Olaves they have to start with four A levels so it can be intense, NW is more fluid. NW tend to have 3 as standard (4 if one is FM). DD also did an EPQ which was talked about a fair bit in her Oxbridge interview.
DD used to have each of her 3 subjects most days, maybe one or two days she just had two, there would be study periods which she’d spend in library or common room, she would get privileges for doing well and usually had Tuesday pm off (based on her timetable, friends were different) and she would do her part-time job that afternoon (tutoring).
DD is in Y1 at Cambridge and before she started helped with their Oxbridge hopefuls and returned to the school in September to help deliver Oxbridge classes. Olaves send more to Oxbridge but I think that reflects that Newstead see the pupils more as individuals not ‘Oxbridge,/ Medicine or bust’. Downsides of NW, some buildings scruffy, too many pupils for the buildings, crowded corridors, challenging at lunchtime due to crowds and meh catering, whiilst there are boys in sixth form not many of them.
DD made good friends with those who came from other schools into the sixth form so they integrate well, but I don’t know how easy it was to get a place as someone coming in.