The Student Room Group

Will I be able to do an access course? + more

Hi guys I am quite young for a mature student I guess. I 'finished' my a levels this year at the age of 19 ( after resitting my AS year due to family problems). I ended up with C C E which was a huge disappointment as I needed A B B to get into my firm. However I am still determined to get into university. Ive been looking around for colleges in London which do access courses and I have found a few, however I am hesitant as these courses are intended for people who have left education for a number of years and not someone who finished them this year. Do you think colleges will take me on?

Bonus questions

what exactly constitutes a distinction?
Do you know how many passes/merits you have through the course or do you find out at the end?
Has anyone here done the business access? How did you find it?


Thanks!
Reply 1
Hey

I don't think your age or the fact that you already have A Levels would stop you starting an access course. It is mostly used by people who have been out of education for a while, but it is not exclusive to that.

I have just finished an access course and there was a lad on my course who was 19.

I am not 100% sure, but I think because you have already achieved a full level 3 qualification then you may not be able to get funding for your course, so you may have to pay for it yourself, but it is always best to check with the college.

- A distinction on my course (Applied Science) was any percentage over 80% - and this could have been an exam or assignment etc. You may have more than one assessment per unit, so an average can be taken from more than one piece of marked work.

- My college would tell you your mark after each module, although the marks would be provisional because your work is internally and externally verified and could change, but this never happened to me.

It is very fast paced and this catches a lot of people out. If your willing to put in the time and effort then it is fairly easy to do very well on an access course.

Good luck and I hope this helps :smile:
Reply 2
I just finished an access course at Richmond adult community college and the majority of my classmates were under 24. I believe three or four were still under 20. I wouldn't worry about your age being a factor.

In my course (humanities) you got a level 3 pass if you successfully met all of the assessment criteria for the assignment. There would then be additional criteria you had to meet consistently to a 'very good' standard for a merit and to an 'excellent' standard for a distinction.

At my college the tutors were pretty helpful in laying out what you needed to do to get the higher grades so it was just up to you to put the effort in. I would concur with mark_18 about the workload. It comes thick and fast and if you don't stay on top of it you will struggle. On my course there was a mix of students, some got everything on time others were given constant extensions. Come the end of the course there were a few who were still three or four assignments behind and struggling to get them all in. If anyone thinks access is an easy ride they are wrong.

I'd say go for it if you are determined to go to university.
Original post by Alex2003
Do you think colleges will take me on?

The college will take you on but many universities won't be so welcoming. Universities define 'mature students' as those over the age of 21, and the top universities are usually strict on that. Mid-tier universities might be more flexible though. A 19 year old on my access course was accepted into Portsmouth but was also rejected by Brunel because he was too young. They told him to work, get some experience and apply 2 years later.
Original post by mark_18
Hey
- A distinction on my course (Applied Science) was any percentage over 80% - and this could have been an exam or assignment etc. You may have more than one assessment per unit, so an average can be taken from more than one piece of marked work.


Sounds lovely. At my college you needed 100% to get a distinction. Every answer correct, presentation (formatting, spelling etc) had to be spot on. A single error or wrong answer would mean your work got referred and capped at a pass. I got caught out a couple of times early on which was incredibly frustrating as two entire lengthy assignments that were linked got capped at a pass because I made one single error in one the answers. :angry:
Reply 5
Kingston college just told me they wont take me on. Im starting to lose hope :frown:
Original post by Frankston
Sounds lovely. At my college you needed 100% to get a distinction. Every answer correct, presentation (formatting, spelling etc) had to be spot on. A single error or wrong answer would mean your work got referred and capped at a pass. I got caught out a couple of times early on which was incredibly frustrating as two entire lengthy assignments that were linked got capped at a pass because I made one single error in one the answers. :angry:


That sounds a bit harsh tbh
Original post by Alex2003
Hi guys I am quite young for a mature student I guess. I 'finished' my a levels this year at the age of 19 ( after resitting my AS year due to family problems). I ended up with C C E which was a huge disappointment as I needed A B B to get into my firm. However I am still determined to get into university. Ive been looking around for colleges in London which do access courses and I have found a few, however I am hesitant as these courses are intended for people who have left education for a number of years and not someone who finished them this year. Do you think colleges will take me on?

Bonus questions

what exactly constitutes a distinction?
Do you know how many passes/merits you have through the course or do you find out at the end?
Has anyone here done the business access? How did you find it?


Thanks!


Hi Alex
Have you considered a foundation year at a university rather than an access course at a college? Although you are disappointed with your results, you still have 200 points from what I can work out - which some universities will consider certainly for a foundation course, if not a degree.
What course were you hoping to study as that might have some impact on your options?
Kind regards
Kerrie

Unleash your Potential
0844 842 9599
www.kingston.ac.uk
There are tonnes of FE colleges in London. Search around and apply to more. If you have just left education then you may have an advantage over others who have not been in a classroom for a long time. This is to your benefit.

Chin up, mate. It will work out for you.
Original post by Alex2003
Kingston college just told me they wont take me on. Im starting to lose hope :frown:


Where do you live? On my Access course at Guildford College someone was only 18. Might be worth giving them a call?
Reply 11
Original post by Frankston
Sounds lovely. At my college you needed 100% to get a distinction. Every answer correct, presentation (formatting, spelling etc) had to be spot on. A single error or wrong answer would mean your work got referred and capped at a pass. I got caught out a couple of times early on which was incredibly frustrating as two entire lengthy assignments that were linked got capped at a pass because I made one single error in one the answers. :angry:


Wow, that is a bit harsh... I have never had any experience of access being marked in this way.

Neither on my course just passed or the one I did a few years ago at a different college.

I would have to take issue with that if it was me.
Original post by Frankston
Sounds lovely. At my college you needed 100% to get a distinction. Every answer correct, presentation (formatting, spelling etc) had to be spot on. A single error or wrong answer would mean your work got referred and capped at a pass. I got caught out a couple of times early on which was incredibly frustrating as two entire lengthy assignments that were linked got capped at a pass because I made one single error in one the answers. :angry:

What College is this? Because I think this might be an exaggeration, surely. My teachers hated grading work as 100% because they always said no work is perfect and there is always room for improvement. So it's strange that your College would make 100% a requirement for a distinction.

I don't believe you, sorry :redface:
Original post by Mathematiculate
What College is this? Because I think this might be an exaggeration, surely. My teachers hated grading work as 100% because they always said no work is perfect and there is always room for improvement. So it's strange that your College would make 100% a requirement for a distinction.

I don't believe you, sorry :redface:


There was some leniency with the presentation of assignments, though I know for a fact that one guy got marked down to merit in one assignment because of spelling mistakes. As for the answers, yes they had to be 100% correct. It happened to me early on with an assignment that had about 30-odd questions. I got one wrong and the entire assignment was referred and capped at a pass. Every question had to be correct to get a distinction, no room for error.

I have nothing to gain by lying to strangers on an internet forum so you're welcome to not believe me if you don't want to. I'm just giving my experience.
You have to pass every learning outcome for a module to get a pass, so if there is only one question that addresses a particular outcome and you get it wrong, you will get a referral. It sounds like poor organisation to arrange it that way though. Even the brightest and hardest-working can make minor errors, and there should be enough opportunities to address any given outcome to allow for that, imo.
Original post by Frankston
There was some leniency with the presentation of assignments, though I know for a fact that one guy got marked down to merit in one assignment because of spelling mistakes. As for the answers, yes they had to be 100% correct. It happened to me early on with an assignment that had about 30-odd questions. I got one wrong and the entire assignment was referred and capped at a pass. Every question had to be correct to get a distinction, no room for error.

I have nothing to gain by lying to strangers on an internet forum so you're welcome to not believe me if you don't want to. I'm just giving my experience.

Were you explicitly told that you needed to get 100 percent to get a distinction? Because getting one wrong and being capped at a pass doesn't necessarily mean you needed to have gotten 100% for a distinction. It sounds like you just didn't meet the learning outcome set by ocn. You can have distinction quality work but might miss it if you missed one of the learning outcomes. In my course, 90% was the threshold for a distinction and I know someone who got that in a maths test but only got a merit because he didn't attempt all of the questions which you're meant to do. I know others who got 70% for a merit but were capped at a pass because the presentation of their work was so poor.

So yes, it's possible to drop whole grades if you get one question wrong, but it's not necessarily because of the fact you got a question wrong but rather because you didn't meet one of the learning outcomes. Your college should have explained this to you at the start of the course.

You can read more about how the marking works on ocn's website. They also state that the teacher can give you another opportunity to resubmit work that didn't meet all the learning outcomes, and you can still be graded normally. But this apparently is at the teacher's discretion.

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