It is really feasible to do 4 "hard" A levels?

Have you taught them, Bertrand?

Can I just say, as a point of information, that goodbyestranger's children are exceptionally bright. Please don't take her/their experience as the norm.

Clearly, all teenagers are different. DD is currently being assessed for CFS, which is why 4 A levels, an EPQ and a part time job would be too much of a stretch for her. She took 4 subjects up to the end of year 12 and has really struggled with the workload, particularly with psychology as it took up far more of her time than her other subjects (plus she found it far less interesting than she thought she would).

sendsummer which A level subject do you teach? That is not what we have found at all re: covering the syllabus.

I was one of 5 in my all-girls school year to do 4 science-and-maths A-levels. Admittedly this was a while ago but if he is bright and genuinely interested in all 4 subjects then he should go for it. If he isn't really so keen on one it is better to drop it - no one is very likely to get a good grade in a subject that they don't particularly enjoy. As someone already said there is a huge overlap between maths and physics so if doing one you might as well do both.

I would agree that the new linear do not seem to require more time to cover the syllabus, the difference is in the amount of material that has to be retained for exams.
It is very true that some DCs are very time effective as well as successful with their studying and this will be apparent from the GCSE years. IMO if a DC is working late in the evening during GCSEs or gets stressed by deadlines I would not be encouraging more than 3 A levels even if it is possible particularly for humanities or arts A levels.

sendsummer yes that's correct about the three year sixth form although the theory was always better than the practice in that respect. Exams had to be completed over two years not three to satisfy university requirements and Y11 was intended for 'enrichment'. DS4 has just taken linear A levels and I don't see any difference myself, not in terms of the time required - obviously the specifications are different. People always complain in 'guinea pig' years, not always with justification, often simply because it's change.

So no Lonicera, I don't actually believe the word is that key, given what I've seen from my own DC doing a variety of sixth form models (both two and three year) and a variety of specifications.

goodbyestranger The key word here is "did", not "is currently doing".

OhYouBadKitten is right. The A level syllabuses and exams have changed. All of DD's A levels are linear so her AS results don't count towards the final mark. I believe that next year all subjects will be linear, but I'm happy to be corrected.

All of her friends are finding A levels hard and very stressful and really struggled in year 12 - some of whom achieved all As and A*s at GCSE.

OhYou not many people appear to be getting that at all.

referring back to previous years doesn't have much bearing going forward with the new A Levels.

goodbyestranger from a recent post your DCs' school did their A levels over 3 years. That must have helped timewise?

Lonicera I disagree with that as a generalization. As I said, my DS did four A2 plus an EPQ (and GS and Critical Thinking, but those were side issues) and had a job and a very good social life. He was absolutely fine, not in the least stressed as far as I could make out, and got A* in everything. Some DC are fine with it, but it's more about organization and time management and laid backness than brilliance. MY DS certainly didn't need History for his Medicine application but he really enjoyed the subject and the teaching of it at his particular school, so he was keen to keep it on. There's no hard and fast rule that it will burn DC out.

Universities only require 3 grades, so any extra subjects would be studied for the pure enjoyment. Let him have a go - they are all STEM subjects, so there will be interdisciplinary skills at work which should make it a lot easier than taking a wider range of subjects and including humanities.

I would double check the school's policy on dropping subjects. We don't allow it (unless there's an foreseeable problem). It's not a sampling the subject situation. After week 3 that's it for swapping over.

Thanks Dipping/Lonicera for your comments.

Her preference is to go to Uni in the US if she can get in. They look on the EPQ very favourably and tbh DD is going to do it on a subject she loves and knows lots about so I think doing it will be a bit of a release for her.

If she ends up in the UK then she'll need the academic A'levels although from what you're saying, Business Studies isn't really a poor choice as long as she can back it up with good grades in two facilitating subjects.

I think she's going to stick with what she's chosen with the view she can drop a subject if she needs to. GCSEs came very easy to her (the proof will be in the results though), but until she experiences the pace, content and expectation of doing the four A'levels she won't really know if she can cope or not.

Agree with Dipping. Unless your daughter is very academic and has no social life 4 A levels plus an EPQ (why?) and a job is just going to burn her out.

Wonderingstar a lot of my mates done business studies one went to oxford two to Durham and one to Bristol - others went to various red bricks! If she's not keen on Biology it would probably be best not to do it.

My DD and I have just had this conversation today about whether she should drop Biology (she hasn't even started them yet).

She's doing Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Business Studies plus the EPQ. She also has a part-time job and I wonder if it's all going to be too much for her. She'd not keen on doing Biology but worries that Business A' Level won't be considered serious enough for the better universities.

As she doesn't know what she wants to do after this, I told her to just focus on the subjects she enjoys and is most guaranteed to get a good grade.

They're only hard if your DS struggles with them. I took two math/science and one humanities. I put twice as much work into the latter than the first two combined because I didn't need to work very hard in STEM subjects to get a good grade.

What he learns in maths will support his learning in physics, physics will support his chemistry and that'll support his learning in biology. The subjects complement each other.

A levels are much harder than GCSEs.
Biology A level does include an essay in the exam.

Not everyonr is as bright as you TheSecond. Just because you found it easy doesn't mean to say it was easy.

6/7 years ago when DS was taking A levels (all STEM), it seemed that all mumsnetters DC were looking to take law degrees.
there were loads of comments about how maths wasn't hard if you were good at it, further maths was really only a half A level etc etc.
Now STEM is the flavour of the month, everyone's DC is looking at maths or medicine and suddenly maths and science are hard.
How times change

I think it would be more challenging to do a spread of subjects, for example Chemistry, German, History and Maths.

I did A-levels in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Maths. I got AAAA (it was before A* grades started). It wasn't a difficult combination. No essays, and a slight overlap in content.