I'm a newbie on the forum and i'm looking to start an AAT home study course at level 2, but aim to cover levels 2 & 3 in the next 12 months.
I have been looking online but can't decide on which training provider to use as I don't have any impartial reviews of each company. The cost varies quite a lot between the four providers I have looked at so far.
Can anybody that has studied AAT via the home study route give me some pointers.
Maggie
ps. I changed my post as I couldn't spell my own name.
-- Edited by MaggieD on Tuesday 7th of August 2012 08:22:33 AM
It is tricky choosing a training provider. I think you need to consider what's important to you. What will keep you motivated and interested in your course so that you can achieve your goals in a time and cost effective way? Is it the learning tools, the support, the price.... I wrote this article for AAT - there are some good hints and tips in it http://www.aatcomment.org.uk/aat-developing-your-career/distance-learning-%e2%80%93-is-it-for-you. I'm from Eagle Education by the way.
All training providers cost a lot. If money is an issue have you thought about studying on your own? I found that I wasn't really using my tutor on my distance learning course when I started level 2 as the texts I was using were so well written and easy to understand. So I bought BPP books from Amazon and learnt levels 3 and 4 on my own. The books are well written and you have the question banks online to test yourself. I booked to sit the exams at my local BPP office. I did have to do a distance learning module for the 2 units that need manual marking (spreadsheets and ICAS) but other than that saved myself loads of money. I take the last exam of level 4 at the end of this month after starting module 2 13 months ago. The books on Amazon are £10-£15 each and the exams are £38 for level 4, bit cheaper for the earlier levels, so you can see how much you can save even if you only use this approach for level 2. If some modules are too complex for you, you can buy them individually with some providers (BPP and Kapan both offer this).
This approach wouldn't be right for everyone but it's worth thinking about. I was told you have to have a training provider when I started and it's just not the case. I paid over £700 for level 2 and didn't use the tutor once, I kick myself now thinking about what else I could have spent that money on!
