11 Plus Exams Forum

how many A levels are schools advising now? I had expected just 3 with the move to new 2 year A levels and end of AS levels, but it still seems to be 4 for us.

It varies from school to school - 3 A levels plus an EPQ or 4 if Maths/F Maths is taken seems common.

DS started with four in year 12 and has now dropped down to 3 in year 13, as have most of his friends.

Four did seem a lot initially but I'm now converted to the idea as it gave him a chance to try something new and actually the subject he's dropped I would not have predicted at all at the start of yr12 as it was one of his favourites all through the lower years... You never can tell

Same here, doodles. The subject DS dropped was his favourite at GCSE.

DS (now Y13) started with 4 in Y12 but dropped one in February and didn't take the AS level. Many of his cohort did the same and it was largely the same subject they dropped too. We are pleased about this as it is one of the ones which suffered a big fall in grades with the new standalone AS levels. The logic in our case was that he felt he was going to waste a lot of time studying for it and this would have been to the detriment of the 2 non-reformed AS levels he also had to take. In his case this appears to have paid off.

At DCs school it is start with 4 (or 5 if doing FM). Exams in Jan year 12, and students can (but don't have to) drop one then - most do. Policy put in place because jump to A levels is unpredictable for some students.

Habs Girls have just announced that from September 2017, 3 linear A levels will be taken. 4 will be allowed for a 'very few' (I'm guessing FM). Opportunity to take an AS in a few subjects (MFL seemed to be implied) at the end of the 2 years, but this was played down as an expected route for all. No AS level exams in A2 subjects at end of Yr 12. Think this is in line with what St Albans High School for Girls are doing already. They seemed pretty clear that this was the route that their competitors are going down - will be interesting to see what other schools & colleges announce.

Taking four A levels was very uncommon when A levels were linear before and I think more schools will go back to three. It's a backward step imho as I like(d) the AS structure of the modular specs.
As several of you say, taking 4 does mean you can drop one that does not work out ... at present anything dropped after October census counts as a 'fail' in the official fudning stats so it wil be interesting to see how/if that changes.
Of course, it is also cheaper to just offer 3 ...

New A level policy at one of our local schools.

At .......... School, all students who enter Year 12 in September 2017 will choose 4 subjects to study in Year 12. In the Spring Term of Year 12, they will select one of these subjects in which to sit AS Level exams in the summer of 2017, and will then continue the other three subjects to full A Level in Year 13. AS Levels are an externally-validated qualification in their own right, meaning that students’ work in Year 12 is rewarded with a qualification even in the subject that they intend to drop before moving into Year 13.

Alongside their chosen AS Level examinations, students will also sit end-of-year internal examinations in their other subjects in the summer term of Year 12. These will act as an interim assessment of a student’s progress in the first year of their A Levels, and will be used to guide their university application process at the start of Year 13.

So AS level exam in one subject only.

Also does this policy means students will be allowed to do 3 A2 level subjects only?

It reads to me that your school is allowing 3 A Levels and 1 AS (with the AS to be sat at the end of Lower Sixth and then to carry on with just the 3 full A Levels during Upper Sixth).
At St Albans High for Girls the standard is now 3 ALevels plus either an AS or an EBQ or an additional A Level. All exams are taken at the same time at the end of Upper Sixth (so the AS is taught for the full 2 years and not examined after just a year as at your school - from reading your text!). My DD is taking 4 ALevels but they have a lot of overlap (History, English, Economics, Government & Politics). I am also lucky enough to have a diligent and highly ambitious type of offspring!
I don't think you really need to have more than 3 subjects.. The only advantage I can see in doing 4 is that university offers are likely to stipulate 3 grades and if you fluff up one of them you still have the 3 others to fall back on.
Also in my reasoning if you have two candidates of equally good standing then the candidate with the additional subject is probably more likely to get an offer.