A level choices

[loobylou]

Yes I'm really glad dd will only be expected to do 3. If there was pressure to do 4 I think she would bow to it.

[Guest55]

DG - I really do think you should stop sharing other people's successes - it's not your information and personally I think it's in poor taste.

I taught for many years and could replicate over and over again the successes of my students but I don't. I could outbid those in your post but won't; it's unprofessional.

When A levels were linear before people did three and it was only the modular A levels, with an AS that counted towards the final grade, that made 4 the norm. I think some school have forgotten this history and are slow to go back to how it was to adapt to the new scenario. The changeover to linear A levels is now complete and so schools need to re-evaluate their offer.

[Hera]

The decision about the merits for 3 and 4 A-Levels is interesting. I had a chat with DS last night as I was concerned about how he was coping. His feedback was that a couple of kids who had taken 4 where the 4th was not Further Maths had already decided to drop one and another he knew was considering it. He felt that for him doing Maths, Further Maths and Physics there would be a lot of crossover and he also said that he didn't think that he has been told that universities don't view Further Maths as a 4th. Is that true?

[Guest55]

What do you mean Hera? Further Maths is a full A level and regarded as 'separate' from Maths except for a very few courses in a couple of universities.
It is helpful for many courses and actually required by some.

[piggys]

Well, dd does 4 and all students at her school have started with 4. if it goes well it goes well and if she needs to drop one, she will. There is a lot of scaremongering on this thread and I agree with G55 that boasting about the successes at your own dd's school is a bit crass. I could come back at you citing loads of HBS university successes but I won't because I can't be bothered and I don't feel the need to.

[stroudydad]

DS1 is doing 4, sciences & maths he didn’t fancy any of the other routes the school gave them like 3 +epq, so stuck with the straight 4 alevels. He is finding chemistry the hardest.

[piggys]

Dd is doing History, English Literature (of course!), French and Latin.

[piggys]

DS1 is doing 4, sciences & maths he didn’t fancy any of the other routes the school gave them like 3 +epq, so stuck with the straight 4 alevels. He is finding chemistry the hardest.

A lovely boy I tutored for GCSE has just switched from chemistry to English literature A level......you know it makes sense.....

[Tinkers]

DS1 is doing 4, sciences & maths he didn’t fancy any of the other routes the school gave them like 3 +epq, so stuck with the straight 4 alevels. He is finding chemistry the hardest.

A lovely boy I tutored for GCSE has just switched from chemistry to English literature A level......you know it makes sense.....

DD doing both chemistry and Eng Lit.

I’ve mentioned that in general people think either Chemistry or maths are among the hardest A levels (she is doing maths too). She personally doesn’t, but then she wouldn’t be doing them if she thought they were really hard.

I’m gently asking about which one of the four she is going to drop at the end of year 12. I did think she was going to drop e Eng Lit (sorry Piggys) but after getting her first marked essay back today she might be thinking again. Sociology is the fourth one, but she doesn’t want to drop that one either because all the ‘interesting stuff is in year 13’.

[KS10]

Your daughter is my dream child, piggys. French, History and English Lit. would have been my ideal combination had my school not timetabled French and History at the same time (and forced me to do Economics ), and Latin wasn’t on offer.