BTEC award/certificate

Former Member

Hello peeps, I've recently got my result back from my BTEC award and i got a merit which I was very happy about, this is equivalent to 80 UCAS points, I'm taking the certificate next year and it says that when you complete that you get a result as PP, MP, MM, DD, I wondered if thats with the BTEC award included like i got a merit with my award and say i get a merit with my certificate does that mean i get a MM overall in the certificate, or do I get a merit for my award(which i already have), and then with my certficate the results are different, e.g. i get a MM thats only the certificate and not including what I did in the award?

sorry if i confuse anyone :razz:

Former Member

no, the course you have just finished will have no bearing on the course your btec national certificate (i think thats what you were asking?)
May i ask, what it is you are planning tpo do after you finish the BNC course? if you're hoping to go to uni, take a BND (BTEC National Diploma) course instead, its a bit more work but its still the same level and counts for a lot more points.
I finished a BND in IT practitioners last year and passed with an overall grade of MMM - which i think is the equivalent to about 160 ucas points. one of my mates on the course opted half way through the second year to downgrade his course to a BNC because he couldnt be bothered to do the work and wasnt planning on going to uni, bit of a mistake imo but each to their own

Former Member

bit confused by your reply icey?

are you trying to say that a btec national diploma is the equivalent to a degree? because if so its not. I took a national diploma before uni, instead of doing a levels as it appealed to me more, then i did a bachelors at uni straight after.

but if ive got the wrong end of the stick please excuse me :angel:

Former Member

:eek2: how did you come to that from my response?
No, i know its not the equivalent to a degree, what i was saying is that if the op is going to take a btec national certificate course, they might as well take a btec national diploma course instead because its only slightly more work and its worth more ucas points...

Former Member

icey wrote:

:eek2: how did you come to that from my response?
No, i know its not the equivalent to a degree, what i was saying is that if the op is going to take a btec national certificate course, they might as well take a btec national diploma course instead because its only slightly more work and its worth more ucas points...

ha oops sorry!

what can i say, im not with it today

Former Member

ye I do want to go uni after this year, so next september what are the entry requirements for a BTEC diploma? dont I have to do the BTEC certificate?

Former Member

The entry requirements depend on what course it is you want to do. If you've already done a related course then you're pretty much set i think.
Normally it will depend on the discrepency of the tutors teaching on the course for who gets in.
For my course i was supposed to have a C grade at GCSE in english and in maths, but i had neither and i still got on the course. I think it was because i could prove i knew a lot about the course subject already so they could tell i wasnt going to struggle.

ETA: most BND courses are 2 years. Theres a lot of work to be done in that time though!

Former Member

icey wrote:

ETA: most BND courses are 2 years. Theres a lot of work to be done in that time though!

:yes: national diplomas dont get half the credit they deserve. worked my arse off for mine, well worth it though.

Former Member

I wana do a business course e.g. business with marketing or business with finance at Brighton, I'm the same as u as in i haven't got an english grade C, which is what they ask for their, so hopefuly il be able to get in somehow, specially if I'm able to prove what i know about the subject at hand

Former Member

a word of advice for the op, look at what uni courses you would like to do at the moment then find a suitable 'bridge course' to gain enough points to get you onto that course! the last thing you want to do is to finish a bnc or whatever then realise you have the take a hnd before you can get into uni.

ETA: retake the english gcse alongside your course if you can. I retook my maths alongside mine and passed and i took key skills level 3 in communication and passed that which is what secured my place at uni (also to do business)

Former Member

icey wrote:

no, the course you have just finished will have no bearing on the course your btec national certificate (i think thats what you were asking?)
May i ask, what it is you are planning tpo do after you finish the BNC course? if you're hoping to go to uni, take a BND (BTEC National Diploma) course instead, its a bit more work but its still the same level and counts for a lot more points.
I finished a BND in IT practitioners last year and passed with an overall grade of MMM - which i think is the equivalent to about 160 ucas points. one of my mates on the course opted half way through the second year to downgrade his course to a BNC because he couldnt be bothered to do the work and wasnt planning on going to uni, bit of a mistake imo but each to their own

Agree with this. I just did a National Diploma, & also researched National Certificate due to drama (I enrolled on the course as part of a New Deal scheme, & when that finished & I went back onto normal dole the Jobcentre turned round & said 'we put you on this course but now you have to quit cos it's more than 16 hours a week.' WTF? so I looked at the possibility of switching to NC because of fewer hours).

National Diplomas do the same core modules as National Cert, so some of the work is the same, but they also do additional modules. NDs are made of of 18 modules, forget how many NCs are made up of but think it's around half that.
With NCs you get a sort of double grade (DD, DM, MM, etc), with NDs it's DDD, DDM, etc.

It is *possible* to get enough UCAS points to get on a uni course, but only if you get DD (so you have to work *really* hard) & even that'll only get you 240 at the most. (ucas.com --> information --> tariff calculator to compare) And frankly if you're good enough to pull that sort of grade you might as well do a few extra modules with the ND & maybe get a DDD which'll net you 360 points.

As for whether you'll qualify, I got in with 6 - 9 GCSEs (depending on whether you're counting just C & above or not), but it was mainly the interview that bagged me a place - I met with the course tutor & discussed what I'd done in the past, what I enjoyed, & whether I felt I could cope with the assignments. I was offered a place on the spot.:)

BTW icey - MMM is 240. I got that too.

Former Member

I would expect that the majority of national diploma courses expect 5 passes at GCSE including English and Maths. Maybe another specific subject depending on what you study I think.

Former Member

no, you really dont.

xsazx wrote:

BTEC First diploma is worth 4 GCSES

Assuming you mean a btec national diploma, it is worth 3 A levels, not 4 gcse's. If that was the case then people would go directly to university from school...

Former Member

straight from school to uni? not heard of that happening before but good for you i guess. (are you in america?)
The award you're talking about is most definately different to the one i took. Does the course you're taking give you ucas points then? out of interest if so, how many is it worth?

Former Member

icey wrote:

no, you really dont.
Assuming you mean a btec national diploma, it is worth 3 A levels, not 4 gcse's. If that was the case then people would go directly to university from school...

Nope. First Diploma is an actual qualification. Lasts a year. Basically it's pretty much the first year of a ND with easier work. The college I went to used to offer the subject I was on in First Diploma & National Diploma. Because the classrooms were large, the classes small, & we were doing pretty much the same classes at the same times, we shared most of our lessons with each other. We'd all get similar work, but they got easier assignments. For instance, one assignment we had to do was to analyse 4 media texts (2 'new' media like videogames, etc, & 2 'old' like magazines, etc). The FDs got that, but they only had to analyse 2 things (1 of each). Our college scrapped it though & that year was the last time they did it.

The entry requirements are much more relaxed for a FD than a ND. Actually I think our college took pretty much anyone who could write their own name. We used to snark at them quite a lot .

Former Member

sounds a bit low level - if you get good enough grades in your GCSEs then i'd suggest going to college rather than 6th form and taking a more advanced course. will save you time and effort in the long run..

Former Member

i'd reccomend going to college. you will get to experience a whole new way of learning andit will teach you how to make a brand new bunch of friends again. no doubt if you went to 6th form you'd end up staying mates with the people you were friends with all through your school years.
Most colleges help you to teach yourself as opposed to how they teach in schools and this will help you a lot more at uni.