The Student Room Group

T levels

I applied for A level math, computer science and physics this September. However, now I'm starting to doubt my decision and perhaps I should have picked the T level, digital production, design and development because it will only focus on computer science. I was wondering if anyone can share their experiences. And if I do pick the T level will I be able to easily progress to higher education or higher apprenticeship in a computer science related department?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Original post by Deerfox
I applied for A level math, computer science and physics this September. However, now I'm starting to doubt my decision and perhaps I should have picked the T level, digital production, design and development because it will only focus on computer science. I was wondering if anyone can share their experiences. And if I do pick the T level will I be able to easily progress to higher education or higher apprenticeship in a computer science related department?
Any advice will be appreciated.

Visit some uni web pages and see what their entry requirements are for a Computer Science degree. You will find that all of the better ones require A levels Maths - even if you have the equivalent of three A levels via T levels or BTECs.

For Computer Science, your transition to higher education will be easier with A levels (well, A level Maths at least).

Reply 2

Original post by DataVenia
Visit some uni web pages and see what their entry requirements are for a Computer Science degree. You will find that all of the better ones require A levels Maths - even if you have the equivalent of three A levels via T levels or BTECs.
For Computer Science, your transition to higher education will be easier with A levels (well, A level Maths at least).


The school that does the T level also requires you to do A level maths or AS maths with the T level depending on what you get for your Gcse results so either way I'm still going to have to do maths.

Reply 3

Original post by Deerfox
I applied for A level math, computer science and physics this September. However, now I'm starting to doubt my decision and perhaps I should have picked the T level, digital production, design and development because it will only focus on computer science. I was wondering if anyone can share their experiences. And if I do pick the T level will I be able to easily progress to higher education or higher apprenticeship in a computer science related department?
Any advice will be appreciated.

Hii,
I just completed my T-Level Digital Production Design and Development exams and am waiting for results day in August.

In terms of what I thought of the course and recommendations, I enjoyed the content and teaching style in my college. It is quite content heavy, being worth 3 A-Levels, and the programming languages/frameworks you learn depend on your college/sixth form and what they choose to teach. If you know you like computer science, enjoy it and can put in the effort of learning different languages, it is a great opportunity to explore different areas. The placement feature is really useful in gaining some confidence, mine was based in a digital marketing agency where we were encouraged to do a lot of speaking and collaborating with clients. Although I wasn't really interesting in marketing, its given me skills i can now put on my CV.

To answer your questions on higher education and apprenticeships, most universities have now started accepting T-Levels while others don't yet, so i guess its a case of what university you want to go. For example University of Manchester currently does not accept the qualification. I applied to uni as a backup choice, in case I didn't get apprenticeship offers and received all 5 offers. To get a higher or degree apprenticeship is hard enough with A-levels and applying while studying the t-level qualification may have affected how employers look at your application. I cant say much from personal experience as I applied to many and got rejected quite a lot (rejected offers never gave a reason after i completed multiple stages of assessments) so cant say how the t-level looks to employers. Having the placement experience also helps out when asked in video interviews.

To end, i think if your aim after college is uni, you would easily progress onto this, providing you can cope with the fast pace of the T-Level and get the grades. however, with apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships, they are competitive as is, so I would say T-levels place you in a better situation in terms of experience to apply. When making the choice, make sure you're sure you enjoy computer science and want to stay in the computer science sector, as a-levels give you a wider scope if you change your mind, while t-levels are more specialised in just one subject.

hope that helps

Reply 4

Original post by aminazam
Hii,
I just completed my T-Level Digital Production Design and Development exams and am waiting for results day in August.
In terms of what I thought of the course and recommendations, I enjoyed the content and teaching style in my college. It is quite content heavy, being worth 3 A-Levels, and the programming languages/frameworks you learn depend on your college/sixth form and what they choose to teach. If you know you like computer science, enjoy it and can put in the effort of learning different languages, it is a great opportunity to explore different areas. The placement feature is really useful in gaining some confidence, mine was based in a digital marketing agency where we were encouraged to do a lot of speaking and collaborating with clients. Although I wasn't really interesting in marketing, its given me skills i can now put on my CV.
To answer your questions on higher education and apprenticeships, most universities have now started accepting T-Levels while others don't yet, so i guess its a case of what university you want to go. For example University of Manchester currently does not accept the qualification. I applied to uni as a backup choice, in case I didn't get apprenticeship offers and received all 5 offers. To get a higher or degree apprenticeship is hard enough with A-levels and applying while studying the t-level qualification may have affected how employers look at your application. I cant say much from personal experience as I applied to many and got rejected quite a lot (rejected offers never gave a reason after i completed multiple stages of assessments) so cant say how the t-level looks to employers. Having the placement experience also helps out when asked in video interviews.
To end, i think if your aim after college is uni, you would easily progress onto this, providing you can cope with the fast pace of the T-Level and get the grades. however, with apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships, they are competitive as is, so I would say T-levels place you in a better situation in terms of experience to apply. When making the choice, make sure you're sure you enjoy computer science and want to stay in the computer science sector, as a-levels give you a wider scope if you change your mind, while t-levels are more specialised in just one subject.
hope that helps


Hi thanks so much for your help and experience. I am thinking of perhaps doing an apprenticeship or college when I complete 6th form do you think a T level will be favoured more than A level because of the work placement?

Reply 5

Original post by Deerfox
Hi thanks so much for your help and experience. I am thinking of perhaps doing an apprenticeship or college when I complete 6th form do you think a T level will be favoured more than A level because of the work placement?


And if I do a T level will I be able to do any career in computer science for example networking and cyber security or will I be forced to stay within programming (which I don't mind) because I'm not sure if the course covers networks, thanks for your help.

Reply 6

Original post by aminazam
Hii,
I just completed my T-Level Digital Production Design and Development exams and am waiting for results day in August.
In terms of what I thought of the course and recommendations, I enjoyed the content and teaching style in my college. It is quite content heavy, being worth 3 A-Levels, and the programming languages/frameworks you learn depend on your college/sixth form and what they choose to teach. If you know you like computer science, enjoy it and can put in the effort of learning different languages, it is a great opportunity to explore different areas. The placement feature is really useful in gaining some confidence, mine was based in a digital marketing agency where we were encouraged to do a lot of speaking and collaborating with clients. Although I wasn't really interesting in marketing, its given me skills i can now put on my CV.
To answer your questions on higher education and apprenticeships, most universities have now started accepting T-Levels while others don't yet, so i guess its a case of what university you want to go. For example University of Manchester currently does not accept the qualification. I applied to uni as a backup choice, in case I didn't get apprenticeship offers and received all 5 offers. To get a higher or degree apprenticeship is hard enough with A-levels and applying while studying the t-level qualification may have affected how employers look at your application. I cant say much from personal experience as I applied to many and got rejected quite a lot (rejected offers never gave a reason after i completed multiple stages of assessments) so cant say how the t-level looks to employers. Having the placement experience also helps out when asked in video interviews.
To end, i think if your aim after college is uni, you would easily progress onto this, providing you can cope with the fast pace of the T-Level and get the grades. however, with apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships, they are competitive as is, so I would say T-levels place you in a better situation in terms of experience to apply. When making the choice, make sure you're sure you enjoy computer science and want to stay in the computer science sector, as a-levels give you a wider scope if you change your mind, while t-levels are more specialised in just one subject.
hope that helps


that was useful thanks, would you recommend it to others?

Reply 7

Original post by aminazam
Hii,
I just completed my T-Level Digital Production Design and Development exams and am waiting for results day in August.
In terms of what I thought of the course and recommendations, I enjoyed the content and teaching style in my college. It is quite content heavy, being worth 3 A-Levels, and the programming languages/frameworks you learn depend on your college/sixth form and what they choose to teach. If you know you like computer science, enjoy it and can put in the effort of learning different languages, it is a great opportunity to explore different areas. The placement feature is really useful in gaining some confidence, mine was based in a digital marketing agency where we were encouraged to do a lot of speaking and collaborating with clients. Although I wasn't really interesting in marketing, its given me skills i can now put on my CV.
To answer your questions on higher education and apprenticeships, most universities have now started accepting T-Levels while others don't yet, so i guess its a case of what university you want to go. For example University of Manchester currently does not accept the qualification. I applied to uni as a backup choice, in case I didn't get apprenticeship offers and received all 5 offers. To get a higher or degree apprenticeship is hard enough with A-levels and applying while studying the t-level qualification may have affected how employers look at your application. I cant say much from personal experience as I applied to many and got rejected quite a lot (rejected offers never gave a reason after i completed multiple stages of assessments) so cant say how the t-level looks to employers. Having the placement experience also helps out when asked in video interviews.
To end, i think if your aim after college is uni, you would easily progress onto this, providing you can cope with the fast pace of the T-Level and get the grades. however, with apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships, they are competitive as is, so I would say T-levels place you in a better situation in terms of experience to apply. When making the choice, make sure you're sure you enjoy computer science and want to stay in the computer science sector, as a-levels give you a wider scope if you change your mind, while t-levels are more specialised in just one subject.
hope that helps

Hello, well done for getting 5 offers, would you mind saying which unis these are for? My son has just finished year 12 doing the Digital Design/Production T Level and is still deciding whether to focus on uni or degree apprenticeships.

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