Have you done an access course?

Question

I'm going to do a Health Science access course next year at college. And i was wondering if anyone else had done this (taken any access course)?

What were your experiences?

Did you enjoy it?

The usual stuff, and if anyone's taken that specific course, what stuff do you learn about?

I'm hoping to go onto to a teaching course that for secondary school science at university.

Answer 1

- personally speaking, from an academic and learning point of view, it was brilliant. i cannot recommend it highly enough. if you lack the qualifications such as GCSEs, which are the requirement to do A-levels and are over 19, then an access to higher education course is ideal for you

- i very much enjoyed it a lot. in fact, to this day even though it was 6 years ago, i had very fond memories of the course and most of it was down to the learning experience that i enjoyed. access courses are different to a-levels in one respect and that is it is mainly vocational based and therefore, it is based around different subject areas; likewise, IT/computing, social science, humanities, media studies, teaching, nursing etc and so there tends to be more focus on a particular career/subject pathway. i got a lot of help with writing essays, referencing, note taking, as well as learning about group work, communication, improving your own performance. it is very much centred around building the confidence, skills and knowledge in that subject area, so that when you go on to do your degree course at university, you'd know how to structure an essay, write a dissertation, know which books, websites you should look for in helping you write up your essay to name.

- as for what i'd learnt, there was a lot of theory and practical stuff, such the history of media institutions, semiotics, knowing how to produce a documentary, representation and ideology, genre and narrative studies, media violence. as well as the key and study skills. i also had to do an end of year exam in my one, but of course not all access courses have exams. also in preparation for university, we had to apply to UCAS by filling out an application and learn how to write a personal statement that is sent off with the application form.

hope i have been of help to you. i wish you all the best in your studies

Answer 2

I did an access course about ten years ago before i went to uni I really enjoyed it There were a mixture of ages and we had good fun. It helps boost ur confidence when returning to education and apparently a lot easier than doing a-levels!!