Exams for home educated students
It can be daunting to think you must get your children through their exams, which is understandable. The whole system is confusing and can fill us parents with dread. There's no need to cram in a shed load of GCSEs before the age of 16, and there are various options when it comes to qualifications; there is no rush. You don't have to take as many as a child in school would; you could start younger or older and spread them out over a few years. Sadly, all the responsibility for arranging and paying for the exams is yours - this can be expensive. Spreading them out will help with the cost and the stress.
It can be helpful to have a plan. If your child knows what they would like to do in the future or have activities they're keen on pursuing - work backwards with planning that route.
Look at college admission requirements and work back from there. You don't have to do GCSEs at all. Alternative qualifications or part-time college provisions exist for 14-16 year olds. The H.E. Exam Wiki lists them here.
Decide which subjects you want to do. Look at the page for your chosen subject on the H.E. Exam Wiki. This will tell you which specifications are available to home educated students and list the textbooks and other resources you'll need.
Pick an exam board; you can do this by browsing the course books on the exam subject. It is possible to study many exam subjects just with the recommended exam board textbooks and past papers for practice, and with the help of the internet, many free resources are available. Check through our resources section too: https://www.thehomeeddaily.co.uk/section/resources
If you decide to use a tutor or pay for an online course for a subject, there are a few things to be aware of: Ensure you know which options (GCSE or IGCSE, the exam board) are available to sit as a private candidate. Please don't assume that the tutor or course knows this; sometimes they don't. Then, check which specification/syllabus is being taught by the tutor or course provider. Each course (with some exceptions) should focus on one specification - by one exam board. For example, Suppose your child was planning to sit the Edexcel IGCSE English language exam, and your tutor was teaching the specification for the AQA GCSE English language exam. In that case, they are different; make sure it's the correct one!
Do get several recommendations on the tutor/provider - try searching or asking on a Facebook H.E. Exam group - like this one.
Ideally, you will need to find an exam centre before you start studying. As an external candidate, you take GCSEs, IGCSEs and A-levels at an examination centre, whether at a school or private exam centre. Ask in your local home ed groups for recommendations, or check the list on the wiki. Sometimes, you will need to travel a fair distance to your closest exam centre or need special access arrangements - all things to pre-plan and take into consideration. A guide to the whole booking process is here.
Good luck x
