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

My perspective when dd started y12 doing 4 was that if she started 4 then found she hated one of them she could drop it, whereas if she'd only started 3 she would have been stuck with any she hated.

My school has always encouraged starting 4 and then dropping one, previously after AS results, now at any point during y12. Unfortunately, that can be difficult to fund as some subjects can be financially viable at the start but then a couple of pupils drop it and it's no longer viable but is on the timetable. So this year, following redundancies amongst the teaching staff, pupils are only encouraged to start 3, with only the very brightest being able to take 4. Others are encouraged to take "extras", like doing an EPQ, or core maths, which give the same points as AS levels and obviously don't need as many teaching hours as a full A level.

Really bbpp

DD is starting year 13 and has been doing the new syllabus A levels where the AS doesn't count towards the final exams. She achieved mostly A*s and As at GCSE and is finding A levels hard.

She has been visiting medical schools and they have all said don't bother doing 4 A levels they are only interested in 3. She also looked at bio med degrees and was told the same.

You don't need 4 A levels for university, not even for Oxbridge. DD really struggled with 4 subjects in year 12 and was so relieved to go down to 3 subjects

While 4 subjects aren't needed for university applications the extra subject can be useful of the OP's DS does decide on a sciences degree.

DD is doing maths, FM, physics and chemistry. While the FM isn't necessary it will be helpful in her uni course.

Noble - Have you read the original research the article refers to...? Interestingly by their measurement General Studies comes out harder than all STEM subjects.... I think that's not true, but the research ch methods doesn't really account for effort or forced subjects. It makes interesting reading nonetheless.

"Research by academics at Durham University, however, suggests that there are some real discrepancies. By comparing A-level results between subjects, the researchers found that it appeared to be harder to get higher grades in maths, the sciences and modern languages, for example, than in business studies, drama and English."

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9948905/Are-some-A-level-subjects-better-than-others.html

Goodbyestranger, when was doing my A-levels, art was definitely one of the hardest ones. It seemed to take up huge amounts of time and effort, and the art people seemed to spend all their "free" time catching up on art stuff. At university, chemistry seemed to be the equivalently time-consuming subject.

I'm much more impressed by art than I am by maths or science. Mainly because I can barely draw circles with compasses, so creating something beautiful seems like magic to me. Also because I've seen how much work goes into art subjects (I'm including things like textiles and photography) in order to get a decent grade at A level.

Bertrand you can count me out on that one (about rating maths and science higher than humanities or arts).

Just spotted my mistake, sorry - DS1 did History, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, not Maths. Getting my DC muddled, easily done :)

People are much more impressed by kids being good at science and maths than, say, English or History. I suspect it's because most of us think that with a bit of effort we could do those subjects too (after all, it's only reading and writing, and we can all do that!) but maths and science? That's sort of magic thinking.............

I counted DS1's History as 'hard' Bertrand, hence the post. He didn't do either Maths or Further Maths.

In fact I also think Art, which DD2 did as one of three A2s, is 'hard'. but I'm no doubt in the minority on that one :)

I spotted that too Bertrand. I love science and maths and am good at them, so for me it was a no brainer to choose them at A level. I would have found out much, much more difficult to have to write essays, they're much more subjective. I like correct answers, with established methods to get to those answers.

There are lots of young people who are just like me in that they are better at maths and sciences than wordy subjects. I don't think it does anybody any favours to assume maths and science are any harder than any other A levels. Yes, the new A levels are harder than they have been in the recent past, but that's the same with every subject, not just science and maths.

It's interesting that "hard" seems to be synonymous with "science and maths"

Op, I think this will be a problem for quite a few 16 year olds now they are only being encouraged to do 3 A levels due to the changes. My DD couldn't decide which direction she wanted to go in at 16 so did all 3 sciences and maths in year 12. She has a lot of pressure from school to drop 1 at the end of the year. It did focus her on making the decision of what degree she wanted to do and dropped biology (but also decided to do AS further maths in year 13). Deciding to drop either biology or physics does then start to close doors on what degree/career path to follow. But as pointed out by previous posters, with the changes to content and most exams being done at the end of year 13, it will be more difficult to do 4 subjects.
I personally think let your DS start off with the 4 he wants to do but let him know he can drop one at any time.

DS1 did A2s in History, Biology, Chemistry, Maths also General Studies and an EPQ and din't appear to do any more work than his siblings who didn't take the fourth A2 subject but he's a very calm customer. He also worked part time throughout (each weekend and more in the holidays) and had a very good social life. I think it was quite good practice for uni (he's an Oxford medic). I really do think it's totally dependent on the individual. And yes, he did get A* across the board.

He's had to write for controlled assessments in science/computer science and seems to be able to score good marks on science test questions that require explaining.

Dipping, not necessarily. I did a degree in maths and computing, I didn't write a single essay. I learnt how to solve really hard maths problems and how to write computer software, but didn't ever write an essay. Some sciences will require essays to be written, others won't.

Eyebrows they are smart choices for science based subjects but I hope your son realises there will still be a lot of essays in uni even with a science based subject.

Deep fried mars bars? Absolutely not! We live in the South East so the tempura Kale has a dipping sauce made with freshly grated wasabi.

My son hasn't a clue about degree subjects. He picked biology because he enjoys it (and gets good grades in it) and has picked chemistry and maths as they are needed to access degree level science courses (and he's pretty interested/good at them) He hates essay based subjects so I think that his choices are smart for someone who'll do something sciencey at university.

As his fourth he'll do physics or computer science but this depends on results.

Ah yes, tempura. Middle class deep fried mars bars..........

Mine all love Kale tempura.

Teen he emailed me after FP1 to say he didn't think he'd passed it, he didn't do a mock for that one so no idea whether his assessment of his performance was realistic. His work for C1 and C2 was so beautiful though. Definitely an outlier, that one.

She didn't revise. She was only 12.
But how can I get her to enjoy kale???

@CauliflowerSqueeze