Online A Levels (2021)

I am currently in Year 12 studying Biology, Maths and Drama.
But I want to possibly study English Literature and Film/Media Studies A Levels during my gap year.
Are there any places online where I can do fast track A Levels for FREE?

Fast track courses tend to be for revision and resits. You can do your A Levels in 1 year, as I'm doing 2 online and I am about to finish them within 1 year of starting.

To my knowledge, there are no places online where you can do A Levels for free. A Levels are full on 300 hour courses. You would be hard press to cover the entire syllabus of any A Level at no cost. Even if you do decide not to take up courses with any colleges, you are still looking at basic study material, which alone can cost £100.

The cheapest I have seen for online A Levels start from £300 for the course at online college alone (not including the exams and admin fees of the exam centre).

My question is why you would want to do those particular A Levels? If you want to study Literature, Drama, Theatre, or Film at uni, I can understand why you would want them at A Level.

Fast track courses tend to be for revision and resits. You can do your A Levels in 1 year, as I'm doing 2 online and I am about to finish them within 1 year of starting.

To my knowledge, there are no places online where you can do A Levels for free. A Levels are full on 300 hour courses. You would be hard press to cover the entire syllabus of any A Level at no cost. Even if you do decide not to take up courses with any colleges, you are still looking at basic study material, which alone can cost £100.

The cheapest I have seen for online A Levels start from £300 for the course at online college alone (not including the exams and admin fees of the exam centre).

My question is why you would want to do those particular A Levels? If you want to study Literature, Drama, Theatre, or Film at uni, I can understand why you would want them at A Level.

Hi, if you dont mind me asking how are you studying a-levels online. I have researched and found from a few sources that online courses arent very useful. Instead I was wondering whether it was possible to study 3 a-levels online with some tutor support, study material and online resources (youtube, study websites and past papers)

I would be downloading PDF files from the college's website. As far as I know, there aren't videos or online classrooms where the teachers go through the material. You will get tutor support for any questions that you have. You will also be set assignments for measures of your progress, and possibly assessed grades if exams end up getting cancelled again.
You will be recommended to use online resources (those you have mentioned) for additional support and practice anyway. Sometimes, they can be referred to for additional practice questions or material to look over.
You can do as many A Levels online that you want, but the costs will add up, and the time you have can be severely constrained. If they are not your first set of A Levels (i.e. this is not your first time going through sixth form), then they are a good alternative to doing them at an adult college, which can be rare if they do offer A Levels. If it is your first time, I recommend going through the sixth form route as opposed to the online college.

I would be downloading PDF files from the college's website. As far as I know, there aren't videos or online classrooms where the teachers go through the material. You will get tutor support for any questions that you have. You will also be set assignments for measures of your progress, and possibly assessed grades if exams end up getting cancelled again.
You will be recommended to use online resources (those you have mentioned) for additional support and practice anyway. Sometimes, they can be referred to for additional practice questions or material to look over.
You can do as many A Levels online that you want, but the costs will add up, and the time you have can be severely constrained. If they are not your first set of A Levels (i.e. this is not your first time going through sixth form), then they are a good alternative to doing them at an adult college, which can be rare if they do offer A Levels. If it is your first time, I recommend going through the sixth form route as opposed to the online college.

Who are you studying with and how do you find it?

Oxbridge home learning. For maths, it's great. I like my tutor and the material is easy to digest. I would say they just don't have enough questions for exam practice though, but that's more or less the same for any online college.
I would use physicsandmathstutor.com in conjunction with them.

what subjects do u do and what year are u in .
how are ur grades like is it beneficial like is it worh the money
im thinking of using it this yr (im in year 12) and continue it until 2024

I finished the Maths A Level with grade A (middle of the grade unfortunately). In terms of total spending, it came to roughly £1000 - including course material, exam fees, calculators, etc. If the A Level involve practial elements that needs to be assessed, it can cost £1500-2000.

I intend to do Further Maths, Physics, and Chemistry on top to meet entry requirements. I can attend university as I am now, but I want to be sure I can take certain modules, which is why I am going the extra mile.

I wouldn't recommend becoming a private candidate unless you have to. If you can do your A Levels through college, then do so. The only time when I would recommend it if you're under 18 is if you really need to change exam boards for one of your subject or you had difficulty changing 6th form college (when you really want to). Studying long distance and studying independently are a lot harder than studying in a classroom (an issue with self discipline).

Becuase I study online, the year groups don't mean a thing. You are not limited by what age you can study A Levels privately, but you are limited by what age you can attend 6th form colleges. You can also study at your own pace, which means I can drag it out to 2-3 years, or I can make it as short as 6 months.

ohh okay, the reaosn i wanted to do it is cuz my sixth form sucks like im literally so lonely and they dont offer a lot of subjectrs (8 all together !)

I would be very concerned if a 6th form college only offer 8 subjects. Have you considered switching colleges? There are usually more than one 6th form college that you can go to within a short distance if you're living in a town or city.

Do bear in mind that the average cost for a set of 3 A Levels as a private candidate will set you back £3000 at least. Whilst it won't break the bank, it's still quite a bit of money, and if you're working to fund the A Levels you will have to either financially commit a lot of money or work to pay for it. Getting good grades at A Level is not easy, and in doing so you would need to spend a lot of time in your studies.

i tried contacting a lot of colleges and sixth forms but theyre all full also they offer 11 sorry i miscalculated it

What do you intend on studying?

If you want to study Maths, Further Maths, Physics, or Chemistry, I might be able to share some of my insights and research with you.
Should you need information on Access to HE Diplomas, I would be able to give a few pointers as well.

i want to study maths, business or bio, history and english lit all alevels

Since I have done A Level Maths as a private candidate, I can share the research I have done with you. I can't speak for the other subjects as a private candidate though.

Since the last time I have checked, there are 18 online colleges that offer Maths as an A Level (some colleges are affiliated with others, so you will get the same product at the same price, but at different institutions). Irrespective of the college, you will very likely need to arrange and pay for the exam fees yourself (unless they specifically state that they will arrange it for you, usually at 2x the cost of the course).
All colleges teach by exam board, so this is the first thing you would look into. Whilst there are 4 exam boards that do A Level Maths, AQA and EdExcel are the ones that are taught at online colleges, which is convenient because they are the most liked exam boards for Maths (I personally have an isse with EdExcel for maths, but people have a different opinion). The cost for the A Level course can range from £340 to £795.
I would not pick the course based on the college with the best review. I would pick the course based on the reviews for the specific course, as you can have a brilliant course and a terrible one both at the same college. This has more to do with the tutors than the college, so nothing is consistent.
Most online colleges will have roughly 20 assignments for you to complete; these are for your tutors to assess your progress more than for predicted grades. Your final grade for the A Level would be through the exam centre only.
The length of access for the A Level is typically 24 months from the time you enrol on the course (most colleges allow you to enrol any time during the year, but the exams would still be held in May/June). You usually go through the course at your own pace, unless there are live sessions involved (there are a few online colleges that do this for students, but the courses can cost £2000-2500 each). The recommended hours to study the subject ranges from 300-700, depending on the college. Personally, I would spend 300 hours learning the material and at least another 300 revising for the exam. 300 hours is typically 10 hours over 30 days, but that's a bit intense for one subject.
Calculators recommended for Maths include the Casio FX 991-EX (https://www.casio.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/1047/s/fx-991ex/category/154/) and CG50 (https://education.casio.co.uk/products/cg50). The FX is roughly £30 new, and the CG is roughly £100 new. I bought both because the CG saves a ton of time drawing and checking on graphs (as well as the fact that I am doing Further Maths), but the FX is adequate for most parts of the A Level paper (I prefer this calculator because it's far easier to use).
Should you need to apply for your exams yourself, I recommend doing it early (e.g. before February) to avoid unncessary late fees. The fees for the exam are set by the exam body, but you will arrange the exams through the exam officier at the selected exam centre (somewhere local to you I guess). Even if the world go into another pandemic, and we require to go by predicted grades, you will still need to sign up your candidacy with the exam body in order to officiate your predicted grades.
After going through all the material, I would suggest doing as many practice questions and past exam papers as you can. The revision guides and exam practice books will be useful (unfortunately the only producer of such books are by CGP, which I am not a complete fan of). I would also look at YouTube videos and go on A Level tutorial sites in addition to speaking to your tutor if you don't understand a topic. When going through the papers, work on your weakest areas, as that's where you can gain the most marks and improve the most. If your course provides you with a question bank of questions to go through, so much the better (if not, signing up for one can cost £20-30 a month).

The alternative to learning the material through online colleges and offline adult colleges (if they offer them) would be to pick up the textbook for the exam body, and then apply for the exams yourself. This is significantly cheaper, but you won't get the tutor support.

For biology, there can be a pratical element involved and assessment on that can cost £1000 on top of the exam fees (don't ask; it's the same for all science subjects). It might not be neccessary under certain exam boards e.g. I don't think AQA mandates this in order for you to get the final grade (but may be necessary to get the full A Level); EdExcel would require you to talk about the theoretical implications in the exam paper, but Camrbidge/OCR will require you to have conducted the practical element and have it assessed. On the other hand, I would check the entry requirements of the degree course that you want to do and see if they require the practical element to be included in your declaration of your A Level results.
If the practical element is necessary for the degree course, I would try to do the A Level via your current college to save on fees and time.

You would only need 3 subjects to get into university. The subjects seem a bit random (except most of them are facilitating subjects) and there's not much consistency or intent. Are these solely based off your interests? If not and you intend to do a certain degree subject, can you specify what it is?
Also, what subjects does your college offer? The subjects you have listed seem pretty standard for a lot of colleges.

the sixth form offers the usual stuff= maths,bio, chem,psychics,arabic,history,geog,eng lit,business,art (idk what im missing

but they wont let me do maths and history because its in the same block