Access course or alevel

An access course you’d have support and guidance, and as long as you utilise your time wisely, it shouldn’t be as stressful as trying to do an A-Level in such a short timeframe.

I finished my Access course in June and got my transcript last week, I’ve ended up with full 45 distinctions, but it’s the hardest I’ve academically worked in years.

I have a degree and 8 years experience as a teacher, but my course was built on a completely different pathway to where I was before starting it.

It is intense work. You’re basically redoing the same qualification level as A-Levels (Level 3), but in 9 months.

For the graded credits, I had to do 2 exams for biology (1 on biomolecules, 1 on anatomy and physiology)

3 research assignments, which for biology I did the effects of breathing and heart rate in patients with asthma vs non-asthmatic patients during light exercise. Psychology I did the D5 receptors of the brain and the effects of schizophrenic behaviour in adults, and the other research assignment I did was are diuretic medications actually helpful in combating or controlling the heart in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

I also had to do 3 other written assignments, one was on social psychology, the other two on the principles of safeguarding, and human growth and development.

Overall I’ve learned a lot and I feel more confident about starting university in general

Thankyou for your reply, is the science course equivalent to learning the ENTIRE content in alevel biology, chem and physics or do they pick and choose certain stuff?

Should I complete an access to HE course in health professionals and science and get mostly distinctions or would it be easier to self teach A-level sociology in one year and get an A*. I have no other commitments.

If you have no other commitments a single a level would not be hard to self teach however you won’t get the same support as you do by doing an access course.
I received all distinctions in my access course and can tell you for a fact I needed to do less work for the entire access course than I did for a single a level. The ALs I originally took were biology, chemistry and psychology.
On paper the access to science course is theoretically equivalent to doing the entirety of 3 a levels (big win) but the content is less than that of 1 a level never mind the fact you never really have to learn anything… there’s no singular exam testing all your knowledge it’s an assess as you go situation. Even the exams you get resubmissions if you don’t meet all the criteria on the first attempt.

Don’t get me wrong some of the assignments are long and tedious but I didn’t find any academically challenging and all were very manageable. You do need to put the work in to get a distinction and it is about that extra detail you can cleverly slide in despite the strict word counts but all are great skills to get in the habit of before uni!

If you have no other commitments a single a level would not be hard to self teach however you won’t get the same support as you do by doing an access course.
I received all distinctions in my access course and can tell you for a fact I needed to do less work for the entire access course than I did for a single a level. The ALs I originally took were biology, chemistry and psychology.
On paper the access to science course is theoretically equivalent to doing the entirety of 3 a levels (big win) but the content is less than that of 1 a level never mind the fact you never really have to learn anything… there’s no singular exam testing all your knowledge it’s an assess as you go situation. Even the exams you get resubmissions if you don’t meet all the criteria on the first attempt.

Don’t get me wrong some of the assignments are long and tedious but I didn’t find any academically challenging and all were very manageable. You do need to put the work in to get a distinction and it is about that extra detail you can cleverly slide in despite the strict word counts but all are great skills to get in the habit of before uni!

Should I complete an access to HE course in health professionals and science and get mostly distinctions or would it be easier to self teach A-level sociology in one year and get an A*. I have no other commitments.