Not all learners are put through an educational institution to undertake their IGCSE, AS or A Level examinations. In Abu Dhabi, an increasing number of people are now opting to become direct candidates of the British Council, they are sitting the Cambridge or Edexcel exams, and they are doing so entirely independently of any school, without a teacher, and without the organized academic support that is being made available to full-time students as a matter of course. The reasons are as diverse as the number of candidates themselves as it can be career professionals who want to acquire additional qualifications, home-educated students, school dropouts who now need to reestablish their academic credentials, or just people who want to take specific courses on their own terms and conditions. Whatever the motive, one of the problems is common to all, namely, that private candidates are required to reach the same standard of examination as those who are enrolled in schools, and that none of the institutional facilities which support them are available. The Amourion Training Institute has served the needs of the private candidates in Abu Dhabi more than two decades. The questions which the candidates and their parents who are not part of the company tend to ask us the most are answered by Dr. Anil Khare.

I will be enrolling as a private candidate with the British Council in Abu Dhabi. What do I really have to plan to prepare effectively without a school behind me?

Dr. Anil Khare: There is a set of challenges that are specific to the candidates who are privately enrolled, and which is not encountered by the students who are enrolled in schools. No teacher is tracking your progress, no scheme of classes keeping you on your toes and no institutional knowledge of which types of answer will attract the most marks or how the mark scheme will reward answers, what a school offers the private candidate is this, but administered in one-on-one instruction conducted by a professional specializing in the subject area of interest to the student. That is, a systematic syllabus plan covering all topics before the examination date, regular timed practice of past papers before the examination date under examination conditions, detailed mark-scheme feedback after each attempt and truthful monitoring of progress that will tell you exactly where you are and what you need to change. We base this whole system around every single privately tutored student of the first semester, and act as their teacher and their coach to pass the exams during the entire preparation process.

 

As a private candidate, I would like to take A Level Mathematics and Chemistry. What is a realistic time of preparation?

Dr. Anil Khare: The truthful response relies solely on the starting point of the candidate, that is, his current knowledge on the subject and the number of hours that he can devote every week and during the exam session that he is planning. A candidate who has a good prior knowledge basically refreshing and examination-proofing their knowledge and who needs a four to six months intensive preparation. A candidate who is building up subject knowledge almost entirely by the book in the course of developing examination technique is looking at a minimum of twelve months of regular, systematic work before he can truly be called A Level ready in examination content. To determine where they are, we do a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation at the beginning of each private candidate engagement to come up with an honest, realistic timeline based on the assessment. The fees required to register with the British Council, the fees required to take the examinations and the timelines needed to take the examinations again are all financial factors that prevent proper preparation in terms of money as well as time-study.

 

As a private candidate, I have no access to school laboratory sessions for my science subjects. Will this disadvantage me in the examination?

Dr. Anil Khare: Not as much as you could have guessed, and this is one of the questions which are most often put to us by private candidates. Practical elements of science examination at IGCSE and A Level is solely tested using written questions in lieu of an observed laboratory session. The skills being assessed, which include, experimental design, identification of variables, data analysis, calculation of uncertainty, interpretation of graphs and written science conclusions are all developable fully through structured past paper practice and targeted written work in a tuition environment. We take special seminars on practical question technique, and we train private candidates in the very examiner conventions and response formats that score marks on all types of practical questions. The private candidates who undergo this special training always compete favorably in the practical aspects compared to those in school with the full access to laboratories.

Your Exams, Your Schedule, Our Complete Help.

The British Council, a legitimate pathway to IGCSE, AS and A Level qualification, is a legitimate pathway to the examinations and, as long as the preparation behind it meets the standard that the examinations demand, it is a legitimate pathway to the examinations themselves. Over two decades Amourion Training Institute has taken the private candidates throughout Abu Dhabi in this direction, offering the structured, specialist, one-on-one support that substitutes everything a school would otherwise provide.

Contact Amourion Training Institute - Abu Dhabi

 

Phone: +971 55 956 4344 | +971 4 355 4850

 

Email: training@amourion.com

 

Website: www.amourion.com