Can anyone please offer some advice?

abbiew

hi there,

I've just completed my AAT foundation which i did full time at my local college. Have already enrolled at the same college to do the intermediate level as a part time course of 6 hours per week and am looking forward to it.
I have also signed up with the open university to do a business studies degree with accounting, obviously distance learning.
Has anyone else had the experience of doing two courses at the same time before? Also can anyone give me some advice on the level of study required to do the Intermediate AAT level.
I'm pretty determined and know that I am capable but I would just like to get some heads up on what I can expect!!

Thanks in advance,

Abbie :001_smile:

NeilH

Hi

The OU study (though not actually done any myself) can be quite intense, depending on how much you do at one time. I did intermediate my home study in a year, so having six hours per week at college should make it more managable, though you'll still probably need a few hours a extra week to do any practice/simulation practice plus the revision at exam time. When picking your OU courses, probably best to pick ones where the exam (if any) won't clash with the AAT exams and/or time your AAT exams away from the OU exams.

If you’re doing the OU degree with accounting, as part of the degree you'll be doing the OU certificate in accounting which has a similar content to the AAT qualification. Another option might be to postpone your OU until after you’ve completed AAT - OU will then recognise AAT for at least 60 points towards a degree. You should check exactly what credit they'll give, you may be able to count it towards the business studies degree, but not necessarily the accounting variant.

If you're looking to go on to a chartered qaul later on, ACCA and CIMA give the same exemptions for AAT as they do the OU certificate in accounting.

Hope this helps.

Neil

abbiew

Thanks for taking the time to reply neil. After reading your post I did some investigation and decided the following..
For this year I am just going to undertake a 30 point course from the OU to run alongside my AAT intermediate. Next year when I start technician level I will be doing one 60 point course alongside, this means that once I've passed technician stage I can use my AAT for the 60 points in the optional section, i then have two years to do the rest of the compulsory units which seems ample enough time for me.
I think that as I am a housewife at the moment and not in employment I may find it easier fitting it all in.

Thankyou again for your input!

steveJ

Good to hear a bit of determination abbey. So what have you got planned for the future ? Must be something big especially doing two courses at once !

As I'm working shifts at the moment I can't go to college, but hopefully will get one of the office jobs I've applied for then ill look into a night college business course or maybe a language.