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Are BTECs worth the same as A Levels (POLL)

Poll

Do you think BTECs are worth the same as A Levels

Do you think BTECs Level 3 Extended Diploma are worth the same as A Levels as they are comparable in terms of UCAS points?
D*D*D* will give the same UCAS points as A*A*A*.

Reply 1

sabian92

13

They're the same.... No arguing about it really. Both are difficult just in their own ways - those who say BTECs are the "easy way out" are tossers who've blatantly never done one.

Edit: Negged by the A-level snobs. Come at me examfags.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2

Commercial Paper

21

No - A-Levels are much harder to attain triple A* than achieving D* in my opinion.

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(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

Thatstudentdude

14

I'd say slightly less, though they are beneficial and worth more for some people. Some are suited to A Levels, some are suited to BTECs. Things like BTEC Business and BTEC Health & Social I can understand being useful and able to be directly applied to jobs and such.

I have an infinite hatred for BTEC Performing Arts and all the students that do that course at my college. Such a pointless course in my opinion. The 'BTards' as I call them, seem to be constantly free or taking a break from 'rehersals' and moan continuously when they have one piece of written work to do.

Reply 4

JordanS94

16

I would say that D*D*D* is not the same as A*A*A*.

I have a few friends who who finished A-Levels and the decided to do a Btec in a completely different subject, they all said it was easier than A-Levels. I would say D*D*D* would only be slightly less though I expect it to be quite hard to get a D* but in terms of an M it seems like it would be easier to achieve than a B in an A-Level.

Reply 5

Enavor

11

Hi there,

An answer to you're question regarding are HNC BTEC's worth the same as A levels would be yes, they are.

The BTEC is roughly equivalent to an HNC (a Scottish qualification), which can further equate as being comparative to first year university level.

"According to the SQA - In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualification awarded by Edexcel, and in Scotland, an HNC is a Higher National awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

The attainment level of the rest is roughly equivalent to one year of university and a Certificate of Higher Education, but being less than that of a Higher National Diploma (HND). Studied full-time,"

http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/sqa_nu_display_section.jsp?pContentID=411&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&

As I'm Scottish its quite hard comparing BTEC qualifications to HNC's back to A-levels, but to simplify things lets just say that if BTEC's are equivalent to HNC's, which are again equivalent to first year of university, then by further logic you can infer that these qualifications are also equivalent to A levels; they are different qualifications though due to the way in that you're taught.

A levels, which I've done (well Advanced Highers) are a lot more "theory" based and not vocational, whereas BTEC's are much, much more vocational based with some theory (but not as much as A levels), but the education system regards BTEC's just as much as A levels.

In particular, if you do astoundingly well in you're BTEC, i.e. Distinctions in everything (in HNC's it's basically pass everything and get an A in you're graded unit) - the university may even accelerate you into second year and exempt you from first. A girl I know Caitlin did just this with her HNC.

As for, "are A-levels more prestigious", the answer is no they are not. It is just that BTEC's are a back door route into university, whereas A levels are the norm in order to enter higher education establishments.

I hoped this helped.

L.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

Nitrogen

16

Can you get into Oxbridge with D*D*D*? No chance. Can you get in Oxbridge with A*A*A*? Most likely yes.

Reply 7

TaylorGang_4

12

Original post by Nitrogen

Can you get into Oxbridge with D*D*D*? No chance. Can you get in Oxbridge with A*A*A*? Most likely yes.

That's because A-Levels are regarded as a more traditional qualification by Oxbridge. Most BTEC courses will not correlate with the courses offered at Oxbridge. That is why you won't get into Oxbridge with D*D*D*.

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 8

cl_steele

2

They most certinainly are not the same, I'm not saying either one is better but they're completely different and generally somewhat uncomparable, a btec in say engineering is going to be worth more than alevel history persay isn't it if you're going down the engineering route whilst vice a versa if going for history.

Reply 9

CodeJack

19

All this thread will consist of it us A-Level'ers explaining why A-Levels are worth more and harder to get, then the BTEC'ers trying to retaliate with how "hard" BTEC's are.

Reply 10

sissoko46

I did BTEC and trust me in 2 years I learnt nothing just chilled with the boys playing counter strike and then got into a prestigious uni to do engineering. I feel like a skilled legal thief.

Reply 11

loze21

I do one BTEC and two A Levels, and I can definitely say they aren't the same. The BTEC is a lot easier but the workload is huge, it's a lot more practical as well compared to the A Levels.

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Reply 12

_anyawalsh

11

I do BTEC and would say it's easier than a levels but that's because I don't like exams , depends on the person, some people would really struggle with all coursework, but who I went to my university interview they liked the work I ad from my BTEC but usually they considered people who had done foundation year a lot more, but took me on, if I had done a levels I would definitely have to have done a levels because of the way of working independently etc, my tutor traces both BTEC and a levels and sees a levels as "a bit like school", depends on the person overall

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Reply 13

PWP2CBT

18

I believe that, as a whole, A levels are significantly harder than most vocational courses however there are some exceptions. There are "easier" A levels in my opinion such as Media Studies and Photography. These aren't necessarily easy for everyone who takes them and a lot of students would struggle in them but as a whole, unless you take these studies or related studies further at uni they are regarded and "easy" and of less worth. I would argue vocational courses such as Engineering are however more difficult than some A Level choices.

Reply 14

sufiaan saeed

im sooooo confused and stressed
i chose to do BTEC APPLIED SCIENCE over A-level sciences
the BTEC is soooo easy, im getting distinctions in all ive done so far and im not really learning anything
i just want to know will university be a struggle for me as i want to do physiotherapy
some help would be great thx

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Reply 15

Theatre

3

Original post by Thatstudentdude

I'd say slightly less, though they are beneficial and worth more for some people. Some are suited to A Levels, some are suited to BTECs. Things like BTEC Business and BTEC Health & Social I can understand being useful and able to be directly applied to jobs and such.

I have an infinite hatred for BTEC Performing Arts and all the students that do that course at my college. Such a pointless course in my opinion. The 'BTards' as I call them, seem to be constantly free or taking a break from 'rehersals' and moan continuously when they have one piece of written work to do.

I do BTEC Performing Arts, and I can tell you that it is not a pointless course. I agree that it's not equal to a levels, but this course is not trying to be three a levels. If you're trying to become an actor/dancer/performer, then what's the point of doing theory based a levels, when a vocational study of performing arts would be way more beneficial if you're aiming for drama school. I can also tell you that we have way more written work than you would think. I'll admit that during college, I only spend two hours a week maximum doing written/theory work, but then we get a huge amount of coursework and independent study to do outside of college. It is not an easy course, I was working at A* in Drama GCSE and have only now in the third term managed to improve my grades to distinction level. We obviously don't have as many essays as a subject such as history, but we still have them and a lot of them require a lot of analysis and research into the historical context of performance.

Reply 16

Thatstudentdude

14

Original post by Theatre

I do BTEC Performing Arts, and I can tell you that it is not a pointless course. I agree that it's not equal to a levels, but this course is not trying to be three a levels. If you're trying to become an actor/dancer/performer, then what's the point of doing theory based a levels, when a vocational study of performing arts would be way more beneficial if you're aiming for drama school. I can also tell you that we have way more written work than you would think. I'll admit that during college, I only spend two hours a week maximum doing written/theory work, but then we get a huge amount of coursework and independent study to do outside of college. It is not an easy course, I was working at A* in Drama GCSE and have only now in the third term managed to improve my grades to distinction level. We obviously don't have as many essays as a subject such as history, but we still have them and a lot of them require a lot of analysis and research into the historical context of performance.

If you're trying to become an actor/dancer/performer, go to auditions. You don't need a qualification to prove that you have a talent or a hobby.

Reply 17

Theatre

3

Original post by Thatstudentdude

If you're trying to become an actor/dancer/performer, go to auditions. You don't need a qualification to prove that you have a talent or a hobby.

This shows how you know absolutely nothing about the performing arts industry. The vast majority of performers have trained at a drama school. To get into a drama school, you need a qualification of some sort. A levels, or more preferred by drama schools, a vocational qualification. 99% of auditions are closed, meaning you need to have an agent to get into them. So you can't just randomly turn up to auditions, unless they are open ones and open auditions are not very common.

Reply 18

chappers-94

9

Original post by alexh42

Do you think BTECs Level 3 Extended Diploma are worth the same as A Levels as they are comparable in terms of UCAS points?
D*D*D* will give the same UCAS points as A*A*A*.

No way in hell, you'll be able to go to a decent university, don't try for the elite (top 15-20) so avoid anything above UEA, unless you have A levels too.

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Reply 19

eggfriedrice

16

Well there's a reason why all the "clever " people in my school are doing A levels and the "less academically able" are doing BTECS...