[Woop88]

Hi,
How difficult is it to get 60% grade in a science access course??

ty

[JumpingJonny]

Depends on so many things:
a). How hard you work (realistically)?
b). How intelligent you are?
c). Whether the teaching style suits you?

Where are you planning on doing one, what previous qualifications have you done, what have you been doing up until now? there isnt just a simple yes or no answer to this.

[Roodie]

I think with a bit of hard work it would be entirely realistic to easily get 60%. If you want very good marks you MUST put the effort in.

I didn't do particularly well in school and surprised myself with getting an overall pass of 90% on my access course. If you are interested in the subjects and keen to learn then working hard shouldn't be a problem.

[BrinnyUnlimited]

It's incredibly easy to pass an access course. The real question is, how much of the knowledge will you retain into university? Due to the time restraints of the access course (you're basically covering GCSE, AS and A2 all in one year) most topics will be glossed over in one lesson.

Unfortunately, the sciences are the kind of subjects where you need a lot of background knowledge for university study, so unless you're willing to put a lot of home-study time in to reinforce the things taught on your access course, you'll be at a serious disadvantage to science students who have done A levels.

[Dropdeadfred2]

I have been told by at least two Science tutors at different uni's that doing a foundation year gives you a great starting block to your degree...they said often the highest grades are for those who have not got A-levels. I'm sure this is part due to the fact hat mature students are determined to do well and as the above poster said, they are wlling to do alot of studying in their own time too. We were told we would have the dept of knowledge of a-level students but not the breadth...

[Suis Je Bovvered ?]

I did an access to social science (mainly) with some other biology/chemistry units in. In all honesty, if you put in an average amount of hard work and do a bit of reading, i'd say you'll get above 60% easy. I know your probably thinking "i must get 60% to pass, it's all i need" but as time goes by on the course, you always want to try and push yourself a bit further, you'd be so surprised at how that little bit of extra effort can really bump up your % grade on a piece of work

[gloy1]

I just completed an access to health and life sciences course.

Put the work in and you should pass. I went in with no chem or biology background and completed the course without any real difficulty!!

Hope my experience helps

[ScottG]

Originally Posted by Woop88

Hi,
How difficult is it to get 60% grade in a science access course??

ty

How long is a piece of string?

[ifti999]

im doing an access to science course to get into uni to study a pharmacy degree. do you think i will get in??

[ZakBrannigan]

Originally Posted by ifti999

im doing an access to science course to get into uni to study a pharmacy degree. do you think i will get in??

You stand a good chance as anyone else ifti999 but the sheer fact you done some science might go in your favour thats my opinion anyway.

[Saget]

Originally Posted by ifti999

im doing an access to science course to get into uni to study a pharmacy degree. do you think i will get in??

Depends on the uni. My local one won't accept access courses for medicine or pharmacy.

[silent ninja]

Originally Posted by ifti999

im doing an access to science course to get into uni to study a pharmacy degree. do you think i will get in??

You should be careful to meet the requirements for Pharmacy within your access course. Some unis dont accept them, some accept based on how much science (in particular chemistry) you cover and so on. You should email them in advance. I know someone who really struggled to get in after doing access, and it was even suggested to do A2 Chemistry. If you can do A levels it would be much better-- you won't limit yourself to any universities. A level chemistry is pretty much essential everywhere and there is quite a lot there you probably won't cover in your Access; Chemistry is not for everyone so it's best to learn it at a stready pace.

[ifti999]

Originally Posted by Saget

Depends on the uni. My local one won't accept access courses for medicine or pharmacy.

which uni wont accept??

[Saget]

I'm in NI so it would be QUB. Our access tutor told us when we signed up if we wanted to do medicine or pharmacy we would have to do A-Levels instead.

[Stettin]

I'm doing an Access to science course at the moment. It's very easy and I'm not even bothering to do much. I have been lazy. But then again I did do some science at GCSE and AS before I gave up (once again my laziness was at fault).

I would have to say this. If the class doesn't make sense. ASK THE TEACHER. It's better to get things done with at the beginning then to fail the whole unit later on.

Oh and Always study at home. Get your self big books and glance over them for atleast an hour and make sure you read. The top student in my class spends about 3 hours in her day off to learn and relearn what we had in class. She's never ever done science before. I see a good future for her to be honest. Unlike mine because I'm to lazy.

[dolesome single parent]

as someone's already mentioned, access courses including science are easy to pass. i wouldn't, however recommend them. i've done both an access to humanities and science. access courses don't cover much of what you'll need to cover to be truely prepared for uni.

depending on the kind of student you are, you might want to do some research on the modules you'll be studying at uni and do some reading around them. also have a look at the new scientist website and read up on the areas that are of interest to you and what you'll be studying. it'll help if you have to go for an interview for a place at a university. and you can include it in you personal statement (if you don't know already, you'll find out when you start filling in your ucas form).

[Roodie]

I disagree with the above post - my access course covered modules such as chemistry, biology, microbiology, physics, cell biology, genetics, which definitely prepared me for uni. In the first year at university anyway you mostly go over the basics to get everyone on the same level.
Modules will obviously differ from college to college though, so make sure the ones they offer are specific enough, if this is required, to get you into uni.( eg. I had to have Chemistry at level 3).

[barton]

Originally Posted by Woop88

Hi,
How difficult is it to get 60% grade in a science access course??

ty

How difficult is it to get a black belt in karate?

[ZakBrannigan]

Originally Posted by Roodie

I disagree with the above post - my access course covered modules such as chemistry, biology, microbiology, physics, cell biology, genetics, which definitely prepared me for uni. In the first year at university anyway you mostly go over the basics to get everyone on the same level.
Modules will obviously differ from college to college though, so make sure the ones they offer are specific enough, if this is required, to get you into uni.( eg. I had to have Chemistry at level 3).

sounds like u covered the same science stuff as me Roodie as i also covered Organic-InOrganic Chemistry,Bonding,Analtytical,Genetics,MicroBiolog y,Cells etc
all these subjects help you when you want to apply for degrees in Sciences,Health Professions etc

[Roodie]

I think it was a good range of subjects on my access course. I did really well that year, considering I hadn't done science before (only did Biology GCSE and that was in 1990!), and I also did well in the first year of my degree.

Now in my second year I still love it but am finding the Health Psychology module a bit hard to get my head round when I have been so used to 'factual' science. I now wish I had done a module in psychology on my access course as I did have the opportunity but didn't bother.