Best Distance Learning Provider for Unit 10

CelticStar

Would anyone recommend a particular learning provider for Unit 10. I have used Premier for Intermediate and taught myself for Diploma level but I meed tuition for Unit 10.

Would be grateful to hear of other people's experiences etc - don't want to go with the cheapest and then regret it if there is a lack of support.

Thanks for any help given.

taskey

i went with BPP and my tutor held my hand the whole way through she was fantastic. i am distance learner too and pay each time i do a sim.

hope that helps

Tracy

CelticStar

Thanks for that Tracy. I've heard that there is one particular tutor who helps with Unit 10 at BPP, is that right?

taskey

yes, her name is Emma Axon and as said before and many will back me up - she was excellent.

CelticStar

Thanks Tracy.

lisnic

i went with bpp also and had emma axon - superb

i dont think she is the only one though

however the bpp combined companion is very good also and breaks down each section and tells you what is required etc and gives an example report etc

CelticStar

Thanks Lisnic, I'll look into getting a copy of that.

Karen L

Just seen this thread and I must add my name to the Emma Axon fan club - there for me all the way through - brilliant !

Greycow

I agree with everyone Emma was brilliant, I gained so much confidence in my ability though doing this unit I wish I had not left it until the end.

CelticStar

A unanimous vote for BPP then. Thanks everyone, I will be contacting them shortly.

Denrs

I also did my unit 10 with Emma Axon. Emma doesn't live far from me so i was able to meet her; she was great...very bright lady, but don't be fooled - she doesn't cut corners, can't speak highly enough of her.

Londina

what about for Kaplan? does anyone can recommend a good tutor for Unit 10? At the moment I have zero support :-(

mini_schnauzer

I have used Kaplan throughout my AAT studies that required a simulation. Exam based units I have purchased Kaplan books via Amazon and self taught.

Unfortunately for Unit 10 I would not recommend Kaplan. I found the distance learning team who are based in Leeds readily available to speak to you or answer an email, but the answer they gave was not that informative or abit woolley.

Saying that I have passed Unit 10 and they did not want an interview (even via telephone) at the end of it, only for me to complete a handful of questions via email. So that was good!

Londina : My Kaplan contact for unit 10 was Delia Brierley (Dee).

Londina

mini_schnauzer wrote: »

Exam based units I have purchased Kaplan books via Amazon and self taught.

I wish I did the same...what's the point join a provider for distance learning when at the end of the day most of it have been taught by myself anyway? I could save lots of money and time! Really, I regret it so much now.
I'm absolutely on my own with Unit 10, replies from tutor are vague and not helpful, going in circle on same subjects....

Desperate AAT Student should be my new name :-(

meibaker

Londina wrote: »

I wish I did the same...what's the point join a provider for distance learning when at the end of the day most of it have been taught by myself anyway? I could save lots of money and time! Really, I regret it so much now.
I'm absolutely on my own with Unit 10, replies from tutor are vague and not helpful, going in circle on same subjects....

Desperate AAT Student should be my new name :-(

complete agree with you on that, i use premier training at the moment, and email my tutor a question about 1 month ago, still didn;t hear anything, even though sometimes he replys , he will say all you need to know is on the book page... and read through.... very disapppointed!

Richard

meibaker wrote: »

complete agree with you on that, i use premier training at the moment, and email my tutor a question about 1 month ago, still didn;t hear anything, even though sometimes he replys , he will say all you need to know is on the book page... and read through.... very disapppointed!

I studied all 3 levels of AAT with Premier and never had any bad experiences with them. All emails were replied promptly, and if my tutor was away his emails were monitored and someone else replied.

Regarding Unit 10, they had a dedicated tutor for this unit, who was extremely helpful. They provided a Osborne book and loads of resources by email. I was in regular contact with the tutor, even had a few telephone conversations with her that went on for about 1 hour! She also provided regular feedback on what I'd completed.

Londina

Richard wrote: »

Regarding Unit 10, they had a dedicated tutor for this unit, who was extremely helpful. They provided a Osborne book and loads of resources by email. I was in regular contact with the tutor, even had a few telephone conversations with her that went on for about 1 hour! She also provided regular feedback on what I'd completed.

oh I wish to have the same with Kaplan!! looks like they are the only provider who don't have a dedicated tutor for Unit 10!

SandyHood

Anyone reading this might also want to consider Eagle
http://www.eagle-education.co.uk/index.html

meibaker

Regarding Unit 10, they had a dedicated tutor for this unit, who was extremely helpful. They provided a Osborne book and loads of resources by email. I was in regular contact with the tutor, even had a few telephone conversations with her that went on for about 1 hour! She also provided regular feedback on what I'd completed.[/QUOTE]

hi richard:
can you remember her name at all? not sure if i could change tutor!

Rinske

Kay is helping me with the unit. I am with premier training and was very helpful so far.
When she got ill, nobody took over from her though, so I waited quite a long time to get a reply on my first draft.

It wasn't an issue for me though, not sure if they took over the projects of those with a nearby deadline though.

Londina

Rinske wrote: »

It wasn't an issue for me though, not sure if they took over the projects of those with a nearby deadline though.

for example I don't even have a timetable with my provider, what are my deadlines?who knows!!

What my tutor replies is "it's up to you" or "it's in the book" or "any idea is fine", really nothing specific or helpful.

Rinske

Silly question, when I signed up, they send me a screen print with a number of dates on it. That included a random deadline for my project in April. Have you got something similar from Kaplan?

I'm not sure if it's worth having a look at one of the other books? The BBP book is apparently quite good for this, is there someone you could borrow it from or buy it cheap on Amazon for example? Not sure if it helps, but it might just give you a bit of an idea.

Have you read any example projects? Preferrably on the same subject you're thinking of? The Osbourne books had two example projects and I used a few bits of their setup, I read the project of my colleague, who is in a completely different department, but did it on the purchasing of stock in our company. And I think I found a few examples on the AAT site, which I read before I got started, just to give me some examples for the subject, as I had no clue what to do either.

As for the deadline, she did the ones that would qualify in February first. There is some deadline after the exams, where if you want your certificate, you got to have everything submitted. I think those are the ones that went first.

meibaker

Rinske wrote: »

Kay is helping me with the unit. I am with premier training and was very helpful so far.
When she got ill, nobody took over from her though, so I waited quite a long time to get a reply on my first draft.

It wasn't an issue for me though, not sure if they took over the projects of those with a nearby deadline though.

thanks rinske, i am going to ask for her!

Londina

Rinske wrote: »

Silly question, when I signed up, they send me a screen print with a number of dates on it. That included a random deadline for my project in April. Have you got something similar from Kaplan?

No, absolutely nothing.

Rinske wrote: »

Have you read any example projects? Preferrably on the same subject you're thinking of?

no, my book have a specimen case study and a revised report of 10 pages, don't think this is an example project, but a tutorial text.

Rinske wrote: »

As for the deadline, she did the ones that would qualify in February first. There is some deadline after the exams, where if you want your certificate, you got to have everything submitted. I think those are the ones that went first.

I have done my exams last June 09, I have only o/s Unit 17 IAP, Unit 32 PET and this annoying project, therefore I would like to finish everything by end of June, but I don't know if it's possible or my tutor have a different timetable.

Rinske

As it is distance learning, I would say you get to decide. I'm sure you tried it already, but could you ring them and see if they got a set timetable or that you can decide?

For auditing, it's a tough unit if you haven't got any experience in it, but it needs time to sink in and I found it easier to try and relate it to my workplace. (For example, think of how auditors wants to get things done compared to how things get done and such) So I started on this unit, and afterwards started my project and could partly relate it to the auditing unit and point out some control issues.

The hardest bit so far in my project was finding a subject, once I decided on it, I made a list of strengths and weaknesses and submitted that to get the subject approved.

If you got no clue where to start with the strength and weaknesses (like I had), try creating a simple fraud matrix, with just a few columns, for example:
Stating what area of the department (ie purchase ledger/ sales ledger/ petty cash).
What could be frauded (change bank details to your own/ take petty cash from the company/ steal office supplies/ get cheques written out in your name instead of the company's).
How high the amount is (for example stealing office supplies is usually not that much, getting cheques in your name would leave a trail, but could potentially be really high, same with paying into your bank account instead of a supplier, stealing petty cash totally depends on how much money there is in cash available)

Silly, yes, but you can use it as part of the report and if you find a lot of issues on one specific area, you could use that as a base for your report and base the weaknesses on that.

I'm sorry, I know you didn't really ask for the starting help, but I just thought it might help you getting started and maybe even get some useful feedback.

And if your tutor still doesn't help at all, someone on the forums offered a lot of help, I just forgot who it was. Might be he/ she can help you pick the subject/ write the project/ mapping it and then when it's finished you can just submit the final one to your tutor, instead of struggling on with it!

Londina

Rinske your suggestions are well appreciated and the people in the forum are offering me lots of help, thanks, without you I would not know what to do. Shame to be on distance learning (which it's already difficult) and receiving minimum support for this complicated unit (especially for someone who English is not her first language).

snooop

I am doing my unit 10 through a local college only started in January. It was far cheaper then the distance learning organisations who were asking for four times more then what I paid. Anyone else in the same position contact your local centres ( list can be found on the AAT website) some of the tutors will refuse to do just one unit but you might come across a helpful tutor. The contact is done through email which suits both of us.

Rinske

Londina wrote: »

Rinske your suggestions are well appreciated and the people in the forum are offering me lots of help, thanks, without you I would not know what to do. Shame to be on distance learning (which it's already difficult) and receiving minimum support for this complicated unit (especially for someone who English is not her first language).

I found it hard to get started, as English isn't my first language either, but for the spelling errors, my manager wants to read everything before I am allowed to submit it to my tutor and she has been scribbling down spelling errors. Then I get my boyfriend to proof read it, who picks on everything I write... And then it goes to my tutor, who last time, came back with a number of changes in spelling as well.

I don't know how to improve my English further than doing an actual English course and I can't be bothered to do that, because of the costs (Other than reading a lot etc).

It really helps to have a few people proofreading, because a lot is also based on opinion and habit, rather than spelling rules, so if you got a few, give them all a copy, let them scribble the changes (or highlight in words etc) and compare the different suggestions and go with the ones you think are right.

Londina

Fresh news for my Unit 10...sent the project plan almost 3 weeks ago to Kaplan and haven't received it back yet...so I cannot start my project >:-(
This is so frustating considering I told them I'd like to finish the project by the end of the month...

How long did your provider take to approve your plan?

Also I have not been given a timetable, they said it's up to me....now I understand why, so they can take all the time they want!!

mini_schnauzer

Kaplan only send Unit 10 student work once a week to their assessor. If you miss this day your work will sit at Kaplan until the next week! I always made sure that my work got to them on a Monday, so that it was checked in and put into the assessor's post for Wednesday. It seemed to work best then.

Londina

Thanks Mini_schnauzer, if I knew, I would send the project another time! Still not happy about the whole situation though...