The Student Room Group

The real truth about BTEC

There is a reason why BTEC is so unpopular on TSR, granted it is looked down upon by top universities, though not to the extent that this website seems to despise it.

BTEC, if done correctly I would say is actually harder than AS-levels and some A2 level subjects. Done correctly means that you get two drafts, and after the first draft you can only pull the grade up my one mark, so if you failed the first draft, you can only get a pass, not merit or distinction.We had a strict deadline, if we missed it we only got one draft and that was that, pretty much the same as university.

I did a BTEC and A-levels and this was how my school did it, personally I found the BTEC much harder than A-levels. A-levels, I would repeat the **** out of past papers and vomit all that crap back up over an exam paper each winter/summer.

With BTEC though there were no past papers or chances for uncapped resits, only one shot to get a good grade really and you were on your own after stepping outside of the class room. Much more like university, and the experience of the subject prepared me for uni way more than my A-levels.

The problem is most places that offer BTEC will allow their students as many drafts as the wish, won't cap the redrafts and are lenient with deadlines. This is the main reason why universities do not like BTEC, it isn't so much the content of the course, but how it is run. It is the same with applied A-levels (which are 2/3 coursework). It isn't that applied A-levels are easier than normal A-levels, it is just the universities have no idea how hard the student had to work in order to get that grade.


However the reason why BTECs are hated on this site is not due to anything related to how the course is moderated. No, indeed it seems there is much more bitterness involved.

A lot of users on this site a victims of bullies. From recent threads it seems most of these bullies are meatheads who have few aspirations in life. One way their victims find comfort is by looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. They will think to themselves in a few years I'll be at a top ten university, fast tracked for investment banking while they didn't get back into sixth form and will be serving me McDonalds.

It isn't always just bullies, often it will be people in school who just had it easy, people who these people would think 'he isn't any better looking than me, yet gets all these friends and girls, just wait till he/she is working construction and I'm at Durham, bitches will love me then'.

However they get a nasty surprise when they see that these people they hated at school didn't actually go to McDonald's or apprenticeships, instead they went to college, did a BTEC and maybe even got a decent grade and got into a Russell Group university.

The sheer bitterness that these people are doing well is more than they can bare and something has to be done to belittle these people behind their backs, and by essentially making their route to university into a mockery, something made for people who can't hack it elsewhere in life, these bitter folk will feel slightly better.

All I have to say is, don't worry about what other people are doing, just focus on your own goals in life and ignore all else. Plus ****ting on people you perceive as below you isn't a great look and certainly not one that will get you into an investment bank.


Thanks for reading. Bye!
(edited 10 years ago)

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I think your theory is way over-done. People look down on BTECs because they have a reputation for being for dumb people. Not saying it's true but that's all there really is to it.

Oh and being full of yourself and pushing past anyone in your way, looking down on those below you, sounds like pretty much the ideal way to get into an investment bank...
Just as a side note I did a BTEC and I'm now working at a blue chip in my placement year

another mod did a BTEC and is also working (permanently) for a blue chip

I find with BTEC's you REALLY need to know exactly what sector you want to go in at the age of 16 because they're pretty specific. Otherwise it can be hard to diversify until you get a job
Reply 3
Original post by PLTH

Oh and being full of yourself and pushing past anyone in your way, looking down on those below you, sounds like pretty much the ideal way to get into an investment bank...


Yeah these are typical traits of a lot of bankers, but they I'd imagine if you walked in to an interview and said

'LOL at that receptionist, she pronounced my name "Clementing'...it is CleminTINE LOL, guess that is expected from someone who answers phones for a living'

I wouldn't imagine them thinking 'she'll fit right in over here'...even though she would...
Reply 4
BTEC health and social care is not harder than A level maths/ Physics etc. That is the truth.

Also it could be a fact that many people who have done/ did BTEC are not the brightest, and like to lick windows in their spare time.

A lot of BTEC students just copy and paste their work, or get their mum to do it for them. We need a drastic change in educational culture in this country.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by bestofyou
Yeah these are typical traits of a lot of bankers, but they I'd imagine if you walked in to an interview and said

'LOL at that receptionist, she pronounced my name "Clementing'...it is CleminTINE LOL, guess that is expected from someone who answers phones for a living'

I wouldn't imagine them thinking 'she'll fit right in over here'...even though she would...


Yeah but that's a bit of a straw-man argument. People who are aggressive and selfish in their work (and life) can still know how to conduct an interview.
And then once into the job, those traits will help them stay there.
Original post by bestofyou
.


How many people in your BTEC class applied to a Russell group university?

There were only two of us. The rest were applying to ex-polys and another small minority decided not to apply for universities?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by the mezzil
BTEC health and social care is not harder than A level maths/ Physics etc. That is the truth.


And what is your point exactly? I can just as easily say that A-level history is not harder than A-level maths/physics as well. Yet universities do not ask those who do History for higher grades than those who do A-level maths/physics. So while it may be 'the truth', you are skewing it to fit an argument which is no more than a childish opinion.


Original post by Rembrandt343
How many people in your BTEC class applied to a Russell group university?
There were only two of us. The rest were applying to ex-polys and another small minority decided not to apply for universities?


I have no idea since I'm not really in contact with all of them, though a couple went to QUB, then some ex-polys. However my class was only a single BTEC, equivlent to one A-level. We took two A-levels alongside. Several people I know in other BTEC classes (different subjects) went to QUB though.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by bestofyou
And what is your point exactly? I can just as easily say that A-level history is not harder than A-level maths/physics as well. Yet universities do not ask those who do History for higher grades than those who do A-level maths/physics. So while it may be 'the truth', you are skewing it to fit an argument which is no more than a childish opinion.


Well that is true! I found Maths and Chemistry a lot harder than History! But I still got asked for an A in both Maths and Chemistry (which I got)
Original post by bestofyou
.


I'm only asking because I do Extended Diploma BTEC and It was rare to see people apply for Russell group universities. The average grade in the class is Merit, Merit, Merit
Original post by bestofyou
There is a reason why BTEC is so unpopular on TSR, granted it is looked down upon by top universities, though not to the extent that this website seems to despise it.

BTEC, if done correctly I would say is actually harder than AS-levels and some A2 level subjects. Done correctly means that you get two drafts, and after the first draft you can only pull the grade up my one mark, so if you failed the first draft, you can only get a pass, not merit or distinction.We had a strict deadline, if we missed it we only got one draft and that was that, pretty much the same as university.

I did a BTEC and A-levels and this was how my school did it, personally I found the BTEC much harder than A-levels. A-levels, I would repeat the **** out of past papers and vomit all that crap back up over an exam paper each winter/summer.

With BTEC though there were no past papers or chances for uncapped resits, only one shot to get a good grade really and you were on your own after stepping outside of the class room. Much more like university, and the experience of the subject prepared me for uni way more than my A-levels.

The problem is most places that offer BTEC will allow their students as many drafts as the wish, won't cap the redrafts and are lenient with deadlines. This is the main reason why universities do not like BTEC, it isn't so much the content of the course, but how it is run. It is the same with applied A-levels (which are 2/3 coursework). It isn't that applied A-levels are easier than normal A-levels, it is just the universities have no idea how hard the student had to work in order to get that grade.


However the reason why BTECs are hated on this site is not due to anything related to how the course is moderated. No, indeed it seems there is much more bitterness involved.

A lot of users on this site a victims of bullies. From recent threads it seems most of these bullies are meatheads who have few aspirations in life. One way their victims find comfort is by looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. They will think to themselves in a few years I'll be at a top ten university, fast tracked for investment banking while they didn't get back into sixth form and will be serving me McDonalds.

All I have to say is, don't worry about what other people are doing, just focus on your own goals in life and ignore all else. Plus ****ting on people you perceive as below you isn't a great look and certainly not one that will get you into an investment bank.


Thanks for reading. Bye!


What did you do your BTEC in?

What course are you studying now, if you are at uni?
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by de_monies
Just as a side note I did a BTEC and I'm now working at a blue chip in my placement year

another mod did a BTEC and is also working (permanently) for a blue chip

I find with BTEC's you REALLY need to know exactly what sector you want to go in at the age of 16 because they're pretty specific. Otherwise it can be hard to diversify until you get a job


What did you do your BTEC in?

What course are you studying now, if you are at uni?

And I agree - the reason why I didn't choose to do a BTEC was because I wanted to keep my options open in terms of subjects. Plus, I would have been unable to do a BTEC in History/Law/Politics/International Relations.
Original post by bestofyou
And what is your point exactly? I can just as easily say that A-level history is not harder than A-level maths/physics as well. Yet universities do not ask those who do History for higher grades than those who do A-level maths/physics. So while it may be 'the truth', you are skewing it to fit an argument which is no more than a childish opinion.




I have no idea since I'm not really in contact with all of them, though a couple went to QUB, then some ex-polys. However my class was only a single BTEC, equivlent to one A-level. We took two A-levels alongside. Several people I know in other BTEC classes (different subjects) went to QUB though.


What A Levels did you do?
Reply 13
Original post by Dee Leigh
What did you do your BTEC in?
What course are you studying now, if you are at uni?


.
Sport and Exercise Science. But is was the 6 unit (1 A-level equivalent, not the 24 unit). I did history and economics alongside it.

I didn't know what I wanted to do when I went to sixth form, nor by the time I finished, so took a few gap years. I'm at York doing Electronic Engineering after doing a foundation year there.
Reply 14
Original post by bestofyou
.
Sport and Exercise Science. But is was the 6 unit (1 A-level equivalent, not the 24 unit). I did history and economics alongside it.

I didn't know what I wanted to do when I went to sixth form, nor by the time I finished, so took a few gap years. I'm at York doing Electronic Engineering after doing a foundation year there.


Your academic information on your profile...liar!!!

Posted from TSR Mobile
lmao hilarious almost died on my btec certificate i was eating cus there wasn't any bread and i had to do something with it
Reply 16
Original post by qr95
Your academic information on your profile...liar!!!

Posted from TSR Mobile


I don't lie, just joke...LOL
Some BTECs can be different. Mine was all coursework based and it was a national diploma meaning I did three sections which each had six units in and each section I got a grade, which was DMM and you had to attain all merits before you could attain a distinction. We also got teachers to look at our work and have another go at it.

Anyway, it worked for me because I used my Distinction in that to get in to my uni now.
Original post by bestofyou
.
Sport and Exercise Science. But is was the 6 unit (1 A-level equivalent, not the 24 unit). I did history and economics alongside it.

I didn't know what I wanted to do when I went to sixth form, nor by the time I finished, so took a few gap years. I'm at York doing Electronic Engineering after doing a foundation year there.


Interesting.

A friend of mine studied at sixth form for 3 years and did a mixture of a BTEC and A Levels. She's also doing Engineering, having done a foundation year for it previously.
Original post by bestofyou
There is a reason why BTEC is so unpopular on TSR, granted it is looked down upon by top universities, though not to the extent that this website seems to despise it.

BTEC, if done correctly I would say is actually harder than AS-levels and some A2 level subjects. Done correctly means that you get two drafts, and after the first draft you can only pull the grade up my one mark, so if you failed the first draft, you can only get a pass, not merit or distinction.We had a strict deadline, if we missed it we only got one draft and that was that, pretty much the same as university.

I did a BTEC and A-levels and this was how my school did it, personally I found the BTEC much harder than A-levels. A-levels, I would repeat the **** out of past papers and vomit all that crap back up over an exam paper each winter/summer.

With BTEC though there were no past papers or chances for uncapped resits, only one shot to get a good grade really and you were on your own after stepping outside of the class room. Much more like university, and the experience of the subject prepared me for uni way more than my A-levels.

The problem is most places that offer BTEC will allow their students as many drafts as the wish, won't cap the redrafts and are lenient with deadlines. This is the main reason why universities do not like BTEC, it isn't so much the content of the course, but how it is run. It is the same with applied A-levels (which are 2/3 coursework). It isn't that applied A-levels are easier than normal A-levels, it is just the universities have no idea how hard the student had to work in order to get that grade.


However the reason why BTECs are hated on this site is not due to anything related to how the course is moderated. No, indeed it seems there is much more bitterness involved.

A lot of users on this site a victims of bullies. From recent threads it seems most of these bullies are meatheads who have few aspirations in life. One way their victims find comfort is by looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. They will think to themselves in a few years I'll be at a top ten university, fast tracked for investment banking while they didn't get back into sixth form and will be serving me McDonalds.

It isn't always just bullies, often it will be people in school who just had it easy, people who these people would think 'he isn't any better looking than me, yet gets all these friends and girls, just wait till he/she is working construction and I'm at Durham, bitches will love me then'.

However they get a nasty surprise when they see that these people they hated at school didn't actually go to McDonald's or apprenticeships, instead they went to college, did a BTEC and maybe even got a decent grade and got into a Russell Group university.

The sheer bitterness that these people are doing well is more than they can bare and something has to be done to belittle these people behind their backs, and by essentially making their route to university into a mockery, something made for people who can't hack it elsewhere in life, these bitter folk will feel slightly better.

All I have to say is, don't worry about what other people are doing, just focus on your own goals in life and ignore all else. Plus ****ting on people you perceive as below you isn't a great look and certainly not one that will get you into an investment bank.


Thanks for reading. Bye!



Stopped reading here. 99% of people that get A's in academic subjects at A Level could pass a BTEC. 99% of people that get a distinction in their BTEC couldn't get an A in an academic A Level.

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