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Can I join an institution to do A levels at 18?

This year I tried to self study A levels and sat my exams in Physics, Maths and Further Maths. I was over-ambitious and thought I would save time by doing A levels in just several months. Results day is approaching and I know that I have not done well. I would like to join a formal institution and resit some of the units next year. I am 18 now and have following questions.

1) Can I be enrolled in full time education in a formal institution?
2) What are my chances of getting in?
3) What about the cost? ( I am already 18) How much will I have to pay for tuition and exams?

Thanks in advance.
(edited 7 years ago)
Funding for Level 3 is from 16-19 so you've still got one year left for free.

You need to approach individual colleges and ask them about joining the second year of their A-level courses instead of starting from scratch as you already have prior knowledge of the subjects in question.
Original post by tangotangopapa2
This year I tried to self study A levels and sat my exams in Physics, Maths and Further Maths. I was over-ambitious and thought I would save time by doing A levels in just several months. Results day is approaching and I know that I have not done well. I would like to join a formal institution and resit some of the units next year. I am 18 now and have following questions.

1) Can I be enrolled in full time education in a formal institution?
2) What are my chances of getting in?
3) What about the cost? ( I am already 18) How much will I have to pay for tuition and exams?

Thanks in advance.


1) I was exactly 18 when I enrolled in my FE college, so I suppose you can do the same.
3) if you are officially enrolled, you don't have to pay anything to your school. Although schools make students pay for retakes, and due to new A level syllabuses they became stricter on retakes, it might be hard for you to find an institution.
2) Given that your'e "old", it's probably better for you to go to an FE college, unfortunately, it's not that easy to get into a good school if you're not going right after GCSEs, especially that you would have to do retakes. FE colleges are more lenient in these issues, because they struggle to find students for A levels. Also be prepared that you may not get great tuition at school... I think if you had given enough time for yourself, your exams would've gone better, it really doesn't depend on your teachers if you're Oxbridge material. (I'll probably get A*A* in maths and further maths but I wouldn't have made it without months and months of preparation, and in my maths lessons, well, I was pretending to be Batman and stuff like that.....)
However saying that, probably every school is doing now the new syllabus, but I guess you don't want to spend 2 more years with A levels. Try to enroll for A2 in an FE college for the exam board you're taking, and ask them to register you for a retake. I can help you comparing the syllabuses and stuff (I have plenty of time :biggrin:) because acing an A level exam is not really about being excellent at your subject, rather than knowing the syllabus and mark schemes by heart.
Original post by lawlieto
1) I was exactly 18 when I enrolled in my FE college, so I suppose you can do the same.
3) if you are officially enrolled, you don't have to pay anything to your school. Although schools make students pay for retakes, and due to new A level syllabuses they became stricter on retakes, it might be hard for you to find an institution.
2) Given that your'e "old", it's probably better for you to go to an FE college, unfortunately, it's not that easy to get into a good school if you're not going right after GCSEs, especially that you would have to do retakes. FE colleges are more lenient in these issues, because they struggle to find students for A levels. Also be prepared that you may not get great tuition at school... I think if you had given enough time for yourself, your exams would've gone better, it really doesn't depend on your teachers if you're Oxbridge material. (I'll probably get A*A* in maths and further maths but I wouldn't have made it without months and months of preparation, and in my maths lessons, well, I was pretending to be Batman and stuff like that.....)
However saying that, probably every school is doing now the new syllabus, but I guess you don't want to spend 2 more years with A levels. Try to enroll for A2 in an FE college for the exam board you're taking, and ask them to register you for a retake. I can help you comparing the syllabuses and stuff (I have plenty of time :biggrin:) because acing an A level exam is not really about being excellent at your subject, rather than knowing the syllabus and mark schemes by heart.


Thank you so much for your help. Really appreciate it.
Schools and colleges are closed at the moment. I will try to contact as many of them I can as soon as I can. I feel like I am getting A* in Physics and A*/A in Maths. I might just need to do Further Maths. Not sure if you can do Maths from one board (one syllabus) and Further Maths from other.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by tangotangopapa2
Thank you so much for your help. Really appreciate it.
Schools and colleges are closed at the moment. I will try to contact as many of them I can as soon as I can. I feel like I am getting A* in Physics and A*/A in Maths. I might just need to do Further Maths. Not sure if you can do Maths from one board (one syllabus) and Further Maths from other.


Yes, you can do maths and further maths with different exam boards, but I would advise against it. If you do all your 12 maths modules with the same exam board, the modules can be moved around so that your grade is maximised. This moving around is not possible if you take your modules with different boards. Edexcel is quite popular among schools/FE colleges. Which exam board did you do?
Original post by lawlieto
Yes, you can do maths and further maths with different exam boards, but I would advise against it. If you do all your 12 maths modules with the same exam board, the modules can be moved around so that your grade is maximised. This moving around is not possible if you take your modules with different boards. Edexcel is quite popular among schools/FE colleges. Which exam board did you do?


I did OCR this year.
It might sound really crazy but I have some stupid questions in my mind. I am sorry to pester you.

1) Can more than 6 modules be taken for an subject so that best 6 can be chosen later during cash-in?

2) Is it OK to do Mathematics from 2 different boards? I did OCR this year and if my college just offers (say) Edexcel, then could I do all A levels next year in order to get rid of resit (It would be completed in one go with Edexcel, wouldn't it?).






Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by tangotangopapa2
I did OCR this year.
It might sound really crazy but I have some stupid questions in my mind. I am sorry to pester you.


Posted from TSR Mobile


They will cash in your modules so that:
1) they prioritise your maths grade first. (You won't get BB in maths + further maths if you can get A in maths and a C in further maths.)
2) they move around your applied modules as to maximise your maths + further maths grades. (they try to give AA after all :smile: ) However this is not possible if you do different exam boards (you can still get an A level maths with OCR AS and edexcel A2 though, but your chances for applied modules being moved about are worse than with OCR only or edexcel only). Also, there are combinations not available, like S1M2 or M1S2.

It is OK to do maths from 2 different boards but not advisable due to the reasons mentioned above. You could do all A levels to get rid of resit, however, you would have to include everything in UCAS and I think this would be unnecessary effort. (Also, you'd have loads of exams)

From what I've seen based on your posts you don't need tuition from some sixth form college teacher. If you give yourself enough time, you can do this on your own. Teachers will accommodate themselves to weaker students in college, and will only keep you up. You can do more than 6 modules as well and the best 6 will be taken into account, however, I think it's better to do 6 and concentrate on them properly.

However, if you don't do physics next year and you'll only do maths + further maths, it might be worth doing Edexcel AS+A2 in one go. It is easy to get A*s with edexcel, even in further maths

Feel free to ask anything else :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by lawlieto
They will cash in your modules so that:
1) they prioritise your maths grade first. (You won't get BB in maths + further maths if you can get A in maths and a C in further maths.)
2) they move around your applied modules as to maximise your maths + further maths grades. (they try to give AA after all :smile: ) However this is not possible if you do different exam boards (you can still get an A level maths with OCR AS and edexcel A2 though, but your chances for applied modules being moved about are worse than with OCR only or edexcel only). Also, there are combinations not available, like S1M2 or M1S2.

It is OK to do maths from 2 different boards but not advisable due to the reasons mentioned above. You could do all A levels to get rid of resit, however, you would have to include everything in UCAS and I think this would be unnecessary effort. (Also, you'd have loads of exams)

From what I've seen based on your posts you don't need tuition from some sixth form college teacher. If you give yourself enough time, you can do this on your own. Teachers will accommodate themselves to weaker students in college, and will only keep you up. You can do more than 6 modules as well and the best 6 will be taken into account, however, I think it's better to do 6 and concentrate on them properly.

However, if you don't do physics next year and you'll only do maths + further maths, it might be worth doing Edexcel AS+A2 in one go. It is easy to get A*s with edexcel, even in further maths

Feel free to ask anything else :smile:


Many many thanks. You are awesome.

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Original post by tangotangopapa2
Many many thanks. You are awesome.

Posted from TSR Mobile


You'd be amazed by the amount of maths students who don't know how maths A levels work. My friend was crying for 2 days because she messed up M1 last year and she thought her worst modules will go to FM even if her grade could be maximised by moving around applied modules. She wouldn't believe me that's not the case, even though I showed her the official documents how maths is assessed...

It may be the case that you don't even have to do a full A level further maths and that you'll only have to retake certain modules :smile: When you get your unit grades we'll see. Another thing you could do, to do modules you haven't done before, maybe D1 or S1, those are easy compared to M3 or M4. Try to concentrate on getting your grades in this case, A level is NOT going to give you a true understanding of maths, whatever you do, so it's best to find the safest way to an A/A*.
Original post by lawlieto
You'd be amazed by the amount of maths students who don't know how maths A levels work. My friend was crying for 2 days because she messed up M1 last year and she thought her worst modules will go to FM even if her grade could be maximised by moving around applied modules. She wouldn't believe me that's not the case, even though I showed her the official documents how maths is assessed...

It may be the case that you don't even have to do a full A level further maths and that you'll only have to retake certain modules :smile: When you get your unit grades we'll see. Another thing you could do, to do modules you haven't done before, maybe D1 or S1, those are easy compared to M3 or M4. Try to concentrate on getting your grades in this case, A level is NOT going to give you a true understanding of maths, whatever you do, so it's best to find the safest way to an A/A*.


Thanks. Yes, you're right. I definitely have to wait till the results. All my core modules went good I believe. It was Ms that I completely messed up with.
Tbh, apart from getting tutored there are two other reasons I wish to go to formal education.

1) I don't have anyone to write a reference for me. (I am completely self-taught)
2) I would also like to compete in British Physics Olympiad or UKMT maths challenge followed by British Mathematics Olympiad and you need to be enrolled into education in order to participate.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Hey man, sorry to hear your exams didn't go well. It seems you've had a productive discussion. I agree with James and Lawlie. I wish you the best of luck for the future.

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