How to do nursing without GCSEs?

[BetterFutureHope]

Hi all,

After many years of battling mental health and looking after a family member, I feel like I’ve finally made the decision that I wish to pursue adult nursing. The big problem is that I was a horror at school (a lot of truanting due to multiple things) and the entry requirement for uni is 5 GCSEs at grade C or above, I got 2 at grade C or above (English and triple science) but that was nearly 18 years ago so I have none of the results anyway, I also did functional skills in maths at college but again don’t have the proof any more. I just wondered if anyone has been in the same situation and managed to get on to nursing and how they did this? I’ve tried asking nurses I know but they’ve had no idea as they have the grades already. I’ve researched for hours and I mean HOURS online and it all seems impossible. I know that access to nursing is a college course some people do but again when I’ve looked you need AT LEAST the functional skills or GCSEs in maths and English and I have no proof of either and that also doesn’t solve the other missing GCSEs (5 at C and above required for uni). Sorry for the long post, I’m just extremely passionate about it and thanks for reading 😊

When you apply to adult education they can search your individual
Learning record and view your academic achievements (within limitations on date).

If you have achieved functional skills qualifications, they will be able to
See this.

You can also apply to the awarding body for a copy of your certificates, if you know who it was (Pearson, Edexcel etc) although this is about £40 or so

You may be worrying about nothing, check the requirements for the course and if you have them apply

If you don't, speak to the admissions team about if you can do functional skills alongside the course or if it's needed before

I did email a college about an access course and explained I had the relevant functional skills to start but that I couldn’t provide the certificate and could I study alongside if need be and they said they would need to see proof before I start :( unfortunately I genuinely can’t remember who the exam board was for them, certain parts of my memory are poor from around that time. Feel like it’s not achievable to be honest. I have just seen another uni further away with less entry requirements but I would still have to do the access course first.

My wife initially planned to go into nursing. She had D to E GCSES roughly and some practical courses city and guilds etc. She did a college level pre access course part time which included functional skills maths and retaking English GCSE. She then went onto an access course. After a long slog she realised her health would not allow her to do nursing. She went on to do a social work degree and with support/ adjustments for suspected autism she got a 2:1 degree. She's now successfully working as a social worker and just passed a panel to demonstrate that she meets the standard for an experienced worker. She would have been able to qualify for nursing through the same route although may have needed the GCSE maths given the maths involved in charting, measuring etc. The easiest way is to look at the course you want to do and the entry requirements they are asking for. And also contact the mature students department for assistance. I got on my degree with an nvq and one a Level from a night class although I had good GCSEs. I felt people who had done the access course were better prepared for the academic standard needed. If you had that option I'd go for it

Your school/ college may also have a record of your qualifications or they can tell you the exam board so you can contact them direct.
You should also be able to do the functional skills qualifications alongside the access course.
I would firstly recommend that you get some experience of working in a caring role. This is an important part of the requirements for a nursing degree.
Don't give up it's all achievable!

It’s an absolute pain but you could maybe have a google at the local authority where you went to school to start with ( had to do this)

i don’t know what it’s like now but my history is:

qualified as a nurse (GCSEs and alevels) (25 yrs ago)

left to have children (didn’t re register for 10 yrs)

wanted to train as a midwife

was asked by uni to do a 2nd yr module to prove academic ability (cost about £900)..got an A

got on course but they still wanted GCSEs results despite having a bachelors in adult nursing…with pin and registration details and references…still the flipping GCSEs!!

@easilydistracted1 your wife sounds like she was in a very similar position to me, right down to the health side so that was actually really helpful and gave me hope. I don’t have my heart necessarily set on adult nursing, I just am really really passionate about helping people and it’s something I get joy from so something in that field would be great either way. Thank you :)
@veryfondoftea I have worked in care for years previously, I worked as a PA for a complex care patient for 3 years until he passed and I have to say it’s the job I’ve enjoyed the most out of any job I have. I’m currently helping to care for my dad who is on palliative care so options are somewhat limited at the minute anyway but I’m daring to think of the future for distraction at least. Thank you :)

Do you remember the college you did the functional skills certificate at? Ring them up, they should have a record of it.

@HaggisHhahaha yeah I’m kind of regretting the belief that I’ve always had that ‘there are some very successful people in the world who don’t have gcses’….this is true of course that there are people who are worth millions who left school unable to read and write but GCSEs definitely have their place haha particularly if you want to be in charge of someone’s health and life….who knew 😅

Re-do Maths and English functional skills / GCSE at college - this is free and will get you back into the swing of studying. You could start this September. Then apply for an Access course to start September 2025. Then apply for uni.

@BetterFutureHope that was what was good thing about her access course. She did health and social care and so it was relevant to a lot of courses and she decided as she learnt more on different topics. She has a degenerative disc condition which is ironically either caused or exacerbated by too many years care work in the days where manual handling was very common. So it's been a good way for her to change careers. She needed the right college (offshoot from a university) and right employer and reasonable adjustments but its worked out really well for her (she now officially has an autism diagnosis and the disc condition has progressed to some osteoarthritis). The access course was funded by a loan that was cancelled once she got her degree qualification. Although still has the degree loan to pay off. Yours isn't an unusual background for an access course but if you can get a couple of GCSEs then do access course that may be more practical. They are usually funded if you don't already have them and are more widely accepted than functional skills at unis. Either way further study before an access course is probably a good idea if you are rusty they can be really intense

Can you take an Access to Nursing course. You may need to resit Functional Skills level 2 alongside.

Contact your old Secondary School and the College they will know which exam boards you would have been with and then you can contact them and buy the ££££ certificates

I'd have a very good think before going into Nursing as to whether your MH is robust enough if you have previously had challenges and think of the best ways to protect it as nursing is very demanding.

Also whilst doing your degree it's worth reviewing why school was so challenging to result in the behaviour that it did and whether you feel there are any undiagnosed issues you may have that might benefit from additional support.

This caught me out too. I applied for nursing in 2016 and was turned down due to only having 4 GCSEs (I only took 4, complex home life and moved countries), despite having a higher level qualification (Cert.HE/1st year of a degree done with OU). They changed the rule from 4 to 5 I think as when I first looked into it I'm sure it was 4. I did a Chemistry iGCSE in a few months, by studying the textbook, watching YouTube videos and sitting the exam at a local secondary school. It was a pain, but I was determined. I started my nursing degree that year and have now been qualified for nearly 5 years.

If you did triple science, do you have 3 grades for that so it counts as 3? If so, you'd only need maths.
Getting the original certificates is possible, contact the school.

@titchy I have looked in to doing functional skills but there doesn’t seem to be any near me that do it oddly? I’ve searched the college websites and the only place I can think after that is distance learning and that’s not free unfortunately.
@easilydistracted1 your comments have boosted me, thank you 😊
@LIZS i have contacted my local college that is doing this course and they said I need to already have the functional skills done.
@Singleandproud yes I do question sometimes whether it’s a sensible decision as I know how difficult nursing can be from friends/family in the role, however, I truly believe that this may be something that actually keeps me on a level because I will have that sense of pride and achievement and as cliche as it sounds I genuinely am at my happiest when I’m helping people! I ran straight to help a woman hit by a car recently and it didn’t remotely phase me, so I like to think I could do it without a negative impact. I know it won’t all be smooth sailing but I would never know until I try. School wasn’t difficult, I was expected academically to do well at my secondary school but then due to a dysfunctional home life, I skived a lot, got in with the wrong crown (cheesy but true) and just did not give a hoot about school or anything in it! It was only a couple of months before my GCSEs that I ditched those friends and started trying again but unfortunately it was already too late.
@RagzRebooted ooh I don’t know if it counts as 3 you know? I’m going to ring the school tomorrow and see if they can at least help me with what exam board it was and also ring my college for info about the functional skills course I did. Will update tomorrow. Thanks everyone :)

Triple science definitely counts as 3!

Good luck op

If it was triple science you will have separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics grades. If it was double then you will have still studied the three strands but less content, you'll have had fewer exams and the grades would have been averaged and you'll have received something like BC/ CC/CD as grades.

https://www.oaklands.ac.uk/course/bpp2matp-1-functional-skills-maths-distance-learning/

Have a look here, annoyingly it doesn’t have the costs but would be worth enquiring. Also states it could take as little as 12 weeks to gain your qualification.

Is there not an access to healthcare course at a local college? They are specifically designed for mature students with no formal qualification. You’d need to get say a distinction in all the modules then that would get you on to the degee.

I know a hairdresser who completed that course then was offered a place at uni to study midwifery.

Isn’t there also an apprenticeship where you start at the bottom but work your way up?

That is bonkers!! Asking for your GCSE’s when you’ve already completed your degree in nursing. No wonder the NHS is the way it is, if red tape like that is anything to go by.

Look at different university entry requirements. Our local university has no formal entry requirements for studying nursing with an extra foundation year.

Access to nursing course will usually only specify the English as an entry requirement and then do the maths as a resit. Make sure you check all the local colleges as this is definitely the case where I work and you would be welcome on a course with your GCSEs

You should not need 5 GCSEs if you do the access to nursing / healthcare course.

Functional Skills are usually available to take with very short notice. Ask at your local college. Some access courses allow you to take the GCSEs alongside the access course.

You could also try the OU https://ounews.co/around-ou/university-news/open-university-and-fe-colleges-level-2-functional-skills/

Are you sure you want to be a nurse? Working as a health care assistant might be more in line with what you want.

@Fluffywigg It's not just nursing. I did two lots of teacher training, one for FE and a PGCE for working in schools.

For the FE one I had to take functional skills English and maths and for the PGCE I had to take tests that assess teachers are competent in English and maths.

Even if you degree is English or maths.

You can definitely do functional skills alongside Access, though I appreciate some colleges may have different rules. But I have (nursing degree) students who did both in the year before coming to uni. Though hopefully you can get evidence of your previous qualification somehow. You said you emailed a college, it could be a fairly standard admin reply you got back, can you find the contact details of the person in charge of the Access course and contact them?

And there definitely universities which accept students with 3 gcses (or equivalent, inc functional skills) and then Access.

I think it’s really worth considering if you have the academic capacity to do a nursing degree? There are plenty of other roles that you may be able to get into that will give you the job satisfaction without having to get through the academic barriers. Have you spoken to your local trusts as there’s different routes available these days at all levels up to degree apprenticeships.

She'll only know that by doing the Access course, she will either get the grades for uni or she won't. Just because someone did not achieve well at 16yo does not mean that they're not capable of doing well in something years down the line when they may be more motivated/interested/work harder.