How does the education system in the UK work?

[user079622]

What is A level and GCSE in UK? Is this high school ?
They call college same as university?

 

[Vanadium 50]

What is A level and GCSE in UK? I

If you type that into Google, verbatim, here is what pops out. Verbatim.

GCSEs, or General Certificate of Secondary Education, are typically taken by students aged 14-16, while A-levels, or Advanced Level qualifications, are taken by students aged 16-18.

What didn't you understand?

 

[f95toli]

The UK system is quite complicated; and not everyone follows exactly the same path. There is also much more choice in terms of what you study even at an early age compared to most other countries.

That said, GCSEs can be thought of as the final part of the obligatory part of the education system. The GCSE exam results are e.g. what you would use when you apply to the next stage of your education. However, not everyone studies the same GCSE subjects (most students will do something like 5-6 subjects with English and math being mandatory, but some do more)
A-levels is a bit like high-school and the "usual" path if you want to attend university is to do A-levels. However, not everyone does so, and there are various other schemes.
The word "college" is used for several different things in the UK. It can be part of a university ( E.g. Oxford is divided into many different colleges), but there are also e.g. sixth form colleges where you can do A-levels. You would also attend a college if you want to do a BTEC instead of A levels. It is essentially just a place which offer higher education.

Again, it is a really messy and complicated system

 

[user079622]

The UK system is quite complicated; and not everyone follows exactly the same path. There is also much more choice in terms of what you study even at an early age compared to most other countries.

That said, GCSEs can be thought of as the final part of the obligatory part of the education system. The GCSE exam results are e.g. what you would use when you apply to the next stage of your education. However, not everyone studies the same GCSE subjects (most students will do something like 5-6 subjects with English and math being mandatory, but some do more)
A-levels is a bit like high-school and the "usual" path if you want to attend university is to do A-levels. However, not everyone does so, and there are various other schemes.
The word "college" is used for several different things in the UK. It can be part of a university ( E.g. Oxford is divided into many different colleges), but there are also e.g. sixth form colleges where you can do A-levels. You would also attend a college if you want to do a BTEC instead of A levels. It is essentially just a place which offer higher education.

Again, it is a really messy and complicated system

GCSE is mandatory for all, A level is not?

 

[gwnorth]

Yes, but you have to be in school until you're 18 so if you don't do A levels you're still required to do further education or training.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

 

[user079622]

Yes, but you have to be in school until you're 18 so if you don't do A levels you're still required to do further education or training.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

Only with A level you can go to university?

 

[gwnorth]

Only with A level you can go to university?

It used to be that way but I understand they've recently introduced a new pathway called BTEC.

https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advic...u-get-into-university-if-youre-studying-btecs

 

[Steve4Physics]

Only with A level you can go to university?

AFAIK for entrance to UK universities, it’s mainly A-levels but could can also be:
BTECs
Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers
Welsh Baccalaureate
International Baccalaureate
T-levels (only introduced in the last few years)

Different entry requirements apply to overseas students typically based on performance in their own country’s examination system.

There may be additional entrance tests for some courses and universities (e.g. medicine, Oxford, Cambridge).`

No doubt there are exceptons but I’d guess that covers well-over 90% of entrants.

 

[bhobba]

Only with A level you can go to university?

That is different for international students. You need to check the requirements for each country at the particular university.

An interesting university is the University of Buckingham:
https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/

Have a look at the entrance requirements for your country. UK three-year degrees are the equivalent of US 4 year degrees (strangely, Australian 3-year degrees are not). They do a UK 3-year degree in two years. So, you can do a US 4 year degree in two years. The entrance requirements are also interesting for US students. One year of college studies is one of the possible admission requirements. Using Dual Credit is now common in many US High Schools, or if you homeschool, you can often meet that by year 11, leaving just two years to get your degree (dual credit subjects are one semester but count as a year HS credit).

People here would likely be interested in computing or medicine.

Thanks
Bill