Am I going mad or was it like this for everyone at A Level?

[LuckyNumberFive]

I'm early-mid 30s and when I was choosing A Levels it was expected that those with good GCSE results would do 4 A Levels, but there was no expectation that you'd drop 1 in the second year.

This was back when it was an AS Level in one year and the second year counted as your full A Level. If you did well at GCSEs but not amazingly well you did 3 A Levels.

It seems now (and I agree with this approach) that you start with 3 or 4 but if the latter you'd usually drop one at the end of the first year?

Further maths at the time (whether a widespread view or just my school) wasn't classed as a full subject, you'd do 3 A Levels plus further maths, rather than 3 including FM which seems to be an accepted option now.

At Ds's school in year 12 they do either 4 A levels, 3 A levels + EPQ or 3 A levels + core maths.
They still enter students for AS levels though.
By the end of year 12 , most will drop one and continue with 3.
For ds, this option worked for him. By midway year 12 he hated a subject that he'd loved at gcse. If he'd only had 3 subjects from the start and that had been one of them, he'd have been stuck with it. A few students do keep 4 A levels. They are generally the ones who are extremely bright and go on to get A stars / A's in all four subjects.

As a former school governor, I can tell you that one of the main focus points for secondary schools is exam results and anything that Ofsted takes into consideration. Quite obviously anyone doing 3 A Levsls is, in the main, likely to get higher grades than someone doing 4. So schools are highly motivated to restrict kids to 3. Having said that, I'm sure most schools are willing to make exceptions - DC1 did 4.

Depends on the school. I went to an academically selective secondary school and did 4 a-levels which was the minimum. Quite a few did 5.

Both my DC (1st & 2nd yr at uni) took 3, one did EPQ as well. Only the FM crew routinely take 4 at their school.

We did four at school but it included General Studies.

At that time if you did the JMB syllabus the JMB unis (which included places like Manchester and Leeds) accepted it as a full A Level. It gave you an extra shot at making your offer if you were going to one of those unis.

I did A levels at a grammar in the early 80s. We were expected to do four. If you were good at Maths you were encouraged to do Further Maths, otherwise it was General Studies. We didn't actually have many (if any?) GS classes, but had to sit the exam. I got a A <proud> so I'm glad I did it.

Edited to add: same as pp, it was JMB so counted as a full A level for university entry.

I did four and a half plus one that was an a level equivalent.

Sat 1995

economics
history
classical civilisations
maths AS
general studies

computer studies a level equivalent.

my school only let me do 4 so the maths as and computer studies were at evening classes.

I did A levels in mid 80s and only did 3 (humanities). However I also did something called an ‘S level’ for English lit which was harder than A level (not to be confused with AS level). Anyone remember those?

Youngest has just started A levels - had to start with 4 but has already managed to drop one that she always knew she wasn’t keen on.

In 2016 I achieved well in my GCSEs and what I was advised to do for A levels was shocking.
I did end up taking 4 a levels - maths, further maths + 2 others. However, I was originally taking 6. I dropped psychology and critical thinking after 1 year because it was too much pressure. Can’t believe I was pressured into 6 a levels!

1995 - 1997 for me was 3 A levels to be started and finished. No dropping a subject

We had to take four A-levels at the sixth form I attended, quite a few people did five.

Yes I did S level economics.

it was an additional extension paper, so harder than the a level papers.

only existed in some subjects by the 90s.

I started A levels in 2000. Those that got into 6th form with all As of maybe the odd B started with 4 and dropped one after AS level. Those that got into 6th form with mostly Bs just did 3 from the start.

I did 5 (we had to do GS) they let me do Latin as an extra. So mine are French, eng lit, theatre studies, Latin and gen studies. Dd1 did maths, further maths, politics, economics- dd2 is doing eng lang, gen studies, philosophy theology and ethics and history.

At my school back in the 90s, doing 4 was never discussed as being an option regardless of GCSE results. We all did 3.

Both of my kids got great GCSE results and the sixth form college suggested they could do 4, but as they both knew what they wanted to do at uni, there was no point. When it was suggested, the college were very firm that if they did 4, they were expected to do them all for the full 2 years.

I thought people with good GCSEs are encouraged to do the IB now as it covers more subjects? If the school offers them of course.

I'm 31 and the expectation for us was very much to take 4 with the expectation we'd likely drop one in the second year. I got almost all A*s at A-level.

Unis don't need 4 A-levels. Unless you really love them all, why wouldn't you drop one you don't need/don't like/are struggling with.

I personally couldn't wait to ditch Maths 😂

General Studies was usually the regulation 4th, unless you were behind then you could drop it. We also did extras for UCAS points like LAMDA, DofE, Young Enterprise and various extra language courses that counted as 2 GCSEs.

Thanks @Octavia64 . Was the ‘s’ level just for fun? I have no memory of it being used for uni applications?

I’m 30 and we were all encouraged to choose 4 and drop one after year 12. It’s very normal.

I’m 36 and did four A-levels (biology, chemistry, English literature and maths) plus general studies. I couldn’t pick which one to drop, though all of my friends stuck to three.

I’m not sure that doing an extra subject has ever proved of any use to me, quite honestly.

It wasn’t part of any of my offers.

i did it for fun.

my Cambridge offer did include STEPs which were the Cambridge entrance exams sat at the same time as a levels.

Sat mine in 2006 - did 4 and dropped one after AS (unwillingly- I’d achieved a B at AS, but I was the only person who had taken/ wanted to take the subject, and the teacher wasn’t willing to do a second year teaching a single pupil- and especially not a single pupil she didn’t really like 😂)

When I was at college in the early 90s the standard was 3 A levels. People who were very capable or ambitious maybe did an AS as well. But AS was a standalone thing then not part of an A level although there is obviously some common content. There were also a couple of BTec or similar available but no one I knew took them so I'm not sure what they were equivalent to.

I took my A levels in 1979. Three was the usual number but a few of us took General Studies as a fourth. No one did any other fourth subject.

My daughters took 4 AS subjects in the lower 6th and then dropped one to concentrate on 3 A levels. The school’s view was that quality was better than quantity and the only people it allowed to take 4 A levels were those doing further maths.

@cornflowerblue5 They stopped S levels and then soon after they introduced an Advanced Extension Award which I think was a similar level. They kept changing the qualifications so often I don't think employers knew what they were. My daughter who is 41 did the AEA in Biology and got a distinction. I think they only did them for about 2 years so no-one knew what they were.
She did 4AS levels in year 12 but didn't like one of the subjects so dropped that and did maths AS in year 13 so ended up with 3 A2 and 2 AS. When they first brought in the AS they wanted students to do 4 or 5 subjects and have a broader range more like IB and not just all science or all arts subjects but it soon reverted back to mostly 3 subjects.