Anyone else’s SC taken 5 A levels?

[Parvolax]

DS has taken 5 A levels and is half way through his 20 exams (with a few step etc thrown in). Anyone else taken 5 A levels?

Back in the day before A star it was the norm to do 3 plus general studies. The ones at my academic school doing 4 were doing maths, physics, chemistry and biology. All got places for medecine, around 20% of the year from memory.

What subject did he apply for? Perhaps by stretching himself across 5 A levels he wasn't able to demonstrate much supra curricular interest in his proposed degree subject? Or discuss it in enough depth. Or they felt he wouldn't benefit from their style of teaching. Many all A* students miss out on Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial/Durham/Warwick etc places bit get them elsewhere.

Also Cambridge do interview a far higher proportion of applicants than Oxford who thin numbers down earlier in the process.

That seems quite harsh your DS didn't get an offer with 5 A, especially if from a state school. Were the predictions given in his application 5 x As (or is this what he is now on track for)?

May I ask, how would you describe him in terms of personality, and his ability to articulate his thoughts verbally? Students can vary enormously in this respect.

General Studies was dropped in 2017; I would guess that accounted for quite a lot of "fifth A-levels".

@Parvolax, its harsh as by the interview stage you do invest (even if you tell yourself not to count chickens!)

It is simply down to volumes of applicants and they have to turn down so many very able students. I hope he has great Uni choices. I'm sure he will do well and have a fab time.

What did he apply for and where is he hoping to go now?

For anyone else reading this & thinking they must have 4 or 5 A*s to go to Oxbridge, you definitely don't. DD has just completed her finals with far from perfect GCSEs and A levels and a state school background. The key is to be able to hold your own in tutorials and be able to talk around your subjects.

I meant to add that he sounds exceptionally bright. I hope he has some fun planned for next weekend or whenever he finishes.

We had to do 3+GS though about 5 of my year did 4+GS. None of them took FM as the extra as my school didn't offer it (which was odd really).

At my current school (inner city comp) we have had a handful of exceptionally talented students who have picked up more A levels. One I clearly remember took maths, physics, history and applied for economics at Oxbridge. He also picked up AS mandarin, AS politics and an EPQ for fun!!

I think lots depends on the competitiveness of the course some courses even at oxbridge have circa 40% of applicants getting in. It varies so much within a university and then sometimes from 1 uni to another. I guess 4 or 5 could really help especially if STEM and where studying further maths may help (either for being more confident with maths for entrance exams etc or when actually at university). I think entrance exams can really help unis decide.

What was the course they were interested in? If it's very competitive and the uni offered only just above their quota (expecting potentially only a very small number to not make their offer grades) then a number didn't get the grades, is it worth a call?

is it worth a call?

It doesn't work like that at Cambridge. There is a summer Reconsideration Pool of students who were not made an offer after interview but met specific widening participation criteria. They be offered a place or colleges may decide to just take fewer students.

The kids who make it to interview stage often have a slew of A stars and they will all have likely found Maths and FM a breeze so I'm afraid he would not have been in the minority.

It's probably mostly due to his interview performance and not to do with his background. Perhaps it didn't go as well as he thought or hoped..?

HewasH2O the summer reconsideration pool sounds like similar to what I predicted on another thread but was met with "And no, universities won't be tracking down any unsuccessful candidates who were close to being made an offer, to make them an offer if they have vacancies."
It makes sense for some universities to do this (thinking oxbridge - when they have interviewed/examined entrants and know who they would like if they suddenly have space (eg some not get the offer grades or something choose other Unis etc). A space not filled is less funding, further more could the Uni not get in trouble e.g. I assume certain courses have quotas. If it is a course such as medicine where we need doctors etc then the government may not be too pleased as they must top up the education quite a bit (cannot see it costing just £9250 per year per student!). Certain unis (or courses at unis?) I cannot see wanting to offer openly through clearing but having a list of close candidates would make sense.

Are A-levels more taxing these days in terms
of the volume of work? In the 90s I did 4, got 4 As and also worked full days in a hotel on Saturday and Sunday, plus played several sports and went clubbing every weekend. I don’t remember the academic work being too taxing and I’m by no means the brain of Britain. Certainly not the brightest at my college by a long shot and not Oxbridge material. Maybe it’s because I didn’t take any maths type subjects which is like another language to me.

I think it must be hard for Unis to predict who will make them first choice and who will get the grades. I know a number of people who turned down Oxbridge and some who didn't get the grades after an offer.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/august-reconsideration-pool/about-the-pool

Eligible students are told they can be included in the Cambridge Summer Pool when they are not made an offer in January. They still might not receive an offer after their results.

Oxford doesn't take this approach. They make Open Offers to a number of students which are underwritten by a named college. They are guaranteed a place somewhere and the underwriting college commits to take them if nobody else does.

I wanted to do 5 (early 80s) but struggled to fit 4 into my timetable. Had half the classes I should have had in two of my subjects because they clashed. I probably wouldn't have got to do them, only my two lovely teachers were prepared to work with it. General Studies wasn't offered in my grammar school. I came out with an A in one of those and a B in the other, plus A,B in my other subjects. I might as well have just done 3, as there was no advantage to doing more, and I might have got 3 As (no A*s then). A friend dropped one subject at the end of Lower Sixth and did three. She got AAB and went to Oxford.

I do remember one guy who did 5 Science A levels (no idea how he fitted them all in!) He was a bit of a nerd and I don't think he did a lot else in terms of extra curricular activities, but he got 5 As and went to Cambridge.

My elder kids did 4 AS then 3 A levels. Youngest was encouraged to take 3, as due to Covid, they didn't get to sit either their GCSEs or AS levels.

My sister (law graduate) always says, so long as they get to do what they want next, that is all that matters. She's right too.

HewasH2O the Cambridge way sounds very similar to what I was thinking on the other thread 😀. A "go to reserve list". Cambridge can go there after results and select from it. Oxford way doesn't sound reliant on August results in any way though just a "you've made it but we're not fully sure exactly which College quite yet".

This won't be a popular view, but I am very much of the view that A levels are not nearly as demanding as back in the day. I recall having 3 x 3 hour papers to sit, covering 2 years' worth of work (no AS levels then!). Mine were doing papers lasting 1.5 hours!

An old uni friend, PhD and VP of a very prestigious school, always felt they were dumbed down, and that is not a criticism of kids today.

Essentially the Cambridge system prolongs the agony, as you still have a firm and insurance elsewhere, but may or may not have the opportunity to go to Cambridge after results day. You are quite likely to face a second rejection on the day even with 4 or 5 A*s even if everyone else achieves their offer grades.

Teaching time, for S levels? I didn't even know they existed until my teachers told me they'd entered me for them a few weeks before the exams. I was under the impression that there wasn't actually a specific syllabus so you couldn't be taught for them anyway, but I could be well be wrong as, as I say, I wasn't exactly well prepared. I was the only one in my school to do them and I'm not sure that they'd ever entered anyone before. I got a 1 and a 2. I still smart over that 2 and it's nearly 40 years ago, because it's the only exam in my life where I didn't get the highest available grade. I should really have got over it by now though. But now I know you were supposed to have teaching...🤣🤣

I did 5 in the late 1990s, before AS levels were a thing and no A* either.
I did English language, English literature, Biology, Chemistry and general studies.

DD is going to the same 6th form I did and they only allow 4 or 5 subjects in STEM and even then only for the brightest students.
Art and humanities can only do 3 due to timetable restrictions.

The Cambridge system makes a lot of sense for the Uni. They should be able to fill any spaces discretely and with students that they think will be a good fit, if more students accept and get the grades than they have spaces for they do not have to take on any from the August pool. Oxford they've guaranteed a place already (but probably factor that in when choosing how many to offer places to in the "named college cohort"). Tough still on the students in the August pool .
I just wanted to do the course I had chosen for Uni , was relaxed about which Uni I went to 😀! I think it's tougher now where students have to really think if they want the (huge and mounting) debt/cost of Uni.

Just to answer, DS also does music two evenings and all day Saturday as well as scouts one evening. He also likes walking and cycling. So it’s not all academics. He does have a well rounded timetable.
He’s looking to do computer science and maths at uni.

@MrsAvocet I think I had one (lunchtime) lesson a week where we discussed an essay topic or a book (English S-level), and maybe saw some past papers? I think I had to write an essay a fortnight too. I got a 1 on the S Level but only a merit on the STEP, which still rankles!