Studying at the Open University

By undergraduate level, I presume you are talking about working towards a full degree with the OU? If you just want to study random courses, I wouldn't recommend going straight for Level 3, as they are more designed for students who have got used to the OU style of learning through doing Level 1 and 2 previously.

If you only have GCSEs and A Levels and you satisfy the income criteria, you will get financial support, so you won't have to pay the full course cost. Depending on the course cost, you may get the entire thing paid for. When it refers to previous qualifications preventing you from getting financial support, it means you won't qualify for it if you already have an undergraduate degree or higher

Level 1 is roughly equivalent to the foundation year and first year study of an undergraduate degree at university. Level 2 is roughly equivalent to the second year of an undergraduate degree.

If you want to study for a full degree with the OU, most people use 120 points at Level 1, 120 points at Level 2 and 120 points at Level 3 to complete one. Some of the named degrees require you to take certain courses, so you can't really bypass Level 1 or 2 unless you're transferring credit from elsewhere If you're a new student, I definitely wouldn't recommend bypassing them - they really help to ease you in to independent learning.

Thanks for shedding some light and a new perspective. May I ask what you mean about wanting to study 'random' courses?

I was referring to working towards a full degree at the OU.

I was under the impression that Level 1 and 2 were equivalent to GCSE/A-Levels as many of the students who opt for OU have no formal qualifications/don't have adequate grades (of course there are many exceptions).

I have read the level 1 and 2 syllabus leading upto the PPE Y177 for example, is one of the reccomended at level one, and seems rather basic, the alternatives - expensive for someone in my financial position at present.

I am considering study at the OU and was wondering whether it was mandatory to pay £700 (per syllabus) to study the 'level one' and 'level two' etc in order to study at an undergraduate level if previous qualifications have already been attained elsewhere?

I already have 5 GCSEs A-C and by the end of this year I will [hopefully] have attained 2 A/S Levels. Would the previous allow me to bypass 'level one' or 'level two' - which I assume are equivalent to GCSE and A Level in terms of difficulty?

As already said, level 1 and 2 are not equal to GCSEs and A-Levels respectively. Level 1 modules can start off very basic and in many cases they do cover GCSE and A-Level material, but the difficulty jumps up from level 1 to 2, and apparently even more so at level 2 to 3 (I start my level 3s in February next year, so we'll see!).