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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

College recommend dropping 4th A level

54 replies

Candleabra · 06/09/2021 22:51

I know the "3 or 4 a levels" discussion are done to death, but would appreciate some advice.

DD has just started college doing maths, further maths, comp science and chemistry. They're now pushing her to drop one within two weeks.

All students are pushed to do this as there is "no benefit to doing 4 A levels". This was not mentioned at application time!

DD enjoys all the subjects and I'm sure she'll be able to cope with the workload. 9 in each subject for GCSE. Probably will do maths at university so the maths/FM combo is a must. But worried only one other subject would rule out other options.

I'm not very happy with the college pushing this so early. Is there a reason (other than wasted time) that they need everyone to drop a subject within two weeks?

OP posts:
threesenoughthanks · 06/09/2021 23:15

My daughter has just finished her A levels. She did Maths Further Maths Business Studies and Art. From day one the Head of Year pressured her to drop one. She was just very stubborn and said she wanted to do all four. Her actual subject teachers encouraged her to work hard and stick to the four.
Maybe if she wanted to stick with the four she could push back a little bit and say she wanted to at least try for a full term.

FortunesFave · 06/09/2021 23:09

Did she indicate how she felt about it? She might want to but be nervous of mentioning it.

Personally I'd leave it up to her. Tell her that she can choose...I have a 17 year old so do understand this weird age where they're kids but not really kids.

Original poster
Candleabra · 06/09/2021 22:56

@FortunesFave

How do you know all students are pushed to do this?
Well I don't I suppose, good point. That's what my daughter said (from a straw poll of her friends). The vast majority of the kids do 3 apparently. Sorry if the opening message sounded a but weird. The discussion was sprung upon me at bedtime with an "I need to drop an a level by the end of the week" so I wasn't sure if it was standard or not. Most people I was at school with did two more on top of maths and FM but maybe that's not the case now.
OP posts:
FortunesFave · 06/09/2021 22:53

How do you know all students are pushed to do this?

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