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Art in College

Could anyone tell me how art in college is different than gcses? I start in september and the teacher didnt give a very detailed description of the course? Are there any similarities in college and gcse art or is it all kinda different? Thank you! 😊

Reply 1

aspalax

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Hello! I would say it's similar to GCSE in how it's structured, yeah. Expect to still be doing your artist pages and artist versions, moodboards, reference photos and so on. There's a little bit more expected of you when it comes to showing your development and explaining your creative decisions - you might get asked to do different composition and colour variants, more planning work and so on - there'll be more of a focus on explaining why you chose design A over design B - that kind of thing. There's also just more independent study, there is usually an expectation of you to put in a few hours a week on top of your regular class time in independent work towards your coursework (...at least if you want to get a top grade!)

You might get some opportunities to use different media but it's less likely to be as directed and more likely it will be something you elect to do, if it's something your school has the facilities for (think lino printing, clay modeling, etc).

Exams (so I hear, anyway ... I didn't do mine due to Covid!) are also similar to GCSE exams in that you prepare work for it in advance, and then put together your final piece in exam conditions. You get a little bit longer than you get in GCSE in the A level exams. (usually 15 hours as opposed to the 10 at GCSE)

Reply 2

wolfsky42

I have never done art GCSE but I am about to finish BTEC art and design (not to be confused with A level art and design) at college so I will just tell you some key points I think of.

• On a Btec course you are continuously assessed meaning there never exams to do just a deadline in 6 months or so to meet and then after that deadline there will be another one. Also, you can often be working on two different assessments at the same time (possible with different deadlines)
• Very focus at different industries and getting a job (at lest for me) I have had several assessments called something like “personal progression” or “personal development” Where I would research jobs and a load of other similar stuff.
• In the second year of the course, we have done a lot of stuff to do with interviews for jobs but also for uni, as well as building portfolio.
• The criteria to be assessed (for me anyway) is AC1: Informing ideas, AC2: Problem solving, AC3: Technical skill, AC4: Professional practice and AC5: Communication.

I can add a link to a standard looking brief that I would get given if you like.
I am sure others though will be able to compare the two better, these are just some things I thought of.

(edited 11 months ago)

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