English and Maths GCSEs from Home
Discussion
Guys, Could do with some help for the Mrs
She got Grade D GCSEs in Maths and English back in the day, and now needs to get these up to Grade C to get into the university course she want next year.
She had been working towards NVQ Level 2 in these as they were supposed to be equivalent, however all the local universities have just now changed their criteria and will only accept GCSEs.
Phoning around the local colleges, they are all booked out now.
So Home study is the next option. She's not really confident enough to do it herself and just sit the GCSEs at a school, so will need to go some kind of course.
Can anyone recommend a decent Home study GCSe course/company?
She got Grade D GCSEs in Maths and English back in the day, and now needs to get these up to Grade C to get into the university course she want next year.
She had been working towards NVQ Level 2 in these as they were supposed to be equivalent, however all the local universities have just now changed their criteria and will only accept GCSEs.
Phoning around the local colleges, they are all booked out now.
So Home study is the next option. She's not really confident enough to do it herself and just sit the GCSEs at a school, so will need to go some kind of course.
Can anyone recommend a decent Home study GCSe course/company?
Hi
I was in the same position. I also had D grades in both English and Maths and decided to improve them earlier this year. I enquired at my local college last October but I was too late and the course was already oversubscribed, so I looked into home study.
By mid November I noticed ICS had a special offer on for GCSE English and decided to sign up. Although it was still quite expensive, they were able to check and authorise the coursework which would have been quite awkward and probably costly otherwise. I gather they now offer an IGCSE instead though, which has no coursework but probably has more exams.
Personally, I felt that although my tutor was helpful if required, I wouldn't say I was taught and I'm not sure I could have justified the cost if there was no coursework to be signed off. It's not really a criticism as such but if there's no coursework it would be much cheaper and you'd probably do just as well to buy a good course-book. Regardless of which home study company you choose, the majority of the work is likely to be mostly self taught though.
As there was no coursework for Maths, I decided to completely go it alone using a course-book, the 'MathsWatch' disc (which was excellent and I thoroughly recommend) and plenty of past papers.
I preferred teaching myself Maths and actually quite enjoyed it because there is generally a right or wrong answer and I was therefore able to know if I was doing it correctly or not. Conversely, I found English a fair bit more difficult: I found what was required of my written work to be rather ambiguous without guidance from a teacher, I felt I lacked imagination when thinking quickly in the exams and I simply didn’t find it very interesting.
I started seriously in January, spending just a few hours studying for them each week and my old school agreed to let me sit the exams in May and June. I only got a C in English which I was slightly disappointed about and a B in Maths but I was satisfied given the time it took etc.
Another potential option is to try the Open University. I don't know about English but I know some of their entry level Maths courses are equivalent to GCSEs and should be accepted by most Universities (it's quite pricey though iirc).
Good luck in whatever though,
Lee
I was in the same position. I also had D grades in both English and Maths and decided to improve them earlier this year. I enquired at my local college last October but I was too late and the course was already oversubscribed, so I looked into home study.
By mid November I noticed ICS had a special offer on for GCSE English and decided to sign up. Although it was still quite expensive, they were able to check and authorise the coursework which would have been quite awkward and probably costly otherwise. I gather they now offer an IGCSE instead though, which has no coursework but probably has more exams.
Personally, I felt that although my tutor was helpful if required, I wouldn't say I was taught and I'm not sure I could have justified the cost if there was no coursework to be signed off. It's not really a criticism as such but if there's no coursework it would be much cheaper and you'd probably do just as well to buy a good course-book. Regardless of which home study company you choose, the majority of the work is likely to be mostly self taught though.
As there was no coursework for Maths, I decided to completely go it alone using a course-book, the 'MathsWatch' disc (which was excellent and I thoroughly recommend) and plenty of past papers.
I preferred teaching myself Maths and actually quite enjoyed it because there is generally a right or wrong answer and I was therefore able to know if I was doing it correctly or not. Conversely, I found English a fair bit more difficult: I found what was required of my written work to be rather ambiguous without guidance from a teacher, I felt I lacked imagination when thinking quickly in the exams and I simply didn’t find it very interesting.
I started seriously in January, spending just a few hours studying for them each week and my old school agreed to let me sit the exams in May and June. I only got a C in English which I was slightly disappointed about and a B in Maths but I was satisfied given the time it took etc.
Another potential option is to try the Open University. I don't know about English but I know some of their entry level Maths courses are equivalent to GCSEs and should be accepted by most Universities (it's quite pricey though iirc).
Good luck in whatever though,
Lee
You may be able to sit an exam at a local school, if the timings fall into their exam schedules. My brother self-taught A level biology for uni and asked a local secondary school if he could sit in, which he could. They charged a small administration fee for submitting his papers and processing results etc.
If you consider this approach make sure you're studying for the right exam paper though! Different schools will use different exam providers.
If you consider this approach make sure you're studying for the right exam paper though! Different schools will use different exam providers.
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