Is it necessary to take GCSE's before A Levels?

Okay, I will! I have a year and a half more education here before I would go, though! And wow! (I can do pythagoras as a side note )

If you have equivilent qualifications to gcses then you should be fine although unis often have gcse requirements and you might have to inform them that your quals are equivilent if they're going to reject you because you havent met the gcse requirements.

There are no strict 'entry requirements' for A levels like there are for unis. For example, my college has let people onto languages courses without the GCSE even though it's *technically* required, because they had already reached the required standard. I assume the Australian system is fairly close to the British one (it's not like Australian society is totally different to ours!), and you'll have no language difficulties, so as long as you're at a similar level it should be fine. You might be asked to sit a test, provide a reference or show some of your previous work or something but I wouldn't expect anything more than bureacratic hurdles.

As for uni, don't worry - there are many international applicants (as I assume you have Australian qualifications, as well as the English A-levels you'll get) and so the system is well set up for international qualifications. That will definitely not be a problem.

Yeah in the first lesson of AS maths we were given a test to give the teacher an idea of what we remembered from GCSE maths and this girl totally freaked out.. It was quite funny actually. Yeah it's pretty easy lol. Most of the further education (A-levels, BTECs etc) colleges over here will accept you to do A-levels providing you attend evening classes and do your maths and english GCSEs. Normally that's for people who failed them the first time round due to things like family problems or illnesses. I know people who have been allowed to do certain BTECs like public services etc. after failing their GCSEs due to low intelligence. Colleges aren't REALLY that strict.

Okay, thanks for your help! Hopefully the unis would understand that I have equivalent schooling.

I'd honestly do the IB because the Aus system has prepared you better for that.

You'd think so but I've heard of people on here who've met the entry requirements but were rejected because they didn't meet the gcse requirements. BECAUSE the uni didn't realise that what they'd got was equivilent to gcses, which is ok. So if that does happen and the only reason they give is the lack of gcses, just give them a ring and explain and it should be ok. But they'd probably know about Australian qualifications so hopefully it won't come to that.

good luck.

I'm not entirely sure Australian grades can be converted into GCSE's, doubt they can.
Nearly all 6th forms here in the UK require gcses to study A levels.
I think you may have to study iGCSE's but don't worry as you may have studied a lot of the content already.

My headmistress said she might be able to collate my grades throughout the past two years and get a percentage? Hmm...:/

it doesnt matter if they can/cant be converted. All they need to know is if he is capable of studying the AS content.



I don't think it really matters if you haven't go GCSEs. I doubt that the system in Auz is a polar opposite of the one in the UK, so you should have then knowledge required.

What I reccommend is that you go on to the AQA or CCEA website and find the past papers for biology, chemistry and maths. Don't worry about psychology as nobody will have done a gcse in that. If you do a few past papers and get bad results, don't worry. Just go on to BBC bitesize gcse and revise all summer. Make sure you revise the higher tier papers though as the content required in that will be needed for a-level study.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GCSE-Maths-Revision-Guide-Higher/dp/1841465364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333786008&sr=8-1

Also, these books are a great help. So if you find that you don't know the gcse content, get the exam paper textbooks and the revision guides for biology/chem/maths like the one above. In fact if you do that you'll be better off than the rest of your class who will have forgotten most of the gcse content come september anyway.

I think that I am going to do the IB instead, as I had originally thought. However I do think that I should still check out some of the GCSE content, because anyway I get in I will still not have covered /exactly/ the same content. Thankyou so much for the advice, I will look into that

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. IB is the better choice, I did A-levels but can't reccommend IB enough. But yeah, most IB students I know all did GCSEs as well. So best to still check out the gcse subjects you plan on doing your highers in.

Why the devil is there an apostrophe in 'GCSE's'? What are you indicating with it?

There is no need for one.

GCSEs is correct.

I did my A-Levels and GCSEs at the same time. I had no prior equivalent qualifications. However, this was a good 17 years ago.