A level choices; 5? what to expect?

Question

hi, i'm a year 11 student preparing to take my gcse's. I would appreciate advice for my a level options. I put down 5: english, history, maths, physics and chemistry. I have been allowed these choices and am expected, from my application status, to be able to manage it; but was asked to consider within a couple of weeks dropping one as this would free up more time for a social life and hobbies.
My predicted GCSE results are as follows:
English (lit&lang): A*A*
Duel Science A*A*
Maths: A*
German: A
History: A
Latin: A
Art: A*
Electronics: B
Statistics: A
Drama: A*

I have already received, having taken them early, an A in Astronomy and B in ICT.
So as you can see i am used to taking on a wide variety of subjects but have heard many stories of how gruelling the transition into AS and A level is. And so i eagerly await reply from people with past experience of how much work is involved in taking 5 a levels (i expect to drop one after AS), and any advice regarding mysituation

Answer 1

hey i take 5 AS subjects but only two of the ones you are taking. it does depend a lot on the subjects that you take, for instance maths is a lot less work than history and engliosh, in terms of homework though this depends a lot on how well you understand things, but if you are predicted an A* shouldn't be too much problem for maths, and it starts off fairly easy.
in terms of you wanting to take chesmitry and physics, although you are predicted A*s this may make life a bit harder because you only take Dual science, and there are some aspects which are extended in A level which you may not have studied at all. this will make a bit more work for you, but as it seems you are very clever, i should think you will manage. english is pretty similar toGCSE as far as i can make out, and work load increases a bit, but you should be able to judge for yourself whether you can cope, and history is similar alhtough there is a lot to learn for each module for exams.
basically it is totally up to you and you are predicted good grades, but you don't want to stress yourself out, and also lose marks in one subject due to taking an extra one so it may not be the best thing to do.
it is good for keeping options open but if you know what you want to do, there is not really any advantage, because no university will ask for 5 AS levels.
definitely if you do not take one it will free up time for hobbies and fun things so you might want to consider this. an optionin our school was to take 5 subjects for a short time and then to drop one within a few eweeks after you have had an A level taster, but th e first few weeks do not always reflect the rest of the course.
you need to edecide what you want to do but i don't see any reason to start off and see how it goes
good luck
message me if you want to know anything further

Answer 2

It depends on ability, and A-levels are harder than G.C.S.E.
However, with similar GCSE grades to you I did 5 A levels and then dropped to 4 in the second year (this is before AS levels so sadly I didn't get any credit for it!). I did extremely well and got into a top uni. 5 was OK but didn't leave much free time, I preferred 4 and did things like sport and concerts and musicals in the second year. These look good on your UCAS application too, in fact at uni, other interests count more than the number of Alevels.

It does depend on what you want to do as certain courses at certain unis, and things like med and vet require really good grades. I'd do 5 and then drop to 4 in the second year if I were you, and get to enjoy life a bit and do some extra curricular activities to put on your UCAS form. Definitely drop one if you find that you might struggle to get top grades in the most important subjects (i.e. ones listed in your uni offer).

Your choices are a bit unusual (the mix). Definitely find out what course you need to do at uni for your chosen career, and see what subjects they specify as many science, med, vet courses will require 3 science Alevels. Then prioritise these. Anything else is a bonus.
Good luck and try to enjoy life too!

Answer 3

Woah! I cannot believe you are going to do 5! At my school you are only able to do 4 max! I nearly did four but instead decided to do 3. You are clearly clever enough to do at least 4, but the subjects you are thinking of doing are pretty hard ones! One of my friends got all A's and A* at GCSE and took 4 A levels but not as hard as those and she finds that she hardly has any free time. You do not realise how much work it is going to be until you are actually doing it, so it all depends wether you can dedicate a lot of time to your work. And by the way..I do history and it is SO hard. I like it...but the exams are gard to get right. You have to be aware of the amount of work and the fact that your social life will probably end. But only you know wether you can cope witht the workload!

Answer 4

In other schools and colleges they normally let you do 3 A Levels and 1 AS Level. You will REALLY struggle doing 5 A Levels - you will NOT have time to sleep let alone eat and have a social life.

My brother did Physics, Environmental Sciences and Maths at A Level a few years back. Despite working really hard he got F in Physics and E in Environmental Sciences and failed Maths.

I would do English, Histrory and Physics at A-Level and Chemistry as an AS Level.

Answer 5

I'm sorry if I'm off base here, too old maybe, but if you are talking about signing up for college and you have been very successful in high school, there is a huge difference. If I am on base here, you can expect at least 2 hours homework for every hour you spend in class in college in normal classes. The ones you have listed are "heavy duty". And as mentioned in an earlier post, when you go to college. oh my, the temptations and bad peer temptations, free at last. Listen to those who have done what it is you want to do, they know.

Answer 6

5 is not so tough at first glance, it would be full time plus 2 hours homework a night.
The difference between school and 6th form / college is that you are responsible for your own work - there's nobody pushing you hard to do the work, so it's easy to slack off and fall behind.
Self-motivation is where the tough part comes in. But that will be a good way to learn a valuable skill.

Answer 7

that's a wide variety of subjects and it sounds very hard because they are all intensive subjects. i am doing maths further maths biology chemistry and french atm and although its tough I'm coping but f math is only three lessons a week so it's not too bad. i do get a lot more work to do though and its is straining. i suggest you take all 5 because you should be able to drop one later and it'll give you more choice. one of my Friends only took 3 subjects and regrets it now because she cant drop any even though she hates some of them.

Answer 8

why you asking for our advice with predicted grades like that?!!!! good look with whatever you do!