2025 Private A level Candidates

hi! don't know if this will be of use as i study at an online school however it's fairly similar so i'll share my experience anyway. i've been enrolled in it since 2021, all was fine until last year as i did bad for my y12 mocks, so i'm currently retaking the year (still enrolled in the school) but studying independently as their teaching methods just don't work on me!
revising on my own took getting used to. u have to be v organised and structure things well, obviously there's no one to explain anything so u'd have to be pretty determined or it won't work. i basically failed last year as i underestimated the huge difference between gcse's and a levels. this year i ended with predicted grades of AAAB so i'd say it's going pretty well. without the constraint of skl, u get to work at a pace that works for u and not the whole class which is great.
my major regret in transferring out of traditional school was the social life. i'm not a social person and pretty introverted, although i've made a few online friends, all my irl friends are back from when i went to normal school. i guess if ur social or attend clubs or extracurriculars this probably won't be an issue.
as for exam centres, i used tutors+exams for gcse's. they have a few centres around england and they'r easy to register with. i think i ended up only registering in jan-feb, so a few months before exams, and i had no issues however that was 2022 so i've no idea if things have changed since.
i think if u decide to be a private candidate then definitely plan and structure ur time well! it gets demotivating at times as u have no peer support and ur not around people studying the same as u. but there are a lot of benefits so if ur determined, hard working and don't mind the much reduced social aspect then u could 100% make it work.
however personally i preferred the social aspect and am trying to get back into normal school for y13

Heyy thanks for sharing your experience It's still very informative, and I'm glad it's working out for you. I'm introverted as well and find the school setting pretty overwhelming, though (partly for the reason I've taken time from school). I don't think I'd miss school itself since I have more friends outside of it and find tutors more helpful 1-1. It's still a big step for me doing this, but it's nice knowing someone doing it differently aswell to the traditional way. Thanks again !

Hi! First post here. Hope yall won't be too harsh lol. If anyone has experience as a private candidate, I have some questions to ask bc I'm considering it. I've taken long periods outside of school in the first place, and it might be more beneficial for me to sit a level privately. So, a few questions:
How are you now? What are you doing? Are you happy with that path?
Any regrets of anything you'd do differently? Satisfaction level, and how did you revise on your own?
How was/is your social life? Do you feel you used that time effectively?
Thank you for any replies. And for some extra info, I haven't applied to any exam boards yet and when I've check the websites 2026 timetables are not out yet so I'm not too sure when I should apply for the deadlines or when to book in for exam centres yet. If anyone has info about that, thank you again!
Have a good day/night