Can I do two GCSEs by May?

[IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece]

Have no GCSEs, not sure what my next career steps are but I think A maths and an English Lang GCSEs would be helpful. Have contacted a long distance learning college who have said I could start now to do exams in May but it’s “a huge amount of work” and they recommend delaying it until summer 2021 which I really don’t want to do. I think I should be fine but they seemed quite insistent it’s to much.

• I work 3 long (14h) days out of the house
• 2 days (10h) either from home or bits outside but rarely work 5 full days out the house
• No DC
• I don’t have a computer, I do have an iPad though

Writing this down, I should be fine but the reaction of the college is making me second guess it

You need to make sure it’s an accredited qualification and you sit an exam in a local college. Which is additional cost. I think the exam entry closes in January.

They are expensive online and some colleges offer free tuition, for those without basic maths and English

Have you looked at the level 2 maths for functioning skills rather than GCSE? Might be more doable.

Great idea but think it would be pretty challenging for anyone to achieve it in six months, especially given other commitments and if you have been out of education a while. Maybe a face to face session would work better for you, can you make an appointment at your local fe college for advice. You may be able to learn by both methods with tutor input there.

Definitely, this year I sat GCSE English Language and Literature - started in January and sat my exams in May/June

Thank you. Definitely some food for thought here

I was looking at doing it through the National Extension College. What should I be looking for to know it’s an accredited qualification?

MotherOfFiveCats that’s ace! Can I ask who you did it through?

That feels a bit rushed to me to be honest.

I'd talk to your local FE college about their level 2/3 provision for adults who don't have level 2/3 qualifications (GCSE is level 2 / A levels are level 3).

That way you can get proper advice on the best level 2/3 qualifications for your aspirations rather than getting some as hoc and risk not being able to get funded courses later.

And they will be free through a government funded provider.

Try your local FE college before committing to fees for distance learning. You would almost certainly need a computer for distance learning. Work out your own timetable in terms of when you could realistically fit study time in, because it does sound as though you might find it hard to find enough time.

I have a feeling that if you approach your local FE college they will want to (and be able to) assess your current skill level first. That would mean that they can more realistically advise how much time you are likely to need, and you can either go ahead with a plan for next year, or accept that the following year is a better bet with an understanding of why.

Good luck, hope you can find the right path and then keep moving along it!

Depends on what level you are now.
You write well, clearly and with good grammar, which is a good start.

Why don't you have a look at a couple of past papers with a local tutor and see what you think.

Do you have Adult Education locally? They may be able to help you too.

I think it depends on your existing level of skill. (My DD2 is y10.)

Maths GCSE: how are you with:

• fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios
• squares and square roots
• unit conversion eg litres to ml
• shape identification, areas or rectangles, triangle
• algebra
• reading and plotting graphs
• mean, median, mode, probability

If you are now recoiling in horror it will be a tough ask. If you are saying yes I'm OK with a fair amount of that then it will be a lot easier.

English language GCSE:

• What is your basic spelling, punctuation and grammar like
• Do you know what nouns, adverbs etc are
• Can you spot and name alliteration, metaphors etc
• Is your basic comprehension of new text OK, eg an article in The Times
• if you had to write a letter of complaint or a descriptive piece could you do it

English Language GCSE is pretty technical these days, you definitely need to be taught what they are looking for.

Also depends on the exam board - some are notoriously more difficult than others.
Schools often switch exam boards to boost results

Look on the national database for accredited qualifications - check the exam board and if it’s. qualification rather than an award for example

You'll never know if you don't try. Have a go, give it your best shot. Worst case scenario is you've had a practice and you sit the exam.again next time for a better grade. Best case scenario you pass first time. Good luck.

I should also add, if you're going to sit the GCSE English language then you probably want to be confident you'll get a 5. A 4 seems to be mixed in terms of whether people want it or not.

Check which exam boards are used and to add to Teen's excellent post, be aware that analysing 19th century non fiction texts is also part of Language GCSE. They're tricky because they're often not as full of obvious devices as the modern texts.
I'm not putting you off by the way, just hoping to help you make an informed decision.

Download past papers, answer the questions under exam conditions at home, mark the paper and then you will get an idea of how close you are at the grade you want. Boundaries are online to grade your papers. Check with the college what exam board they use.

Yes you can, and plenty of home - educated teenagers have done exams over a similar timescale and done well. I've spent 10 years in home ed exams support and in this situation I'd recommend :

1. Maths - get a textbook and/or an online learning programme eg Conquer Maths or Maths 2XL. If you're motivated you'll make much faster progress like this than using a distance learning course. There are some great free resources for maths GCSE. You could do this using a £20 textbook and free online resources, plus your exam fees. Maths resources for GCSE.

1. English - a distance learning course may well be beneficial if you don't do a college course. Fast turnaround is going to be crucial for you and DL courses are only as good as the tutor you get assigned, so talk to several and ensure that you will be able to switch tutors if the first one is slow to mark work. Or you can use a local tutor as needed, of course.

1. Local college courses are unlikely to be much use to you as they've started and tend to target low grades and to be slower-paced. However, if you can get onto one for English GCSE then this has advantages eg they'll arrange the exam, and you'd need to work independently to make progress & extra sessions with a tutor would probably help.

1. Adults of any age who don't have maths and English GCSEs can usually get these free as part of the adult education entitlement. If you are under 24 then you are entitled to free education up to the equivalent of 5 GCSEs and 2 full A-levels. If you're 24 and unemployed then you will still be eligible and iirc this eligibility can go up to age 28 in some circumstances.

1. Exam options - look at the HE Exams Wiki and read the Quick Start Guide, then Finding an Exam centre. Although this is aimed at parents who are arranging exams for teenagers, the information and process will be the same for you.

If you're not at college, you take exams as an external (private) candidate. For English, most in your situation will take English IGCSE (International GCSE) rather than regular GCSE, because there's a speaking test in GCSE English which has to be recorded and exam centres won't normally do this for external candidates.

Yes you could do it. If you give five hours on each of your non-working days and can afford a good tutor for each subject an hour a week. Get the best advice from current teachers of gcse maths and English. Pay for a few assessments and revision guides. You’ll likely enjoy the experience.

I certainly hope so as I plan on doing English language, maths and science. I found a local upper school that will take me as an external candidate and plan to self study until I hit a tricky bit when I will use a tutor. I'm almost 40, with 4 children at home and work as a childminder. But I only graduated from university in 2018 so have recent study experience and can work to deadlines.

Look up Corbett maths for maths doing GCSE. It has free worksheets and videos. Try those and see how you do. You will need to look at which topics are on the higher paper and which are foundation. But the list given above by teenplus twenties is pretty accurate as to the foundation papers.