Do some A’levels have a heavier workload?

If he is doing homework and getting it all correct and understanding everything that's super.

However if he is not going over areas he doesn't quite 'get' then he will find he gets more and more lost as things build.

I did maths and FM way back in 80s so probably totally different then), and found it a breeze so I can see it could be possible. (Didn't help me when i got to uni and had no idea at all how to 'work' at maths though!)

DS has just gone into Y12. I keep seeing threads on here talking about the extra reading students need to do for A-levels. Is this a thing for Maths and FM?

Also depends on how talented they are. My friend is a naturally very gifted mathematician and could do her homework almost in the time taken to read it, whereas it took me half the evening. That said - arts, humanities and social sciences will require more research and essay writing which will take longer.

I think he sounds very bright

I think this depends massively how easily you "get" what's being taught.

I did 5 a levels, plus a variety of in and out of school extra curriculars and didn't need to do much work outside school except when it came to exam time. I understood the concepts, got on with my work in class and found the home work fairly easy.

Other friends needed to work outside lessons in free to get the conceptual stuff and the homework took them 2/3 times as long.

Whereas people doing e.g. history had to do lots of hours no matter whether or not the concepts in class came easily to them.

One of my DC did Maths, FM, Physics and History at A level. History definitely took way more time. Involved much more reading and essays took much longer to write. They were equally strong in all these subjects so it was not a question of ability.

This is why many students will take 4 maths/science based subjects and get high marks in all but the numbers of students getting top grades in 4 essay based A levels is much smaller.

Sorry, I meant 3 essay subjects would be quite hard going!

Essay subjects would definitely be more time consuming. Three exam subjects would be quite hard going. My daughter did Biology, Psychology and Geography. Psychology was clearly essays, Geography was long answers but not essays and Biology shorter answers. That seemed a reasonable balance. Her friend did Psychology, Sociology and Government and Politics though!

I would say they are heavy A levels. They won't have the essay writing, but he will need to put in additional hours out of school revising/reading.

Don’t know across the board, but I know art and design subjects are a huge workload though the year but then no revision because the exams are different, whereas other subjects are lighter on coursework through the course but require intensive exam prep towards the end.