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Help! Should I do an Access Course or finish A2?

I got my AS grades back yesterday and they were pitiful. DDU. I didn't work hard enough during the past year and strongly regret it. However, my tutor still enrolled me onto the A2 year, telling me that I can easily get into university with two A2 C grades and one B at AS (She said to take up another AS course for the final year instead of trying to retake the subject I got a U in).

I NEED to go to Uni next year and have an interview for an access course next week. Should I take up that offer as access courses are less reliant on exams? The thought of going into my A2 exams with a grades DDU at AS makes me sick.

Also, will two C's at A2 and a B in AS get me into university to study history for example?

Thanks
Reply 1
Avatar for Jaymie452
Jaymie452
My access course specified that they wouldn't take people straight out of education and they would only take people who were 21+ and had been out of education for at least the previous academic year. Dunno if that's the case with other colleges or not.
Reply 2
Avatar for jeremiah22
jeremiah22
Original post by baphomat
I got my AS grades back yesterday and they were pitiful. DDU. I didn't work hard enough during the past year and strongly regret it. However, my tutor still enrolled me onto the A2 year, telling me that I can easily get into university with two A2 C grades and one B at AS (She said to take up another AS course for the final year instead of trying to retake the subject I got a U in).

I NEED to go to Uni next year and have an interview for an access course next week. Should I take up that offer as access courses are less reliant on exams? The thought of going into my A2 exams with a grades DDU at AS makes me sick.

Also, will two C's at A2 and a B in AS get me into university to study history for example?

Thanks


I was in the same situation as you, in August 2009. The thing to remember is that you still have plenty of time! Try to isolate exactly why you didn't do as well as you'd have liked to. Was it the subject choices? Workload? Not working hard enough?
Reply 3
Avatar for Philemon
Philemon
I would definitely do the A2 if I was you.
Access is mainly for people who have been out of education for a number of years and therefor have 'additional experience'.

Thats the selling point of Access; people who have had a work/life experience ect and then a year getting reintroduced to education.
Not people who didnt want to do A2 and though Access would be an easier alternative.
Unis will certainly question why you just didnt finish your A-levels and then youll need a good answer.

History is really competative, but if you do get 2 Cs at A2 and a B at AS you can still make it. It'll give you 210 points and some unis give offers from 200 points and up, so make sure to work really hard next year and youll get there. Places like Trinity St David, Wolverhampton and UEL give offers from around 200, but most unis will want more than 260 points if youre not doing three full A-levels, so talk to your teachers and work out what works best for you.

Im sure you can still do good in your A2, find out why it didnt work out so well this year and try and rectify it. Best of luck!

Original post by baphomat
I got my AS grades back yesterday and they were pitiful. DDU. I didn't work hard enough during the past year and strongly regret it. However, my tutor still enrolled me onto the A2 year, telling me that I can easily get into university with two A2 C grades and one B at AS (She said to take up another AS course for the final year instead of trying to retake the subject I got a U in).

I NEED to go to Uni next year and have an interview for an access course next week. Should I take up that offer as access courses are less reliant on exams? The thought of going into my A2 exams with a grades DDU at AS makes me sick.

Also, will two C's at A2 and a B in AS get me into university to study history for example?

Thanks
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 4
Avatar for BigV
BigV
9
Original post by Philemon
I would definitely do the A2 if I was you.
Access is mainly for people who have been out of education for a number of years and therefor have 'additional experience'.

Thats the selling point of Access; people who have had a work/life experience ect and then a year getting reintroduced to education.
Not people who didnt want to do A2 and though Access would be an easier alternative.
Unis will certainly question why you just didnt finish your A-levels and then youll need a good answer.


^This. Using Access as a back door entry at 18/19 is abusing the system slightly I think. Access courses are generally for older students coming back into education after a break or younger students who have good reasons for not having done A-levels previously (family problems, illness, immigrants, etc), they are not supposed to be for those who just "didn't work hard enough" at A-level.

I also suspect universities may question why you didn't complete A-levels or resit..... although each admissions tutor will have his own opinion on whether that is a good or bad thing.

Why do you 'NEED' to go to Uni next year, would an additional year resitting or doing a BTEC really matter?

I'm not saying it is impossible to go down this route in your situation because it certainly is not...... just be aware that Access is not always viewed as equal to 3 A-levels and when combined with your age you may be at a disadvantage (because you may be compared to other 18/19 y.o students with more traditional qualifications).

Only other thing worth mentioning is that Access courses have a lot of study skills and GCSE maths/English content - this is really designed for those who haven't done much study for a while and if you are coming off the back of secondary school + A-levels you will find this part of the course incredibly boring. Also the workload is massive, you WILL have to work HARD just because of the volume of work to get through in the 9months or so the course runs.

good luck, I hope the interview goes well. :smile:
Most universities will require 3 full A-Levels, but if you were to progress to your A2s and only got CCb, then you could apply to a university with a foundation year, such as this: http://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/integrated-degree-history/

But if you don't NEED to go to university next year, then I agree that a BTEC would be your best option. For almost all access courses you need to be at least 19 and most want you to have taken a break from education.

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