Chris helped me achieve my 70% after recently getting 60% on my GCSE Maths Foundation. I will forever be grateful to Chris!!! He explains things in a slow, methodical way and adapts his teaching sty... See more
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Does what it says on the tin. Overall easy process but after spending £1000 on passing my maths and English then to be told I have to pay more for a paper certificate was a bit of a joke. The... See more
Very happy with the course and service provided by a star equivalency. I have taken Maths higher and English both exams went well and finally happy in receiving GCSE equivalency grades which are going... See more
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Absolutely amazing, I originally had a bad experience with a different testing provider, I rang 'A Star' as an emergency and spoke with Jacob, he went above and beyond to make me feel confident and co... See more
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Company details
Written by the company
A Star Equivalency are the UK Leaders in the Support and Delivery of all GCSE Equivalency Test Services Since 2002, supporting thousands of learners each month get the qualifications they need to get into university, onto apprenticeship courses, and pursuit their dream career. Our GCSE equivalency qualifications in maths, English, science and biology are accepted across the UK and our market leading courses are designed to improve pass rates.
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United Kingdom
- astarequivalency.co.uk
4.4
Excellent
550 reviews
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A quick, good catch-up before the exam
The 30mins free support session was to the point! We covered statistics and probability question, which was a bit challenging for me. Thanks!
May 22, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your review Metin. We’re really pleased to hear that the support session was helpful and focused on the areas you found most challenging. It’s great to know the work on statistics and probability helped build your understanding.
Wishing you all the best with your studies.
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Great Experience
Great Experience, completed as Exam only.
Excellent communication.
May 21, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your feedback Sam. We’re really pleased to hear that you had a great experience and found the communication excellent throughout the process.
Thank you so much Laura Stott and star equivalency
Thank you so much Laura Stott, you are such an amazing tutor. Super valuable. Star equivalency course is super helpful. Clear and understandable.
May 20, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your lovely feedback. We’re so pleased to hear that Laura made such a positive impact and that you found the course clear and helpful. We’ll be sure to pass on your kind words to her.
I did not receive any renewal reminder…
I did not receive any renewal reminder or payment confirmation emails regarding my monthly subscription of courses.
I only discovered the recurring charge after noticing the transaction through my bank account and contacting my bank directly. I later had to manually download the invoice from the platform itself because no payment notification email had been received.
I cancelled the subscription immediately after discovering the charge and did not use the renewed subscription period. However, my refund request was still declined.
From my perspective, I was never effectively notified before the payment was taken.
May 17, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your feedback Zhe. We’re sorry to hear that this has been frustrating for you.
Our courses operate on a recurring monthly subscription, which is agreed to at the point of purchase. We understand your concerns regarding the reminder and payment emails, although invoices and subscription details are also available through the learner platform.
As the subscription remained active until cancellation, the renewal payment was processed as normal and the refund request was declined in line with the subscription terms.
It was hard to pass English
It was hard to pass English. Paper was too difficult. I passed it in second attempt. It is expensive also. If you really want to pass then you have to spend six month in serious study and do all the GCSE English language paper from PMT web site and A star course was also helpful but for Q6 which carry half of the marks of whole paper, about that nothing is given in A star equivalency course. I am talking about picture description question.
I passed in paper exam. I found it difficult to pass it in on line paper as insert and typing paper opens in a same screen. We get overwhelmed with information and scrolling up-down and typing is quite difficult. My suggestion is to do paper based exam.
April 29, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for sharing your experience Samiksha, and congratulations on passing your English exam on your second attempt. We recognise the amount of effort and commitment that goes into preparing for the qualification.
We appreciate your feedback regarding the picture description question and the online exam format. The course is designed to support learners across the full specification, but feedback like yours is helpful as we continue reviewing and improving our materials.
We also understand your comments about the online exam experience. Different learners prefer different formats, and it’s useful for future candidates to hear your perspective on paper-based exams.
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Professional service
Professional service, clear communications and a good base of free of charge revision materials.
May 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your feedback Vera. We’re really pleased to hear that you found the service professional, the communication clear, and the free revision materials helpful.
My Experience with the support session…
My Experience with the support session with Laura was incredible I was able to relearn percentage which I was struggling with and she was very patient with every step of the session I would greatly recommend.
May 15, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your lovely feedback Blessed. We’re really pleased to hear that Laura helped you rebuild your confidence with percentages and that her patient approach made the session so helpful.
We really appreciate your recommendation and wish you all the best with your studies.
Paid almost £1,300 across 5 attempts
Paid almost £1,300 across 5 attempts. Only one was a genuine fail, the rest were lost due to disconnections I believe came from their end. They have since admitted in writing that a disconnection caused errors in their system. No refund offered, and now told no slots until Winter 2026.
May 14, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your feedback. We understand this has been a frustrating experience.
We have reviewed your exam history and the technical issues raised. Following this review, a refund was issued for your most recent exam payment.
We appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns and wish you all the best moving forward.
Positive and negative aspects of my personal experience
My experience overall with A Star Equivalency was alright and I passed my English test on the first try. Still, I need to be completely honest about certain things that I was not fully content with.
Firstly, I find the pricing for the preparation course too high. In January, a monthly subscription for the course was £49 and it increased to £99 after a couple of weeks, which is quite expensive. The course itself is really helpful with many different information on several topics. However, the AI grading of the past papers is not really reliable. I always scored around 85% in the mocks, and "only" achieved level 6 (61-67%) in the actual exam, which left me a little disappointed. I am aware that this can happen due to nervousness, but I always had excellent grades in school and university and I can handle stress fairly well. Hence, I find a 20% difference in grading quite a lot.
The actual exam, for me personally, was a little more difficult than the past papers, because I found the language devices much less obvious. Additionally, I faced technical difficulties during the exam. The texts were quite difficult to read, as they were relatively small compared to the writing boxes and when zooming in, one needed to always swipe left and right on the texts. The word count during the exam also did not work, because it started at a random number (something like 743).
I would find it helpful if it was communicated clearly on their website that results get available at 2am at night. If I had known this beforehand, I wouldn’t have checked my emails so often during the day.
The customer service was really good; they responded to my questions via email quite fast and were always friendly in the live chat.
All in all, I am glad that I passed my exam first try, though I would have expected my score to be a little higher. I can definitely recommend the customer service and wish everyone else good luck with their exams!
April 29, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback, and congratulations on passing your English exam first time.
We appreciate your comments regarding the course pricing and the AI grading system. The mock exams and AI feedback are designed to support revision and build confidence, but there can be variation between mock performance and final exam results due to factors such as question selection, timing and exam conditions.
We also understand your comments about the exam experience itself. The exam platform is external, so aspects such as text display and word count functionality are outside of our direct control, though feedback like yours is helpful and is something we continue to pass on.
It’s great to hear that you found the course content helpful overall and that our customer service team were responsive and supportive throughout your experience. Thank you as well for recommending the support team to future learners.
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Astar course is broken up into…
Astar course is broken up into manageable chunks and the website was so easy to use. Just before my exam I had a free 1:1 with a tutor which really helped.
January 12, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your lovely feedback Vern. We’re really pleased to hear that you found the course manageable and the website easy to use. It’s great to know the free 1:1 tutor session helped you feel more prepared before your exam.
Wishing you all the best moving forward.
No hidden agendas
The test was simply written with clear directives and questions. The website was easy accessible and the test observer was clear in his communication and polite. Would recommend to anyone who also wants to continue with studies.
May 1, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your feedback Jaco. We’re really pleased to hear that you found the test clear and straightforward, and that the website and exam process were easy to use. It’s great to know the invigilator was polite and communicated clearly throughout.
We appreciate your recommendation and wish you all the best with your future studies.
Good feedback and advice given
May 12, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your review Sof, we’re pleased to hear that you found the advice and feedback helpful.
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your review Johani!
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The session was helpful and made me…the math lesson iit was really good
The session was helpful and made me have more inside on how the solve some problem
May 11, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your feedback Philippa. We’re really pleased to hear that the session was helpful and gave you a better understanding of how to solve the problems you were working on.
Wishing you all the best with your studies.
100% recommend!
My whole experience with A Star was excellent! The course materials use lots of different media so that your able to take in the information in different ways depending on how you learn. The exam itself although I was nervous was straight forward, the process was explained at every stage and the invigilator was lovely and reassuring. Couldn’t recommend them more !!
May 6, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for such lovely feedback Tiffany. We’re really pleased to hear that the different learning formats within the course helped support your revision and that the exam process felt clear and reassuring throughout.
It’s great to know the invigilator helped put you at ease on the day as well. We really appreciate your recommendation and wish you all the best moving forward.
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for the review Chris!
Reliable resource, very good
I found the Science Biology pack very useful because it included revision booklets and exam practice papers that helped me a lot with my revision, and I was also able to access lesson videos and topic questions to test my knowledge. Thank you to A Star Equivalency for helping me obtain my GCSE Science Biology qualification.
April 10, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your lovely feedback. We’re really pleased to hear that the revision booklets, practice papers, lesson videos and topic questions all helped support your revision and build your confidence. Congratulations on obtaining your GCSE Biology equivalency, and thank you for choosing A Star Equivalency.
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Biology course and exam
I booked in January Biology and English.In April, already I passed my Biology exam on my first attempt. The course was excellent, and the tutor explained each topic in very pleasant and through manner. The exam also went smoothly. I should also point out that the last time I took Biology was in High School (not an English school) 25 years ago. Customer service is very good. I highly recommend A Star.
May 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for such a lovely review Karolina. We’re really pleased to hear that you passed your Biology exam first time, especially after such a long break from studying the subject. That’s a fantastic achievement.
It’s great to know the course, tutor support and exam process all worked well for you, and that our customer service team were helpful throughout. We really appreciate your recommendation and wish you all the best with your English exam as well.
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you Ella, it's great to hear that you found the study session helpful! We wish you the best of luck with your future exams.
Support Session
I have recently signed up to take the Maths exam, Laura reached out to run a student support session with me and it was so worthwhile! I found it very useful and supportive. Thank you!
May 6, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from A Star Equivalency
Thank you for your lovely review Hayley. We’re really pleased to hear that the student support session with Laura was useful and supportive for you as you begin preparing for your maths exam.
We’ll be sure to pass on your thanks to her. Wishing you all the best with your revision and exam preparation.
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