Open College
Qualifications

OK, if you’re looking to study A-Levels, you may be wondering what qualifications you need to study them. If you are studying through the traditional routes of a physical school or college, you usually will need to hold GCSE qualifications in the same subject. And what’s more, you usually need to hold at least a C, with some colleges asking for higher than a C.

Although not overly hard to achieve GCSE qualifications, it can be daunting for someone to have to factor in gaining GCSEs before they can then begin studying A-Levels. This is where the luxury of online learning comes in. Unless the qualification you are looking to study if of a particularly high level (such as Level 5 Diploma or HND), then usually just a keen interest in the subject matter is enough for you to be able to enrol and start studying an A-Level qualification.

So for example, imagine you’re a student in Europe or South Africa and you have decided you want to go to university in the UK, your usual school leavers International Baccalaureate or Matric Certificate would not be sufficient to gain an offer of place. You would need UK qualifications. But the idea of having to first do a year studying GCSEs and then one or two years studying A-Levels could be a real issue for some. Not only because of the time it would take, but also because of the costs involved.

This is where online A-Level qualifications come into their own. You can enrol whenever suits you and start studying right away. The only limit to when you achieve your qualification is when the next examination period is available for you to sit the exams. If you add to this the massively reduced cost compared to that of attending a private school or college and studying for A-Levels online really is a no brainer.