A level art

[Bunbaker]

DD put art down as one of her A level choices, but is now panicking at the potential workload. She has also chosen biology, psychology and geography.

At her sixth form interview she was told that she could take 4 A levels as her last few school reports show that she is consistently getting As in most subjects, and she feels that if she takes 3 subjects people will see her as being thick.

Is taking A level art doable with three other subjects or should she drop down to three A levels from the start?

I'm an Art teacher. It's the norm to do 4 Alevels at the school I teach in. It can be time consuming however if she is consistent in keeping deadlines it's very doable. Especially if she is a strait A student. Problems arise when students take on lots of coursework heavy subjects together.
If she loves Art she might regret dropping it later. My advice would be to start the year with four and drop one later if she feels it's all too much for her.

Thank you. DD did art GCSE in year 10 and got an A. She was hoping for an A* and was disappointed with her A. I have suggested that she starts with 4 and drops to 3 if she can't cope.

My son is just finishing now. It is time intensive but his favourite subject. He really has got a lot from it and all his uni choices are art based.

No university requires 4 A levels and Art A level is time consuming. Obviously it is necessary for some courses but no university asks for 4 A levels. It depends if she wants to do a subject allied to her other A levels. If so, Art will be of little consequence. It is better to have 3 high grades rather than 4 lower ones. Start with 4 and see how it goes. Even AS Art can be stressful with early deadlines.

With a lot of work, it is possible to get a better grade at A level. DD went from a B at GCSE (very disappointed) to an A at A level and an A* at Photography A level. A change of school and stellar teaching was what she needed. If the Art Dept is mediocre then don't put hours and hours of work in to get a B or C at the expense of the other subjects. How good is the art teaching? Do they get lots of high grades at A level? Where DD went, no-one got less than an A. If she loves it though, it will not feel like a chore.

One of my DC did Art A level and wouldn't have been content not doing it. She managed her other subjects fine but opted to drop her least favourite at AS so went down to three. She got an A at both GCSE and A level but I don't think that was related to how hard she worked, I think it was related to talent. I don't generally say that sort of thing but with Art I think it's true - to get an A you really do need to be good, not just prepared to do the slog. She got five offers from UCAS for a different subject, so clearly doing three incl Art didn't prove a disadvantage.