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How does a btec extended diploma work?

Hi
So I'm starting college in September and having decided that IT was the field I wanted to enter, I decided to chose a level 3 btec extended diploma in IT. I am fully aware of the fact that this is the equivalent of 3 A levels and you therefore do it full time, but I am not sure on how much time I would be spending in college for the course. For example, will I be expected to attend 5 days a week 9-3? Can anybody who attends or who has any knowledge of an extended diploma give me an idea of this?
Thanks
Reply 1
As you said the BTEC Extended is equivalent to 3 A levels and is accepted at 95% of UK universities.

The BTEC works on a unit system so you will do various units totalling 180 credits, in most cases each unit will be 10 credits and thus you'll do 18 units.
in each unit you will have to meet criterion to get the grades to get a Pass grade you need to meet all Pass criteria, to get a Merit grade you need to meet all pass and merit criteria and to achieve a Distinction grade you will need to achieve all criteria in the unit. All 18 units add up to a final score that corresponds to a final grade, each unit gives you points which is the credit value (usually 10) multiplied by the grade points (P=7, M=8, D=9), to get a final grade profile including D*'s your points need to add up to the following:

1540 = D*DD
1560 = D*D*D
1590= D*D*D*

the maximum point score that you can get is 1620, the rest of the grades require the following point scores:

1260 =PPP
1300 = MPP
1340 = MMP
1380 = MMM
1420 = DMM
1460 = DDM
1500 = DDD

each of the 3 grades is equal to one A level and the grades correspond like this:

D* = A*
D = A
M = C
P = E

In regards to the amount of work that you have to put in, when I did my BTEC Extended Diploma also in IT we were in college 5 days per week and were also expected to do an extra 15 hours outside of college and for each unit I averaged about 10,000 words. Thats a rough guide that if you follow you should be able to do well, I did slightly more imo, and i came out with D*D*D*.

I hope this helps, feel free to ask me anything else :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by yt7777
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Yeah what he said ^ but less clear and with broken English if I was to write it :lol: I'm about to finish my Btec in Engineering this year and boi the pressure is on *sigh* hey did you experience the snobbery of the Alevel student looking down on you and making you feel inferior in your college/sixth form? and how did you deal with that.. I'm curious to know because where I study it's quite evident
Wow thanks for all of the info. I've got one more question if you don't mind. Are you allowed to do the write ups/coursework at home or must it all he done within lessons?
Thanks a lot again 😃
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by merlinthecat123
Wow thanks for all of the info. I've got one more question if you don't mind. Are you allowed to do the write ups/coursework at home or must it all he done within lessons?
Thanks a lot again 😃

Yes, generally the lessons are for teaching the content of the units and then you will probably have a couple of lessons per unit free to write up course work but you will find yourself doing the majority of it at home, especially if you want to get the top grades as I previously mentioned
Reply 5
Original post by Hatsune Miku
Yeah what he said ^ but less clear and with broken English if I was to write it :lol: I'm about to finish my Btec in Engineering this year and boi the pressure is on *sigh* hey did you experience the snobbery of the Alevel student looking down on you and making you feel inferior in your college/sixth form? and how did you deal with that.. I'm curious to know because where I study it's quite evident

Generally now I'm at a much better university than them studying a more demanding subject or a lot of them just work in menial basically minimum wage jobs so I usually remind them of that :P

Also in college, you just have to know what you are doing is more beneficial in the long run, A levels do nothing for you past getting into uni, BTECs are a respected qualification in industry as well as higher education.

And just remind the dick heads that you are studying at the same level as them, I'm sure if you have done the unit 'Further Maths for Engineering' you will know that is A level Maths standard.

My friend who used to mock me because he did Computing A level and I did BTEC IT, but when we actually talked about the subject he was quite shocked when he realised I was learning the same if not more than he was and he actually timed and marked me doing a Computing paper and I got an A in it (he got a C and is at a university 30 places lower than where I am)
Original post by yt7777
Generally now I'm at a much better university than them studying a more demanding subject or a lot of them just work in menial basically minimum wage jobs so I usually remind them of that :P

Also in college, you just have to know what you are doing is more beneficial in the long run, A levels do nothing for you past getting into uni, BTECs are a respected qualification in industry as well as higher education.

And just remind the dick heads that you are studying at the same level as them, I'm sure if you have done the unit 'Further Maths for Engineering' you will know that is A level Maths standard.

My friend who used to mock me because he did Computing A level and I did BTEC IT, but when we actually talked about the subject he was quite shocked when he realised I was learning the same if not more than he was and he actually timed and marked me doing a Computing paper and I got an A in it (he got a C and is at a university 30 places lower than where I am)

I can very much relate with this, it got to a point where I just smile and nod to the haters :biggrin: I don't know where their anger is coming from though.. why can't they live and let live:rolleyes: I do 2 more Alevels along side my Btec and I can't deny Alevels is hard work but that doesn't mean Btec is a piece of cake either right? and you're right, Btec student tend to go to better universities than the dickheads that do Alevels (except from the nice/humble Alevel students that actually study hard rather than compare qualifications) :laugh: where do you go and what do you study if you don't mind me asking?
Reply 7
Original post by Hatsune Miku
I can very much relate with this, it got to a point where I just smile and nod to the haters :biggrin: I don't know where their anger is coming from though.. why can't they live and let live:rolleyes: I do 2 more Alevels along side my Btec and I can't deny Alevels is hard work but that doesn't mean Btec is a piece of cake either right? and you're right, Btec student tend to go to better universities than the dickheads that do Alevels (except from the nice/humble Alevel students that actually study hard rather than compare qualifications) :laugh: where do you go and what do you study if you don't mind me asking?


yeah people like that are idiots, nice, what else do you study and are you lookign to go to uni?

i have just finished my first year at Royal Holloway and I study Comp Sci

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