Which GCSE's to start with?

One thing that is common to Home Edders doing GCSE's at home, is that, for the most part, they need to do IGCSE's.  These are International GCSE's, which have an extra exam paper in lieu of the controlled assessments that they do in the classroom at school.

Doing these qualifications makes it a relatively straightforward affair.  You just need to find an examining centre that caters for the particular qualification you wish to study.

Living in London, we did have a choice of commercial institutes where you can sit exams - for a fee!  And WHAT a fee.  Each IGCSE costs approximately £130 to sit the exam.  However, what you do get what you pay for, and using London Brookes 6th Form College took all the pain out of organizing the exam.   You just fill in a form, send the required ID and cheque and it's done.  You can also sit ANY exam there, from ANY board, including exams that require Orals or Lab access.

There are ways of doing the exams cheaper, usually in state or private schools.  But it is luck of the draw if you find somewhere willing to take you, and you have to do a lot of donkey work, ringing and emailing different schools to see if they'll let you sit the exam there.

Some only will let you sit the exams their own students are sitting, others will let you sit anything.  It should be easy, they have invigilators, and all they need to do is order the exam paper, then send it off, then email you with the results, but for some reason, schools seem reluctant to offer this service.

Both Cambridge and Edexcel provide a list of private centres you can contact to sit their exams.

DD decided to do her English Language IGCSE first, together with a Music GCSE.

We soon discovered that you can't study Music GCSE from home, as it has 60% controlled assessment.  Home Ed Partners, in Monmouthshire do offer the facility to do controlled assessments, but because we do not live close by, and because they need to pay for an invigilator, the high cost involved meant that joining the Blackheath Conservatoire for their saturday GCSE class was not much more expensive, and DD would get a 3 hour class every Saturday.  This will most likely be the most expensive GCSE DD studies, as the course costs £1200 a year.  For that reason, I told DD that she had to complete the course in one year.

Another reason for the one year limit, is because DD wanted to do a few GCSE's each year for three years.  This is common practise for home edders.   When you have to pay for the courses and the exams yourself, you need to spread the cost.

At the same time, the opportunity came up to do a Drama GCSE with the Otherwise Club in Kilburn over 20 weeks, for £5 a week.  This was too good an opportunity to pass up, so DD took it.

Therefore, this year, DD has studied for IGCSE's, and GCSE's in English Language, Music and Drama.  At the same time, she's been working through the Maths IGCSE book, continuing her ABRSM grades, and studying portuguese.

There was also an opportunity to get some NICAS levels in Rock Climbing and she spends every Friday morning studying Art under Sue at Courtyard Arts in Hertford.