Exams
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There are a number of ways to do GCSEs.
1. Some colleges offer the opportunity for 16-year olds to do 5 GCSEs in a year. This is is fully funded.
2. Some HE families do GCSEs, or more likely, IGCSEs, by distance education through NEC, Oxford Open Learning, or other providers.
3. Some families simply buy the textbooks, work out what the youngster needs to know, and arrange to do the exam at a school or college as an external candidate.
Item 2 tends to get expensive if you're paying for a number of courses, plus you need to arrange for exams separately.
For item 3, the biggest cost is usually for the exams which are anywhere from £30 to £150
each. You can do a combination of both. English courses from Catherine Mooney, an HE mom who's also an examiner are very good.
An alternative to GCSEs and/or A-levels is courses from the Open University. Young applicants have to go through an interview process, but any courses worth 30 points or more are eligible for funding grants.
Grants are dependent on the youngster's income, not the parents. A lot of HE teens are using them for languages, as they're less hassle than GCSEs.
AQA Exam Board
Asdan
Cambridge International Exams
Catherine Mooney
CIE, IGCSE
Coursework Bank
Edexcel IGCSE
EO Guide to GCEs
Exams Together
Forest of Dean Online College
GCEs for Home Educators
GCE Revision Site
HE Exams Wiki Page
Hereford Duke of Edinburgh Award
ICS Home Learning
IGCSE Wikipedia
Interhigh
Little Arthur Independent School IGCSE HE Packs
Oxford Distance Learning College
Oxford Homeschooling
Oxford Open Learning
National Extension College GCE Correspondence Courses
NEC HE Page
University of Cambridge - IGCSEs
- - - - - - - - - - -
The cost of the courses normally just includes the teaching material, marking of the lessons and help with the coursework. It doesn't include the exam entry fees, or the centre fees if they charge them. So those are additional costs which need to be added on; the actual exam fees are about £25 per subject, but many centres add on an additional fee, which may be another £100 or more.
We have used Oxford Open Learning for geography GCSE, and are very happy with it. Dd (who is now 15) has previously taken maths, biology, English language and religious studies. We did IGCSE/O level to avoid the coursework without any distance learning courses - just a textbook, old papers and the syllabus, which is a far cheaper option.
Many people seem to have had problems with ICS, which is another distance learning provider, others I know have used NEC happily; we chose OOL instead of NEC because they offered a syllabus which was easier to find a local centre for. That is worth considering - many home educators do find tracking down a centre the biggest hurdle.
There are a number of ways to do GCSEs.
1. Some colleges offer the opportunity for 16-year olds to do 5 GCSEs in a year. This is is fully funded.
2. Some HE families do GCSEs, or more likely, IGCSEs, by distance education through NEC, Oxford Open Learning, or other providers.
3. Some families simply buy the textbooks, work out what the youngster needs to know, and arrange to do the exam at a school or college as an external candidate.
Item 2 tends to get expensive if you're paying for a number of courses, plus you need to arrange for exams separately.
For item 3, the biggest cost is usually for the exams which are anywhere from £30 to £150
each. You can do a combination of both. English courses from Catherine Mooney, an HE mom who's also an examiner are very good.
An alternative to GCSEs and/or A-levels is courses from the Open University. Young applicants have to go through an interview process, but any courses worth 30 points or more are eligible for funding grants.
Grants are dependent on the youngster's income, not the parents. A lot of HE teens are using them for languages, as they're less hassle than GCSEs.
AQA Exam Board
Asdan
Cambridge International Exams
Catherine Mooney
CIE, IGCSE
Coursework Bank
Edexcel IGCSE
EO Guide to GCEs
Exams Together
Forest of Dean Online College
GCEs for Home Educators
GCE Revision Site
HE Exams Wiki Page
Hereford Duke of Edinburgh Award
ICS Home Learning
IGCSE Wikipedia
Interhigh
Little Arthur Independent School IGCSE HE Packs
Oxford Distance Learning College
Oxford Homeschooling
Oxford Open Learning
National Extension College GCE Correspondence Courses
NEC HE Page
University of Cambridge - IGCSEs
- - - - - - - - - - -
The cost of the courses normally just includes the teaching material, marking of the lessons and help with the coursework. It doesn't include the exam entry fees, or the centre fees if they charge them. So those are additional costs which need to be added on; the actual exam fees are about £25 per subject, but many centres add on an additional fee, which may be another £100 or more.
We have used Oxford Open Learning for geography GCSE, and are very happy with it. Dd (who is now 15) has previously taken maths, biology, English language and religious studies. We did IGCSE/O level to avoid the coursework without any distance learning courses - just a textbook, old papers and the syllabus, which is a far cheaper option.
Many people seem to have had problems with ICS, which is another distance learning provider, others I know have used NEC happily; we chose OOL instead of NEC because they offered a syllabus which was easier to find a local centre for. That is worth considering - many home educators do find tracking down a centre the biggest hurdle.
posted by Carlotta @ 4:10 AM
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