Art and Design or Computing?

Hi all,

I am currently in a dilemma. I am a mature student at 22-years-old, interested in studying on an Access to HE course to go to university with next year. I have a choice between the Art and Design and the Computing pathway, but both appeal to me.

I have been interested in Art and Design for the longest time and in 2012 completed an Art and Design Foundation Diploma. Unfortunately partway through this, I had to temporarily drop out due to an operation, and consequently only achieved a pass grade. I also feel I did not get as much benefit as I could have done out of the course. I had hoped to improve both my drawing and painting skills throughout the year but this did not happen for various reasons. I have always been interested in animation and drawing, which is why I am looking toward the Access in Art.

I have also had an equal interest in computers, and this is something that dates back to primary school. This began experimenting with broken computers at the age of ten and seeing how they worked. Consequently I made a bit of cash, selling old, unwanted computers and repairing them. The Access pathway I am looking at is much more software based and mathematical, and whilst this interests me, I have always struggled with mathematics, so much so that I did not get a C grade during my GCSE Maths, scoring a D instead.

I retook this in 2013 and got a C, but was withheld from the higher paper due to it being 'too much of a risk'. I admit I have always struggled with maths and I am worried that if I enrol on the computing course, I struggle will become to great with me either scoring a poor grade or dropping out.

I have been told that I could transfer between the pathways at some point, however I could only do this until late September at the latest. In any event, I would appreciate any advice anyone could offer for my predicament.

(edited 8 years ago)

Bump

What programming languages/softwares do you know?

Reply 3

Bocicowo

Original post by Luneth

What programming languages/softwares do you know?

Nothing. But I believe these will be taught on the course, along with these units:

• Academic Writing (Study Skills)
• Exam Techniques & Practice (Study Skills)
• Application of Systems and Communications Technology (ICT)
• Business Information Technology (ICT)
• Components of Computer Systems (ICT)
• Computational Methods(ICT)
• Database Development (ICT)
• Software Development (ICT)
• Algebra and Functions (Maths)
• Calculus (Maths)
• Data Handling (Maths)
• Exponentials, Logarithms, Trigonometry and Series (Maths)
• Vectors and Matrices (Maths)

Reply 4

Luneth

Original post by Bocicowo

Nothing. But I believe these will be taught on the course, along with these units:

You won't be doing all of those modules, you'll pick a select few (don't bother with the maths ones, they aren't particularly useful).
If you're doing programming (though it may be a required module anyway), you'll definitely want prior experience or you may be stuck for weeks, depending on how soon it "clicks" with you. Look into what languages you'd be studying in "Software Development (ICT)", it'll likely be C++ or Java (either is fine, since most of the core ideas are the same and are interchangeable). Once you find out which language you'd be doing, find some tutorials and give them a fair shot.