5 A Levels

Former Member · September 2004

Well how the maths-further maths thing works is that in the first year you usually have 2 teachers, one will do half the work for the full single maths course, and the other teacher will do the other half in the first year. So basically you do your whole A level maths in your first year. Then in your second year you study the extra work - which is the further maths. None of the actual further maths work is done in your first year.

Former Member · September 2004

Just to add: I was thinking of doing 5 AS and then maybe dropping one, but if I could manage the work I would consider the 5 full A levels. But from all I've been told in this; further maths will not give me an edge, so maybe doing the full a level of maths in the first year, and then concentrating on psychology, chemistry and biology in my second year.

Former Member · September 2004

Originally posted by kart
Hey..where you thinking about doing 5 FULL A-levels, or just 5 at AS and 4 at A-level. Because the former is considerably harder than the latter, that's all.

Oh yeah dr_carter, is it really true that medical schools take less than AAB? Some universities say they have a standard offer, while in reality the vast majority of applicants have at least two grades higher than that. The people who go for medicine usually have straight A's at AS; it's certainly the case for everyone I know. Again...doing four AS's and 3 A levels is by no means a disadvantage, but doing more just gives you that extra edge. I know Imperial can be kind when they make offers to people doing 4 full A levels too, unlike the ones doing 3, who always end up getting harsh ones!

If you are going to do 5 AS, and do a full A level in a year (I'm assuming they let you combine your AS Maths and AS Further Maths ) it'll look really good, because you'll have four 4 full A-levels at the end. Obviously Chemistry is necessary, and Biology is "very desirable" and Maths is always good. Psychology is good too, but if you feel another subject would look good, something like Philosophy and Ethics ( Religious Studies) is good too. I'm sure it's respected by universities as a good Humanities subject. It is by no means easy; there is a lot of essay writing and reading to do, but you will learn a lot of useful skills and theories which would help a lot in a profession like Medicince. It also shows that you're a well rounded person who has a good understanding of human nature.

Generally speaking, most medical schools will make their standard offer to you. In certain circumstances, such as St. Georges, they will actually take into account if your college is total shit, shown by the average points per candidate score, and have been known to offer as low as BBC on the grounds that the teaching is diabolical and they can't reasonably expect the student to do as well even though they may be very bright.

Every person doing medicine i know got an offer of AAB, and all of them got a B in at least one of their AS's. Imperial made an offer to another of my friends for AAB at A-Level, he was only doing 3.

Oh, and with regards to another subject - my friend who did history and politics got away with it because he spun some bollocks about them being the subjects of the people

Former Member · September 2004

Hello fellow wiganer!

I would say do whatever you feel you can cope with, and make sure that if you decide to take anything extra (like further maths or whatever) that it's something you enjoy. You can always start out doing 5 and drop one if it becomes to hard - or carry them all through to AS and have a rethink for the next year (if that's how the system works? I'm not too au fait with the new system).

Good luck whatever you decide to do anyway

Former Member · September 2004

You a wiganer too? cool.

We're taking over

Former Member · September 2004

Just out of interest, which chemistry syllabus are you following?

And as a quick run-through for KoolCat, the system operates whereby you can take your AS exams in the first year of your course, split between Jan and June, and then at the end of the second year 'cash them in', i.e. take an AS grade.
You do not have to take them in the first year though, it still is possible to sit all your exams at the end of the second year in the old style, although with maths this would require sitting 6 exams - and for most other subjects, 4 or 5.
Most A-Levels will operate on a 6 unit system, each unit is either coursework, or exam, or both. Exams can be re-sat as many times as you want between the time you start the course and the time you cash in an A-Level, i.e. June.

Hope that makes sense.

Former Member · September 2004

Originally posted by solid_L
You a wiganer too? cool.

We're taking over

heh, i'm a bit all over the place at the moment. My profile says Edinburgh, but I'm currently sitting in st helens, and will very soon be off to france for a year. But yes, originally, I am from wigan!

5 A Levels

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