A levels / AS levels

[hopeishere]

Do most kids do four subjects to AS then drop one and do three to A level?

DS did well at GCSE (2A*/7A/1B) but has struggled to pick A levels as he has no idea what he wants to do career wise. He toyed either medicine but I'm not sure he would even get in with those grades.

He's picked economics, politics and biology. Which I'm not sure is a great combo! He knows it also rules out medicine.

Lots of places don't bother with AS anymore now it doesn't count to the final grade.
It is 6th form dependent who they will let start with 4 and then drop, as it takes focus away from the other 3 and they could end up with an expensive small class.

DD wanted to do four but her 4th subject choice was over subscribed so she is going to do three and an EPQ.

I’m guessing you are in either NI or Wales considering you are talking about AS levels? Not sure if Wales have numeric or alphabetic grades at GCSE, so are you maybe in NI?

If so - taking 4 subjects in NI for AS is much more common than anywhere else, however it’s still not the majority who do it. (And yes - here, AS still counts as 40% of the final grade) Some grammars push for everyone to take 4 at the start, but many (most) have a points requirement to be allowed to take 4. (Often it’s something like 12 points to get into 6th form, and then 20/22/24 points to be allowed to do 4 subjects) The thinking is that if you aren’t achieving highly at GCSE then you are going to find 4 subjects incredibly hard work. Your DS has 31 points with those grades so clearly very capable, but it really depends on whether he needs a 4th or not.

Pros of doing a 4th are that if the pupil is struggling to decide between subjects, and/or choosing a new subject which they have never done before, it gives them some scope for choice further down the road by dropping one. It is actually pretty common to have pupils drop their 4th by October, or Christmas (often around mocks time) when they realise it’s just too much and they want more study/free periods in their timetable. Alternatively, they keep all 4 for AS and then decide what to do after results the following August.

In terms of university, in the UK the offers will always be based on 3 subjects so a 4th is not necessary. If considering ROI however, a 4th (even just at AS level) is pretty much essential because of the points requirements. (There is talk of this changing, but not sure how quickly it will happen)

The cons are that it is A LOT of work. I cannot stress this enough - the workload for 4 is huge, so it really does take a capable, but also very committed and motivated pupil to do well with 4.

Thanks @FerminRomeroDeTorres - yes we are in NI! That post is really helpful. Thank you so much. The RoI thing is interesting as he might consider that. The way the school offer the choices is limiting his option to pick a fourth.

If considering ROI then a 4th really is essential. Although I will warn you that Medicine requires all A* and the inclusion of Maths in your subjects as it gives an additional 25points which is the only way you can get the top score of 625, and even then it often goes to random selection!

CAO points for this year will be out in the next week or so, and you’ll be able to look at minimum points requirements for every course in the country then. You can look back now at previous years of get an idea of what is required.

This is the link to last year’s points. You can look back for previous years too. When DS was applying, we had a spreadsheet for all the courses he was considering of the points requirements over the last 6/7 years. (Remember they had significant grade inflation over Covid too so points were significantly higher 2020-2022. Last year was closer to normal, but still higher than pre-covid. I think this year is meant to be back to normal, but I haven’t paid too much attention to it as don’t have one doing A levels this year)

This is the points conversion chart for A level which explains things a bit more clearly. Using this and the link above you should be able to get an idea of what kind of grades might be required.