I did the old Skate UK with 10 levels, as I was having private lessons with a coach when my rink switched to Skate Excellence. However, all my friends who started after me did Skate Excellence and honestly, it's not made a difference, we're all now working on either Star or the British Ice Skating tests. If there's no group lessons near you for Star then you'll need a coach, but no one will ask which course you did. I personally find that for some things, Skate Excellence has a better way of teaching because they break skills down, but for other skills I feel that's a bit pointless.