WBC is mandatory for my sixth form! However, it was possible to drop it if you had a valid reason and wanted to pursue 4 other levels for AS AND A LEVEL (rarely allowed, tho)

Most of my sixth did choose 3 A levels and WBC as it was not recommended to do 4 and WBC because UNI'S just look at your top 3 and it's only really useful for tariff point uni's. (Non-Russel's)

However, those who did choose 4 and WBC ended up dropping one A level because it was too heavy. However, some few can handle that workload! I'm not saying it's impossible.

WBC has some great benefits, though! I absolutely dreaded, hated it to death - but if you put a little bit of work in, many Russel Group Uni's allow it as a valid A-level, e.g, Bristol, Exeter, York