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Studying A-Levels on my own..?

I was predicted A*AA and got that at AS but because of health reasons got CCD in my final exams. I am wanting to resit, but after reading reviews of online courses they seem mediocre at best and downright scams at worst... Does anyone think it would be possible to study A-Levels from home without enrolling in a course ? I am thinking about redoing biology and eng lit so I will be familiar with the content of those already, but want to do a completely new subject for the third one. Advice..?
Original post by iss05
I was predicted A*AA and got that at AS but because of health reasons got CCD in my final exams. I am wanting to resit, but after reading reviews of online courses they seem mediocre at best and downright scams at worst... Does anyone think it would be possible to study A-Levels from home without enrolling in a course ? I am thinking about redoing biology and eng lit so I will be familiar with the content of those already, but want to do a completely new subject for the third one. Advice..?

You can absolutely do this. Loads of people do so every year. Just make sure that all the necessary resources are available to you - especially if you're doing a completely new A level. This could be text books, past papers, web sites, you tube videos, etc.

You'll need to register with an exam centre (normally a school or college) to actually sit the exams. You can find a list here.

Also check the "private candidates" page on your exam board's web site for lots of other useful information, including how to register with the exam board directly.
Reply 2
It is definitely possible, but it depends on your learning style. For a new course you would have to educate yourself through textbooks, online resources, videos etc and it would depend if you find it easy to learn this way, also without any guidance from a teacher. You would have to test yourself with past papers to track your progress and also to familiarise yourself with the exams. Looking at mark schemes and exemplar responses can help you learn exam technique.

It can also be a bit pricey as you have to pay for textbooks and the exam fees (per exam). It would be helpful to contact an exam centre in advance to see if they are willing to accept you and if they can take your chosen subjects and exam boards. Some exam centres listed on exam boards websites sometimes reject private candidates even though they're listed as a private exam centre. It also depends if your subject has coursework, as usually this is marked by a teacher. Some subjects have an alternative to coursework paper.
Reply 3
Original post by DataVenia
You can absolutely do this. Loads of people do so every year. Just make sure that all the necessary resources are available to you - especially if you're doing a completely new A level. This could be text books, past papers, web sites, you tube videos, etc.

You'll need to register with an exam centre (normally a school or college) to actually sit the exams. You can find a list here.

Also check the "private candidates" page on your exam board's web site for lots of other useful information, including how to register with the exam board directly.

Thank you so much ! That list is very helpful :smile:

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