btec national diploma in early years

Original post by namesalwaystaken

i have finished year one and all course work is graded mertis. I did 2 exams but failed one and failed the re-sit. If I finish year two does this mean that with the one failed exam I get nothing??
would this mean i cant go onto Uni??

Yes and no. You will not be able to pass the BTEC overall if you have failed one of the mandatory external units (i.e. one of the exams). Your overall grade would be a U. :frown:

However, all is not lost as the resit rules for BTEC Nationals state that, "Learners are permitted to resit the external assessment twice. This equates to THREE attempts in total - one inclusive of registration, the remaining two attempts as re-sits." (source)

So talk to you school / college about that third resit opportunity.

You say you're doing "btec national diploma in early years". Is that officially called "Children’s Play, Learning and Development (Early Years Educator)"? Which unit was it which you failed? Do you know you mark? (It'd be easy to look-up how far away you were from passing.)

Reply 2

OP

I havent had my paper back yet. It was the exam on a casestudy. My first fail was a few points off and my lecturer said she didnt know why i failed so not helpful. My resit was just marked so dont have my paper yet, but if i fail.my final resit in jan im guessing this means i have no grade overall??

The btec is extended diploma and the college say that i would get something but not sure if they just not be honest....

Reply 3

Original post by namesalwaystaken

I havent had my paper back yet. It was the exam on a casestudy. My first fail was a few points off and my lecturer said she didnt know why i failed so not helpful. My resit was just marked so dont have my paper yet, but if i fail.my final resit in jan im guessing this means i have no grade overall??

The btec is extended diploma and the college say that i would get something but not sure if they just not be honest....

Hold on a moment. The title of this thread is "btec national diploma in early years", but now you say "The btec is extended diploma". Those are different qualifications with different rules. :smile:

The BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Play, Learning and Development (Early Years Educator) contains two mandatory external units (i.e. units assessed by exam). They must both be passed in order to gain the overall qualification. The BTEC National Extended Diploma in in the same subject contains three mandatory external units, but only two of these must be passed. The third must be "completed and a grade reported", which is not the same thing. That unit is Unit 4, Enquiries into Current Research in Early Years Practice. This sounds very much like "the exam on a casestudy". Would you agree?

According to the BTEC Nationals Grade Calculator (available as an Excel spreadsheet from here), if you were to get a merit in each piece of coursework, and passed the two "must be passed" exams (Units 1 and 2) but failed the "must be completed and a grade reported" exam (Unit 4) then you would receive a overall grade of MMP.

If you manage to just scrape a Pass in this exam (when you sit it for a third time in January), your overall grade would go up to MMM. So this one exam is not terminal to Extended Diploma if you fail it. :yy:

Note that this statement is based upon the assumption that we're talking about Unit 4, Enquiries into Current Research in Early Years Practice, of a Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma in Children’s Play, Learning and Development (Early Years Educator).

Reply 4

OP

Thank you for replying im finding this very helpful.
To clarify im on a btec level 3 nationals extended diploma in chidlrens play learning and development as you identified.
The exam paper i think was unit 2. Development of childrens communication literary and numeracy skills. This is the one i failed on re sit.
I passed the unit one exam.
All my coursework is scoring a M.

I am.hoping to pass on my final attempt but if not i have been told by college that i may get a qualification but not sure to what level. They also said that it would mean i cant practice??

Just feel that i may have wasted 2 years over one exam..😪

Was hoping to go to uni but not sure i can apply without overall grades predicted to show them.

Any advice highly appreciated.

Reply 5

OP

Original post by namesalwaystaken

Thank you for replying im finding this very helpful.
To clarify im on a btec level 3 nationals extended diploma in chidlrens play learning and development as you identified.
The exam paper i think was unit 2. Development of childrens communication literary and numeracy skills. This is the one i failed on re sit.
I passed the unit one exam.
All my coursework is scoring a M.

I am.hoping to pass on my final attempt but if not i have been told by college that i may get a qualification but not sure to what level. They also said that it would mean i cant practice??

Just feel that i may have wasted 2 years over one exam..😪

Was hoping to go to uni but not sure i can apply without overall grades predicted to show them.

Any advice highly appreciated.

Ive just looked and i havent done unit 4 yet...
Unit 1 and 2 were exams. Passed unit one
Failed unit 2. .

Yet to even try unit 4...

Reply 6

Original post by namesalwaystaken

Thank you for replying im finding this very helpful.
To clarify im on a btec level 3 nationals extended diploma in chidlrens play learning and development as you identified.
The exam paper i think was unit 2. Development of childrens communication literary and numeracy skills. This is the one i failed on re sit.
I passed the unit one exam.
All my coursework is scoring a M.

I am.hoping to pass on my final attempt but if not i have been told by college that i may get a qualification but not sure to what level. They also said that it would mean i cant practice??

Just feel that i may have wasted 2 years over one exam..😪

Was hoping to go to uni but not sure i can apply without overall grades predicted to show them.

Any advice highly appreciated.

Original post by namesalwaystaken

Ive just looked and i havent done unit 4 yet...
Unit 1 and 2 were exams. Passed unit one
Failed unit 2. .

Yet to even try unit 4...

That's unfortunate. I was so optimistic when I thought it might be Unit 4 you'd struggled with. Unit 2 is a "must be passed" unit. If you don't pass it, you get a U in the Extended Diploma as a whole. :eek:

I'm not sure what qualification your college are referring to when they say you "may get a qualification". The only thing I can think of is that your mark is in the grey area which is known as a "near pass" in world of BTECs. If you were to get a near pass (grade N) in Unit 2 then the grade calculator (mentioned above) says, "The learner will not achieve the licence to practice qualification ... and will be awarded the non-license to practice qualification".

From what I can gather the qualifications which confer the "licence to practice" are the Extended Diploma and the Diploma. If the message generated by the grade calculator is accurate, then this means you will receive either the Foundation Diploma (equivalent in size to 1.5 A levels) or the Extended Certificate (equivalent in size to 1 A level).

I've tested that theory, and the Foundation Diploma will accept a "near pass" for Unit 2 without causing the overall grade to drop to a U. Instead you'd get a P (pass). A pass in the Foundation Diploma gets you just 24 UCAS points, unfortunately. It would be almost impossible to gain entry to a degree course (which I believe is you goal) with so few UCAS points.

I don't know what your plans were between now and the January resit of Unit 2, but can I suggest that they change to place a significant emphasis on attempting to pass this unit. In the Extended Diploma, you can fail all four optional units (Units 12, 13, 14 and 15) and still pass the BTEC overall - so if you can divert any effort you were planning on applying to those units to studying for Unit 2 instead, that would be worth doing.

Also, ask your college for help. That's what they're there for!

Reply 7

OP

Original post by DataVenia

That's unfortunate. I was so optimistic when I thought it might be Unit 4 you'd struggled with. Unit 2 is a "must be passed" unit. If you don't pass it, you get a U in the Extended Diploma as a whole. :eek:

I'm not sure what qualification your college are referring to when they say you "may get a qualification". The only thing I can think of is that your mark is in the grey area which is known as a "near pass" in world of BTECs. If you were to get a near pass (grade N) in Unit 2 then the grade calculator (mentioned above) says, "The learner will not achieve the licence to practice qualification ... and will be awarded the non-license to practice qualification".

From what I can gather the qualifications which confer the "licence to practice" are the Extended Diploma and the Diploma. If the message generated by the grade calculator is accurate, then this means you will receive either the Foundation Diploma (equivalent in size to 1.5 A levels) or the Extended Certificate (equivalent in size to 1 A level).

I've tested that theory, and the Foundation Diploma will accept a "near pass" for Unit 2 without causing the overall grade to drop to a U. Instead you'd get a P (pass). A pass in the Foundation Diploma gets you just 24 UCAS points, unfortunately. It would be almost impossible to gain entry to a degree course (which I believe is you goal) with so few UCAS points.

I don't know what your plans were between now and the January resit of Unit 2, but can I suggest that they change to place a significant emphasis on attempting to pass this unit. In the Extended Diploma, you can fail all four optional units (Units 12, 13, 14 and 15) and still pass the BTEC overall - so if you can divert any effort you were planning on applying to those units to studying for Unit 2 instead, that would be worth doing.

Also, ask your college for help. That's what they're there for!

Hi
Ive had a week break and took time to think things through..
One option is that i could start a course in health and social care for 2 years to reset my pathway to uni. Do you know anything about this course and if it has mandatory exams??

Reply 8