Do I go it alone or enrol with Kaplan for technician?

mazzy

Hi all

I would welcome anyone's feed back with regard to taking technician level.

I have just completed the exams for intermediate level and just have one simulation to complete before starting Technician.

I work in practise so I am looking to do the two exams of personal & business tax as my optional subjects - So it will be 5 exams plus unit 10 'The Project'.

Did anyone out there do it distance learning without support from a provider ( e.g Kaplan/ BBP) I did intermediate with Kaplan distance learning, I used the telephone or email service about 3 times in total so apart from doing 3 simulations at their offices in milton keynes I paid £550 for 4 books, 3 sets of pocket notes and 3 phone calls! ( plus a pack of 20 exams papers and answers which I can download off the AAT site for the price of a ream of paper)

It just occurred to me that if I can buy their books for £25 each plus £6 for pocket notes - I can get away with paying about £170 (plus exams fees which I have to pay anyway) for the whole year. Instead of the £705 they want to include support which I hardly use anyway.

My reservation is Unit 10 though - If I don't use Kaplan who assess my project? Can you get AAT to assess it? I have read on forum about people doing a Simulation for Unit 10 is this only for Dipolma pathway?

Thanks for reading even if you don't have any ideas for me!

troy

Sorry Mazzy,

I have no idea's.....and it is quite an unusual question, but i am sure that someone on here shall be able to help?!
Hope that someone replys with a useful response....!!!!:thumbup:
x

mark057

Hi,

I studied and sat four technician exams in Dec 2007.

I did not use any provider but rather bought the necessary Osbourne text books and used the past papers on the AAT website.

It was quite daunting not having any support, particularly as I had previously studied at college; however, with a bit of hard graft and determination passed all my exams first time.

The costs savings are huge studying on your own and in reality you have to be very disciplined as a lomg distance learner regardless of the method you use to study.

I sat exams PEV, DFS, BTC, PCR and did my skills test for unit 17 at my old college and got help with my project work there too. I only paid for what I studied which was very economical.

Mark

CelticStar

I studied for and passed PTC & BTC last June just by reading the text books and doing past papers. I am now aiming to do MAC & DFS in June. :ohmy:

One thing I would say though is that I bought both the Osborne & BPP text books so that I had plenty of practice questions to work on and I was really glad I did as I found a couple of things that came up in the exam weren't covered in the Osborne books (though, overall, I prefer the Osborne books). So my advice would be not to rely on just one text book, make sure you have all your bases covered. Also, Osborne provide Tutor Packs which contain the answers to all the questions in their work books. If you contact them and confirm that you are studying yourself without a tutor then you can purchase these packs from them, they are quite reasonable.

Hope that helps.

Pigpen

Hi Mazzy

I am distance learning with BPP

I haven't heard a peep from them for months - I have spoken to them twice - Once to enrol and another time with a question they never bothered to answer. I have passed all 4 exams first time so far all by myself and just have DFS left - Luckily my company paid my costs but what a waste of money.

The only good thing I will say about them is they had a brilliant tutor for Unit 10 who worked me through each section bit by bit - Emma - She was fab. I am not sure how you can get around unit 10 without a tutor ? Can you enrol with one of the learning providers just to help you with unit 10?

If you are disciplined and study hard you can do it - It makes me even more proud of my results cos I did it all by myself!

Good luck with whatever you decide

(Ps I have some great guidance notes for unit 10 if you PM me)

rustysufc

Hi Mazzy. I am in exactly the same position as you. i think i wil just buy the books rather than the whole package from BPP. With regards to unit 10 im unsure wat to do aswell, but i am going into my old college tommorrow so i will ask my old teacher wat the best option would be and i will let you know what she says.

PCJustice

I studied with IAB before AAT-paid 250 for the foundation, then just bought the books and paid for the exams for the next 2 levels, saving 80%.If you have decent books, you will not need a tutor.I paid full whack with Premier for Tech level and do not use the tutor.I wish I had followed my own advice and gone solo-so much cheaper.

Rune

I am currently studying with Premier Training, they are so helpful I would recommend them to anyone. I have only just past fra (2nd time round). I wouldn't go it alone but hats me. College was useless! the tutors had their own agenda! Premier make you work for the answers but they also take you through whatever you don't understand. I hope this helps!

Marg22

Hi Mazzy

I am with Premier Training for Technician level and I have been given great support. I was very nearly going to do it alone, but decided that I would have to enrol and pay for the unit 10 and that knowing a tutor was just a phone call away was very reassuring to me.

I am doing NVQ and have done a simulation for unit 10. My first draft went in early Feb. The lady who deals with unit 10 is called Kay and I found her to be very good. she takes you through each step bit by bit and makes it easy to cope with.

I hope this helps a little Mazzy.

Marg

carla030698

Hi!

I have done the homestudy course with BPP from foundation to technician, and I would say that for intermediate and foundation I could have done it without BPP as I only dealt with them a few times and it was probably something I could have got answers for on here.

However, for unit 10 my tutor is Emma and she is brialliant and I dont think I could have done it without her so I think it is definatly worth buying the technician level, unless of course you can get tuition for just Unit 10.

Carla :001_smile:

Pigpen

Hi Carla

Sounds like the same Emma that I had for unit 10 and she is first class

Couldn't have done it without her

But the rest - I have done on my own :thumbup1:

carla030698

Yes she is realy good, she splits out each section and comes back to me straight away with realy good feedback! dont think i would have a clue without her! :laugh: