AS levels advice needed?

Question

Hi, i am currently doing my As levels in Maths, English, ICT, Business Studies. My main career objective is going on to study business in university. I want to know do you have to do 4 A levels to stand out, i am in my As year and i absolutly hate maths. I am struggling like mad in it and i put nearly all my spare time in doing maths work that im starting to fall behind on other subjects. I really want to drop it! If i keep maths for the rest of this AS year then i will end up getting grades like ABDE ( an E in maths), but if i drop maths i will have more time for other subjects and i reckon i will get grades like AAB!! What should i do, i want to study Business in university and im thinking what if other people do 4 alevels and get more ucas points than me, then i will have no chance of getting into a top university? Any body have any advice that can help me?

Answer 1

I am telling you from personal experience- DROP MATHS. I did 4 A Levels and I spent nearly all my free time doing work for that one extra subject, alongside coursework and it wasn't easy. By the end of the year i was tired, close to tears and moody. I ended up wishing that I HAD dropped that extra subject.
The best thing is to go and speak with someone, a tutor, a trusted teacher, the principal, just someone who will be able to advise you better. Your personal tutor or form teacher would be better as they will have to deal with your UCAs and will know it better than anyone else.
The general rule with UCAS is that only three subjects are going to count. In your case it would be better to do three subjects and get AAB than ABDE. This would show better consistency and you would preform better generally. What is going to matter to the universities is your application and your personal statement. Those exam grades aren't going to tell the university about YOU. The Personal Statement is your chance to seperate yourself from thousands of other applicants. You don't want to say that all you did was work. The unis want interesting people with interests and hobbies outside of their exams, not work junkies.
You've answered your own question- your maths is going to drag you down. DROP IT!

Answer 2

I always thought taking four subjects would just give you more choice in choosing a Uni subject, and a better chance of using your best grades to get in. Of course, looking at UCAS points and applying to top Universities, it would also be good to do more subjects at least to AS level. (some top Uni's want 3 A levels and an AS level)

But really, if you think continuing maths is going to affect your grades badly, i'd say first talk to your teacher/s, and then consider giving it up. (Though also consider that you may be able to resit AS modules to improve your grades next year)

Answer 3

No university only usually expect you to have 3 A-Levels in total they would prefer to have quality not quantity.
But stick with 4 AS-Levels if you can as your hard work won't be wasted, and the AS-Level will get you UCAS points. So drop one after your June exam and get 3 higher graded A-Levels as A2 levels are not easy and you may be stretching yourself by doing 4 different subjects.
They may thing that will make you stand out is your personnel statement you could have 3 A's but if your personnel statement is bad you may loose your place to someone who got 3 C's.
So get your tutors to help you with your statement and get it handed in as soon as you can.

Answer 4

If you think that dropping your maths will make a difference at your performance in other subjects i would say do it.
getting 3 a/s levels is still a good achievement! my brother is doing 3 and he can just cope, your not the only one!
and another thing, stop worrying about getting into a top university, you can only do your best , im sure there are other uni's you can study business at
good luck

Answer 5

The most important thing about uni is to enjoy it and do a course you like, finish it and do it well if poss and get through it financially. If you don't like maths fine- i loathed it- drop it. It is important for some courses to have it at gcse though- if you have, that should suffice.Try and get good grades in what you like doing best. Make sure business is what you want to do - what about the economics, finance and maths side of it? Think carefully. There are loads of courses out there. All the best.

you can use the below link to search for all available uk university courses.

http://search.ucas.co.uk/cgi-bin/hsrun/search/search/search.hjx;start=search.HsSearch.run?y=2007

Answer 6

Well, it is better to have good grades than to have bad ones. You might get a tutor to help you out in the rest of your math course, if your family can hire one for you. If that doesn't make things a lot better for you, I would just drop math at the end of this year.

Answer 7

its only universities like oxford and cambridge that can look at 4 a levels but other universities only look at your best three, so you might aswell drop maths, because if you needed AAB to get onto a course, if you had AAB in the other three subjects they would look at those three and accept you, so i'd say its best to drop maths.

Answer 8

Consider hiring a tutor before you drop maths. Accounting and finance are both heavily math-based, and if you don't understand advanced algebra, you might struggle in university.

Answer 9

Just drop maths!! Then you can get higher grades in the other stuff - giving you more UCAS points anyway........

Answer 10

Go and see your head of year and say to him/her exactly what you have said here. Even if you carry on through your A/S then this is probaly the one to drop before your A2's.