How Achievable is A2HE '30 Level 3 Credits at Distinction - 15 at Merit'

Poll

Did you meet the 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction, 15 at Merit?

I am thinking of taking an A2HE course so I can get a place at my local university. They want the usual 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction, 15 at Merit entry requirement.

The problem is I cannot find information of how many get these grades. For A-Levels, I can see how many get each grade, but I cannot find a published % of those that get these levels.

Does anyone know where I can find this? I would not want to waste a year trying to get a grade that only 10% get, when I can just go to a university further away.

Reply 1

aspiringstudent7

Original post

by Tattersky

I am thinking of taking an A2HE course so I can get a place at my local university. They want the usual 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction, 15 at Merit entry requirement.
The problem is I cannot find information of how many get these grades. For A-Levels, I can see how many get each grade, but I cannot find a published % of those that get these levels.
Does anyone know where I can find this? I would not want to waste a year trying to get a grade that only 10% get, when I can just go to a university further away.

Hi, I am currently a distance learner who has taken year 12-equavalent qualifications currently on track to receive 45/45 Distinctions.

As a mature learner working a full-time job, it does get hard but I assure you that with hard work, open communication with your tutor (setting goals, aligning your expectations) and being resourceful, distinctions are definitely possible.

For my work, I leverage on podcast transcripts, indicative content provided by the creditor, tutor engagement and past marks as reference to know exactly what I need to achieve distinction.

Nevertheless, it is a daunting process studying while working and preparing your UCAS application, but it is definitely worthwhile if you are willing to put in the work! All the best :smile:

Reply 2

wiljl

Original post

by Tattersky

I am thinking of taking an A2HE course so I can get a place at my local university. They want the usual 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction, 15 at Merit entry requirement.
The problem is I cannot find information of how many get these grades. For A-Levels, I can see how many get each grade, but I cannot find a published % of those that get these levels.
Does anyone know where I can find this? I would not want to waste a year trying to get a grade that only 10% get, when I can just go to a university further away.

I can't give you specific numbers but I'm on access at the moment and we have a surprising number of people on track to complete the course with 45 credits at distinction. It's not easy but your offer is definitely achievable.

Reply 3

endlessFossil90

I find academics very difficult. I've just completed my course fully and ended with 30 credits at distinction level. I did the course around working full time with children and for a while, I was also doing a maths functional skills course at the same time. For the assignments I got merits on, there's only one where I thought I really dont know how I could have achieved higher as I felt it was the best work I could do. The other merits I had were due to silly mistakes made during a time that life was a bit chaotic and I was rushing or didn't read the assignment brief well enough. 30 credits at distinction is doable.

Reply 4

Anonymous1142233

Hi,
I'm also in a similar boat.We can find grade boundaries for past years for A level exams,but not much about the access courses.

Reply 5

Anonymous1142233

Original post

by wiljl

i'm also looking to start an access next year and would love to hear your experience.If your happy to share, what course are you studying ?

Reply 6

adhesive-bamboo

I've done access to higher education about 2-3 years ago. I'm now coming to the end of my 2nd year of university. It's completely possible to achieve 30:15 distinction:merit. I did A2HE in science, achieving 45 distinctions, and so did a few other students on the course. It takes a lot of effort, but it is entirely possible.

Reply 7

Anonymous1142233

Original post

by adhesive-bamboo

Hi,
I'm looking to do an access to HE engineering science and maths next year.
How did you find the tests and coursework or assignments on the course ?

Reply 8

adhesive-bamboo

Original post

by Anonymous1142233

Hi,
I'm looking to do an access to HE engineering science and maths next year.
How did you find the tests and coursework or assignments on the course ?

There was a lot of coursework, and I had 3-4 for one module. I had presentations, open book exams, essays, and lab reports. Interestingly, I did achieve merit in an exam, but because the rest of the coursework for that module was a distinction, it rounded up.

Reply 9

adhesive-bamboo

The content and assessments of A2HE will vary from institution to institution and course type. The coursework was generally easy stuff since it was taught in lessons, but they generally want you to go an extra mile for the distinction (for me I was using annotated diagrams, tables, detailed explanations and showing the calculations in steps etc.).