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Access to HE (Science)

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Reply 20
Original post by Cote1
I only said that as you asked if she liked the topics on her degree..probably a typo:smile:

Get as much support as you can. Check entry requirements for university carefully too. There is information on here from people who have done the course. It is good to apply tactically to university too. See if you can find universities who accept less distinctions as a back up. You can read up on the course basics over the summer.
On my daughter's course the students formed a WhatsApp group which is a good idea to give mutual support.

There is a personal statement checking service on TSR. It doesn't cost anything.

If you are resitting gcse too it will be very challenging so you could cut down your hours if it is affordable.

Yes it was a typo, I do apologise for the confusion! haha. Yes I'll try to get as much support as I possibly can. I have been looking on ucas which has been a huge help for me for trying to find out the requirements for certain unis. Making a group chat with the students in the course is a great idea! I'll definitely do that! I never knew about the service on here so I'll be sure to give it a look. I'll be resitting maths gcse so that is another thing to take into consideration aswell. Can I ask what degree your daughter is possibly thinking of doing after this course?
Reply 21
Original post by chloe.vii
Yes it was a typo, I do apologise for the confusion! haha. Yes I'll try to get as much support as I possibly can. I have been looking on ucas which has been a huge help for me for trying to find out the requirements for certain unis. Making a group chat with the students in the course is a great idea! I'll definitely do that! I never knew about the service on here so I'll be sure to give it a look. I'll be resitting maths gcse so that is another thing to take into consideration aswell. Can I ask what degree your daughter is possibly thinking of doing after this course?


She will be doing a Politics degree.

Doing the GCSE too....it will be challenging. Just get as much support as you can. See if you can get the course teachers to look through draft assignments...check they meet the criteria. Get a copy of their policy on how they want references done...if they have one
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 22
Original post by Cote1
She will be doing a Politics degree.

Doing the GCSE too....it will be challenging. Just get as much support as you can. See if you can get the course teachers to look through draft assignments...check they meet the criteria. Get a copy of their policy on how they want references done...if they have one

That's a brilliant degree! I'm wishing your daughter all the luck with that degree, I'm sure it'll be challenging but rewarding :smile: Thank you I'll ask the teachers about that; it would help me so much. Did your daughter have to do a lot of exams within that course or do the teachers only mark you for the assignments that you do?
Reply 23
Original post by chloe.vii
That's a brilliant degree! I'm wishing your daughter all the luck with that degree, I'm sure it'll be challenging but rewarding :smile: Thank you I'll ask the teachers about that; it would help me so much. Did your daughter have to do a lot of exams within that course or do the teachers only mark you for the assignments that you do?


All access courses are a bit different. She luckily only had one test. There were two presentations, one a sole presentation and one a group one, I think.

The rest were academic projects, academic posters and essays....mostly essays. She was marked for these and the presentations and test...option of either pass, merit or distinction I think. She was aiming for as many distinctions as possible to increase her university options. Most of the essays etc were worth three distinctions or merits each, some more. The advantage is you know what marks you get as you go along.

They have to be submitted on Turnitin.

You also do study skills type stuff which you also have to pass.

Hope this helps.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 24
Original post by Cote1
All access courses are a bit different. She luckily only had one test. There were two presentations, one a sole presentation and one a group one, I think.

The rest were academic projects, academic posters and essays....mostly essays. She was marked for these and the presentations and test...option of either pass, merit or distinction I think. She was aiming for as many distinctions as possible to increase her university options. Most of the essays etc were worth three distinctions or merits each, some more. The advantage is you know what marks you get as you go along.

They have to be submitted on Turnitin.

You also do study skills type stuff which you also have to pass.

Hope this helps.

Oh that's really lucky! Hopefully that will be the case for the access course that I do lol! That doesn't sound too bad. I'm very thankful that they let you know the marks you get when you're progressing through the course. I'll keep that in mind for sure! are you able to re-do/re-submit an assignment to get a better mark the second time round? Thank you, it does help a lot :smile:
Reply 25
Original post by chloe.vii
Oh that's really lucky! Hopefully that will be the case for the access course that I do lol! That doesn't sound too bad. I'm very thankful that they let you know the marks you get when you're progressing through the course. I'll keep that in mind for sure! are you able to re-do/re-submit an assignment to get a better mark the second time round? Thank you, it does help a lot :smile:


She has had the odd resubmission. Not to get a better mark but because the teacher felt it failed one of the assignment criteria so she had to resubmit it.
Original post by chloe.vii
Oh that's a relief! I'm glad there aren't many presentations that I would need to do. Has any of them been marked or to go towards your overall grades at the end? I'm a very anxious person, so I don't enjoy doing presentations haha. But I'm sure I'll get over that hurdle!


Aw okay I understand. If you want any advice for them let me know! Practically everything I’ve done on my Access course including the presentations has contributed to my overall grades apart from the induction assignment. But the presentations tend to be for only 1 or 2 criteria which means they don’t contribute to our grades as much as other pieces of work.
Reply 27
Original post by Cote1
She has had the odd resubmission. Not to get a better mark but because the teacher felt it failed one of the assignment criteria so she had to resubmit it.

Ohh okay. I'll keep that in mind! Can you only resubmit pieces of work once? I'm sure the main teacher who teaches the access course said to me you could only do it once or possibly twice; I can't remember for sure though.
Reply 28
Original post by Quierosaber
Aw okay I understand. If you want any advice for them let me know! Practically everything I’ve done on my Access course including the presentations has contributed to my overall grades apart from the induction assignment. But the presentations tend to be for only 1 or 2 criteria which means they don’t contribute to our grades as much as other pieces of work.

Thank you very much :smile: I'm glad they aren't primarily focused on the presentations. I have much of a better shot at doing well on assignments rather than the presentations lol! I know they give you a marking criteria for the assignments; but do they give you one for presentations?
Reply 29
Original post by chloe.vii
Ohh okay. I'll keep that in mind! Can you only resubmit pieces of work once? I'm sure the main teacher who teaches the access course said to me you could only do it once or possibly twice; I can't remember for sure though.


She had to resubmit two assignments due to not quite meeting all the assignment criteria. She only did one resub for each.

Not sure if you can do two🙂
Reply 30
Original post by chloe.vii
Thank you very much :smile: I'm glad they aren't primarily focused on the presentations. I have much of a better shot at doing well on assignments rather than the presentations lol! I know they give you a marking criteria for the assignments; but do they give you one for presentations?


My daughter was marked on both presentations but don't worry...they are fine to do and will build your confidence for university.
Original post by chloe.vii
Thank you very much :smile: I'm glad they aren't primarily focused on the presentations. I have much of a better shot at doing well on assignments rather than the presentations lol! I know they give you a marking criteria for the assignments; but do they give you one for presentations?

No worries. Yep there’s marking criteria for everything. On my course they’ve made it clear about what needs to be included to get merits or distinctions for every piece of work.
I'm in the last week of my access science course, it is intense. I've worked though mine, I did drop my days to two days a week. My advice would be don't leave things until last minutes, be organised. We started with 22 and there are only 11 left, getting past the first half term was the toughest, we lost most people before then. Create a WhatsApp group with your class, we have helped each other get through the course, sharing tips and tricks for each assignment, test and presentation. Good luck x
Reply 33
Original post by Cote1
My daughter was marked on both presentations but don't worry...they are fine to do and will build your confidence for university.

Thank you :smile: Yeah I think it will help me to build on my confidence. If there aren't a lot of students in the classroom then it could make it a whole lot easier. It definitely helps that the students in the class will roughly be around my age. So it shouldn't be too bad!
Reply 34
Original post by Quierosaber
No worries. Yep there’s marking criteria for everything. On my course they’ve made it clear about what needs to be included to get merits or distinctions for every piece of work.

Okay that's reassuring to know! having that guide to know what to include to get the highest and the best marks will definitely help me throughout. Do assignments need to be in the word limit? I know they will be lengthy; but if you go over the word limit that has been set then will you lose a mark?
Reply 35
Original post by Sezza36899
I'm in the last week of my access science course, it is intense. I've worked though mine, I did drop my days to two days a week. My advice would be don't leave things until last minutes, be organised. We started with 22 and there are only 11 left, getting past the first half term was the toughest, we lost most people before then. Create a WhatsApp group with your class, we have helped each other get through the course, sharing tips and tricks for each assignment, test and presentation. Good luck x

Hi! Yes I'm currently doing 1-2 days a week at work. My only worry is that I'm resitting my maths GCSE; my maths isn't the strongest but I'm willing to put in the work to achieve what I want to do. Hopefully I'll be able to get my head down and focus the work that needs to be done; I'm sure I'll be able to do that. The amount of people that left is a shock! I think my course is only starting with 16 people but I could be wrong. Yes I'll be sure to create a WhatsApp group! Thank you :smile: x
Reply 36
There is a word limit which is good practice for university. I think.they usually allow 10 % leeway each way but you can check this. So you just need to not go over this. You can use word to monitor the word count.

It is a good time to get used to presentations as you may have to do them later at university.
(edited 1 year ago)
Reply 37
Original post by chloe.vii
Hi! Yes I'm currently doing 1-2 days a week at work. My only worry is that I'm resitting my maths GCSE; my maths isn't the strongest but I'm willing to put in the work to achieve what I want to do. Hopefully I'll be able to get my head down and focus the work that needs to be done; I'm sure I'll be able to do that. The amount of people that left is a shock! I think my course is only starting with 16 people but I could be wrong. Yes I'll be sure to create a WhatsApp group! Thank you :smile: x


The GCSE adds extra pressure. You will just need to be organised and focused but be open to cutting hours in the job, as you are.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by chloe.vii
Okay that's reassuring to know! having that guide to know what to include to get the highest and the best marks will definitely help me throughout. Do assignments need to be in the word limit? I know they will be lengthy; but if you go over the word limit that has been set then will you lose a mark?

There’s usually an allowance for 10 percent. I personally avoid going above that but I know people that have and still get distinctions, because of how the work on Access courses are marked. It really depends on how you meet the other criteria for the piece of work. But since the work gets assessed by external assessors after, I try to avoid it.
Reply 39
Original post by Cote1
The GCSE adds extra pressure. You will just need to be organised and focused but be open to cutting hours in the job, as you are.

Yes I’m wary of the GCSE. I had an interview with my tutor for the access course. They are cautious about my maths and how I’m going to cope with the maths that will be involved within this course; so they’ve put given me a probation offer and will review how I’m coping regarding maths sometime in October. So that’s added a bit of pressure 😅

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