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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask whether 4 a levels would be too much work?

78 replies

donthaveorganiccarrots · 28/08/2019 14:31

Seen that there is a very similar thread on here at the moment but don’t want to hijack it. Have a dd going into year 12 who would like to study medicine and a few days ago picked her a levels as biology chemistry history and maths to do until AS but is now wondering whether she’d be better off doing all four to A2 as she doesn’t want to drop history and people have told her she needs maths for the best chance of getting offers from med schools. So 3 a levels and an AS in maths or all four full a levels?

OP posts:
Cleopatrai · 28/08/2019 14:37
  1. You don’t need math for medicine.
  2. Don’t underestimate the level of work that A-levels are. No medical school requires four alevels. A fourth a-level brings less free periods, more homework, more revision and less free time to spend with friends etc.

Given that she doesn’t seem like she wants to take math - correct me if I am wrong - sticking with biology, chemistry and history sounds better.
One of my friends daughters actually studies that combination as she didn’t want to do math, and is currently applying to medical school now.

Her offer will most likely be on 3 alevels. 3 A’s is better than 2 A’s and 2 B’s .

MsChanandlerBoing · 28/08/2019 14:44

You definitely don’t need maths a level but it helps for medical school/beyond if you don’t hate it. I didn’t do maths a level, I did 4 A2 and 1 AS - it was a lot of hard work but I did 2 humanities and 2 sciences so I loved that split so enjoyed my coursework etc.
I got into a fantastic medical school but did have to work a little harder at stats while I was there but perfectly doable. If she won’t enjoy it she’ll resent less free periods/spare time and may not work as hard overall.

Original poster
donthaveorganiccarrots · 28/08/2019 14:45

cleopatrai I have no idea about the requirements- did history English lit and French and could never get my head around science and maths
I’ve told dd that taking four would be unnecessary stress but she’s just panicking that she’s hindered her chances of getting offers without maths so she will be relieved to hear of someone who is doing it without as she does like maths just greatly prefers history and is equally as good at both (anxious high achiever type which makes me particularly worried about the idea of her taking 4)

OP posts:
Original poster
donthaveorganiccarrots · 28/08/2019 14:47

mschanandlerbong would an AS in maths cover the majority of what you need? She does enjoy maths just not as much as she does history

OP posts:
TapasForTwo · 28/08/2019 14:50

"1. You don’t need math for medicine.

  1. Don’t underestimate the level of work that A-levels are. No medical school requires four alevels. A fourth a-level brings less free periods, more homework, more revision and less free time to spend with friends etc."

This ^^ with bells on. Anyone who says that having 4 A levels gives an advantage is talking rubbish. No medical school asks for 4 A levels. What they are looking for is excellent UCAT/BMAT results, volunteering/work experience and a hunger to want to do medicine. The MMI interviews are brutal for the less confident would be medical students as well. This is where DD fell down.

CasperGutman · 28/08/2019 14:50

How easy/difficult does your DD find the maths? If it's relatively easy for her and she's highly motivated then I wouldn't rule out taking four subjects through to A2 if she wants to. I took four, although two of them were maths and further maths so less of a workload than an unrelated fourth subject like history.

MsChanandlerBoing · 28/08/2019 14:51

To be honest I don’t know - I didn’t do maths beyond GCSE so don’t know what is taught at AS vs A2 vs further maths etc. For general day to day life as a doctor you need simple maths to work out drug dosages/weights etc nothing fancy. For analysing literature etc you need to know a fair bit about statistical analysis but any good medical school teaches you that - I just needed to go through it a bit more, it wasn’t a hardship.

LIZS · 28/08/2019 14:51

I'm surprised AS is available in all those subjects, most schools have stopped running non linear courses

TapasForTwo · 28/08/2019 14:52

If her grade prediction for history is going to be greater than the one for maths she needs to stick with history. Some medical schools prefer an arts or humanities subject for a third option as it shows greater breadth of education.

3 excellent A level grades is the minimum requirement so she needs to play to her strengths.

GreenTulips · 28/08/2019 14:54

Just been to college application process

It appears they have 5 bands

The empty band of for very different experience, business, fund raising, etc so they get some experience outside of study

flipperdoda · 28/08/2019 14:56

I did three A-levels but an extra AS in further maths in year 13. It was okay because I knew I was doing it to help myself with engineering degree course (and once I got to uni I was so grateful I'd done it!) but it was tough. I did mine outside of school too and wanted to give up many times.

I'd suggest she goes onto the university websites that she's interested in doing medicine at, and look at their A-level requirements. It should be quite easy to find - if not, email the universities.

4 is manageable if you know you're doing it for a good reason - personally I wouldn't recommend doing it just because!

Anecdotal but the people who did four A-levels before my university then had their offer made conditional on all four which actually made it harder for them to meet those requirements.

JacquesHammer · 28/08/2019 14:58

Honestly I have no idea of the level of work needed for A-Levels these days - they well be much more in depth than when I did them.

Similarly do universities still make offers in points?

I took 5 - which would have proved useful as 4 out of 5 of my Uni offers were high points (which wouldn't have left much wiggle room if I'd done 3). In the end my preferred choice gave me an unconditional offer so I needn't have bothered Grin

I think more than anything she should choose courses than inspire her, or will open doors rather than what she things she should do!

TheDarkPassenger · 28/08/2019 14:59

I did 4 a levels. Depends how hard she’s willing to work I guess. I liked all mine so didn’t drop any, I didn’t find it that difficult tbh. I’m doing another now alongside full time work and 3 children.

Original poster
donthaveorganiccarrots · 28/08/2019 15:01

tapasfortwo her prediction should be the same for both as she got 9s in both at gcse. She is equally as good at them she just has a preference for history and may be more naturally inclined towards it but only slightly if at all

OP posts:
Original poster
donthaveorganiccarrots · 28/08/2019 15:02

LIZS AS is available for maths but not for history as otherwise she’d have done one year of history for fun and then stuck with maths for two

OP posts:
Pukkatea · 28/08/2019 15:04

I did 6 A Levels and honestly it was fine for me. However, if she's not that mathsy and is only doing it for the applications, she will struggle, A Level Maths is pretty hard and not really like GCSE maths, and if she's demotivated in a subject she doesn't like it could affect her overall performance.

Highlandcathedral · 28/08/2019 15:05

I have a son who did 4 full A levels and coped fine (maths, further maths, chemistry and biology). He was considering medicine at the start of 6th form but changed his mind part way through and did a maths based degree in the end. However I would second the advice about looking at bmat exams as that will add significantly to the study time requires and I think most medicine courses will want this or one of the other medicine type exams.

Cleopatrai · 28/08/2019 15:18

@donthaveorganiccarrots

She won’t be given a predicted grade until she has sat mocks. I believe what you are referring to is target grades which in my experience tend to be based off the whole set of GCSEs not the grade achieved in the subjects taken.

Another thing to add is that Alevels have changed. They are objectively harder now than when a lot of people old enough to be on mumsnet sat them. For one they are linear.

MoreCuddlesForMummy · 28/08/2019 15:25

I understand the question - but why not wait and see how she gets on with them once she’s actually started before making the decision now? I appreciate it’s a big thing - I’m not trying to take away from that. But I don’t remember having to make a committed decision about it so early on? She may hate the content of maths or history and it be an easy choice. If not I’m sure the school would be supportive of helping you make an informed decision together.

MoreCuddlesForMummy · 28/08/2019 15:30

Sorry didn’t see history wasn’t available as AS.

TapasForTwo · 28/08/2019 15:38

"Another thing to add is that A levels have changed. They are objectively harder now than when a lot of people old enough to be on mumsnet sat them. For one they are linear."

Exactly. How many of the posters who sat 5 or 6 A levels sat 36 - 45+ hours of exams at the end of 2 years without taking half of those exams as AS levels at the end of year 12?

Original poster
donthaveorganiccarrots · 28/08/2019 15:44

So is the general consensus that dd will not be at a disadvantage for having AS maths and biology chem and history at a level?

OP posts:
riotlady · 28/08/2019 15:52

She is far better off having 3 good a levels, decent mental health and some volunteering experience than having 4 a levels and being a bundle of stress trying to fit it all in. A levels are really, really tough going these days. If it was two related subjects like maths and further maths I’d say go for it, but otherwise no.

I did 5 AS levels (this was back in 2010 so not decades ago but before they were changed) and was put under a lot of pressure to carry 4 on to A level as it would look good for the school. They tried to convince me it would help my Oxford application. I ignored them, did 3, enjoyed my free periods and went to Oxford anyway.

JacquesHammer · 28/08/2019 15:55

How many of the posters who sat 5 or 6 A levels sat 36 - 45+ hours of exams at the end of 2 years without taking half of those exams as AS levels at the end of year 12?

I guess it doesn’t really matter but I took no exams at the end of year 12 (apart from the standard school exams). All my A-level exams were at the end of year 13.

Of course that wasn’t the case for everyone, but just the luck of the draw with what I chose!

PennyGold · 28/08/2019 16:17

I did five at AS (RE was non negotiable) and I coped absolutely fine. I dropped one at A Level but came out with an A at AS which was a bonus.

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