Is it possible to teach myself a subject?

angelbaby91

I don't think it is but just wondered cos there's a few i would've like to have taken but couldn't :mad:

Reply 1

ßlαcksωαn

Yes it is, I have. You have to have good self discipline though.

Reply 2

TheUnbeliever

Yes. I know someone who's doing virtually every language course the SQA offer at Advanced Higher (or, at least, it seems that way) this year and I know for a fact that, at the very least, he has only 40 minutes contact time in Italian (because, basically, it's not a subject the school - or any reasonably close - offer).

That said, I'd imagine it's easier in a subject which is primarily skill- rather than knowledge-based, such as a language. Your school is also unlikely to encourage it!

Reply 3

RobbieNewton

I'm pretty much teaching myself Advanced Higher Drama, with 50 minutes contact time at school (OK, i get more but I'm in with the Higher Class), and it does require a lot of discipline, but when you look at the knowledge requirements and are able to talk in length about them, then the satisfaction is good

Reply 4

AJL92

In my opinion it's definitely possible to teach yourself a language from scratch at higher level. At the moment I'm studying Higher Spanish as a crash with only 1hr contact time a week

If you've got the ability and can put the work in go for it!

Reply 5

Student2806

It depends what it is. The Open University is a prime example of self-teaching - the OU send you all sorts of information about the subject and topics, but ultimately there's no direct teaching from another person.

Reply 6

about_my_bow

This guy at my school (who is far too clever) not only took either 5 or 6 A levels he also taught himself psychology and passed with an A

Reply 7

addie

I pretty much taught myself Psychology A-Level and got a A. The lecturers at my college were rubbish and I virually had no notes or anything off them. All I had was the resource booklet they gave.
But you seem to be talking about taking a subject that your not enrolled on which I imagine would be a lot more difficult.

Reply 8

Absurd

Yes, it's entirely possible, but you have to be quite disciplined.

Reply 9

tazarooni89

A friend of mine taught himself Biology AS and got 300/300 :O

Reply 10

dr_edge

i find it very difficult to learn by some of my teachers methods - 2 classes depend on handouts, 2 classes are dictated with virtually no handouts - and the other is largely own research/discussion... so i have to go to school for the dictated classes (philosophy and english lit) and discussion classes (theatre studies and drama) ... but as for RE and History I usually skip it and just read my text book for history and bible/supplementary scholars notes for RE... i did that last year and got full marks :biggrin:

Reply 11

Simpsonsmania

Im doing AS Law self study. It certainly can be done.

Reply 12

FTC199

my friend asked about teaching herself an int 2 (during third and fourth year) but the school said they wouldn't put her in for the exam unless she had a parent who was a teacher teaching her the subject.

they also say for higher that you must have someone teaching you (i wanted to do higher french as a 6th in my spare time but the school wouldn't let me, my parents aren't teachers and at the time telford only did higher french during school hours and not in the evenings, yet another girl in my year's mum taught her higher french at home because she was a french teacher at my school)

i did waited to do it in 6th year, and it became such a skive - i did literally no revision for it at all and still got an A

Reply 13

Calumcalum

Yeah you can do maths and further maths. You can do Chemistry and Biology too if you get a little bit of help with coursework or even if someone just actually tells you what to do. RS you could do aswell, and Critical Thinking. Teachers are overrated.

Reply 14

FTC199

any chance a mod could change the title so it includes the words "scottish qualifications"?

Reply 15

RobbieNewton

I was going to teach myself Italian this year, since I have a Pimsleur Learn Italian (Basic-Expert) pack, so I wo uld be rather fluent in the language, and it would add a Qualification to something I got for leisure, but I decided my work load was quite heavy with 2 Advanced Highers, a Higher and an Int2

Reply 16

thisisyesterday

I taight myself basically all of my a-level material. Because I was never there. Plus history I did from home anyway, and the course material was crap so I didn't use it, just did it from books. Get the right books to study from and yeah, you can.

Reply 17

Meteorshower

I'm teaching myself AH Music with no contact time (although to be honest there's little to teach XD) and maths practically the same because I can't be bothered going at the same pace as everyone else. I want to finish the course early so I can move on to other things.

So yeah it's entirely possible if you have discipline.