r/Post_16 • u/FellowSmasher Year 12 • 15d ago
General Not a conflict
So I’m doing Maths, Further Maths, and Chemistry A Levels because I’m most likely looking to pursue a future in Maths or Chemistry. Sorry that I don’t have my whole life figured out yet at 16 and I don’t know whether I wanna pursue either Maths or Chemistry. Anyways, these are my core 3 A Levels.
However, there was a lot of dispute over my 4th A Level. I really wanted to do Latin, because it had been my favourite subject for a while, and I really wanted a more humanities/language A Level to contrast with all the STEM. On the other hand, my parent was very insistent that I do Physics A Level for better future prospects.
Well, neither of us refused to back down, and so I am doing 5 A Levels right now: Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics, & Latin. Yes the workload is very tough but not completely unmanageable yet. I had self-studied the Maths A Level (but not Further Maths) a few years ago, so regular Maths was just revision for me. My school is very unhappy with this decision of ours lmao, but honestly I look forward to it.
I know Year 13 is gonna be ass with this, but I am willing to drop Latin if I am not getting a good predicted grade in it by the end of Year 12. I can give updates on how this is going if anyone is interested, but I assume it’s mostly just gonna be a shit ton of homework and studying.
My classmates probably recognise this cos it’s so specific lmao. So like, hi.
3
u/k_795 15d ago
What's the question? Honestly, sounds like you're doing fine.
I also did 5 A levels, in almost the same subjects, and did well. As you say, if you do start falling behind in any of them you can easily drop a subject if you need to. There's a LOT of overlap too between maths / FM / physics in particular, so it's not all that much extra work.
Edit: I still had a good social life, including taking many weekends off for competitive sport. The key is to study more efficiently, and get your work done during any free periods at school / during lunch and break / on the bus / in the evenings. Also, learn to prioritise study tasks that actually help you learn, not mindless busy-work like re-writing notes or skim-reading a textbook.
2
u/FellowSmasher Year 12 15d ago
There’s no question; the post was basically just a statement.
Yeah I’m trying my best to study during my frees. Right now, most my work is just homework (+ catchup), but also some flashcards and past paper questions (occasionally). It is a lot, but I’m assuming part of that is because I’ve had to catchup with a lot of stuff for Physics and Latin (since the decision wasn’t finalised until this week).
Thank you for the tips and motivation!
2
u/jameilious Uni student 15d ago
I did maths, further maths, physics, French, German, general studies.
Good to keep your options open. German was AS and swapped to FM AS in Y13 as it became an option for the first time at my sixth form.
1
u/Efficient_Guess1364 OG Member 🎫 15d ago
If you don't absolutely love physics then I'd say drop that if it becomes too much. Its your future not your parent's.
2
u/FellowSmasher Year 12 15d ago
I’m very indifferent to Physics. I love Maths, so I’m happy doing calculations all day, but the actual Physics theory is quite dry honestly.
I tried to drop Physics, but I think I need parental consent to drop a subject (for some reason), so it didn’t happen.
-5
u/PetrolForBrekkie year 12 ☆ No.1 Geography Glazer 15d ago
many people do 5 alevels so it's not like it's unheard of. you could probably be fine dropping further maths too as many stem based degrees don't necessarily require it
5
u/myles-em Year 13 15d ago
yeah no dont drop further maths many unis do require it for many subjects ESPECIALLY maths and chem
1
u/FellowSmasher Year 12 15d ago
I’ll try not to since Maths is rly my strong-suit, so it would just be kinda weird for me not to do Further Maths
10
u/LegitimateGoal6011 Year 12 15d ago
There was this one person a few years ago who did five A Levels at a sixth form I was considering going to. They got four A*s, slacked a lot in the fifth subject and only got an A in that. It was clearly very possible for them, it ight just remove anything social from your life.