Having to do four A levels if studying further maths

@Panicmode1

This is very interesting, thank you!

Congrats on the offers by the way, very impressive

He is interested in Aero Nautical / Aero Space Engineering, any thoughts on the top 3/4 universities for this sort of degree??

The 3 Vs 4 A Level is a good topic also as they say they want 3 strong but if he's potentially up against 4 strong...

With the crossover on learning between M FM and Physics do you think Chemistry is a step too far on pressure? He is also doing DT for GCSE...

@CollagenLady DS has applied for Engineering for this year and has offers from Cambridge, Imperial, Bristol, Durham, and had an interview (well, more a chat!) at Loughborough for Product Design Engineering yesterday.

He is doing Maths, FM, Physics and DT - they have offered on all of them, but I'm sure if he wasn't doing DT it wouldn't be an issue for engineering - maths, FM and physics (with A*s or As in all, depending on the institution) are what they are interested in, and what the interviews/ENGAA (Cambridge) are testing.

Completely concur with the 3 strong, than 4 average exams - that's what a Cambridge admissions tutor said on one of the webinars DS went to - that said, his friends who have offers from Cambridge for STEM subjects are all doing 4....

@DontKeepTheFaith

Congratulations to you and your son!

That's very interesting to hear.

What engineering did he want to specialise in if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you!

Ds is at UCL doing Maths. He did M, FM and Physics.

I went to the open day with him and spoke to the admissions tutor. She said they would rather see 3 excellent A level results than 4 mediocre ones and she advised him to drop the 4th A level unless he was really confident of 4 good results (which he wasn't!).

Can’t comment on the rest but DS1 applied to Warwick, Durham, Bristol, Imperial and Oxford and got offers from them all. Didn’t seem to cause an issue at all. He was predicted and got A* in all his subjects.

Jumping on with a question please!

Does anybody know if the following Universities are a possibility with Maths FMaths and Physics ... Chemistry as a 4th, with the thoughts of dropping it.

Imperial
Cambridge
Bath
Southampton

Engineering degree is the end goal.

As Imperial and Cambridge are so sought after I was wondering what the best grades to aim for are and if 4 ALevels is expected?

Thank you!

My DD did maths, further maths, history and Spanish. She dropped the Spanish in the second year so only did 3 a levels. Went to Uni to study maths and is now an accountant

Oh! Well that makes sense.

@user1471443411
Do get her to look around at universities. Don’t just go with friends. It can be useful to look at possible is options. Some maths degrees offer economics/finance options. So look at all details before she follows her friends.

It really doesn’t limit much. Oxford obviously not. Imperial possibly and Cambridge? But I’m not even sure about that. If you were a maths genius I’m sure they would be quite keen!

If she's interested in joining the police, then get her to watch Cracker (currently free on ITV hub) and see if the penny drops about how useful a subject psychology can be. More useful, I think, than criminology, and of course you need good maths for it (stats)

Should say, my student’s 3rd subject wasn’t a science, which is the issue.

My DS been offered place a Cambridge and Warwick (Math) for Oct 2022 with Ma, Fm and Ph.

Get her to look at her school’s copy of HEAP, and look at the entrance requirements for Maths degrees, and she’ll be able to quickly see which will accept FM as third A level , and if any require 3 plus FM. I’m just helping a student who did Maths, FM and One other, and now can’t get on to the courses he wants to do. It’s not insurmountable but does limit options. So might as well just check now.

Ds1 did maths, further maths and physics, no 4th A level. He is at Oxford studying Engineering so didn’t hold him back. He always knew he was headed for engineering so A levels were tailored to that.

Ds2 did FM as a 4th A level but dropped it as he just found the timetabling and homework too much with 4 A levels.

I know a number of recent maths students at RG with Maths, FM and one other subject. Commonly Physics or Chemistry. Elite unis might want 4, but M,DM snd P would definitely be fine for many universities and lots of engineering degrees would be possible to as well as physics. Getting 3 top grades is better than 4 lower owned.

I never did this personally but Ds1 did 4 A levels the 4th being FM. He says that it doesn't show a breadth of knowledge over 2 A levels, FM shows all the skills that maths gives you, it's like an implied knowledge since you needed to do maths for FM. He did physics and computer science too so has an understanding of what was required for those.

It is not really seen as a broad enough range of A levels which is why it is commonly a 4th A level.

About half Ds's FM class dropped it to bring their maths grade up however for FM you only needed a 7 for maths at GCSE and a 6 for maths A level. Ds thinks it should have been higher grades. He got a 9 and was an A* in both maths and FM all the way through. He is not sure about the other FM class as there were two.

Ds is in his first year at uni doing computer science where the electives are maths classes with the other maths degree students.

I did maths, further maths and chemistry back in the dark ages. If she's fairly sure she wants to study maths, there is no reason to have to do a 4th. And I absolutely would not have wanted to do Physics, so I'm with your daughter on holding out against it.

Have confirmed with Maths Prof DH that little to no essays at his Russell Group School either.

Until recently I was a STEM School Admission Tutor and we had many applicants with three A Levels including FM.
I agree that if OP’s DD needs a fourth Physics is likely easiest because of the overlap. But Psychology would be an excellent choice for a Police career. Most important thing is to do something she will be motivated to keep up with.

I think if she wants to be a police officer then something like sociology / psychology or something could be helpful.

I personally see nothing wrong with 2 maths & chemistry only but it doesn't leave any wiggle room if the maths gets too hard. (I did 2 maths & physics years and years ago).

You don't write essays in maths degrees (or at least I never did).

And yes, I think schools like them to have something fall back on if they plough FM. It is v hard and some people mistakenly take it as given that if they are getting 9s at gcse, FM will be fine.

Totally makes sense to do physics with maths and FM. Those 3 behave like barely more than 2 (assuming good enough at math fir FM, obvs). Would foolish not to strongly consider physics. And would strengthen her maths application.