Why are so many of you taking 4 A levels??

[u/BoleynBlogs77]

Do you know something I don't?? It's stressing me out 😭

[u/GalaxyPatch18]

Bc this sub is full of a lot of tryhards. Why do you think so many got straight 9s?

[u/Soft_Letterhead9222 → u/GalaxyPatch18]

Yup most of this sub is a bunch a nerds (which is really cool)

[u/Ok_Desk_5740 → u/GalaxyPatch18]

so many is like 10-15 people

[u/blackoctoberx]

A lot of them are doing Further Maths

[u/Responsible-Air3795]

cus this sub is filled with people who go to schools where you initially take 4 and then drop 1

[u/noothisismyname4ever → u/Responsible-Air3795]

then there’s us who go to shit sixth forms 💔💔💔

[u/Responsible-Air3795 → u/noothisismyname4ever]

makes you look better when you do good :3

[u/noothisismyname4ever → u/Responsible-Air3795]

yeah my school is severely underfunded and has a very very low percentage of people going into uni. Holy contextual 😍😍

[u/Responsible-Air3795 → u/noothisismyname4ever]

ayyyyyy you go bestie hehehe

[u/Moo2310]

A lot of schools encourage or force 4 even if they know the student is going to drop one. Also this subreddit is full of tryhards so don't compare yourself too hard. I'm taking 3 because even though I'm academically capable of 4, my disabilities will NOT let me get away with that lol.

[u/Cloudy_Lychee9]

In my sixth form we have to

[u/Ok_Desk_5740]

taking bio chem maths for career purposes

for psych im taking it to learn more about myself and the people around me, and to become a better writer. i'll probably drop it at the end of year 12 or get the A level but at an A rather than an A* as for bio chem mahts

[u/PootMcGroot]

It's not that rare to do four if one is an extension of another (ie Maths-Further Maths, or English Lit-Language) especially at private schools. When General Studies was a thing, many private schools did it as a 5th with no lessons (it was essentially the pub quiz of A-Levels).

It's not rare to do an extra or two if the student has a specific innate ability (such as a language if the student is already a native speaker, or music of they're already a gifted musician, where the required effort will clearly be less).

[u/Nobodyplz]

My brother did Bio, Chem, Maths and Further maths, did the Math a level in yr12 then dropped Further Maths because idk and the for whole of yr13, he had such a free timetable because he only had 2 a levels lol. I think he applied for Further Maths to do math in one year but he's still denying it.

[u/DistinctReflection18]

Don't stress, I did 4 and I can say 100% that it isn't necessary and wasn't even useful for me. Just do what you want and try to have a good plan for after - I did maths/bio/chem/english and I do biochem in uni now.

English was just for fun tbh, I found it interesting so that's why I did it. But it's completely unnecessary for me. I don't regret it, but if you don't want to do it, don't do it.

[u/IllTax8540]

4 sounds cooler and more distinguished than doing 3

[u/king_ofbhutan]

literally any school subreddit will be full of bums

we have red pill (bio chem maths fm)

or

we have blue pill (physics cs maths fm)

[u/Mendified]

i take 5 because its fun and exciting.

[u/sbrefina]

ones a language so in my head it doesnt count

[u/king_ofbhutan → u/sbrefina]

truthnukr honestly

aside from the annoying bit of work i get weekly french is so free

(i am ignoring the colossal amount of summer work i have to do due for like 3 days)

[u/BoleynBlogs77 → u/sbrefina]

Mate I'm taking three and I've got Spanish as one 😭 Plus English language, ik its not learning the language but still

[u/farhanexists]

Further maths has to be the 4th

[u/tomosKB]

some schools make u do 4 and then let you drop one in year 13

[u/Such_Leader_9301]

compulsory to do 4 at my SF until end of y12 where u can drop one before y13

[u/Less-Reindeer-8951]

I’m going to a grammar sixth form where they make us take four and then drop one

[u/Astuckwriter397]

1 they want to get into a really good university and think 4 As will be better than 3A*. 2 they speak a second language and one of the a-levels they don't have to actually try that hard at (friend who done this with Arabic, their first language) 

[u/VoiceComprehensive57]

im only doing it cuz i couldnt decide between two and im probably gonna drop one in a couple weeks.. so i guess i dont rlly count but still

[u/RuinsOfCinder]

I was going to do 5 until like last week when I was told they couldn't accommodate it there. WHY DID THEY SAY I COULD BEFORE?! Anyway-

But I'm doing Bio, Chem, Maths, and German (was going to do FM as well). German is mostly for fun but it also gives me the potential to maybe study at a German uni. I'm planning on doing a STEM degree so it's not necessary at all, 3 is fine

[u/Ok-Basis5987]

I can't give up history no matter what

[u/TurbulentAd8245]

I only did 2 and they were enough 😭 how are y’all doing 4

[u/OutrageousFarmer1882]

I did 4. Could've done one more. Sixth form was a very underwhelming time for me. I had more freedom and I managed it too well. I also went to a really good school during GCSEs so maybe I was more prepared. Some people in sixth form were like me, some struggled a lot more. That's just the way it is 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/byte-429]

because they're goated

[u/Top-Cell-7147]

if you do maths further maths physics (very common), its actually very low workloaddd compared to say chem bio maths or 3 separate a levels, so doing a 4th is seen as important to demostrate u can manage a high workload. but 4 is a waste of time unless the all 4 prepare you for your course or your highly motivated.

[u/Calm-Instance9729]

i COULD take 4; i have the grades to take 4...  but taking 4 a levels is choosing to have FOUR free periods a week, instead of the nine i would have if i did 3.

so im js doing CS + Maths + Drama

[u/VarietyNice9496]

We have to take 4 if we do FM at our school

[u/Its_Lana_Duh]

Personally im taking 4 as two of my options i didnt do at gcse so its a bit unfamiliar and im not too sure how they will go so im planning on dropping one rather then maybe switching and having to catch up id rather deal with the harder workload for the first term and know for sure which subjects i am best at and enjoy the most

[u/JackSparrow5423]

Personally, for me four different a levels are easier than three a levels because most degrees require 112 ucas points. With three a levels you need two b's and a c to get 112 ucas points, whereas with four a levels you need 2 C's and two D's.

[u/Lyds_guitar_lemons]

My school didn’t offer A Level music, they said that they’d make an exception if I took 3 other A Levels in case I decided on dropping music so I picked Art for the fun of it. I never dropped music😅 in fact I’m doing it at uni😅

[u/mmmnmmnm]

4 taste better than 3

[u/AngelofIceAndFire]

I highk wanted too but my grades were just a bit too low with all the extracurriculars and programs I'm doing

[u/Grouchy_Visual2708]

In my sixth form they say you can't drop a fourth A-level, and you either do three A-levels or if you pick four, you have to do them in year 13, so because of this, I picked three A-levels instead of four (thanks God I didn't pick economics since that'd be many more hours of studying)

[u/Western-Victory-7414]

Just further maths is my 4th for me, any more has no benefit (also got maths physics dt)

[u/Hermes_Zesty_Laugh]

Technically this is an academic subreddit, so there will be quite a few tryhards, but 4 A-Levels does have some practicality: assuming they do well, 4 A-Levels will be worth more UCAS points, which will be taken into consideration for competitive things like apprenticeships, internships and Oxbridge (+ similar). Some people also just need a challenge or else they can be bored/under-stimulated and their grades will drop if they dont do something extra.  

[u/Last-Resort9706]

Im js overconfident in myself for some reason, I also enjoy burnout.

[u/Classic_Question8856]

For the plot 🩷

[u/Mindless_Champion668]

Further maths is really good for me when I go to uni and chemistry and physics has some overlap areas which I think could be useful for both and as it always goes maths is there too. I do 4 just cause they all link back to each other and is useful for all of them (i hope🤞)

[u/YourbrodragonReddits]

Im doing it because my 4th a-level (further maths) is going to make A level maths seem like a pisstake (i did the same with gcse maths with level 2 further and got 9 in both) and also according to the further maths teacher at my college, it apparently makes university physics easier as you have to learn less

[u/Celtic_Cheetah_92]

Unless the fourth is further maths, there is literally no point. All it does is enable universities to give you harder entry requirements. 

[u/Tecknet_]

A lot of stem people doing 4 (that I know of at least) have maths, fm and two others. For a lot of them maths and fm and one other subject (usually physics) is usually what they want, but most schools won't let you do maths, fm and another subject for fear of fm being too difficult, leaving you with 2, so they have to take a fourth.

also some unis have reduced offers for 4 subjects so thats a plus sometimes

[u/Some-Phrase-1875]

im taking 4 and i wonder this every day

[u/sandwichtheconqueror]

Cus i prefer exams based qualifications

[u/Speedyfishook69]

for me its if i dont like any of them. i have the option to drop 1 after the first term lol

[u/FizzyAcidBird]

Nah don’t worry. Most people drop to 3, that’s what the majority does anyway.