• Baku
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    6 months ago

    So over the last few months, I’ve been looking at more options for school and was considering home schooling. When I started speaking with an education specialist outside of my school, she said that because of my raw English scores, I should just go straight into the TAFE course I wanted to study (Cert III in Community Services).

    I remember being told basic TAFE course entry requirements are generally BKSB or equivalent (ACSF/LLN) scores of 3 or higher. At last test, I scored a 4 in english and 2 in math, but they suggested that regardless it’s worth having a crack and seeing if they’ll accept me. Today I did a retest and have progressed to a level 5 in english, but am still a level 2 in math. But I’m 93% of the way to level 3, so I decided to apply for the course anyway.

    (BKSB/ACSF scores are out of 5, and my school ties them to the years of high school. So the target is to meet a BKSB of 5 by the time you finish year 12, with a 1 being the goal by the end of year 8, so on. So since I’m still in year 10, I am above where I should be in english (which is a big surprise to me, because I’ve always struggled with things like essay style writing), and a 2 in math is where I should be.)

    I don’t have high hopes, I feel like on paper I must look like a really, really bad student, and they don’t take scores into account in the initial application at all. Still, even if they knock me back, that is better than where I stand now, since it’ll tell me exactly what the problem is. Right now I don’t know whether it’s being 17, not having finished year 10, not being great in math, or any number of other things that will be an issue. The course doesn’t list any entry requirements, though, so fingers crossed I guess 🤞

    • imoldgreeeg
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      6 months ago

      Is there any contact at the tafe you could talk to? All these requirements are based on “normal” circumstances - Talking it through with a course or enrollment coordinator might help you identify any fast track option or other thing you can do?

      • Baku
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        6 months ago

        Possibly (probably). I decided to just enrol for the course and see what happens. They need a signature from child protection before my application will progress to a human, but I assume once it does they’ll call me if they have questions, or if they plan on rejecting me

    • just_kitten
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      6 months ago

      Mate, and I believe most people here would back me on this, but based on your writing over the years, you’d be a better candidate for heading into uni than most kids your age. Your capacity for research, ability to write, and emotional maturity is way beyond that of many adults I know…

      But yeah, I get that in your situation you might be happier by getting out of the school system asap.