Home study? UCAS? A levels? Minimum reqs? *Head explodes* :o

[KLBethI17]

Hiya, Sorry if this seems a silly question or anything, but I'm only 17 so I don't really know how it works.

I left school last year and my GCSE grades weren't as good as they could of been, (who's are?) But really, they were quite bad, not because I couldn't of got higher grades, but because of personal circumstances I wasn't there much of the time.

I want to go to medical school, only because we need Biology and Chemstry at A level along with another A level I haven't got the minimum requirements. (To do A levels I think the minimum reqs are 5 GCSES grades A*-C.) I am resitting my GCSES in Maths and English this september, but I want to do a Homestudy A level in Biology, if I do this, will it get me onto A level Chemistry in college? And do medical schools take homestudy a levels? Also, do you get UCAS points for homestudy A levels.

Planning on getting mine from Oxford Open Learning.

Sorry again for all the questions, and by the way, Happy Easter!

Love from Me xx

[mussed]

Depends on your college what they let you on with. All A-Levels are equally valid, so that shouldn't matter - but I'd really try and convince someone to let you go straight to college and do them (so you get them all at one sitting) or do some sort of Access course. Look around, research the options.

[simisims]

I think the problem with homestudy is that med schools need references. And although they range from extra-curricular, you will probably need an academic reference too.

Hope things work out.

[pete1184]

Uni's normally ask for your A levels to all be completed in one sitting. Don't you have to be 19 to be accepted on a access course?

[simisims]

yeah you do but I assume the person in question intends to do some work experience until she will be eligible for the course.

[eek]

Med schools+UCAS will accept any A-level, regardless of how you achieved it. You should check with your local college(s) what their specific requirements are for a-level chem - they all vary. One of my local colleges want the following:

Entry requirements:
• GCSE A*-B in Chemistry, or grade BB in Double Science
• GCSE Maths and English A*-C

You do need to try and get a good academic reference (which you could probably get at college). There are a few med schools that don't consider references (or its very low in their priorities). Peninsula (pms), for example, do not look at references at all until the very end of considering your application, and even then its just to check that it doesn't say anything like "she is an axe murderer"...(My reference was from my ward manager.)

Is there any reason you don't want to go back to full-time school? Routes to med school have changed (access coures, OU credits etc.) so make sure you research before taking on a particular path.


Just incase you didn't know ICS will let you do A-level biology without any previous study: http://www.icslearn.co.uk/gcse-A-lev...level-biology/

[tinsel]

Hi, personally i would think it would be better for you to get your GCSE's and then apply to college to do your A-levels full-time. I think doing an A-level homestudy, especially a science, would have it's problems as for one, you need lab-work so you would probably have to find somewhere to do this. A-levels are not easy and by doing it at college you would have lots of support (teachers and fellow students) and this may enhance your end result. Some mature students entering medicine at a later stage in their lives do home study courses but that is a very different situation.
Do not feel you need to rush. Re-sitting exams is fine (lots of people including myself have had to resit for various 'very good' reasons). Once you have your GCSE's behind you you will be in a better position to do the A-levels. An important point also is that some unis specify that your a-levels need to have been done in 'one sitting'. So doing biology early may count against you.
In the future when you apply for medicine you will probably be asked about your resits but by that point you'll have proved your academic potential, and importantly your sheer determination and it should'nt count against you. What maybe of more use to you is starting to build up some work experience in your spare time.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Mistymaple]

You've also got to take into account your GCSE grades, since the universities do. Most require at least BB, normally AA, in double award or AAB in single sciences at GCSEs so if you haven't got those, you'd have to try and resit before applying. It may be a good idea to retake these anyway, since a lot of A Level Chem and Biol is just taking the GCSE stuff further. Good luck!

[KLBethI17]

wow, thanks very much everyone,

I was considering going to college to do double science at GCSE as well as maths and english, at the moment I'm working at level 3 for literacy and a level 2 for numeracy. So I'm not sure how that stands.

Trouble is I can't find any colleges or anything that offer double science at GCSE. I did find one but the college didn't really give a good interview, it was rather the assessments, then you had to go home.

I left school with GCSEs in

Art - C
Maths - E (1 mark away from a D)
English - C
English Literature - D
IT - D
Science - F


(I failed science because my teacher pushed me into Art at the time and the exams were so close together )


I'm starting some courses in Counselling Skills/Studies, Drug Awareness, I'm also learning British Sign Language.

The reason I am/was thinking of a homestudy course, is/was because I know that the entry reqs for chemistry are all high grades at GCSE, and I thought that having an A level would kinda rule out that requirement as it would be at a higher level.

I do know the GCSE stuff for science, I studied it loads, I just messed up around exam time. (I was predicted a B)

[simisims]

Did you have any extenuating circumstances?
I think resits are a good idea (GCSE) because I think in addition to access course you would need an appropiate level of maths and english. To do resits generally you need 1 C pass and the rest mainly Ds. I think that maybe at present you should work on your resits for the next year or so by the time you should be 18/19. Then you have the option of doing either A Levels or taking a year out to acumulate a relevant amount of work expererience so then you can apply for access courses.

I don't want to sound patronising but why do you want to study Medicine? There are many occupations in healthcare which dont have as many obstacles as medicine does so yeah you must have a pretty solid reason for wanting to study medicine.