Is ICAS really that heavy?

rhian

Hi all,

Basically, ICAS sounds like a nightmare according to some posts in this forum, and it's scared me a little. Is the workload really too heavy to do alongside all the other exams or would you suggest I do it seperately? How many hours a week should I be spending on it?

Thank you

guinea pig

Yes, it takes time, but it pulls together lots of knowledge and work experience. Are you doing the AAT one? I did, it was Inkwell, and I completed it in about 60 hours, through the summer break, whilst working full time. I used the Osborne book, which was good, and saw my tutor a couple of times. I found it interesting and quite enjoyed it! I started with a SWOT analysis, and then looked at all the roles, and tasks within the company to build up a picture of what was going on. Completing tha mapping document was tedious, but important to check everything was covered.
Good luck

acastudentmaat

I found it to be a lot easier and less time consuming than i thought it would be. I used the AAT scenario and did the first draft in one weekend. Roughly 8 hours. I then submitted it to my tutor and they came back with some suggestions. I then spent 1 more weekend on it to fill in the gaps and complete the cross referencing and that was that. Overall it took roughly 20 hours spread over 3 weeks.

I used the Osbourne book and this made it much easier as it includes sample formats and answers to a lot of the cross referencing tasks.

rhian

thank you for the replies!! it's filled me with more confidence

i think i'm going to go for it. eek! hope it works out for the better!

thanks again!

Dipak Thanki

Not at all. It can be done in a weekend if you put the time and effort in.

I would suggest before starting, read the case study and highlight any weaknesses or potential information which may come in handy in later on.

I treated it like a puzzle and found the information to match the question. It worked!

Good luck and don't worry about it too much.

Dipak

rhian

Dipak Thanki wrote: »

Not at all. It can be done in a weekend if you put the time and effort in.

I would suggest before starting, read the case study and highlight any weaknesses or potential information which may come in handy in later on.

I treated it like a puzzle and found the information to match the question. It worked!

Good luck and don't worry about it too much.

Dipak

woah, that's really impressive! thank you very much

rhian

Sorry another question!!

If I did the 12-week course with BPP/Kaplan (are they both 12 weeks?) but finished my project in say, 2 weeks, how would I go about it? Would I still need to do the online classroom every week for instance?

Also could anyone tell me if it's better to do this module through BPP or Kaplan?

Thank you

Jo Clark

Hello Rhian

I have yet to do the project. My understanding is that you are assigned a tutor as the project is not marked by the AAT and that you complete it and send it to the tutor for marking/comments etc. it is then returned to you for amendments and resubmission.

I have read that you are expected to allow 6 hours a week for the project. I am not sure what would happen if you finished it in 2 weeks. I think you would need to take into consideration the workload of the tutor assigned to you. You may be able to complete the project in 2 weeks however if they are marking x projects then it may take a week or so for them to come back to you.

I do recall that initially the project was over 4/5 weeks. I'm not sure why the length of the course has been extended.

With regards as to whether it is better to complete this module through BPP or Kaplan, I think it is down to personal preference and I'm not sure that any student will have completed the project twice to be able to provide a comparison. You may be able to get feedback from students about their experience in general with these training providers.

Hope the above helps you some how.


JC

Luby

I am currently doing the ICAS project - Through AAT college, We were given a whole 4months to complete the assignment which is plenty of time - my biggest problem was motivation i spent the first 2months putting it off but now I have started once you get going the words just come and I reckon in can be done in around 20-30 hours if your focused. I'm also doing the Inkwell scenario but found it a pain in the backside to decide on what to do i seemed so scatter brained at the beginning.

DevonBoy

rhian wrote: »

Sorry another question!!

If I did the 12-week course with BPP/Kaplan (are they both 12 weeks?) but finished my project in say, 2 weeks, how would I go about it? Would I still need to do the online classroom every week for instance?

Hi Rhian
I'm doing this with BPP at the moment and finding it rather heavy going, partly because of the way BPP manages it. There is only a short intro lecture in the Online Classroom for this course but you are expected to structure the report in the way they specify. This means completing specific sections of the report in a particular order and submitting drafts every fortnight on a schedule 'agreed' with your tutor in the first week of the course.

It was a bit of a shock for me compared with the way I have been studying other modules. The lack of flexibility is surprising.

It may be that my particular tutor is particularly awkward, but the paper guidelines are quite prescriptive as well.

I also seem to be stuck in a petty disagreement with my tutor about grammar, of all things. I've been told that, although we are supposed to be writing in the third person, as would be expected, the words 'they and 'them' are not acceptable when referring to people!

Regards

Richard

Ellabobbin

I've been told that, although we are supposed to be writing in the third person, as would be expected, the words 'they and 'them' are not acceptable when referring to people!

Sorry I don't know how to put a previous comment within my reply!!

I passed my level 4 last academic year and so it's not so very long ago that I had to write my report, I hope this helps...

We were told to use job titles (abbreviated to initials after the first mention), maybe this is what is meant by not using the words 'they' and 'them'....

I was very luckily in that I took on a new job where there were internal control issues, which I had to indentify and put measures in place to limit the risk, thus I had my project!

Good luck, once you get going with ICAS it seems to get easier, my first draft came back with very few changes to be made and it was relatively painless.

Sparkly

I am also doing this with BPP at the moment and am also finding it heavy going! I have also had issues getting the grammar right.

Another thing I've found frustrating is not being able to talk things over when I'm not sure aobut something, it all has to be done via email or through a forum, sometimes I'd just like to talk to a real person on the other end of the phone to help me!

I am also finding it difficult to meet some of the exact criteria as I just can't seem to relate it to the case study I'm using.

DevonBoy wrote: »

Hi Rhian
I'm doing this with BPP at the moment and finding it rather heavy going, partly because of the way BPP manages it. There is only a short intro lecture in the Online Classroom for this course but you are expected to structure the report in the way they specify. This means completing specific sections of the report in a particular order and submitting drafts every fortnight on a schedule 'agreed' with your tutor in the first week of the course.

It was a bit of a shock for me compared with the way I have been studying other modules. The lack of flexibility is surprising.

It may be that my particular tutor is particularly awkward, but the paper guidelines are quite prescriptive as well.

I also seem to be stuck in a petty disagreement with my tutor about grammar, of all things. I've been told that, although we are supposed to be writing in the third person, as would be expected, the words 'they and 'them' are not acceptable when referring to people!

Regards

Richard

DevonBoy

Ellabobbin wrote: »

We were told to use job titles (abbreviated to initials after the first mention), maybe this is what is meant by not using the words 'they' and 'them'....

Yes, using job titles is fine, but not using they, them, etc is weird. I've done quite a bit of academic writing before, which is usually written in the third person, but never had this restriction. An example of what I have been told is wrong:

"There is a detailed office manual for almost all processes, which staff can use to help ensure that they follow the correct procedure for each function"

Any ideas how I could sensibly re-phrase this and keep the same meaning?

Richard

uknitty

DevonBoy wrote: »

:

"There is a detailed office manual for almost all processes, which staff can use to help ensure that they follow the correct procedure for each function"

Any ideas how I could sensibly re-phrase this and keep the same meaning?

"There is a detailed office manual for almost all processes, which staff can use to help ensure that the correct procedure is followed for each function"

Sparkly

I have the same problem! Apparently I sohuld not use 'they' in the following:
"Competitors – as competitors compete for customers in the same marketplace they have an interest in the company’s financial statements to benchmark their own results in order to identify any variances to exploit as an opportunity." So how am I supposed to word it and mean the same thing?

DevonBoy wrote: »

Yes, using job titles is fine, but not using they, them, etc is weird. I've done quite a bit of academic writing before, which is usually written in the third person, but never had this restriction. An example of what I have been told is wrong:

"There is a detailed office manual for almost all processes, which staff can use to help ensure that they follow the correct procedure for each function"

Any ideas how I could sensibly re-phrase this and keep the same meaning?

Richard

DevonBoy

uknitty wrote: »

"There is a detailed office manual for almost all processes, which staff can use to help ensure that the correct procedure is followed for each function"

Yes but that loses some information, as it does not make clear that staff use the manual to make sure that their own work follows the correct procedure!

Richard
:-)

uknitty

Sparkly wrote: »

"Competitors – as competitors compete for customers in the same marketplace they have an interest in the company’s financial statements to benchmark their own results in order to identify any variances to exploit as an opportunity." So how am I supposed to word it and mean the same thing?

It is common practice for competitors to benchmark results against other organisations in the same market place. As such competitors of XXXX willl wish to view the company's financial statements in order to identify any variances to exploit as an opportunity in order to gain market share.

uknitty

Richard -Stick the words "that is carried out" on the end of the sentence.

DevonBoy

Hi Sparkly,

I wonder if we actually have the same tutor? I'm in the 6th Dec cohort (start date) with a tutor whose initials are ED.

Richard
:-)

MWAUGH1983

Maybe in keeping with professional worded reports instead of them maybe use stakeholders.

In terms of what you pay for level 4 do you pay a seperate amount for the project? How much is this?

Sparkly

You make it look so simple! I think you havet he right mindset for the report writing! Many thanks for this

uknitty wrote: »

It is common practice for competitors to benchmark results against other organisations in the same market place. As such competitors of XXXX willl wish to view the company's financial statements in order to identify any variances to exploit as an opportunity in order to gain market share.

Sparkly

Hi Richard,

I had been wondering the same thing! I am on an earlier cohort, but I think we may have the same tutor! I know they're only trying to do their job and guide us along the way, I just get frustrated that I can't just 'talk' to them!

I think it's best to refrain from saying anything else on here regardng our tutor, but at least we have now found someone in the same boat, so to speak!

rhian

hi everyone, thank you so much for the replies! sorry that i've ignored this for a while- i've been really busy so wasn't meaning to be rude!!

this discussion has got me a bit worried again and i'm wondering if i should concentrate on this module alone whilst i haven't got any other exams. it's an expensive module so i'll really need to consider this carefully

thank you again!

Hopeipassx

Short and sweet - its not as bad as you think!