OCR Level 3 Nationals are most suited to 16-19 year olds who have chosen to stay in education but who want to go into a particular vocation.

If they see their skills and interests as suited to one of the seven industry sectors covered, an OCR Level 3 National provides the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to work in their chosen area. If they then decide to continue onto higher education, OCR Level 3 Nationals have been approved into the UCAS tariff.

Qualifcation structure

Level 3: Diagram of Certification

The OCR Level 3 Nationals contain three types of qualifications, each one building on the previous.

• To achieve the Certificate you have to achieve four mandatory units (units 1, 2, 3, and 4) and complete two optional units.
• To achieve the Diploma you have to achieve four mandatory units (units 1, 2, 3, and 4) and complete eight optional units.
• To achieve the Extended Diploma you have to complete 18 units consisting of the four mandatory units and 14 optional units.

Level 3 table of equivalences

OCR Level 3 Nationals	Number of units	Number of mandatory units	Guided Learning Hours	Qualifications of same size and level
Certificate	6	4	360	1 A level
Diploma	12	4	720	2 A levels
Extended Diploma	18	4	1080	3 A levels