Access was the best thing I ever did!

Yay! Congrats I don't have any questions but i'm in the same position as you having just completed an access to science course, I'm so happy that I put aside my fears and did it lol Which Uni are you going to?

A short year later I'm now preparing to head off to my first choice university to study psychology, having received four offers. Pretty much just finished the course, got all my credits, and I actually am really going to miss it.. feeling a little depressed already! Made a lot of close friends who I've had an absolute blast with, the tutors were amazing and I even enjoyed the coursework itself.

Ooo congrats to you too! I'm going to university of Westminster, can't wait! Yourself?

Thanks! Westminster was one of my choices too, I ended up going with the university of Brighton to study Biological sciences. Good luck to you!

A short year later I'm now preparing to head off to my first choice university to study psychology, having received four offers. Pretty much just finished the course, got all my credits, and I actually am really going to miss it.. feeling a little depressed already! Made a lot of close friends who I've had an absolute blast with, the tutors were amazing and I even enjoyed the coursework itself. If anyone is interested in starting the course this year and has questions, fire away - I'd be glad to share my experiences (particularly regarding Chelmsford College if anyone is looking at going there) Seems like only a matter of months since I was on here myself asking questions about it, lol

Wow well done, I bet time flew by for you. You'll stop missing it as soon as you start uni I'm sure

As someone hoping to start an access course in sept 2014 I have a few questions:

To get on to my desired course at uni I'll need 45 credits at distinction, that seems really high considering there are only 60 credits in total. What do you think?

Was the course mainly coursework based?

And finally what preparation can I do for the course? I've completed maths and core science GCSE and this year I'll be doing Maths AS, additional science and Chemistry IGCSE starting in September, I'm hoping that'll be enough preparation.

The course I wish to do is Access Science taking the Chemistry and Maths options.

Sorry for the long essay type question lol.

I was in your position last year, just waiting to collect my certificate and getting ready to enrol at my first choice. I missed my access course terribly last summer but really enjoyed my first year at university and felt the access course helped me loads. I can't wait to start second year in October, life has never gone as fast.

Hey, thanks! It did indeed fly by, it's not a very long course at all and with the amount of work packed in you hardly notice the time going

45 credits at distinction is absolutely doable, definitely. You will just need to make sure to stick to the learning targets and grade criteria of each assignment and keep up a good standard of work throughout the year - try not to let motivation slip. I myself got exactly half and half, 60 credits at level 3 with 30 merit and 30 distinction, but I think I could have done better had I not lost a bit of motivation halfway through. I only needed 35 at either merit or distinction for my offer though so I'm all set

I'm not sure whether it's the same across all access courses, but mine was 100% coursework based, no exams at all. The bonus of this is no revision needed and no stressful exam times.. but be careful to stay on top of things and not let work pile up.. this can happen easily if you keep things on the back burner, like the research project and study skills portfolio.

The course itself is designed for people who haven't been in education for a few years, so no preparation is really needed because they do ease you back into things and start your subjects off very simply. It's great you're doing all those things this year though, it'll certainly help and will of course save you having to retake GCSE's and things at the same time if they are required in your uni offer!

Hope this helps