The Student Room Group

access to he - full time

im starting the full time access to he next week and havent had a timetable yet so just wanted to see what most peoples were last year or if you have your timetable, this year!

also, is anyone doing the science pathway or did it last year? what should i expect
Original post by siansian91
im starting the full time access to he next week and havent had a timetable yet so just wanted to see what most peoples were last year or if you have your timetable, this year!

also, is anyone doing the science pathway or did it last year? what should i expect


Hi, good luck on your course.

My timetable is 13 hours over Monday to wednesday. I', not doing science but there books out there called access to HE by Bill Myers which give some overview of how the course works.
Hi, I'm starting the Acccess to Social Sciences on the 14/09/15 and my timetable is:
Mon- 9-3.45
Thur- 9-2.30
Fri-9-3.45

I am also studying GCSE Maths on Tuesday mornings, but I'm assuming that doesn't apply to you. So my hours it total are around 18 or so hours. Every college is different, however generally the hours seem to take this format for most Access students.
Hope I helped in some way! :smile:
Reply 3
I am hoping it will be 3 days, but they havent told us yet which I am getting super annoyed about due to needing to change work hours! I also wanted to retake gcse maths but because i got a c they wouldnt let me! :frown:
I'm taking the access to science for health, my time table is
Wednesday and Thursday 9.00am till 5pm, as far as I know everyone on the science/nursing course and humanities pathways in my area this year are two full days a week.
Although I think a couple of people have some extra hours on extra days for gcse classes, not to sure on what hours they are as I opted to self teach those.
Hope this helps!
Reply 5
Original post by barbie2brains
I'm taking the access to science for health, my time table is
Wednesday and Thursday 9.00am till 5pm, as far as I know everyone on the science/nursing course and humanities pathways in my area this year are two full days a week.
Although I think a couple of people have some extra hours on extra days for gcse classes, not to sure on what hours they are as I opted to self teach those.
Hope this helps!


Thank you!! Hopefully it will be 2-3 days then! I just want to find out asap as I start monday but no clue what other days???
Reply 6
Hey, I did access science pathway last year. Three days a week (some of my friends got lucky and had two days a week though); Wednesday 9.30am - 3pm Thursday 12.30pm-3pm and Friday 12.30pm-3pm. I took Biology, Chemistry and Maths, at the college I attended it was all very friendly and laid back, the Maths was all pretty new to me but Biology and Chemistry topics were largely familiar (from GCSE's taken around 12 years previous). All in all an enjoyable and useful experience for those who are serious about getting back into things.
Did Access Humanities last year. Timetable was 9am-12:15pm Mon & Tues, 9am-2:45pm Wed, 1:15pm-4:30pm Thu. Basically 3 hours + 15 mins break time for academic subject lessons, plus most of the day Wed for study skills/tutorial.

Highly recommend Access to adults who are conscientious students. Mostly enjoyable, although study skills tried my patience (look at the amount of time involved each week and bear in mind the credits for the subject are ungraded, so of lesser significance than the credits for the other subjects).
Reply 8
Hi I did the Humanities two years ago four day week Monday, Tuesday, Friday 9/10-3ish then Wednesdays 9-12.

It was an invaluable experience that really sets you up for university it's a mammoth workload but with the right attitude and teaching staff totally doable :smile:. I would say in my experience University on an academic level is harder but in terms of hours much more lenient it's not as imminent in terms of deadlines etc so you do have to re-teach yourself in someways as a 3week access deadline at uni can be like a 3 month one which goes quickly.

But all the best you've made a brave and very good choice :smile:.
Reply 9
thank you everyone! im hoping its not 4days as a girls gotta work so a girl can eat lol!! im really looking forward to it, just hope its more organised than when i went for enrollment cause access was a mess!
Original post by siansian91
thank you everyone! im hoping its not 4days as a girls gotta work so a girl can eat lol!! im really looking forward to it, just hope its more organised than when i went for enrollment cause access was a mess!


I know exactly what you mean with enrolment, it's an absolute nightmare. For the Access though, it wasn't too bad- in fact I said this multiple times to the staff who just replied they were having a quiet morning and that it would pick up later on.:laugh: With enrolment in the last couple of years, there has been some times where I've honestly thought to myself "how are the staff are going to process everyone?" The college I'm at seems to be notoriously disorganised with loads of previous students pretty much saying the same thing; I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one, ha ha!
Reply 11
Original post by Amy. J S
I know exactly what you mean with enrolment, it's an absolute nightmare. For the Access though, it wasn't too bad- in fact I said this multiple times to the staff who just replied they were having a quiet morning and that it would pick up later on.:laugh: With enrolment in the last couple of years, there has been some times where I've honestly thought to myself "how are the staff are going to process everyone?" The college I'm at seems to be notoriously disorganised with loads of previous students pretty much saying the same thing; I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one, ha ha!


It was awful! Took so long and all departments didn't stick to their times so there was huge queues at all the desks! And then we get told we don't get a timetable, don't know about funding or bursarys because they haven't done them yet even though they sent the forms out 6 weeks ago saying it was first come first served! It is actually stressing me out so much, I can't wait for Monday so I can hopefully get some organisation!!


Posted from TSR Mobile
Fitting in work around the Access course can be tricky. I've heard people on TSR say they worked f/t while doing it - having been doing a course where I needed to be in college four days a week, I find it hard to understand how that was physically possible. However, I guess courses may well be structured very differently at different institutions, so perhaps it was possible for them. I was in the comfortable position where I didn't need to work this year, but while I understand that many people will need to do some paid work to keep afloat, working f/t while doing a 1yr Access course is not something I'd recommend!

I think the organisation (or lack thereof) part is something you'll have to learn to cope with. I had various troubles with my Advanced 24+ loan due, basically, to disorganisation on the part of my college. The important thing, though, is that now I've finished the course, I've got what I need out of it as I start uni - all those niggles I had along the way aren't significant now. Grin and bear it with the organisational issues that bug you - I guarantee you'll have more of them, but don't let them get in the way of your achieving your goals. Nothing wrong with having a good moan about it as well, though!
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by siansian91
It was awful! Took so long and all departments didn't stick to their times so there was huge queues at all the desks! And then we get told we don't get a timetable, don't know about funding or bursarys because they haven't done them yet even though they sent the forms out 6 weeks ago saying it was first come first served! It is actually stressing me out so much, I can't wait for Monday so I can hopefully get some organisation!!


Posted from TSR Mobile


God, I've had it quite lucky this time then. Got my timetable on enrolment, was about 10-15 of us (although this was when I was enroling, there were lots of people coming and going). And I managed to get my student financing sorted out the same day. But I can definitely empathise with you. Last year I had to pay about £60 or something for transport due to the College being so inefficient with the system of allocating bursaries to eligible students. When I spoke to the student finance officer, she said we've definitely ironed a lot of last year's problems out which if I'm honest was a huge relief. I have put some money aside, but it isn't no way near the amount I had last year- so fingers crossed, I should get a tram pass pretty soon. :crossedf:
Reply 14
Why don't you just ring the College and ask them what the timetable is. They'll pass you through to the tutors who will tell you which days and times. They might even be able to email you a copy, you should really have been given one when you went to enrol for the course.
Reply 15
I have spoke to the tutors, they haven't finished the timetable yet hence why we haven't got it, which is why it's stressing me out because they can't tell me what days or how many days yet and I start on Monday 😩


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 16
Make sure you get yourself a diary to be super organised. Also, try to do the work when you get it and never let things build up. Working and doing Access is hard work, but worth it.:smile:
I got my timetable in the first week of the course, so perhaps it's not that uncommon to not have it all sorted out in advance.
Reply 18
Original post by elk35
Make sure you get yourself a diary to be super organised. Also, try to do the work when you get it and never let things build up. Working and doing Access is hard work, but worth it.:smile:


I got a gorgeous custom personal planner that I'm waiting to be delivered! Can't wait to use it!


Posted from TSR Mobile
My access to nursing was full day mon/tue/wed, 3/4 day thur and 1/2 day Friday.

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