i did it and it was very vague and frustrating. we learned very little about the actual photographic techniques so i  think if you're a total amateur wanting to know how to use a camera you might be dissappointed but if you're already self taught you might not find anything new. i mean our teacher could explain something if you asked but it formed no part of the course.
the main focus of the course is researching other peooples work and developing your own ideas. the most important thing is to experiment loads and make shitloads of notes about what you're doing and why.
you can pass the course if you just talk for ages about other peoples work, why you like it, why you dont like it etc. and then come up with loads of your own ideas and talk about them in depth. you hardly even have to take any pictures and they can be totally crap as long as you talk the talk.
basically when they come to marking your work they have a big list of things to check for. they don't check how good it is. as long as they can look at your work and tick all their boxes you score all the points. thats how i think it was vague, we had very little idea what the exact criteria was and wasted lots of time going off on tangents.
if you want to go on and do photography at uni you will probably need an a-level but my opinion is that photography is a hobby and if you're genuinley interested you'll learn more from just going out and doing it that you will sitting in a class room. at the end of the day it's not a certificate that will get you a job it's your skills and considering a large amount of my class passed the course with dull, unimaginative, frankly crap work that met all the requirements of the examiners i think the course was a waste of their time. on the other hand if you can turn up for an interview with a portfolio full of impressive images and explain why they're so impressive you wont need a qualification.

sorry to sound so negative but i took the course obviously because i am really interested in photography but i can honestly say i never learned anything new and got really bored trying to fill my books with stuff just so the examiner could tick it off their list.

Teach yourself!

like all art subjects, grades mean nothing, its your portfolio thats important. it is a good way to build up a portfolio, as you can have two years where there wont be any demands to get a job or whatever.

These courses are usually run and taught (in my opinion) by people who have very limited talent and lots of 'fine art' theory knowledge. Whilst that's fine if you want to be an arty-farty fairy all day long, it's not really helpful in terms of actually teaching you anything.

Best thing is to get out there and do it - keep taking shots. If you're using analog, take a backpack of cheap film and rinse the lot of it trying different things - remember to write down what you did though! If you've got digi - you're laughing - no need to even get any film developed!!