BTECs at college - Support thread 2

[TeenAndTween]

Following on from the 2015 thread to inform and support each other through the ups and downs of BTECs. Mainly aimed at y12/13 level, but BTECs alongside GCSEs more than welcome too. Plus anyone just considering BTECs and wanting information.

What I learned last year:

You have to hit the ground running as the very first piece of work may well count towards your final grade

DD's course has 3 options like this.

Subsidiary Diploma - 9 units (1 year, 9 units (5 units, then 4 more))
Diploma - 12 units total (2 year, 6 units each year)
Extended Diploma 18 units total (2 year, 9 units each year, 5 in first half of year, 4 in second half)

DD is doing the Diploma (2 A level equivalent), but the college ensures that they do all the 4 'compulsory' units in the first year so if someone drops out they can still qualify for the Subsidiary Diploma (1 A level equivalent?).

You pretty much have to pass every single unit in order to pass the whole thing. There are limited opportunities to re-submit, but there are some. The Pass criteria for DD's course are quite straightforward (if you can structure things properly which DD struggles with). The Merit criteria are harder, and the Distinction criteria need a good level of analysis (that DD doesn't have).

Each unit is made up of a number of Pass, Merit and Distinction criteria. To reach each level you have to meet all the criteria at that level. So if on your first assignment for a unit you miss a Merit criteria, you can't get higher than a pass for the unit (as far as I understand).

Each unit gives you a number of Points. For DD mainly it is 70 for a pass, 80 for a Merit and 90 for a Distinction. To Pass the whole thing she would need 12x70 points - 840, equivalent to EE A level grades. To get CC equivalent she needs 920 minimum. To get AA she would need 1000 points.

DD has up to 3 teachers at any time, each teaching a unit. They teach a bit, and then set an assignment. For a week or 2 they don't teach in some lessons and they use the time to get on with the assignment. Then more teaching and second assignment. Around 4 assignments per unit.

What you don't have to do is 'extra' exam practice, question practice etc. So all work is pretty much set. The students don't have to work out extras. (However exactly what is required for some criteria is about as clear as mud, and DD seems to get little/no feedback on assignments to help her improve for future ones. Sometimes there seem to be implicit requirements that DD doesn't catch on about.)

Disclaimer. I don't know if all BTECs are like DD's !

A couple of useful tables for reference:

Table showing UCAS points

A level equivalent UCAS

And finally the Pearson BTEC site from where you can find specs, unit descriptions, and pass/merit/distinction criteria.

(Praying for less of a roller-coaster this year).

Just to encourage anyone whose DC has swapped and missed a couple of weeks that DD did this last year and although the start was stressful it all came good in the end.

She started off scraping passes but later in the year she got the hang of it much more and ended up with 4 distinctions, 2 merits and 5 passes. The College made them do 2 units more than needed so they had some room to manoeuvre. She finished the year with a Distinction Merit on the 90 credit diploma which is the equivalent to 1.5 A levels. Why there are 2 grades I have no idea, there just are. We found the BTEC calculator was accurate in predicting her final grade.

She didn't seem to have many opportunities to resubmit as far as I could tell. Hers was structured differently to some on here. They would be set projects which were either one or two units and there was much less talk of assignments which was confusing at first as everyone else was talking assignments.

Although she didn't enjoy it much DD does admit it did really help her photography and she is having some success of building a small freelance business this year on the back of it, whilst studying something else. So for her there are already some quite tangible benefits and she has decided that photography is the way forward for her, despite saying she hated it at the end of the year.

No I had an app on my iPad that I downloaded -BTEC Grade Calculator by Benjamin Hall.

It made me sleep better at night at one point Draylon Good luck with it, I hope this year does turn out to be a turning point for him.

here is the grade calculator - at the bottom you pull down the tab for extended diploma and then the tab underneath for how many units it contains - just click on the 13

yes a module is the same as a unit - ds did the 18 unit ex dip but they studies 19 units so that there was a back up if one of optional in the 18 was marked down as a failure. Similarly the 13 unit is most likely a 12 unit one with one to spare. The calculator would work it out on the basis of a 2 yr course - the end of the first year is often the 90 credit diploma which you would have to pull a different tab down for. (Confusing I know)

Yes put in the P, M or D and the credits available (there are a few half units with half the credits) - the calculator will know a D is 8 M is 7 and P is 6 or whatever it is. I have never seen a raw score 17/20 given for a unit - all the marks for units have always been PM or D

This understanding marks and grades in btec might help. (no promises)

Just checked for you Draylon. My DD did a total of 19 units overall.

DS did 19 units but two of them were credits of 5 so still a total of 180 credits rather than having a fall back of an extra unit

chez nous we have been talking about units, generally meaning a 10 credit unit. This term DD is doing 2 x 5 credit units, but they are equivalent to one 10 credit unit. So she is doing 90 credits this year (hopefully).

yes, assignments (part of a unit) may not all have a distinction criteria. I've found the layout in the spec a pretty good guide. For DD's course some pass/merit criteria don't seem to lead on to a related distinction, so in that case an assignment wouldn't go up to D.

DD has just had an email accepting her to work experience. Yay! Shame it's one we might well need to drive her to though ... (unless she passes her test by May!)

Teen we were hoping dd would be driving by next week, but we've postponed her test until January, because she's just not ready.

DS2 won't be learning to drive for a few years yet. His ASD makes him rather immature for his age and he's pretty dyspraxic as well.

Definitely need to have a chat with college next term. I just don't feel like I'm in the loop enough. He's just informed me that he has an assignment to do over half term that he hasn't even started yet.

My DH has real brake pedals to stamp on when taking DD out. It's the only thing that is enabling not to turn into a nervous wreck.

I suspect DD had dance homework, because it's an inset day today and her entire dance class have met up at college. This is probably something they were supposed to start work on at least a week ago.

DD finished a couple of assignments but we agreed for her not to do much as she needed a break. So out of the 5 she had, she only has one left and that's not due for a week.

Hacked off with college.

They are so flipping unclear what is wanted for their assignments. A recent one 90% of the class got referrals because they hadn't included some stuff. If 90% miss something out I think that is more likely due to teaching / poorly worded assignment than student inability.

DD has an assignment at the moment. I can't make head or tail of what is wanted for the merit task. They may have given extra guidance verbally, (DD says not), but surely all key guidance should be written down, they know DD struggles to take in verbal stuff or make notes. DD is expecting to be told they 'can't help' if she asks for clarification. She's not asking how to do it, just trying to understand what they actually want!

In general hacked off as we were led to believe originally there would be a higher proportion of practical work. I would say that less than one tenth has been practical so far. If they had been clear on the high demands for writing (and mind reading) maybe DD wouldn't have done the course at all.

Assignment 2 for something was set and due before assignment 1 was returned. As she only passed 1 (due to issues on clarity above), all the work she did on 2 trying to reach merit& distinction criteria were a waste of time.

To cap it off they have sent out a letter about a trip so full of contradictions it makes you weep.

And relax