confused about exams.

[montag]

I am thinking about exams for my 13 year old. I have found an exam centre that will take external candidates for IGCSE, they use edexcel, but I dont know which course to buy, keep hearing bad things about NEC and Oxford. Now I am wondering if I should skip GCSE and do Open University but I heard recently that this route may be closing down to Home ed kids, does anyone know anymore?
Any advice really appreciated.

You don't need to buy a course for IGCSEs, you just buy a textbook.

With the £300+ you would've spent on a course, you can pay for a few sessions with a tutor for tips or exam technique if you want.

Edexcel are owned by Pearson so the endorsed textbooks are published by companies such as Longman or Harper Collins.

If you put "IGCSE Edexcel textbook" into google you get some links.

Open University is different can of worms. New under-18 students will have to pay for their course and the under-18 funding might mean they can't get full student loan later (vast over-simplification, sorry!)

edyourself.org/articles/exams.php

Have you looked at Edexcel info for private candidates?

Another option would be to simply buy textbooks etc - Amazon has textbooks, revision guides, etc for EdExcel IGCSEs - and try working through them. With the books, plus talking through it with you and reading round the topics in library book or on the internet, I think a lot of subjects can be learned without a teacher.

It may depend a bit on the subject, and how much you or another adult is around to work through problems. Plus of course if learning mainly from a book is something he/she is comfortable with. Personally, I'd always choose to learn a new subject from a book, but others get more out of talking to a teacher or more practical ways of learning.

You could try it out for one subject and see if it seems to be working before deciding whether to stick with it.

What about if you're like me, though? Grandson is 13 and I want to get him started on GCSE Maths, but I'm rubbish at maths.

I looked at STuck on Homework last year, thought it was good.

www.stuckonhomework.com/

Stuck on homework provides the entire GCSE and IGCSE Maths curriculum in over 200, easy-to-follow, bitesize online video tutorials taught by an experienced Head of Maths. Our GCSE Maths Tutor provides homework and revision help for pupils and parents across the whole of the Maths curriculum.

Your own personal Maths tutor online
200+ GCSE Maths Video Lessons
200+ GCSE Maths exam Test Yourself questions

Thanks for that, Fiona:)

Thanks for your replies,

the subject is English, I think we need something external, we need to be accountable to someone to get me and her moving.

I think a book and an occasional tutor is something I will look into, we can start that and see how it goes.

This is the first exam we are attempting, hope it gets easier!