AS levels

[watford]

Dear All

If you take 4 levels and then do an AS in one of them, how is this AS regarded by universities? Is it taken into account when making an offer by universities? or is DD better off doing 3 A levels plus EPQ in area of future study?

Very confused by what an AS would stand for now. When looking at university offers, they only state 3 A levels grades.

Thank you and hopefully someone with insight will come along very soon....

[Reading Mum]

Generally AS weren't on offer for DD so we didn't ask about them but we did ask about 3 vs 4 and the answer from all was that they were only interested in 3. They would take the best 3 relevant grades but would make no allowance if doing 4 brought the overall grades down.

[mad?]

Offers are now usually made on 3 A levels and do not include AS or EPQ. However, either may be of benefit to the candidate in terms of wider learning, gaining extra skills etc which may be of use in their degree. So, might not be a help with getting offers but might be a help with life/degree etc. IME an EPQ can provide a useful wider study and something to discuss at interview (only relevant for certain subjects/courses/unis.) DD also found it beneficial on starting Uni to understand referencing and how to structure an academic essay which she had learned through this. However, for many courses this might not be of any benefit. Starting with 4 for the genuinely undecided might help in making/deferring the final decision be careful about the timescales of this, talk to the school to see how they handle such situations and what the implications might be.

[MrsChubbs]

Agree with Mad? about talking to the school. They need to be made aware reasonably early (different schools may have different internal deadlines) of any intention not to continue as far as A level so they can enter for the AS. Would be a shame to do all the work for a year and end up with nothing.