A levels VS. F.Sc

[shahrazedbz]

Greetins. After recently taking my O levels, I have to make that choice that every pre med student who plans on getting into a good Pakistani governmental medical college has to take; decide between A levels and F.Sc. Initially, I chose A levels because of how much I wanted to stay in my original school which only further ongoes education after O levels in A levels - a very common ordeal that happens to the majority of students. However, I had to face reality, and it's obvious that F.Sc was the better option; no equivalency in F.Sc and it'll be much easier to get comparatively higher marks in F.Sc rather than A levels, boosting your final percentage that gets you addmitted in the medical colleges up a bit. So during the year just before my final O levels, I was fixated on the thought that I would immediately get addmitted into an F.Sc school/college and start with the F.Sc course, and I've already endured more than one month of F.Sc ademy prep.

However, now I've become much more apprehensive than before. Firstly, I'm flunking a lot in the F.Sc academy. Coming form O levels, I plainly and only am very good at conceptual learning, and stink at ratta. Since F.Sc is only ratta, that's a huge downfall for students like me. I mean, you literally have to learn nearly every word in the book. Another disadvantage is the unfair and risky means of checking. The examiners hardly read what the candidate has written in some subjects, only measuring the length, and evaluating the paper on regard of their handwriting, neatness(stupid columns and stuff) and other factors that really shouldn't logically be considered when checking the knowledge of a candidate.
Furthermore, there's those extra subjects like English, Urdu, Islamiat and Pak Studies in F.Sc, compared to the three simple sciences in A levels(regarding medical and engineering students), which only have to be studied conceptually to get A*s, where you don't have to learn every word in the book. There are also more disadvantages of F.Sc.

Then, if A levels seems like the easier(well, mostly for those who rate concepts above ratta) and flawless system for medical and engineering students, why not take A levels? The answer is, the equivalencly. It really is a drag only getting 90% marks out of the total if you get three A*s in A levels, but then again, that's the system.

So then the mostrous question comes back in. Should these medical students, and also without a doubt engineering students, go through the risky and punishing route of F.Sc, or just take A levels and highly reduce their chances in getting into their desired universities. What I'm really trying to emphasize is, that what if the student does F.Sc, and he does not even get, or gets less than the amount of marks that you get even if you get 3 A*s in A levels(which is something like 935 or 990 marks) - it's possible, considering how the system might play on him. Then wouldn't it have just been better if he did A levels and got 3A*s, which despite still being quite low compard to other students, is still higher than what he might have gotten had he done F.Sc? Then keeping this in mind, which would be better, F.Sc, or A levels?
What about doing both?

 

[Faizan Muhammmad]

Greetins. After recently taking my O levels, I have to make that choice that every pre med student who plans on getting into a good Pakistani governmental medical college has to take; decide between A levels and F.Sc. Initially, I chose A levels because of how much I wanted to stay in my original school which only further ongoes education after O levels in A levels - a very common ordeal that happens to the majority of students. However, I had to face reality, and it's obvious that F.Sc was the better option; no equivalency in F.Sc and it'll be much easier to get comparatively higher marks in F.Sc rather than A levels, boosting your final percentage that gets you addmitted in the medical colleges up a bit. So during the year just before my final O levels, I was fixated on the thought that I would immediately get addmitted into an F.Sc school/college and start with the F.Sc course, and I've already endured more than one month of F.Sc ademy prep.

However, now I've become much more apprehensive than before. Firstly, I'm flunking a lot in the F.Sc academy. Coming form O levels, I plainly and only am very good at conceptual learning, and stink at ratta. Since F.Sc is only ratta, that's a huge downfall for students like me. I mean, you literally have to learn nearly every word in the book. Another disadvantage is the unfair and risky means of checking. The examiners hardly read what the candidate has written in some subjects, only measuring the length, and evaluating the paper on regard of their handwriting, neatness(stupid columns and stuff) and other factors that really shouldn't logically be considered when checking the knowledge of a candidate.
Furthermore, there's those extra subjects like English, Urdu, Islamiat and Pak Studies in F.Sc, compared to the three simple sciences in A levels(regarding medical and engineering students), which only have to be studied conceptually to get A*s, where you don't have to learn every word in the book. There are also more disadvantages of F.Sc.

Then, if A levels seems like the easier(well, mostly for those who rate concepts above ratta) and flawless system for medical and engineering students, why not take A levels? The answer is, the equivalencly. It really is a drag only getting 90% marks out of the total if you get three A*s in A levels, but then again, that's the system.

So then the mostrous question comes back in. Should these medical students, and also without a doubt engineering students, go through the risky and punishing route of F.Sc, or just take A levels and highly reduce their chances in getting into their desired universities. What I'm really trying to emphasize is, that what if the student does F.Sc, and he does not even get, or gets less than the amount of marks that you get even if you get 3 A*s in A levels(which is something like 935 or 990 marks) - it's possible, considering how the system might play on him. Then wouldn't it have just been better if he did A levels and got 3A*s, which despite still being quite low compard to other students, is still higher than what he might have gotten had he done F.Sc? Then keeping this in mind, which would be better, F.Sc, or A levels?
What about doing both?

doing both doesnt seem wise
when deciding what to do people miss the most critical factor that is the entry tests, they have the highest weightage
so technically speaking when the aggregate is made there is very little disadvantage ,if any, to choose alevel
it is seen that alevel students perform much better than FSc ones as they can do the FSC part but FSc ones cant do the Alevel concepts that may come in test
you should consider doing alevel and studying FSc books thoroughly as well as the test is most important
Best of Luck

 

[Saad Kaleem]

I'd go with A Levels, as their study is much better for your practical life and will help you ALOT in your University Studies.

Ratta / Cramming seems no point to me, as you're not really availing any knowledge.. and wouldn't help you further in practical life.

Also getting 3 A*'s in A Levels, is no joke - It's basically 90% in AS + A2 combined in the subject, which is hard.

 

[shahrazedbz]

Thanks guys. But how hard is it to get three A*s in Che, Phy and Bio in A levels, because I heard that even with a lot of hard work, anything can happen because of the unpredictable questions that arise in the exam.

 

[Saad Kaleem]

Thanks guys. But how hard is it to get three A*s in Che, Phy and Bio in A levels, because I heard that even with a lot of hard work, anything can happen because of the unpredictable questions that arise in the exam.

Quite hard - Only about 2-8% (Depending on Subject) students achieve A*, You'll have to be 100% clear in your concepts and practical scenarios regarding all the topics, Moreover - I'd suggest to refer to books by other authors of the same course, rather than only being dependent on the official course book(s). You need to cover as many in-depth questions as you can from different sources eg: (Past Papers, Different Books etc).

 

[avenger]

Its a tough decision to make for olevel students but Fsc seems to be the wiser choice, and i say that based on the experiences of my friends and class mates who went through the same thing.
Getting 3A*s in alevel is no easy feat. Even if you do score straight A*s, you'll only be getting an equivalence of 90% (given that you have straight A*s in olevel as well!) This means that you'll have to do substantially better in the entry test to compete with students who get 90+% in fsc and to make it to the top colleges. KE, allam iqbal, pmc, nishtar etc have had merits above 90 in the recent years.
Now the entry test. It matters THE MOST, and is based on fsc syllabus (they cover wider areas of topic than us). Most alevel students try to prepare it from fsc books, and cover there topics just before the test, and for a lot of them, its too late. A plus point of doing fsc. The pattern of the entry test is such that it favors fsc students (has a lot of questions that demand ratta). So yes, fsc students are at an advantage in entry test as well.
Medical, by its nature, demands ratta to some extent. (the anatomy, the medicines and other similar stuff etc need to be learnt by heart, and cannot be derived by some concept of formula )
Both? Naah. Learning to make a decision is an important thing. You need to do it now. plus it would be alot of burden. Good luck

 

[shahrazedbz]

Thanks for the advice Avenger, I'll go with A levels then. I got my O levels result two days ago, and in the 8 required subjects for medical, Ulhamdullillah I got 1 A*, 6 As and 1 B. Now, the B I got was in Urdu, so do you think I should retake it this coming October?(because even if I only get an A, at least 10 more marks will be added in my equivalency marks) or do you think I should keep it as a B, because there is a possibility that I might get a B again in the retake, and I think a bit of the percentage is deducted from the equivalency if you retake.

 

[avenger]

Thanks for the advice Avenger, I'll go with A levels then. I got my O levels result two days ago, and in the 8 required subjects for medical, Ulhamdullillah I got 1 A*, 6 As and 1 B. Now, the B I got was in Urdu, so do you think I should retake it this coming October?(because even if I only get an A, at least 10 more marks will be added in my equivalency marks) or do you think I should keep it as a B, because there is a possibility that I might get a B again in the retake, and I think a bit of the percentage is deducted from the equivalency if you retake.

I was in the favor of fsc :S
Well, if you strongly feel you could/should have gotten A or A*s, then you should. Otherwise, B isntt a bad grade. I'm not sure about their policy of equivalence on retaking.

 

[shahrazedbz]

Well then, do you think I should take a few extra subjects this October. Haven't even started to study any yet, but I can still decide at the last moment and study in a month maybe?

 

[MarcoReus]

Well then, do you think I should take a few extra subjects this October. Haven't even started to study any yet, but I can still decide at the last moment and study in a month maybe?

Extra subjects don't get counted in your equivalence. It could perhaps boost your chances in the uni (more As).

 

[avenger]

Well then, do you think I should take a few extra subjects this October. Haven't even started to study any yet, but I can still decide at the last moment and study in a month maybe?

extra subjects wont help the equivalence. they wont even effect admission in a pakistani uni much. it might be useful in foreign unis though, if you plan to go there.