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Does studying a BTEC and not A Level make you dumb?

After posting a thread about exams being a test of memory (not to be discussed here, but you will see it a few threads below) one member of TSR stated that anyone who decides the BTEC qualification is a good route for them to take is 'in no shape or form as intelligent as A level students'.

Personally I think this is a ridiculous comment.

I wanted to know if anyone agreed?

(Apologies if this is in the wrong forum)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

xoxAngel_Kxox

If you're on TSR it makes you dumb. The rest of the world tends to be much more accepting.

But on a serious note, if you know of what uni you might like to apply to, have a look at their admissions policy and see if they accept BTEC. Most do, so I wouldn't worry.

No one agrees.

Since engineering is one of the most employable and respected degrees around, and the majority of my engineering friends did a BTEC and are doing very well, I would deem that false. :P

Reply 4

Edenwood

Not necessarily. In my experience the people who talk BTECs down the most are the people who are doing crap A levels like media studies and thus are attempting to shift the focus from their poor choices onto other people. BTECs can be as useful as A levels if you are aware of a specific field you wish to go into.

E: Upon reflection this post was probably a tad harsh and I imagine at the time of me writing it I was in a particularly self-righteous mood or something

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

Helloworld_95

depends on the BTEC, IT or Engineering are very respected, most other BTEC's aren't.

Reply 6

RP-MRU.

Not necessarily. Especially when you consider that it isn't particularly difficult to study A-levels (not much more difficult than studying BTEC).. so, no it doesn't make you 'dumb'.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

pizzle223

I'm studying a BTEC National Diploma in Manufacturing Engineering.

I'll be starting uni in Sept at Plymouth and couldn't be happier about it.

Civil and Coastal Engineering with a Maths and Physics foundation year (not because I have to but because I wanted a better knowledge of Math and Physics to achieve the best result possible in my degree).

The person who made the statement I quoted also decided that either not taking an A Level/taking a BTEC was the biggest mistake in my life.

Personally I can't quite understand where this person was coming from. The only way any of what they said could be justified in my eyes would be if they took a BTEC course and it didn't take them to where they wanted to go in life.

More to the point I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't the crazy one..

Reply 8

spearo73

Im in my second year at Plymouth studying Civil and Coastal and did a foundation year too!. My advice would be if you are ok with maths and physics don't do the foundation year if you don't need to. Generally people get bored around their third year and start slacking, sadly when the work load increases, (Civil engineerings workload is generally double that of most degrees as it is!) imagine being 4th year, or 5th year if you are doing a Meng....Also be prepared for hard work.... Its around 4 times the hours of most courses. But apart from that its great and you learn so much! Will see you soon mate!

There is a reason why top unis don't want btecs.

Why neg me?
It is a known fact that BTECs are for those that aren't as capable. BTECs may have a massive workload bla bla, but A levels are much more difficult and require actual understanding.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

Anna150

Of course it doesn't make you dumb. Not going to college at all doesn't make you dumb (Maybe slightly less educated but i don't think that is something to measure intelligence by anyway)

I dropped out of sixthform to do a BTEC because i wanted to do a technical degree and A-Level ICT was terrible. I did a BTEC in software development which was 18 modules including Buisiness Information Systems, Expert Sytems and AI, Games Programming, Computational Maths, Website Development, etc. I learned several programming languages and it was a huge help for my degree. For the first year i found a lot of the work was repeating what i'd already done.

Obviously it depends on the subject and what you want to go on to do but i'm really glad i did it. Some universities do look down on BTEC qualifications though so if you have you have your heart set on a particular uni you should check their entry requirements first.

Reply 12

M161

was about to post this exact thing ^

*except I didn't drop out of A levels.

I would really love to see how some of these "more intelligent" A level students manage on a technical course like this.

I could only wish for 2 exams per subject, every single piece of work for 2 years counts to my final grade - and when aiming for full marks, thats harder than you would think.

Reply 13

username853479

No, it doesn't.
A Level is pretty much remembering things from books and teachers..

Reply 14

neon

No. It makes you clever.

Reply 15

tombrown16

I haven't really been moved to post on TSR before, but the sheer level of elitism and snobbery regarding A-Levels has shocked me. I'm just completing my BTEC Level 3 in Software Development with a D*,D*,D* (420 UCAS points) and have just received an offer from the University of Birmingham which received over 700 applications for about 80 places on the CompSci course, no lean feat.

To be honest, for a motivated and conscientious person BTEC's ARE a little easier than the equivalent A-Level grade, but so what? I'm on a course that I enjoy and will get me into a very good university. After having a bad time at school and doing no revision or work, I came out of school with 'Average' GCSE's (3A's 3B's 3C's a few D's). I vehemently hated my school and the kind of people who went there so I decided to apply for my BTEC. The course definitely wasn't as intensive, only 3 days a week, but that extra time allowed me to focus on the things I enjoy, and most importantly the teachers were knowledgeable, approachable and gave the students some level of respect.

I'm 17, I run four of my own blogs about Technology, Photography, Software and Movies, I've created two iPhone apps and several large software projects in C++ and VB.Net (One of my projects on Youtube with thousands of hits and hundreds of comments). But according to a few TSR'rs I am unintelligent and lazy... hmm. I guess the best advice I could give you would be to do what you think is best for you. Doing a BTEC does not make you a stupid and lazy, many BTEC students could give A-Level students a run for their money.

Reply 16

Aspiringlawstudent

Original post by tombrown16

Oh, the irony.

Perhaps you were too stupid and lazy to check for mistakes?

Reply 17

Pankeu

Original post by Edenwood

Wait, how does insulting media students make your argument against people who think BTEC's are 'dumb' any more valid than if you didn't insult them?

It contradicts your argument and maybe you should think about what you write before you write it.

Reply 18

snowpatrolchlo

No... it doesn't. I'm in my first year of a BTEC in Business and am set to get all merits and distinctions this year.I struggle with exams, and a course-work course is better suited to me as I find it easy to find the words ,put them on paper, and expand on it instead of sitting in my room for 12 hours attempting to revise.It does not make me stupid, me or anyone else ,for that matter.

Reply 19

SophiePearman

I study three a levels and a btec.
I take performing arts (acting) and there's a lot of effort required. I wouldn't say it challenging. But it is howeve quite simple and i do regret taking it, as I'd of preferred to of done A level drama. Sadly didn't have the option
I also study media and i'm sick of hearing people criticising it. Saying its easy and that its easier than a btec. Have you actually taken media studies? Its actually rather challenging and you do need to know and understand a lot.So please could you not try and put media studies down as I'm sick of hearing it.