Best A-Levels for Studying Medicine

If you wish to become a doctor, then you will need to study medicine at university. Medicine is a highly rewarding career and one that is well-compensated, which is why there are always more applicants to medical school than there are places to attend.

Medical degrees are longer than conventional undergraduate degrees, taking five years to complete instead of three. You will undertake two years of pre-training, and the first two years of medical school are comprised of a mixture of classroom and lab time. Students take classes in basic sciences, such as anatomy and biochemistry and at this stage, the format of a medicine degree is similar to that of a conventional degree. In your third year, you will begin your clinical training in a teaching hospital, and it is at this point that you will begin interacting with patients. Studying for a medical degree is hard work and the hours are long, but for the right students it is a vocation: the culmination of a lifelong passion to help and heal people.

Because it is so prestigious and highly regarded, medical degrees are also incredibly competitive. You will need to take the right A-levels and secure top grades to secure a coveted medical school spot. But what A-levels are the right A-levels? What other knowledge and skills will you need if you wish to study medicine? And is it possible to secure a place at medical school if you take just three A-levels? Here’s everything you need to know about the best A-levels for studying medicine:

Why Study Medicine?

The main reason to study medicine is that you wish to work as a qualified doctor or other medical professional. Unlike other degree courses, where your degree can be utilised in a myriad of different ways and lead to a host of different career paths, it would be a waste of time and money to study medicine if you don’t wish to become a doctor. Medicine is a respected profession and as a doctor, your role will be to help people and alleviate their pain: doctors get immense satisfaction from helping others. For this reason, medicine is considered a vocation, and one that you should not pursue unless you are committed to it.

Another benefit of studying medicine is that you can study almost anywhere in the UK. There are 41 medical schools and one postgraduate medical school around the UK approved by the Medical Schools Council. This gives prospective students plenty of choice to decide whether they would prefer to live in a busy city or a more rural location, and once you have completed your initial residency it is also possible to move from one location to another too, giving you plenty of choice and options. Once you are qualified, you will find that doctors are needed in every inhabited part of the UK, so you really will be spoilt for choice of where you live and work. And if you get itchy feet and wish to live overseas then a medical degree is a great degree to have too: Earning a medical degree in the UK will allow you to practise medicine in most countries around the world, without needing to retrain.

Another great reason to study medicine is that the profession is so diverse: there is no single type of doctor. In fact, there are over 60 specialities within the medical field, and if you reach a point where you no longer want a hands-on role liaising with patients then there are opportunities to get involved with teaching, research and management within the medical profession too. And provided people continue to become ill or have accidents, there will always be a job in the profession available for you: The latest labour force statistics from 2020 found that the unemployment rate for medical practitioners was 0.75% which is lower than almost any other field in the UK. Meaning job security is a huge perk of choosing to study medicine.

Finally, although you should only study medicine if you wish to become a doctor, a medical degree is highly prestigious and sought after, and will give you a huge host of transferable skills you can utilise if you do decide to sidestep into an alternative profession.

The Type of Knowledge Needed for a Medicine Degree

If you wish to study medicine, then a well-established and demonstrable knowledge base within the sciences is essential. You will need to have studied science subjects at both GCSE and A-level and have grades that indicate a strong understanding of the main theories and practices within these subjects. A medical degree will present a balance between theoretical and practical learning, and studying science subjects at A-level will help to prepare you for this approach.

It is also important that you have good communication skills. If you are not able to communicate with ease with individuals from all walks of life and work well as part of a varied team then medicine might not be the right path for you, because communication is one of the key skills that all medical professionals must possess. You’ll be dealing with colleagues, mentors, patients and their families on a daily basis, and you need to be able to communicate clearly and appropriately with each of these groups. Don’t worry if you don’t have perfect communication skills right now: your work placements and interactions throughout your course will help you to develop these skills. But if you don’t enjoy working with others, find communication difficult, or prefer quiet environments then these are all indicators that medicine may not be the right path for you.

If you wish to study medicine at university then as well as choosing the right A-levels and securing exemplary grades, you will also need to pass an admissions test. Different universities will use different admissions tests and have different criteria. The three main medical admissions tests that you may have to sit are the Biomedical Admissions Test (Bmat), the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (Gamsat) and University Clinical Aptitude Test (Ucat, formerly known as the Ukcat or UK Clinical Aptitude Test). The majority of medical schools use an admissions test as part of their entry requirements, and the aim of the test is to assess if you have the reasoning skills and aptitude you will need to become a medical professional: if you are applying to more than one medical school then you may need to sit a combination of these tests, or you may even need to sit all three. Your problem-solving, critical thinking, scientific knowledge and ability to apply scientific methodology in practice will all be assessed.

Essential A-Levels for Studying Medicine

There are 39 medical schools in the UK, and of those 39 medical schools, a whopping 38 have specific subject requirements for their prospective applicants. Some will require that students study biology at A-level, some will require that students study chemistry at A-level, and some will require that they study both, for example. Of all the degree courses available in the UK, none are as prescriptive about the subjects you must study as medicine. Broken down, the subject requirements for medical school in the UK are as follows: 13 schools ask that applicants study both biology and chemistry at A-level, 11 schools ask that applicants study chemistry at A-level, 2 schools ask that applicants study biology at A-level and 12 schools ask that applicants study either biology or chemistry at A-level.

Even if the school you are thinking of applying to does not stipulate that you will need both biology and chemistry A-levels, you are strongly encouraged to study both subjects. This will enable you to keep your options open and give you a wider range of medical schools to which you can apply. Following this advice means that 2 of your 3 A-levels have already been chosen for you on your behalf. But what subject should you choose for your third A-level?

When selecting your third A-level, you should choose a subject that is considered to be academically challenging. The vast majority of prospective medical students will choose either physics or maths as their third subject, and these are the two subjects that are most favoured by medical schools. Both of these subjects will complement biology and chemistry and will demonstrate your academic abilities and your commitment to studying medicine.

In short, if you plan on taking just three A-levels and are focused on studying medicine then you should choose to study biology, chemistry and either maths or physics.

Other A-Levels for Studying Medicine

Students normally pick 4 A-levels when they start college/sixth form and typically drop one of these in their final year. If you have the capacity and the aptitude, then you might wish to consider taking a fourth A-level. This is a great way to make your application stand out from the crowd in a competitive sector, and will demonstrate your academic abilities to university admissions officers, but there is a caveat to this: you should only take more than three A-levels if you will still be able to maintain your performance. You shouldn’t take an extra A-level if you will have to sacrifice the quality of your grades to do so. If you do choose to drop one of your four subjects then you should ensure that it isn’t an essential subject: If you are studying biology, chemistry, maths and history at AS-level, for example, and need to drop a subject then you should drop history and maintain the core subjects that will be most attractive to medical schools.

But what fourth subject should you consider taking? An obvious choice would be to take biology, chemistry, maths and physics. These are the ‘core four’ subjects most commonly chosen by prospective medical students. But if you need to step away from the science subjects or want to diversify your range then you could also consider taking either history or English. Both highly regarded and academic ‘essay subjects’, English and history will help you to hone your written and verbal communication skills, which is essential if you wish to study medicine. Adding an extra string to your bow may also help your application stand out from the crowd.

If you’re hoping to study medicine at university then not all A-levels are created equal. Most medical schools will not take the following subjects into account when assessing your three core A-levels: general studies, critical thinking, citizenship studies, communication and culture, further mathematics if you are already studying a maths A-level, global perspectives and research, use of maths and world development. The key is to focus on science subjects and maths for a minimum of three of your A-levels, and if you choose to take a fourth A-level then this should also be in a traditionally academic subject. Any subjects that step outside the realm of academics will not add value to your application.

Getting the Right A-Levels for Medicine

Medical school is incredibly competitive, and only the most academically gifted pupils need apply: That‘s because as well as studying the right subjects at A-level, you will also need to get the right grades. The average offer for students looking to study law is AAA, although many medical courses will require that you achieve higher grades than this and just three medical schools offering potential students minimum grade requirements lower than this.

To demonstrate just how competitive medical schools are, statistics have shown that the average success rate for students applying to Oxford medical school is just 9%. That means that just 9% of applicants who applied to the school were offered a place, regardless of their grades, meaning that not all students who applied with 4 or more A*s gained a place. So even if you have taken an extra A-level and achieved the highest possible grade in all four of these A-levels, you are still not guaranteed to secure a place at medical school. For this reason, the most important thing to focus on is ensuring you get high grades (A minimum) in at least three subjects, and do not take a fourth A-level if you feel this might compromise your grades. You should also consider signing up for some extracurricular activities and gaining some medical-based work experience, to help enhance your application. If every applicant to each medical school is predicted to achieve a minimum of at least three A grades at A-level then what will make your application stand out from the crowd? How will you distinguish yourself and set yourself up for success? This is just as important as choosing the right A-levels and gaining top grades.