Has my Access to HE course been mis-sold?
So I'm two weeks into my access to HE course and I'm feeling very underwhelmed.
On the Access to HE website this is being advertised as equivalent to three a-levels. Now this may be true from a university's point of view but academically it does not even feel close.
Maybe it's just my college but we are only doing 7.5 hours a week on core subjects (with 2 hours for study skills) I am little miffed as their own bloody website it says 13 hours per week. (if you paid for 13 hours of driving lessons and got 10 I think you'd have a right to complain).
I don't see how I'm going to get £3k worth of education out of this. I am going to continue because at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who loses out because my fee will be wiped off but it feels like when I see major cuts coming to further education I can see why, it feels very inefficient.
On the Access to HE website this is being advertised as equivalent to three a-levels. Now this may be true from a university's point of view but academically it does not even feel close.
Maybe it's just my college but we are only doing 7.5 hours a week on core subjects (with 2 hours for study skills) I am little miffed as their own bloody website it says 13 hours per week. (if you paid for 13 hours of driving lessons and got 10 I think you'd have a right to complain).
I don't see how I'm going to get £3k worth of education out of this. I am going to continue because at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who loses out because my fee will be wiped off but it feels like when I see major cuts coming to further education I can see why, it feels very inefficient.
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Original post by skeptical_john
So I'm two weeks into my access to HE course and I'm feeling very underwhelmed.
On the Access to HE website this is being advertised as equivalent to three a-levels. Now this may be true from a university's point of view but academically it does not even feel close.
Maybe it's just my college but we are only doing 7.5 hours a week on core subjects (with 2 hours for study skills) I am little miffed as their own bloody website it says 13 hours per week. (if you paid for 13 hours of driving lessons and got 10 I think you'd have a right to complain).
I don't see how I'm going to get £3k worth of education out of this. I am going to continue because at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who loses out because my fee will be wiped off but it feels like when I see major cuts coming to further education I can see why, it feels very inefficient.
On the Access to HE website this is being advertised as equivalent to three a-levels. Now this may be true from a university's point of view but academically it does not even feel close.
Maybe it's just my college but we are only doing 7.5 hours a week on core subjects (with 2 hours for study skills) I am little miffed as their own bloody website it says 13 hours per week. (if you paid for 13 hours of driving lessons and got 10 I think you'd have a right to complain).
I don't see how I'm going to get £3k worth of education out of this. I am going to continue because at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who loses out because my fee will be wiped off but it feels like when I see major cuts coming to further education I can see why, it feels very inefficient.
I would question why you aren't getting the full amount of classroom time promised, but maybe you are expected to do a lot of independent study. It's similar at university- £9k fees now and for humanities you get at best 12 hours a week contact time in first year, going down to sometimes as low as 4 in final year, but there is always plenty of seminar reading and coursework you can do.
Maybe the course eases you in gradually, you are only at week 2 after all. 6 weeks from now you could be eating your words and wishing for a slower pace again! Plus it's a bit egg or chicken in terms of the cuts - have standards shifted because of cuts or cuts come in because of slipped standards?
Anyway, I hope it gets better. I have struggled in the past with study that didn't challenge me and it sucks the spirit out of you.
Anyway, I hope it gets better. I have struggled in the past with study that didn't challenge me and it sucks the spirit out of you.
Access courses are being geared more towards the uni model, so lectures rather than lessons and less contact time to allow for independent learning. As for being missold, aye, ours was as well. Fewer hours of contact is going to make it more difficult for you to do well.
Those saying it's geared towards independent learning. Obviously this in an important skill but it does not explain why the college website states 13 hours and I'm getting 10.5 (20% less than promised).
Our class is 2.5 hours long which I find really odd. We have a break which lasts 20 mins so its really only two hours. And if its 2 hours they may as well just make it a 2 hour class and not bother with the break as anyone can concentrate for two hours. But then it really would look like a half assed course.
I accept in a few weeks I might be shouting ffs stop all this homework but honestly GCSE english I did last year felt more intense and rigorous. I wonder if its because the college can set their own syllabus they've made life easy for them selves.
Anyway I let my feelings be known to my class tutor and she said the class was cut from 3 hours to 2.5 this year and she does not know why her self and will look in to it.
It's easy to blame the cuts but the amount of funding this course gets from the gov has not been cut yet and I'm know of other colleges which are having 14-15 hour contact time so they've got no excuse.
Our class is 2.5 hours long which I find really odd. We have a break which lasts 20 mins so its really only two hours. And if its 2 hours they may as well just make it a 2 hour class and not bother with the break as anyone can concentrate for two hours. But then it really would look like a half assed course.
I accept in a few weeks I might be shouting ffs stop all this homework but honestly GCSE english I did last year felt more intense and rigorous. I wonder if its because the college can set their own syllabus they've made life easy for them selves.
Anyway I let my feelings be known to my class tutor and she said the class was cut from 3 hours to 2.5 this year and she does not know why her self and will look in to it.
It's easy to blame the cuts but the amount of funding this course gets from the gov has not been cut yet and I'm know of other colleges which are having 14-15 hour contact time so they've got no excuse.
I think the real issue is whether you, the students, are suffering as a result of the timetable. If the tutors are struggling to teach you the required material in the time available, you've got a strong case to complain, as you really are being short-changed in that case.
Our 3 academic lessons were over 3 days, each @ 3 hrs 15mins, so that's 9 hrs 45 mins. Plus we had one day consisting of 3hrs 15 mins study skills and 1hr 30 mins tutorial/extra time on the schedule. So our timetabled week was 14.5 hours. In reality, you can take off about 1.5 hours for lesson breaks, plus the study skills/tutorial day probably averaged out at about 3 hours contact time. So, I suppose we really had about 11 hours of real contact time in total.
You're probably fed up of people saying about how Access emphasises independent learning, but imo you can't judge the difficulty of the course based on the amount of contact time.
Our 3 academic lessons were over 3 days, each @ 3 hrs 15mins, so that's 9 hrs 45 mins. Plus we had one day consisting of 3hrs 15 mins study skills and 1hr 30 mins tutorial/extra time on the schedule. So our timetabled week was 14.5 hours. In reality, you can take off about 1.5 hours for lesson breaks, plus the study skills/tutorial day probably averaged out at about 3 hours contact time. So, I suppose we really had about 11 hours of real contact time in total.
You're probably fed up of people saying about how Access emphasises independent learning, but imo you can't judge the difficulty of the course based on the amount of contact time.
Original post by skeptical_john
So I'm two weeks into my access to HE course and I'm feeling very underwhelmed.
On the Access to HE website this is being advertised as equivalent to three a-levels. Now this may be true from a university's point of view but academically it does not even feel close.
Maybe it's just my college but we are only doing 7.5 hours a week on core subjects (with 2 hours for study skills) I am little miffed as their own bloody website it says 13 hours per week. (if you paid for 13 hours of driving lessons and got 10 I think you'd have a right to complain).
I don't see how I'm going to get £3k worth of education out of this. I am going to continue because at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who loses out because my fee will be wiped off but it feels like when I see major cuts coming to further education I can see why, it feels very inefficient.
On the Access to HE website this is being advertised as equivalent to three a-levels. Now this may be true from a university's point of view but academically it does not even feel close.
Maybe it's just my college but we are only doing 7.5 hours a week on core subjects (with 2 hours for study skills) I am little miffed as their own bloody website it says 13 hours per week. (if you paid for 13 hours of driving lessons and got 10 I think you'd have a right to complain).
I don't see how I'm going to get £3k worth of education out of this. I am going to continue because at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who loses out because my fee will be wiped off but it feels like when I see major cuts coming to further education I can see why, it feels very inefficient.
They all advertise as this, and difficulty will increase fairly rapidly but they are in no way equivalent to 3 A-levels, other than giving you a level 3 qualification which most uni's will accept in place of A-levels.
I'd just keep questioning it, also question the wording. Sometimes they advertise time spent on the course including time spent doing independent learning, so make sure an admin person hasn't mis-typed on the website.
Also, use this time to do as much reading up, personal statement preparation, assignment preparation and reading about your syllabus and getting ahead that you can. You'll probably regret it if not!
Original post by jimmy_looks_2ice
I think the real issue is whether you, the students, are suffering as a result of the timetable. If the tutors are struggling to teach you the required material in the time available, you've got a strong case to complain, as you really are being short-changed in that case.
Our 3 academic lessons were over 3 days, each @ 3 hrs 15mins, so that's 9 hrs 45 mins. Plus we had one day consisting of 3hrs 15 mins study skills and 1hr 30 mins tutorial/extra time on the schedule. So our timetabled week was 14.5 hours. In reality, you can take off about 1.5 hours for lesson breaks, plus the study skills/tutorial day probably averaged out at about 3 hours contact time. So, I suppose we really had about 11 hours of real contact time in total.
You're probably fed up of people saying about how Access emphasises independent learning, but imo you can't judge the difficulty of the course based on the amount of contact time.
Our 3 academic lessons were over 3 days, each @ 3 hrs 15mins, so that's 9 hrs 45 mins. Plus we had one day consisting of 3hrs 15 mins study skills and 1hr 30 mins tutorial/extra time on the schedule. So our timetabled week was 14.5 hours. In reality, you can take off about 1.5 hours for lesson breaks, plus the study skills/tutorial day probably averaged out at about 3 hours contact time. So, I suppose we really had about 11 hours of real contact time in total.
You're probably fed up of people saying about how Access emphasises independent learning, but imo you can't judge the difficulty of the course based on the amount of contact time.
My study skills is 2 hours but even that feel generous for what we seem to be dong in it. Feels like 2 hours of box ticking admin, I doubt I will learn anything in the entire year of that class.
I have no problem with my teachers I'm even sure they are as confused as me. The problem is it will be really hard to tell if we are struggling until it's probably too late.
As I said I'm comfortable with independent learning but independent learning is not me reading random books in the library it's being set a task, doing the research and writing and cruicilly, getting feedback.
Original post by skeptical_john
My study skills is 2 hours but even that feel generous for what we seem to be dong in it. Feels like 2 hours of box ticking admin, I doubt I will learn anything in the entire year of that class.
I hated study skills
, or the assignments for study skills, at least, with a passion 
. But, ultimately, you need the 15 credits awarded for study skills to get your diploma, so you've just got to crack on with it. And in all fairness, I did learn a few things from the lessons.Original post by jimmy_looks_2ice
I hated study skills , or the assignments for study skills, at least, with a passion . But, ultimately, you need the 15 credits awarded for study skills to get your diploma, so you've just got to crack on with it. And in all fairness, I did learn a few things from the lessons.
, or the assignments for study skills, at least, with a passion . But, ultimately, you need the 15 credits awarded for study skills to get your diploma, so you've just got to crack on with it. And in all fairness, I did learn a few things from the lessons.God knows how you filled 3 hours for it. I'd say we average about 60 minutes of work in the two hours. I've resorted to trying to memorise the poems we're studying in Eng Lit.
My access course starts tomorrow and all the things I've been worrying about have been talked about in this thread. Great. 
Original post by TheThiefOfBagdad
My access course starts tomorrow and all the things I've been worrying about have been talked about in this thread. Great.
What are you worried about, specifically? The key thing to remember is that while it may be disadvantageous if your particular college's implementation of Access is not too hot, Access is a great course and can get you pretty much wherever you want to go (barring certain exceptions).
Original post by jimmy_looks_2ice
What are you worried about, specifically? The key thing to remember is that while it may be disadvantageous if your particular college's implementation of Access is not too hot, Access is a great course and can get you pretty much wherever you want to go (barring certain exceptions).
Essentially, that my college is pretty rubbish and the staff don't know what they're doing, that it's just a scheme to make money and that there will be far too much focus on independent study when, as I'm doing science, I really need people to show me what to do.
idk, I suppose I'm being paranoid and I'm sure things will go well; it's just one of those 'knowing my luck' situations.
Original post by skeptical_john
Those saying it's geared towards independent learning. Obviously this in an important skill but it does not explain why the college website states 13 hours and I'm getting 10.5 (20% less than promised).
Our class is 2.5 hours long which I find really odd. We have a break which lasts 20 mins so its really only two hours. And if its 2 hours they may as well just make it a 2 hour class and not bother with the break as anyone can concentrate for two hours. But then it really would look like a half assed course.
I accept in a few weeks I might be shouting ffs stop all this homework but honestly GCSE english I did last year felt more intense and rigorous. I wonder if its because the college can set their own syllabus they've made life easy for them selves.
Anyway I let my feelings be known to my class tutor and she said the class was cut from 3 hours to 2.5 this year and she does not know why her self and will look in to it.
It's easy to blame the cuts but the amount of funding this course gets from the gov has not been cut yet and I'm know of other colleges which are having 14-15 hour contact time so they've got no excuse.
Our class is 2.5 hours long which I find really odd. We have a break which lasts 20 mins so its really only two hours. And if its 2 hours they may as well just make it a 2 hour class and not bother with the break as anyone can concentrate for two hours. But then it really would look like a half assed course.
I accept in a few weeks I might be shouting ffs stop all this homework but honestly GCSE english I did last year felt more intense and rigorous. I wonder if its because the college can set their own syllabus they've made life easy for them selves.
Anyway I let my feelings be known to my class tutor and she said the class was cut from 3 hours to 2.5 this year and she does not know why her self and will look in to it.
It's easy to blame the cuts but the amount of funding this course gets from the gov has not been cut yet and I'm know of other colleges which are having 14-15 hour contact time so they've got no excuse.
When you come to university, you'll be one of those people saying "Only 8 hours contact; this course is extremely easy!" and when it comes to exams, you'll be ****ed. You are there to self-study, not to be taught every thing. Don't presume it's going to be easy because your GCSE was more demanding in class. When it comes to assignments, you are meant to bridge the gap between the class and the level of knowledge you are supposed to display in assignments. That's what university will be like. The idea that you and others have that a course's difficulty is determined by how many times one has to get out of bed early, and sit in a room listening to a teacher, does not appreciate that the main endeavour in higher education is intellectual demand, not physical attendance.
I cannot speak as to why your college's information is wrong. I started the course two years ago and even then the website was two years out of date. That website has not changed since, yet the year I'd started the college had revamped the course with a more university-styled syllabus—fewer contact hours, less spoon-feeding, only setting out the framework for learning and not delivering all the content required to excel. This is what prepared me for university and it'll prepare you, if only you commit to the course wholeheartedly.
Original post by callum_law
When you come to university, you'll be one of those people saying "Only 8 hours contact; this course is extremely easy!" and when it comes to exams, you'll be ****ed. You are there to self-study, not to be taught every thing. Don't presume it's going to be easy because your GCSE was more demanding in class. When it comes to assignments, you are meant to bridge the gap between the class and the level of knowledge you are supposed to display in assignments. That's what university will be like. The idea that you and others have that a course's difficulty is determined by how many times one has to get out of bed early, and sit in a room listening to a teacher, does not appreciate that the main endeavour in higher education is intellectual demand, not physical attendance.
I cannot speak as to why your college's information is wrong. I started the course two years ago and even then the website was two years out of date. That website has not changed since, yet the year I'd started the college had revamped the course with a more university-styled syllabus—fewer contact hours, less spoon-feeding, only setting out the framework for learning and not delivering all the content required to excel. This is what prepared me for university and it'll prepare you, if only you commit to the course wholeheartedly.
I cannot speak as to why your college's information is wrong. I started the course two years ago and even then the website was two years out of date. That website has not changed since, yet the year I'd started the college had revamped the course with a more university-styled syllabus—fewer contact hours, less spoon-feeding, only setting out the framework for learning and not delivering all the content required to excel. This is what prepared me for university and it'll prepare you, if only you commit to the course wholeheartedly.
On the contrary I think it will be hard because there are so few hours. Learning something is not just reading books. It's analysing and evaluating from different view points which should be done in class at my level or study groups at higher levels. I don't think I'm being unreasonable?
I have some experience in business and advertising X and delivering less than X you would be out of business very quickly*
* Does not apply to banking
Original post by jimmy_looks_2ice
I hated study skills , or the assignments for study skills, at least, with a passion . But, ultimately, you need the 15 credits awarded for study skills to get your diploma, so you've just got to crack on with it. And in all fairness, I did learn a few things from the lessons.
, or the assignments for study skills, at least, with a passion . But, ultimately, you need the 15 credits awarded for study skills to get your diploma, so you've just got to crack on with it. And in all fairness, I did learn a few things from the lessons.Gah, me too! My study skills was 9am till noon on a monday morning. Monday bloody morning!? It took me over 2 hours to get there and 9/10 I was suffering from the weekend. I'd say 90% of my study skills lessons were useless but I did learn how to properly reference (useful for university) and a few other cool things. Our tutor was massively into disease so our projects were usually pretty cool.
Original post by skeptical_john
On the contrary I think it will be hard because there are so few hours. Learning something is not just reading books. It's analysing and evaluating from different view points which should be done in class at my level or study groups at higher levels. I don't think I'm being unreasonable?
I bet you no one else in this thread had all the relevant Access course content handed to them in class; like my experience, they probably scratched the surface in class. Your uni seminar groups are not going to cover the majority of the content you need, either.
The people who did just repeat what was said in class got merits and passes.
Original post by Tw1x
Gah, me too! My study skills was 9am till noon on a monday morning. Monday bloody morning!? It took me over 2 hours to get there and 9/10 I was suffering from the weekend. I'd say 90% of my study skills lessons were useless but I did learn how to properly reference (useful for university) and a few other cool things. Our tutor was massively into disease so our projects were usually pretty cool.
I'm assuming I should infer from that that your study skills tutor was primarily a biology tutor and not that they had some weird pre-occupation with disease?
I had a similar problem with the amount of time I had to devote for my study skills day (for me, including the commuting, it was a 9 hour day). The amount of benefit I derived from it didn't warrant that amount of time investment. But it's all done with now, and it perhaps has given me the edge over younger A-Level students in some ways (e.g. referencing).
Original post by callum_law
I bet you no one else in this thread had all the relevant Access course content handed to them in class; like my experience, they probably scratched the surface in class. Your uni seminar groups are not going to cover the majority of the content you need, either.
The people who did just repeat what was said in class got merits and passes.
The people who did just repeat what was said in class got merits and passes.
IIRC, I was told during my interview for Access that the course would have about 15 hours of contact time per week, with the crucial caveat that a guideline for the amount of self-study time pw was about 5 hours for each of the subjects (i.e. 5 x 4 = 20 hours pw). In my case, the contact time promised was delivered. I can appreciate that the OP may feel a bit let down if they were promised more than has been delivered.
That said, I concur with your line of argument. The lessons were the starting point for the topics, to be supplemented with additional private research and learning. I only read a few essays other than my own, but it seemed to me that the pass/merit answers lacked some critical aspects of the topic and/or didn't evaluate enough. I'd be amazed if any student got through the entire Access course without a single comment on any of their essays to the effect of "this point could've been developed more" (I got the odd comment like that, even on essays where I was awarded a distinction on all the 5 grade descriptors). But there's a clear difference between the odd point not being fully developed and the essay as a whole not featuring enough evaluation, and that's often the difference between a pass and a merit, or a merit and a distinction.
We had 4 hours of lesson time (2 x 2hr) per subject each week on my Access course. I really, really wouldn't judge whether the course is of a good standard solely based on the amount of contact time you are receiving. In actual fact, one of my subject teachers was so appallingly bad that we had yet to learn a single thing after 8 hours of contact time with her by the third week.
The whole point of an Access course is to prepare you for the self-directed learning (e.g. lots of reading up on the unit topics in your free time) that university is all about. Furthermore, you might find that your particular college have opted to ease their Access students into the workload gradually to prevent dropouts.
The whole point of an Access course is to prepare you for the self-directed learning (e.g. lots of reading up on the unit topics in your free time) that university is all about. Furthermore, you might find that your particular college have opted to ease their Access students into the workload gradually to prevent dropouts.
Original post by callum_law
I bet you no one else in this thread had all the relevant Access course content handed to them in class; like my experience, they probably scratched the surface in class. Your uni seminar groups are not going to cover the majority of the content you need, either.
The people who did just repeat what was said in class got merits and passes.
The people who did just repeat what was said in class got merits and passes.
I feel like we're getting crossed wires here. I'm not asking for 6 hour days of being drip fed information in order for me to regurgitate in some end of year exam. My expectations are (were) that we would be set some reading bring the knowledge to the class discuss/evaluate said information then do a piece of work which would be given back with feedback. But the pace we are going at we're not going to achieve this in any meaningful way.
I'm now two full weeks in and have had 1 piece of homework I literally had more in my GCSE english class by this time.
Today was another good example of the shambolics that goes on:
Teacher arrives about 5 minutes late (not a tragedy) but because of this the classroom was not set up how she wanted which meant another 10-15 minutes of faff. Half the students had not even bothered to buy the required book which meant another 5 minutes faffing getting photocopies for them. Other student arriving randomly late (which appears to be acceptable these days?)
So in our 2 and half hour class we discussed one poem which I really enjoyed but it just seems so little output for the amount of time I put in to attending the class.
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