Ask an Access student

OP

Original post by jontray26

Hi there I too am starting Therapeutic Radiography and wondered which uni you will be going too? I will be going to Portsmouth, as a Mature Student, and my main concern are the physics based modules as have not studied any physics since GCSE at school 20 years ago!! My Access course did not have a physics option so took chemistry instead.

Tracey

g

I'm going to Portsmouth too! good to hear i wont be the only mature student on the course. I don't think the physics will be a huge problem or it would be a mandatory subject requirement to apply to the course. But i think the chemistry will be of some help because understanding atomic structure will probably be important when it comes to learning about radiation.

Reply 23

I have a question Oz1981 regarding this grading that has been introduced how does one gain a Merit or a distinction is it depending on the overall standard of work or is it something else entirely
any info would be appreciated :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 24

OP

Original post by 4donklet8

I am starting an access course in Social Science - Just wondering if anyone knows what type of topics are covered in the Sociology, Psychology and Biology( type of Biology). Also is there anything I could be learning before the course starts in September? Any books worth reading to help with a head start because as a mature student, I guess it will be harder.
Thanks

I didn't do sociology or psychology im afraid, i did do biology though. each course will be slightly different but they all roughly speaking follow gcse - AS level curriculum, sometimes going into A2 level if it is for a large number of credits.

In terms of pre-reading i would suggest maybe getting some gcse or AS - level revision books for your subjects and having a flick through, i didn't do this myself but i know people that did and it seemed to help them.

And don't worry about it being harder as a mature student, id been away from education for 10 years and i managed it, i'm sure you will too.

Reply 25

OP

Original post by wizardtop

I have a question regarding this grading that has been introduced how does one gain a Merit or a distinction is it depending on the overall standard of work or is it something else entirely
any info would be appreciated :smile:

it depends on the subject and the criteria set by the examining board for your course, but generally speaking handing in pretty much anything will get you a pass. To get a merit you need to show some level of understanding and give some sort of explanation for what you have written. And to get a distinction you need to show a high level of understanding and give a very good explanation for what you have written. ill try to give you an example; say you have a chemistry lab report, if you just write up what you did and what happened that would get a pass. If you included any relevant reactions that would probably get a merit. If you included the reactions and explained why they took place that would probably get a distinction. Thats a very basic example and not necessarily accurate im just trying to give you a rough idea of what's expected.

in the case of something like an exam, in my course at least you need 40% for a pass, 60% for a merit and 80% for a distinction, don't know if that is universal to all courses or not.

Hope this has helped

Reply 26

Original post by Oz1981

it depends on the subject and the criteria set by the examining board for your course, but generally speaking handing in pretty much anything will get you a pass. To get a merit you need to show some level of understanding and give some sort of explanation for what you have written. And to get a distinction you need to show a high level of understanding and give a very good explanation for what you have written. ill try to give you an example; say you have a chemistry lab report, if you just write up what you did and what happened that would get a pass. If you included any relevant reactions that would probably get a merit. If you included the reactions and explained why they took place that would probably get a distinction. Thats a very basic example and not necessarily accurate im just trying to give you a rough idea of what's expected.

in the case of something like an exam, in my course at least you need 40% for a pass, 60% for a merit and 80% for a distinction, don't know if that is universal to all courses or not.

Hope this has helped

Hi Oz1981
it has helped somewhat i have been told i need to get a merit for some degrees i want to do in 2012 whilst other universities i contacted last year said i needed to obtain distinctions.
I am also glad 0z1981 u mention a science subject as i will have to do some science this year
another question 0z1981 is can u get a merit or a distinction overall on your graded access diploma when u finished the course or is it dependent on how many level 3 credits u have obtained at the certain grading grades ie so many level 3 credits at merit or distinction for example?
also by what u stated 0z1981 it seems to be the more analysing and explaning u do the higher the grade u get

Reply 27

OP

Original post by wizardtop

another question 0z1981 is can u get a merit or a distinction overall on your graded access diploma when u finished the course or is it dependent on how many level 3 credits u have obtained at the certain grading grades ie so many level 3 credits at merit or distinction for example?

i dont know if its the same for all courses but on the one i did you dont get one overall grade, you get an overall grade for each subject you take, so in my case i get five grades. But in terms of the universities the offers aren't in terms of overall grades. the offers are, for example; 21 level 3 credits at distinction and 24 level 3 credits at merit.

Original post by wizardtop

also by what u stated 0z1981 it seems to be the more analysing and explaning u do the higher the grade u get

Yes that's a good way of looking at it, especially for science subjects.

Reply 28

BBary

Hi Oz1981, I have a couple of questions .

I'm enrolling on an Access course for this Sept for Physiotherapy 2012.
I was wondering what kind of studying I could start right now, I'm ordering some specific Access to HE Science books online, but until then have no ideas what I could do as I don't know the exact structure of the course i.e assignments, exams, essays
and so I don't know where to start. I have borred some A level bilogy books but really don't know where to start lol as I suspect A-level is much more detailed that an Access course. Also bought a book on how to write essays but not sure if it's worth anything towards the Access course?

Did you do a science based Access course? Did you have to write alot of essays or where there mainly reports on experiments?. What was the general fashion to receiving credits within the science topics?
And if you were me right now as you have done the course what would you suggest for me to start doing to get prepared?

Thank you.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 29

OP

Original post by BBary

Hi Oz1981, I have a couple of questions .

I'm enrolling on an Access course for this Sept for Physiotherapy 2012.
I was wondering what kind of studying I could start right now, I'm ordering some specific Access to HE Science books online, but until then have no ideas what I could do as I don't know the exact structure of the course i.e assignments, exams, essays
and so I don't know where to start. I have borred some A level bilogy books but really don't know where to start lol as I suspect A-level is much more detailed that an Access course. Also bought a book on how to write essays but not sure if it's worth anything towards the Access course?

Did you do a science based Access course? Did you have to write alot of essays or where there mainly reports on experiments?. What was the general fashion to receiving credits within the science topics?
And if you were me right now as you have done the course what would you suggest for me to start doing to get prepared?

Thank you.

Hi BBary,

yes i did do a science access course, i don't know if your course will be the same as mine, but mine was a mix of lab reports and exams, there were a few essay's as well so that essay book will be useful.

In terms of what you can study right now you could look over the science subjects on the gcse bytesize website (google it) to get you started, if you want specific topics i would suggest basic cell structure and organelles for biology, atomic structure (what an atom is made up of) for chemistry and any sort of introductory physics. I dont know what topics you will be covering but it will likely start with gcse then move into AS- level territory, so any gcse or AS level revision books would be good to have a look at.

If your course is structured the same way mine was then credits will be awarded in units, so for example you might get 6 credits on the topic of organic chemistry, for which there might be a practical experiment that is assessed as well as an exam. So you will earn credits as you go along rather than doing them all at the end of the year, there will probably also be a mandatory study skills unit.

My advice for getting ready:
1. start thinking about your personal statement, why do you want to do physiotherapy? What makes you suited for it? What experiences do you have that will be a benefit to you? etc see the personal statement section on this website for more help and ideas.

2. have you done work experience yet? if not get that sorted as soon as possible, you will need to talk about this in detail in your personal statement.

3. Plan ahead for the amount of time you will need to dedicate to studying, make sure your study isn't going to suffer because you're over stretched due to work or other commitments, access isn't massively hard but it is time consuming, you will probably need as many hours for homework as you will spend in class.

4. If you haven't done any in a while brush up on your maths, especially if you are doing chemistry and/or physics.

That's all i can think of for the moment, sorry for the long winded reply, hope its been helpful

Reply 30

Hi Oz1981
thanks so much for answering my prespecific access questions so far but as i be hopefully studying come september a access to he diploma in health and think i be doing some level 3 credits in biology,what particular type of stuff could i be covering on the biology part of this graded access course?
i thought i ask seening as u did a science course Oz1981 also did u ever do any type of study skills or IT as part of your science course Oz1981 and if so what did you cover? any further info or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated :smile:

Reply 31

Charlottie93

1

Hi All,
Has anyone done an Access course in Forensic Science I'll be starting one in September at Dundee College and would love to hear from anyone who has done the course or anything similar.
I think I might be the youngest in the group as I'll only be 18 but I'm looking forward to it. :smile:

Reply 32

OP

Original post by wizardtop

Hi Oz1981
thanks so much for answering my prespecific access questions so far but as i be hopefully studying come september a access to he diploma in health and think i be doing some level 3 credits in biology,what particular type of stuff could i be covering on the biology part of this graded access course?
i thought i ask seening as u did a science course Oz1981 also did u ever do any type of study skills or IT as part of your science course Oz1981 and if so what did you cover? any further info or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated :smile:

i don't know if yours will be the same as mine, but i did the following topics for biology:

cell structure and functions of organelles
diffusion, osmosis and active transport
the circulatory system and blood
breathing, gas exchange and cell respiration
nervous system
homeostasis and osmoregulation
nutrition and the digestive system
urinary system
the reproductive system
dna structure and replication
cell cycle
evolution and mendelian inheritance
introduction to microbiology
micro-organisms, diseases and defences

i did 24 credits in total for biology, so depending how many biology credits you are doing you may do more or less than this.

Yes i did have a study skills component, it mainly consisted of self evaluation of different study techniques, such as time management, revision strategies, exam techniques etc, having spoken to friends who have done different access courses these units can vary quite a lot between courses, so yours will probably be different.

Reply 33

OP

Original post by Charlottie93

Hi All,
Has anyone done an Access course in Forensic Science I'll be starting one in September at Dundee College and would love to hear from anyone who has done the course or anything similar.
I think I might be the youngest in the group as I'll only be 18 but I'm looking forward to it. :smile:

i didn't do forensic science specifically, but as forensic science involves either biology or chemistry i would imagine they will be your main subjects, and you probably start with the basics like you would have done in high school, so basic cell structure in biology and for chemistry atomic structure and the periodic table.

Hope this helps.

Reply 34

Charlottie93

1

Original post by Oz1981

i didn't do forensic science specifically, but as forensic science involves either biology or chemistry i would imagine they will be your main subjects, and you probably start with the basics like you would have done in high school, so basic cell structure in biology and for chemistry atomic structure and the periodic table.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, I have a list of what we are going to study and it looks quite fascinating! :smile:

Reply 35