Sorry in advance for the rambley and disjointed nature of this post. If something doesn't make sense please just say so.
I'm 19 and I'm very behind education-wise due to health issues in the past and I want to go back into education at the start of the next academic year so that I can escape from being poor and miserable (eventually). I think I will do an Access course because it will get me into uni quicker than A Levels. Problem: my GCSE grade in Maths is D (although I am confident I could achieve higher than that - Maths definitely isn't my strong point but I reckon I could get a B) which means that not all Access courses will accept me (according to their requirements that is) and universities generally want a C or higher too (I don't know if SOAS requires this? Does anyone know?).
A job adviser told me that I would be able to start a Functional Skills Level 2 course in Maths now and it would be free because I'm on Job Seeker's Allowance. I'm not sure whether to take up this offer? I believe there are colleges that would let me take GCSE Maths for free in September because I don't have the C grade but I don't know if I will end up going to one of those colleges. And I'm not sure if having an equivalent to GCSE Maths would disqualify me from getting the actual GCSE for free or with funding. I would prefer GCSE Maths to Functional Skills Maths because the GCSE Maths is better-recognized, but I also think it might be smart to take advantage of the opportunity to get a useful qualification for free while I am eligible to do so. All I'm doing at the moment with my life is applying for jobs basically, and I think it would be better to get my Maths qualification out of the way before I start my Access course in September; otherwise I'll be studying an intensive Access course and GCSE Maths at the same time plus possibly working too.
My plan is to study an Access course in Humanities, although I'm not 100% sure whether to do that, because I feel like A Levels would be better-respected by universities, but my anxiety over getting rejected by a uni cos I have an Access diploma instead of A Levels might be misplaced?? Can anyone give me an opinion on that? I really want to study Arabic at SOAS but I know that I will need to study really hard to get the grades they want (AAB!) and I think I should get a GCSE or A Level in a language to boost my application (I don't know if I will end up applying but yeah).
Advice would be realllllly appreciated thank you!
<3 <3