How hard is it for BTEC students going onto university?

Depends on how much of your course is exam based?

If it is mainly exam based, it is likely you will struggle, because you have not had the additional 2 years of practicing revising for exams. In addition, you opted to take none exam based qualification instead of Chemistry and Biology A levels, which signals you are not so confident with exams.

I would say you will find it hard, but I don't think it will be impossible for you to do well at all, just need to change your mind set from coursework based qualification to exam based ones.

One thing I have picked up from an admissions tutor is that BTEC students who go on to study STEM subjects (where maths is one of the required A Levels) can struggle a bit with the maths as they often haven't taken BTEC modules that cover maths in as much breadth / depth.

So, if this applies to you, I'd suggest self teaching a bit of maths from the A Level syllabus as it will help to ease your transition.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I did a BTEC and did awesome in my both my maths modules.

I did BTEC A-levels
For me, i found the coursework easier to do and understand because i was used to it from the btec courses i did... but i did struggle with exams :/ ive just finished 2nd yr and just found out what revision technique works for me.. but i think it can depend on the individual

Posted from TSR Mobile

Depends what you want to do and what uni you want to go to naive fine a year at a BTEC and have decided A Levels came me better options and chances so I've resat a load of exams to try and get into an A Level college instead. Just because that's the better option for me doesn't meant it is for you. A lot of people on my course we're university bound and some have even got in this year and just did a BTEC as a booster for UCAS.

One thing I have picked up from an admissions tutor is that BTEC students who go on to study STEM subjects (where maths is one of the required A Levels) can struggle a bit with the maths as they often haven't taken BTEC modules that cover maths in as much breadth / depth.

So, if this applies to you, I'd suggest self teaching a bit of maths from the A Level syllabus as it will help to ease your transition.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm sure you did do well but I think what Origami Bullets was getting at was that the actual maths content of BTECs don't go as in depth as A-levels. It's more like scratching the surface of calculus etc. Having done a BTEC myself in applied science with about 4 maths units (got distinctions in every unit) I know this is true. My college do engineering courses too and seeing how easy my friends maths assignments were compared to A-levels was shocking as engineering is primarily maths-based. BTEC maths are nowhere near as intensive as A-level maths, the maths assignments were very easy and as such I ended up teaching myself A-level maths (on the advice of a teacher no less as even he knew the maths was not up to par) in order to better prepare myself for a chemical engineering degree this September.

I think, depending on if you know what sort of course you want to do at uni (if you want to go), a science or engineering BTEC should have an A-level to go with it like maths or chemistry as the chemistry isn't as in-depth either. Also, a lot of the good unis ask for this in their BTEC entry requirements for STEM courses.

In response to the OPs question, I think if you're the type of student who did a BTEC because you struggle with exams, then I think it will be a massive adjustment to uni particularly if your course is heavily exam-based. Not saying it's impossible but you will have to put the work in to adapt. Quite a few people in my course chose not to go to uni because they thought they couldn't handle exams.

Yea you have a good point there. I guess I will have to put down my head from day one then. Also, what type of maths did you teach yourself, I mean would it not be better if you waited till September to actually see what kind of maths is involved? and in what kind of depth?

I'm sure you did do well but I think what Origami Bullets was getting at was that the actual maths content of BTECs don't go as in depth as A-levels. It's more like scratching the surface of calculus etc. Having done a BTEC myself in applied science with about 4 maths units (got distinctions in every unit) I know this is true. My college do engineering courses too and seeing how easy my friends maths assignments were compared to A-levels was shocking as engineering is primarily maths-based. BTEC maths are nowhere near as intensive as A-level maths, the maths assignments were very easy and as such I ended up teaching myself A-level maths (on the advice of a teacher no less as even he knew the maths was not up to par) in order to better prepare myself for a chemical engineering degree this September.

I think, depending on if you know what sort of course you want to do at uni (if you want to go), a science or engineering BTEC should have an A-level to go with it like maths or chemistry as the chemistry isn't as in-depth either. Also, a lot of the good unis ask for this in their BTEC entry requirements for STEM courses.

In response to the OPs question, I think if you're the type of student who did a BTEC because you struggle with exams, then I think it will be a massive adjustment to uni particularly if your course is heavily exam-based. Not saying it's impossible but you will have to put the work in to adapt. Quite a few people in my course chose not to go to uni because they thought they couldn't handle exams.

So as the title suggests I am a BTEC student starting university in September. I was wondering how difficult is university for a BTEC student in terms of the work and of course exams. I am planning to study Biochemistry. If anyone has any tips and/or personal experiences they would like to share I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Thank you for you reply, I only got a bit worried because I realized how many exams there are for my course (Biochemistry) and a lot of my teachers said that it will be a challenge, especially since I haven't done exams for the past two years.

the IT BTEC units 'Maths for IT Practitioners' and 'Computer Systems Architecture' are pretty good, it covers a decent amount of what was in my first year Computer Science Maths modules

Also isnt 'Further Maths for Engineering' meant to be pretty good for those going on to study Mech or EE Engineering at uni (just what i heard, i didnt do Engineering) apparently York accept that unit instead of a full A level in Maths (which is the A level requirement) i think a lot of other good unis do too including Bath?

I think university is hard in general for people who have done a levels,btec and other qualifications.This is because university work is not suppose to be easy right..at many universities if you do have some troubles there are always places to go for help...tbh it doesn't really matter if you did btec/a levels if you have some difficulty in some areas you have to try to find help.

We are all humans we all find certain things difficult we just have find ways to make it less difficult.




Posted from TSR Mobile

Could you not do a foundation year course? I don't know much about them myself but I know for some BTEC student that's an option. I didn't do exams for over a year and just sat to and it didn't feel as strange as I thought it would be sitting in a hall doing exams... I would still consider it but obviously you need to do what you feel you are capable and comfortable with