Ubayd gained high grades in all ten of his GCSEs and was accepted into Luton Sixth Form College. However, due to family circumstances, he was abroad when the academic year began and so missed out on the first few months of his scheduled A levels.

Do you need to wait until September to enrol?

No! With the National Extension College you can enrol at a time that suits you and study at your own pace. Instead of waiting until the next college year, Ubayd opted to study online with NEC, choosing A level Biology, A level Chemistry and A level Physics. He aims to study medicine at university so also signed up with one of our partner organisations, Medic Mentor, and is partaking in their application-enhancing activities, including virtual work experience and the online ‘Get Into Medicine’ conference.

Ubayd is inspiring in his determination to succeed and has some advice for other students looking at learning online:

“You have to be disciplined. It is easy to be distracted. It is best if you set up a timetable and stick to it.”

His favourite aspect of learning with NEC?:

“The flexibility is really amazing. I can study at my own pace, focusing more on what I find difficult and spending less time on that which I find easy.”

Being abroad for the first part of his A levels could have been a setback but instead Ubayd took the opportunity to take control of his education.

Many of our students are looking to pursue medical careers so we have partnered with Medic Mentor, an organisation whose purpose is to help those applying for medical degrees. Our students can sign up with Medic Mentor to gain access to a wide range of virtual support. This includes virtual work experience, the ‘Get into Medicine’ conference and other programmes led by doctors.