 240 UCAS points, with 200 coming from your A2 qualifications. So if you get BBU with your 3 A2's, then getting a C in your AS politics will actually save the day.

So you need to know what you're doing at Uni first to make any decision.

You guys did so many a levels. My college we pick 4 AS and do the for the year. When we move into A2 we normally drop one (the weaker one) and continue with the 3. We then can either decide to do an EPQ or extra lessons in each subject.

Couldn't ever imagine doing 4 or 5 complete a levels.


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Originally Posted by MyChemicalRomance

Can I step in and be the **** that did 6 AS and 5 A? Soz

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Serious note; take 4 assuming you believe you will get good grades in all of them. No point continuing Politics if you think you will get a C or something - would be better just to have 3 straight As (or A*s)

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How did your college/sixth form even schedule in 6 AS Levels? We could only take a max of 5, so I took 5 AS's and it got me out of the compulsory AS Citizenship that everyone had to take :P

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Originally Posted by Kardan

Totally depends on what you want to do at Uni and at which Uni.

If it's a more educational course (like something you can study at A-Level) and at a higher ranking university (say, Maths at Loughborough) they will ask for grade requirements at A2, in this case for example, AAA. So if you don't get your 3 A's at A-Level, no matter if you took another 30 AS Levels to go with them, you won't get in.

Generally for courses that are more specialised and perhaps at a lower ranked university, they will ask for UCAS points. So take Film Studies at Derby, and they want 240 UCAS points, with 200 coming from your A2 qualifications. So if you get BBU with your 3 A2's, then getting a C in your AS politics will actually save the day.

So you need to know what you're doing at Uni first to make any decision.

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IIRC Shaz wants to study Law at University.

I would finish the AS level first and then drop it before A2 if you're still unhappy. Even a C in an extra AS Level will help boost your overall UCAS points. I'm not sure how common this is, but I just googled a random uni (UCL) from the top 10 for law in the UK and they require "a pass in a fourth additional as level" http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-stu...s/ubllawsing05