Spreadsheet Software?

Daniel E

Hi there,

I'm doing level 3 via long distance learning with BPP and am moving on to the studying for the final course which is spreadsheet software. I tried to inquire about the course today over the phone but wasn't able to get much information.

With all the other courses I've just ordered the books and studied at home. Is this possible with the spreadsheet software unit, because the person I spoke to said the only material they provide is a "workbook"? They also made it sound as if there isn't an exam you have to attend and you just have to do an assesment in your own time. Is this true?

Thanks for any help

Jo Clark

Daniel E wrote: »

Hi there,

I'm doing level 3 via long distance learning with BPP and am moving on to the studying for the final course which is spreadsheet software. I tried to inquire about the course today over the phone but wasn't able to get much information.

With all the other courses I've just ordered the books and studied at home. Is this possible with the spreadsheet software unit, because the person I spoke to said the only material they provide is a "workbook"? They also made it sound as if there isn't an exam you have to attend and you just have to do an assesment in your own time. Is this true?

Thanks for any help

Hello Daniel

For SPSW (Level 3) and ICAS (Level 4) you are required to sign up with a training provider. The reasoning for this is that the training provider mark/assess your SPSW/ICAS work and there is no actual CBA. For SPSW there is a CBP - Computer Based Project and ICAS is an assignment type project.

You will attend a centre to sit SPSW or can, under certain circumstances, sit the SPSW assessment in your workplace. It has been some time since I sat this so students who have sat it more recently may be able to update you with current information.

Good luck.


JC

Nps

Hi Daniel, I searched high and low for a provider who would let me sit the spreadsheet exam without paying through the nose for a course I didn't need. Kaplan and BPP both said I had to pay for the whole course, however I contacted Kaplan Milton Keynes direct and they let me sit the exam and charged me around £40 in total (just the exam fee). However from reading this forum, I appear to be the only person who has ever got away with this and everyone else seems to be stung for entire course fees. I think it's ridiculous that regular Excel users are more or less forced to pay for an expensive course to learn what they probably already know.

ICAS, however, you will need to pay for the whole course. I also disagree with this but could find no way round it. My provider was useless and I am still mourning the waste of my £200!

Jo Clark

Nps1976 wrote: »

Hi Daniel, I searched high and low for a provider who would let me sit the spreadsheet exam without paying through the nose for a course I didn't need. Kaplan and BPP both said I had to pay for the whole course, however I contacted Kaplan Milton Keynes direct and they let me sit the exam and charged me around £40 in total (just the exam fee). However from reading this forum, I appear to be the only person who has ever got away with this and everyone else seems to be stung for entire course fees. I think it's ridiculous that regular Excel users are more or less forced to pay for an expensive course to learn what they probably already know.

NPS you do seem to be the only student (that I have heard of) who has managed to pay just the exam fee - very fortunate for you

Nps1976 wrote: »

ICAS, however, you will need to pay for the whole course. I also disagree with this but could find no way round it. My provider was useless and I am still mourning the waste of my £200!

£200 may seem like a lot of money, however have you considered how many hours the assessor spent marking your assignment? I'm not sure if you submitted ICAS in one go or if you, like many students, write sections and send to their tutor/assessor for review and guidance. All this time adds up and therefore I personally don't think that £200 is too much. I am sure there will be a mix of views on this.

Congratulations on completing AAT and all the best with your ACCA studies - I hope they are going well?

Nps

Hi Jo, yes I realise I must have struck lucky with my spreadsheet exam, as a self funder, every penny saved is a bonus!

Unfortunately with ICAS, my provider forgot to send me the full guidance until after I submitted my first draft, then my feedback appeared to relate to another student entirely. Emails asking for clarification were just responded to with generic guidance. I certainly didn't get step by step guidance like others seem to.

In frustration, I ended up re-submitting some old 'not yet competent' sections and they were suddenly deemed to be competent! To this day, I remain unconvinced that my assessor actually cast more than a cursory glance over it, so in my case, I don't feel it was worth £200. Hopefully mine is a one off occurrence though.

I suppose ultimately, I really enjoyed every other AAT module and learnt so much, ICAS just left me feeling a bit flat and I didn't really learn anything from it. Add to this the fact that that one module cost me almost as much as the rest of level 4 put together, I felt it was an expensive exercise.

Daniel E

Nps1976 wrote: »

Hi Daniel, I searched high and low for a provider who would let me sit the spreadsheet exam without paying through the nose for a course I didn't need. Kaplan and BPP both said I had to pay for the whole course, however I contacted Kaplan Milton Keynes direct and they let me sit the exam and charged me around £40 in total (just the exam fee). However from reading this forum, I appear to be the only person who has ever got away with this and everyone else seems to be stung for entire course fees. I think it's ridiculous that regular Excel users are more or less forced to pay for an expensive course to learn what they probably already know.

ICAS, however, you will need to pay for the whole course. I also disagree with this but could find no way round it. My provider was useless and I am still mourning the waste of my £200!

Okay. I get now that there is an actual exam that you have to do and not just an exercise. What I want to know is if it is possible to do this course with BPP via long distance learning?

Nps

Yes it is.

Jo Clark

Daniel E wrote: »

Okay. I get now that there is an actual exam that you have to do and not just an exercise. What I want to know is if it is possible to do this course with BPP via long distance learning?

Hello Daniel

As NPS has already said, yes you can study this by long distance learning. There are no classes (to my knowledge) for this module. When I studied SPSW you have a BPP book and I think there were some class notes sent to you to work through. You will be assigned an assessor and there will be a forum, a little like this, where you can chat to other students and the assessor for your cohort. They will also post helpful messages there for you.

Once you have studied the material you book to sit the CBP at your local test centre.

Simples!

Jo Clark

ohhh you may like to contact your test centre to enquire what version of Excel they are using in case you are on a different version. This will allow you time to familiarise yourself with the same as the test centre.

Rachie278

Would just like to back up NPS1976 in that I am currently studying level 3 by myself and trying to be organised, after reading through posts on here, rang BPP today and contacted Kaplan regarding doign SPSW, both companies offered me just the module, BPP for something like £225 and that was for the materials and apparently I could do everything from home, cant remember how much Kaplan was, but the girl I spoke to said I could do just the SPSW exam with them for 50 something pound not sure if I should try and book it and just turn up and hope?! It means a 50 mile trip at the risk of someone telling me I'm not allowed!?

Nps

Rachie, personally I would risk it. I had the same concerns and wasn't completely happy until my exam pass got registered on my AAT account. The people at the Kaplan exam centre will not have a clue whether or not you have sat a full course with them, they'll just be concerned with the exam administration. Like me, if are self funding, the last thing you need is to be parting with cash for a course you don't need.

Rachie278

NPS1976, I am currently studying for AP1 and AP2 and hoping to take them by the end of January, then I think I might crack on with SPSW, I guess the worst that can happen is they have to refund me when I get there, and I've had a road trip to IKEA lol