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Need help with the UCAS points Tariff new to UCAS.

Hi I posted a few weeks ago regarding the fact that I was having trouble identifying my courses previously taken on the UCAS Tariff Tables. I am posting today because I hope if I list my qualifications and grades in full someone will be able to tell me how many points I have and two explain how they got to that number and what my courses are listed as in the tables. Thanks in advance I am really hoping someone can or will help me. No idea what order they are supposed to be in date or course type or whatever.

Edexcel Level 3 BTEC National Award for IT Practitioners with Grade PASS
OCR Level 2 National Certificate in ICT Merit
Level 2 Key Skills in Communication
AQA GCSE’s History C, Science C, Business Studies D, Geography D, Mathematics D, English Literature C, English D, Religious Studies, AQA Key Skills Information and Communications Technology Level 1 (don’t know if I should say school didn’t offer ICT as a GCSE)
Well that’s it I think for the main certificates anything else is just notification of results I believe lastly don’t know if it counts for anything but I have an HMCS Certificate of completion and a Drive Survive Certificate.

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Reply 1
Original post by Sylar2010
Hi I posted a few weeks ago regarding the fact that I was having trouble identifying my courses previously taken on the UCAS Tariff Tables. I am posting today because I hope if I list my qualifications and grades in full someone will be able to tell me how many points I have and two explain how they got to that number and what my courses are listed as in the tables. Thanks in advance I am really hoping someone can or will help me. No idea what order they are supposed to be in date or course type or whatever.

Edexcel Level 3 BTEC National Award for IT Practitioners with Grade PASS
OCR Level 2 National Certificate in ICT Merit
Level 2 Key Skills in Communication
AQA GCSE’s History C, Science C, Business Studies D, Geography D, Mathematics D, English Literature C, English D, Religious Studies, AQA Key Skills Information and Communications Technology Level 1 (don’t know if I should say school didn’t offer ICT as a GCSE)
Well that’s it I think for the main certificates anything else is just notification of results I believe lastly don’t know if it counts for anything but I have an HMCS Certificate of completion and a Drive Survive Certificate.


Only Level 3 qualifications count for UCAS points, so any points you have come from the Level 3 BTEC in IT. However I'm not sure how many points a Pass will get you.
Reply 2
Yeah, all of your GCSEs don't count. Sorry.

Have you tried that web page where it has all the different tables that you can read of? Look Here.
Just look for the ones that are relevant. Your exam certificates will help with the exact names. :smile:
I hope this is a belated April fools, you guys are telling me every qualification I’ve ever done before lv3 counts for nothing oh my gosh. Second I have looked at that exact link before and still can’t see what my course comes understand my btec national lv3 that is.
Sorry to bump this but I’m now beside myself can someone confirm the above please and if possible source I really don’t wish to believe this.
From what I can see, you have 40 UCAS points from your BTEC, and 10 points from your Key Skills, but those 10 points don't count cos you did it as a standalone course not part of a baccalaureate. Plus 80 points from your National Certificate.

So in total, 120.
Reply 6
And gcse's don't count for much and if you failed ie below a C I don't THINK that you egt anything for them . . .
Reply 7
Original post by Sylar2010
I hope this is a belated April fools, you guys are telling me every qualification I’ve ever done before lv3 counts for nothing oh my gosh. Second I have looked at that exact link before and still can’t see what my course comes understand my btec national lv3 that is.


They do count as qualifications, just not for ucas points!
Eg I have 10 gcses and then some A levels. Unis look at my gcses to see how strong a candidate I am, but if I applied to any unis who gave out points (as opposed to grade) offers then I would need to get the A level grades to get those points.
Reply 8
Original post by Sylar2010


Ok. This is the link to the tariff table. http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/tarifftables/

Edexcel Level 3 BTEC National Award for IT Practitioners with Grade PASS
Click the link above and scroll down to 'BTEC Nationals (NQF)'. Then if you look in the 'Award' column and go down to 'P' (for pass), you can see that you have 40 UCAS points from this qualification. This is because your BTEC Award is equivalent to 1 A-Level. The BTEC Certificate L3 is equivalent to 2 A levels, and the BTEC Diploma is equivalent to 3 A levels (in case you are going to do any of them.) You usually need 3 A levels or equivalent to get into university (ie a BTEC Diploma). Some unis will take you with 2 A levels and 2 ASs - which would be equivalent to one BTEC L3 Certificate and 2 ASs, OR 1 BTEC Certificate and 1 BTEC Award L3. HOWEVER, the BTEC Certificate and Award would probably have to be in different subjects as part of the certificate would just be relearning the Award material. Otherwise it's like getting an AS in ICT, then doing the full A level and trying to claim points for both, which you can't: the AS is subsumed into the A level.

Your 'pass' grade is equivalent to an E grade at A level. It is also equivalent to a C grade at AS level. AS level = half an A level.

So if you are looking on uni websites, they usually express grades in terms of A level, so if they want 'E in ICTs A level' then your BTEC Award would probably be equivalent to that. Obviously you would need to check they accepted it as yours is for IT Practitioners which suggests more 'this is how you fix/implement this' than theory so you'd need to check that's ok with the uni.


OCR Level 2 National Certificate in ICT Merit
this is a GCSE equivalent, so you don't get points for it.

Level 2 Key Skills in Communication
From 2011, You don't get points for this unless you are studying it as part of "a wider composite qualification, such as 14-19 diplomas or welsh bacc". As someone else said it would only have been 10 points anyway.

AQA GCSE’s History C, Science C, Business Studies D, Geography D, Mathematics D, English Literature C, English D, Religious Studies, AQA Key Skills Information and Communications Technology Level 1 (don’t know if I should say school didn’t offer ICT as a GCSE)

You didn't do ICT gcse at school but that doesn't matter because your L2 national certificate is the same level as a gcse. If you did your L2 certificate at school then it just means the school thought it'd be better/easier for you to do a BTEC rather than a GCSE in ICT. Level 1 key skills = GCSE grade D-G level.


Well that’s it I think for the main certificates anything else is just notification of results I believe lastly don’t know if it counts for anything but I have an HMCS Certificate of completion and a Drive Survive Certificate.
They're not relevant for uni entry, except maybe as evidence that you have hobbies on your personal statement.

So to sum up - you have 40 UCAS points. You have 3 GCSEs at grades A-C NOT including English LANGUAGE or Maths(unis often ask for 2, 3 or 5, sometimes including English Language and/or Maths. However you may be able to use your English Lit grade C to meet their English requirements but you'd obviously have to ask them.

I don't think there are any unis who would let you in for a course except art/fashion where you need a portfolio. Because you need AT LEAST 2 A levels or equivalent to go to uni, and 3 in almost all circumstances. You only have 1 A level equivalent at grade E. If you want to do further study, then the best thing to do (given your fairly grade on your BTEC award) is to work out whether you could cope with further study, and then do a BTEC national diploma. This would be equivalent to 3 A levels. If you do a BTEC diploma in ICT then unis will probably not count your award as it's the same subject, but since you only have 40 points from it anyway that doesn't matter. Getting DDD-MMM in your diploma would stand you in good stead to apply to a range of universities (obviously the higher your grades, the more choice you have. Consider doing an AS level alongside it as well because almost all A levels students take 3 A levels PLUS 1 AS level. However, if you could only manage a Pass when you were doing 1/3rd of the work of a btec diploma then perhaps ICT or further study in general doesn't suit you?
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by Becca-Sarah
From what I can see, you have 40 UCAS points from your BTEC, and 10 points from your Key Skills, but those 10 points don't count cos you did it as a standalone course not part of a baccalaureate. Plus 80 points from your National Certificate.

So in total, 120.

The national certificate is L2 not L3 so doesn't count - it's the gcse equivalent one not the A level equivalent one.http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/factsheet/ocr (says L3 nationals).
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 10
Original post by angelmxxx
They're not relevant for uni entry, except maybe as evidence that you have hobbies on your personal statement.

So to sum up - you have 40 UCAS points. You have 3 GCSEs at grades A-C NOT including English LANGUAGEor Maths(unis often ask for 2, 3 or 5, sometimes including English Language and/or Maths. However you may be able to use your English Lit grade C to meet their English requirements but you'd obviously have to ask them.

I don't think there are any unis who would let you in for a course except art/fashion where you need a portfolio. Because you need AT LEAST 2 A levels or equivalent to go to uni, and 3 in almost all circumstances. You only have 1 A level equivalent at grade E.


Unfortunately angel is right.
Original post by angelmxxx
The national certificate is L2 not L3 so doesn't count - it's the gcse equivalent one not the A level equivalent one.http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/factsheet/ocr (says L3 nationals).


Ah, sorry, didn't delve any further than the main tables!
So all I have UCAS wise is 40 points in the end? Man that’s bad my college qualifications haven’t qualified me to do any particular employment and I’m stuck for over 3 years work with only 40 points for uni this is crushing I don’t suppose I could go back to sixth form being over 18? To what 3 Hours Ago 10:35 angelmxxx said (since I’m not sure how to quote on this particular forum) as for doing a BTEC national diploma as suggested I would but I had really bad experiences with college I’m not blaming the teaching but you do have to understand it wasn’t put to me that at the end of my third year that it was just 1/3 of a diploma as I understood it a pass at level 3 was like a distinction at level 1 and merit at level 2, all the tutors did was put the whole class down and mislead us with rubbish. Only issue with doing more college is id want to go to another college and all the local ones are run by the same organisation and it would cost me loads of money so by the time I got to uni I would be in loads more debt. As for this “However, if you could only manage a Pass when you were doing 1/3rd of the work of a btec diploma then perhaps ICT or further study in general doesn't suit you?” see what I just said, but also I don’t see what other choice I have than further study go on the dole serve up fries as for ICT I’m not sure anymore all the tutors did was demean us all and rip the enjoyment out of a subject I loved. If anyone has read this to the end thanks least someone cares maybe I am just a council house tramp but I am a council house tramp who cannot bear the thought of never going to uni I want to better myself though education and I feel now like college has been a waste of time. As for all these equivalent grades how is anybody supposed to know this stuff college didn’t speak of UCAS or Uni or progression hardly, my family wouldn’t know and I found the UCAS tariff tables hard to get my head round.
Original post by Sylar2010
So all I have UCAS wise is 40 points in the end? Man that’s bad my college qualifications haven’t qualified me to do any particular employment and I’m stuck for over 3 years work with only 40 points for uni this is crushing I don’t suppose I could go back to sixth form being over 18? To what 3 Hours Ago 10:35 angelmxxx said (since I’m not sure how to quote on this particular forum) as for doing a BTEC national diploma as suggested I would but I had really bad experiences with college I’m not blaming the teaching but you do have to understand it wasn’t put to me that at the end of my third year that it was just 1/3 of a diploma as I understood it a pass at level 3 was like a distinction at level 1 and merit at level 2, all the tutors did was put the whole class down and mislead us with rubbish. Only issue with doing more college is id want to go to another college and all the local ones are run by the same organisation and it would cost me loads of money so by the time I got to uni I would be in loads more debt. As for this “However, if you could only manage a Pass when you were doing 1/3rd of the work of a btec diploma then perhaps ICT or further study in general doesn't suit you?” see what I just said, but also I don’t see what other choice I have than further study go on the dole serve up fries as for ICT I’m not sure anymore all the tutors did was demean us all and rip the enjoyment out of a subject I loved. If anyone has read this to the end thanks least someone cares maybe I am just a council house tramp but I am a council house tramp who cannot bear the thought of never going to uni I want to better myself though education and I feel now like college has been a waste of time. As for all these equivalent grades how is anybody supposed to know this stuff college didn’t speak of UCAS or Uni or progression hardly, my family wouldn’t know and I found the UCAS tariff tables hard to get my head round.


Hi,

Yes you only have 40 ucas points. You only did 1/4 of the qualifications most 6th form students do though, so did you have a part or full time job at the same time? You must've only had 5 or 6 hours of lessons a week! You can go to 6th form for free if you're under 19 on the 1st of september I think. If you're over 19 how about an access course?

I'm really sorry that your tutors misled you, I've been working with school students this year and whilst their school is good and hasn't misled them, I've seen that so many schools and teachers will just to get the money for having those pupils enrolled at their school or college. But perhaps the college looked at your gcse grades and thought you would fail a BTEC certificate or diploma, so just wanted to help you get a qualification? Although I don't understand why any college would let you enrol for such a small qualification on its own! Did you do your level 2 qualifications at the college in the same year?

Because it sounds like you went to them with below 5 A*-C gcses, so then they accepted you as a 'L2 retake' student (redoing L2 but doing different qualifications). You now have level 2 qualifications which are valuable for employment: qualifications aren't all about getting into university! Without getting the L2 qualifications you almost definitely wouldn't have been allowed on any L3 course; it's all about building up to the next stage.

You didn't get good enough grades on your first attempt at L2 qualifications (your gcses) so you needed to get more L2 qualifications before you went on to Level 3. So they wouldn't have spoken to you about UCAS/etc because you weren't at that stage yet (but I agree, they should definitely have explained exactly what courses you were doing, at which level and where you could go from there.) What you have is basically the same as someone who sits an AS level in their gcse year as an extra. They would then go on to do 3 full A levels like normal, but just have an extra AS level which is always helpful if a university's decision about them is borderline. But it's just an add-on, not their primary qualification at all.

What is important is L2 qualifications (ie GCSE grades A*-C and their equivalents). You now have 3 GCSEs at grade C (English Lit, History and single Science. You also have the equivalent of another 4 GCSEs at grade A*-C because your L2 OCR National Certificate in ICT is 'worth' another 4 GCSEs (the website doesn't say what GCSE grade they are equivalent to but maybe a grade B at a guess?).

A lot of universities wouldn't accept your OCR National Certificate as counting towards their '5 GCSEs at grades A*-C' requirements but I can now definitely see what your college has done.

They have taken you on as a L2 resit student and have increased your L2 GCSEs from 3 to the equivalent of 7, plus the equivalent of an AS grade C. :smile: So you now have a fair number of L2 qualifications. The only problem is your lack of English Language and Maths GCSEs, maths in particular. Your L2 key skills in communication qualification is meant to be an equivalent to GCSE English Language but not very many employers would accept that, and I doubt any universities would. You haven't got a L2 Key Skills in Maths so redoing your maths GCSE is definitely a good idea.


You definitely don't need a degree to go into work though. What did you study in your ICT course? Perhaps you could get a job - or even better, an apprenticeship - in an IT repair shop or as an IT technician in a school or workplace? How do you feel about your gcses - do you think you did the best you could? Because normally schools/colleges recommend you have 5 A* - Cs as a bare minimum if you want to do a full set of L3 qualifications (eg 3 A levels). If you feel you could have achieved better grades, then I think redoing your maths and English language gcses, and getting a few more so you have a good set of grade C+ gcses, is definitely the way to go.

You could do them in a year and that would help you work out which subjects you're interested in. However if you don't like studying, then an apprenticeship is probably the best way forwards. :smile:

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Types-of-Apprenticeships/Information-and-Communication-Technology.aspx

If you don't have much work experience, try getting some voluntary work to increase your skills and experience. Talk to your local adult learning centre, you can search online to find the details for one near you. They should have evening courses in GCSEs and Level 3 qualifications, and you could also talk to a connexions advisor or go on the connexions website. They can also help you thnk about what sort of work would suit you. There's absolutely no point going to university for the sake of it, especially as there are many courses now which have been shown to only increase your salary by £25,000ish over your whole life! (So about £500 a year - definitely not worth it when you will have spent more than £25,000 at university.)
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Sylar2010

Original post by Sylar2010
x


I'm not sure how old you are, but you should consider going back to college for the year if you want to go to university in 2012. You might be able to get funding for a course as you don't have an equivalent qualification and would be studying full time. During this year, it might be a good idea to resit your GCSE Maths and English (the college should have provisions for this) because not having Cs at GCSE will cause you problems for applying for a whole host of jobs.

I know this sounds like you'd be wasting a year, but you're not going to get into university any other way. Foundation years (an extra year to the actual degree for people who don't have the right qualifications) generally require at least 80 UCAS points in addition to 5 GCSEs at A-C grades, so you don't meet the entry requirements there either. If you did another year at college doing an Access course you could apply to university in September to start in 2012. Universities would take into consideration your previous UCAS points and achievements too. You could then start a 3 year degree in 2012.

As for all these equivalent grades how is anybody supposed to know this stuff college didn’t speak of UCAS or Uni or progression hardly, my family wouldn’t know and I found the UCAS tariff tables hard to get my head round.


I agree. It is really hard for people to find out the right information if you're at a school/college which doesn't know/care either. This is why I love TSR as we do have the information :smile:
Original post by angelmxxx
Hi,

Yes you only have 40 ucas points. You only did 1/4 of the qualifications most 6th form students do though, so did you have a part or full time job at the same time? You must've only had 5 or 6 hours of lessons a week! You can go to 6th form for free if you're under 19 on the 1st of september I think. If you're over 19 how about an access course?

I'm really sorry that your tutors misled you, I've been working with school students this year and whilst their school is good and hasn't misled them, I've seen that so many schools and teachers will just to get the money for having those pupils enrolled at their school or college. But perhaps the college looked at your gcse grades and thought you would fail a BTEC certificate or diploma, so just wanted to help you get a qualification? Although I don't understand why any college would let you enrol for such a small qualification on its own! Did you do your level 2 qualifications at the college in the same year?

Because it sounds like you went to them with below 5 A*-C gcses, so then they accepted you as a 'L2 retake' student (redoing L2 but doing different qualifications). You now have level 2 qualifications which are valuable for employment: qualifications aren't all about getting into university! Without getting the L2 qualifications you almost definitely wouldn't have been allowed on any L3 course; it's all about building up to the next stage.

You didn't get good enough grades on your first attempt at L2 qualifications (your gcses) so you needed to get more L2 qualifications before you went on to Level 3. So they wouldn't have spoken to you about UCAS/etc because you weren't at that stage yet (but I agree, they should definitely have explained exactly what courses you were doing, at which level and where you could go from there.) What you have is basically the same as someone who sits an AS level in their gcse year as an extra. They would then go on to do 3 full A levels like normal, but just have an extra AS level which is always helpful if a university's decision about them is borderline. But it's just an add-on, not their primary qualification at all.

What is important is L2 qualifications (ie GCSE grades A*-C and their equivalents). You now have 3 GCSEs at grade C (English Lit, History and single Science. You also have the equivalent of another 4 GCSEs at grade A*-C because your L2 OCR National Certificate in ICT is 'worth' another 4 GCSEs (the website doesn't say what GCSE grade they are equivalent to but maybe a grade B at a guess?).

A lot of universities wouldn't accept your OCR National Certificate as counting towards their '5 GCSEs at grades A*-C' requirements but I can now definitely see what your college has done.

They have taken you on as a L2 resit student and have increased your L2 GCSEs from 3 to the equivalent of 7, plus the equivalent of an AS grade C. :smile: So you now have a fair number of L2 qualifications. The only problem is your lack of English Language and Maths GCSEs, maths in particular. Your L2 key skills in communication qualification is meant to be an equivalent to GCSE English Language but not very many employers would accept that, and I doubt any universities would. You haven't got a L2 Key Skills in Maths so redoing your maths GCSE is definitely a good idea.


You definitely don't need a degree to go into work though. What did you study in your ICT course? Perhaps you could get a job - or even better, an apprenticeship - in an IT repair shop or as an IT technician in a school or workplace? How do you feel about your gcses - do you think you did the best you could? Because normally schools/colleges recommend you have 5 A* - Cs as a bare minimum if you want to do a full set of L3 qualifications (eg 3 A levels). If you feel you could have achieved better grades, then I think redoing your maths and English language gcses, and getting a few more so you have a good set of grade C+ gcses, is definitely the way to go.

You could do them in a year and that would help you work out which subjects you're interested in. However if you don't like studying, then an apprenticeship is probably the best way forwards. :smile:

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Types-of-Apprenticeships/Information-and-Communication-Technology.aspx

If you don't have much work experience, try getting some voluntary work to increase your skills and experience. Talk to your local adult learning centre, you can search online to find the details for one near you. They should have evening courses in GCSEs and Level 3 qualifications, and you could also talk to a connexions advisor or go on the connexions website. They can also help you thnk about what sort of work would suit you. There's absolutely no point going to university for the sake of it, especially as there are many courses now which have been shown to only increase your salary by £25,000ish over your whole life! (So about £500 a year - definitely not worth it when you will have spent more than £25,000 at university.)



Original post by oxymoronic
I'm not sure how old you are, but you should consider going back to college for the year if you want to go to university in 2012. You might be able to get funding for a course as you don't have an equivalent qualification and would be studying full time. During this year, it might be a good idea to resit your GCSE Maths and English (the college should have provisions for this) because not having Cs at GCSE will cause you problems for applying for a whole host of jobs.

I know this sounds like you'd be wasting a year, but you're not going to get into university any other way. Foundation years (an extra year to the actual degree for people who don't have the right qualifications) generally require at least 80 UCAS points in addition to 5 GCSEs at A-C grades, so you don't meet the entry requirements there either. If you did another year at college doing an Access course you could apply to university in September to start in 2012. Universities would take into consideration your previous UCAS points and achievements too. You could then start a 3 year degree in 2012.



I agree. It is really hard for people to find out the right information if you're at a school/college which doesn't know/care either. This is why I love TSR as we do have the information :smile:


Hi Angel thanks for you detailed responses to my questions. I cannot or at least do not want to believe I only did ¼ of the qualifications most 6th formers do. I was made to feel my full time college course was totally equal to A levels, no I didn’t do anything else while at college because it was a full time course and the tutors kept changing times we had to be there and stuff and making us all leave early because they had medical appointments and stuff. Nope I am 20 in July. No idea what an access course are ill be looking them up. “I've seen that so many schools and teachers will just to get the money for having those pupils enrolled at their school or college” I am one of them I felt pressured into picking a college or sixth form place when I got back from my aforementioned medical leave, and got like 20 mins in school with a women from that connexions service who didn’t give a dam and basically told me how great the college was, what in hindsight I should have realised was that the fact the course she applied me for was at the campus 20 miles away and not the one 5mins away was only just the start of my troubles. Yes that right I went all the way to the course interview at the 20 mile away campus believing it was just for an interview, then felt pressured while my parents were made to wait outside to sign up to it at that campus. As for the Level 2 qualification not sure but the level 2 cert is dated July 2008 and level 3 may 2010 but looking at my papers here they gave us they unit by unit with weeks’ worth of gaps before they handed us stuff so all I know is I didn’t stop college until last year from when I started. As for
You definitely don't need a degree to go into work though. What did you study in your ICT course? Perhaps you could get a job - or even better, an apprenticeship - in an IT repair shop or as an IT technician in a school or workplace? How do you feel about your gcses - do you think you did the best you could? Because normally schools/colleges recommend you have 5 A* - Cs as a bare minimum if you want to do a full set of L3 qualifications (eg 3 A levels). If you feel you could have achieved better grades, then I think redoing your maths and English language gcses, and getting a few more so you have a good set of grade C+ gcses, is definitely the way to go. You could do them in a year and that would help you work out which subjects you're interested in. However if you don't like studying, then an apprenticeship is probably the best way forwards.”

Because of my disillusionment with college I’m not even sure I want to go into ICT anymore and further more I always assumed I would to university and become an academic in whatever field I choose. I do love studying I lived for school that’s the point. I was stuck in a class for Mathematics for example whereby I couldn’t lean anything because the class was so disruptive and the highest grade I could get was a grade D, all because I moved schools and they stuck me in there to prove myself well I didn’t get the opportunity since I was so disrupted. The bottom line is I want to be a university educated person, I don’t know many respected intellectuals or people who make a real difference in the world without going. I’m not on this planet for the money.
To Oxymoronic (love the name) I’m 19 20 in July as for not having Cs at GCSE I recall my school being so laid back they were basically making out to most people right do you want Sixth Form or college? 2012 start sounds good if I took an access course but it’s the extra debt of taking on another college course and the fact most of the local ones are run by the same company where I spent 3 years of my life. Ditto on your last statement I don’t know how people from non-academic backgrounds are supposed to have social mobility if they can’t get clear information on education.
Access course while redoing GCSE’s or A levels I think based on this thread then. More worrying is how I’d bring this up with the family, they spent 3 years driving me to and from college for little add to this if I take another year doing educational stuff they will most likely want to know what I wish to do at the end of it and that is another thread altogether until this thread started I figured as was at the point of working that out clearly not.

BUMP any other suggestions advice anyone?
(edited 12 years ago)
Any other suggestions anyone im now torn between going back to college and sixthform.
Original post by Sylar2010
Access course while redoing GCSE’s or A levels I think based on this thread then. More worrying is how I’d bring this up with the family, they spent 3 years driving me to and from college for little add to this if I take another year doing educational stuff they will most likely want to know what I wish to do at the end of it and that is another thread altogether until this thread started I figured as was at the point of working that out clearly not.


Well it doesn't matter exactly what you plan to do beyond next year, other than you know that you want to go to university. From September to January, you'll be able to apply for a university place for September 2012 so you've got some time to decide based on what you study next year. Or, after doing this course you might decide to take some time out before going to university but you'd know that if you did decide to go, you'd have all of the essential qualifications sorted and it'd help you with getting a job too. An Access course is the equivalent of A levels, you don't need to do additional A levels and there are "add on" options so that you can take GCSE equivalent qualifications as part of the Access course so you'll meet the university entry requirements for GCSE too. They're designed for mature students (so people older than 16/17) who want to go to university but for whatever reason don't have the right qualifications from school.

With regards to the choice of college, this is your call. I would assume that the Access course tutors would be specialised for this course and will be used to supporting students who wish to apply to university, as again, this is what the course is for.... so you might find that even though you're at the same college, you're in a different department which might be completely different to what you've experienced so far. I know you've mentioned the extra debt with regards to doing this Access course for a year but the reality is you're not going to get to university any other way. There is no other way as you need to meet the entrance requirements, so by doing this course you're opening literally every single university up to you as they all accept/consider Access students in the same way as people who've done A levels.

There is normally funding available for people who are studying full time and don't have an equivalent qualification. You should certainly enquire at all of the local colleges near you.

By the way, to quote people on TSR all you have to do is press the orange button at the bottom right of the post saying "quote". It will then copy all of what that person said into the reply box and you can write your message above or below it. If you want to delete some of their message you can as long as it still says [B]
what I said[/quote in the text. (with an extra ] after the 2nd quote, but I've had to delete that so you can see it here.) If you want to quote multiple people, click on the + sign with the speech marks and it will copy all of the people into the reply box, then you can reply to lots of people at once :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
[QUOTE="oxymoronic;30788854"]Well it doesn't matter exactly what you plan to do beyond next year, other than you know that you want to go to university. From September to January, you'll be able to apply for a university place for September 2012 so you've got some time to decide based on what you study next year. Or, after doing this course you might decide to take some time out before going to university but you'd know that if you did decide to go, you'd have all of the essential qualifications sorted and it'd help you with getting a job too. An Access course is the equivalent of A levels, you don't need to do additional A levels and there are "add on" options so that you can take GCSE equivalent qualifications as part of the Access course so you'll meet the university entry requirements for GCSE too. They're designed for mature students (so people older than 16/17) who want to go to university but for whatever reason don't have the right qualifications from school.

With regards to the choice of college, this is your call. I would assume that the Access course tutors would be specialised for this course and will be used to supporting students who wish to apply to university, as again, this is what the course is for.... so you might find that even though you're at the same college, you're in a different department which might be completely different to what you've experienced so far. I know you've mentioned the extra debt with regards to doing this Access course for a year but the reality is you're not going to get to university any other way. There is no other way as you need to meet the entrance requirements, so by doing this course you're opening literally every single university up to you as they all accept/consider Access students in the same way as people who've done A levels.

There is normally funding available for people who are studying full time and don't have an equivalent qualification. You should certainly enquire at all of the local colleges near you.

By the way, to quote people on TSR all you have to do is press the orange button at the bottom right of the post saying "quote". It will then copy all of what that person said into the reply box and you can write your message above or below it. If you want to delete some of their message you can as long as it still says
what I said[/quote in the text. (with an extra ] after the 2nd quote, but I've had to delete that so you can see it here.) If you want to quote multiple people, click on the + sign with the speech marks and it will copy all of the people into the reply box, then you can reply to lots of people at once :smile:


To my parents it does matter I live with them so just doing what I want with no one to answer to is out of the question. September 2011 I take it you mean. As for taking time out I have been essentially a NEET nearly a year confused and lost as to what to do. An access course sounds good but I am still little in the dark as to why I just wouldn’t do real A levels they seem better educationally. As for choice of college it just seems illogical to go the same place and pay for it but yes different campus or departments could be better. Thanks for the how to quote information. Have also started chatting on this thread RE the idea of going back to my schools sixth form http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1601583 but you don’t seem to think A levels are the best idea and one of these access course would be best would that be correct?
Original post by Sylar2010
To my parents it does matter I live with them so just doing what I want with no one to answer to is out of the question. September 2011 I take it you mean. As for taking time out I have been essentially a NEET nearly a year confused and lost as to what to do. An access course sounds good but I am still little in the dark as to why I just wouldn’t do real A levels they seem better educationally. As for choice of college it just seems illogical to go the same place and pay for it but yes different campus or departments could be better. Thanks for the how to quote information. Have also started chatting on this thread RE the idea of going back to my schools sixth form http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1601583 but you don’t seem to think A levels are the best idea and one of these access course would be best would that be correct?


To be honest with you, with a string of C's and D's at GCSE you might struggle with A Levels, whereas an Access course might be better suited to you academically.

And no, she does mean September 2012, not Sep 11, since you don't have the qualifications to enter university this autumn.

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