How much harder are A2s than AS?

[kittybelle]

And does it become obvious which A to drop in 2nd year? Are there any benefits of continuing with the 4th when uni offers are for 3?

I strongly advise against doing 4 rather than 3 A2 subjects for anyone applying for a BA as opposed to BSc (I leave advice for scientists to those more qualified to advise). I did 4 A2s because I couldn't choose which one to drop... I got an offer from Cambridge but had to go through clearing because I missed both of my offers. That is not a rare or unusual story either. In my school there are at least 3 members of staff with similar stories who dole out the same advice each September. A2s are harder and if your offer is going to be based on 3 anyway it just doesn't make sense to give yourself 33% more work than everyone else and less spare time to do it in. This is the advice I always give my students and it hadn't prevented them from getting into top universities (including Oxbridge). Sometimes it's obvious which subject to drop and sometimes it's a difficult choice but I don't think I've heard students say "I wish I hadn't dropped X".

Fuzzy - that is great advice -- would you ever advise that anyone just did 3 ASs?

A girl did 3 AS levels and carried them through to A2 levels at my DD's school and went to Durham. Not usual though. I would do 4 and 3 A2s. My DD carried on with 4 (not Maths and Science) and lots did at her school. No, not needed but she could not decide what to drop!

Kitty- we advise students at our school with mostly C grades at GCSE to do 3 subjects at AS rather than 4. We find they cope much better this way and it gives them the best possible grades/ucas points. Those whose grades are mainly Bs or higher are advised to do 4 at AS. This appears to have worked really well.

Fuzzy - do you get many C grades doing A levels and if so do you find they cope?

We are having dilemmas about DS who mainly got C grades but wants to go to sixth form. We are thinking he should maybe only do 3 (no science or maths).

So hard to know if it's the right route for them to take or not.

In my subject no. My entry requirements are set at a B in the subject plus Bs in English and English Literature. There are some subjects though that take students with Cs at my school... Off the top of my head I can think of geography, media studies, law, sociology and psychology (there are a couple more though)... We also offer a few btech courses and students are allowed to take a combination of a levels and btech if they like. I know some people can be a bit sniffy about some of those subjects but for a lot of students they are enough to open up their university course of choice and with the reduced pressure of 3 rather than 4 subjects many of them do really well. A lot of the other sixth forms in our area won't look at students for AS with those grades which is a shame.

Whether or not it's the right route for your DS will largely depend on how motivated he is. The ones who are really keen to do A Levels and move onto Uni are often successful... The ones who wander in in September because they couldn't think what else to do or came back because their friend did are not always as successful. If he really wants to do it then I wouldn't let his GCSE grades deter him... I would recommend 3 rather than 4 ASs though. Good Luck!