Payroll Management
Many congratulations to Helen Ellis and Kelly Edwards-Hughes who both passed the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers examination for the Diploma in Payroll Management last month - with marks of 100%! The exam does require a high degree of accuracy (which is just as well when it comes to getting people's pay correct) but 100% in an any exam is quite unusual and well worth a drum roll - or a double drum roll in this case. This excellent result is a testament to the hard work each candidate put into studying Payroll and, we trust, to the specially written material offered by FT Authors plus the tutorial guidance of our expert Tutor, Ray Taylor. Congratulations all round.

GCE AL Exams from 2014

You may have read in the press that changes are to be made in the GCE AL examinations by the UK Government. The changes are intended to make the examinations 'more rigorous' and so enhance their value as qualifications. 

The education inspectorate, Ofqual, has now announced that there will be no AS or AL exams in January from 2014. The exams will be held in June each year only. This also applies to A2 coursework. 

Exams will be held as normal in January 2013 and after that there will be no more winter sittings. The A2 exam paper is June only in any case but January 2013 is the last time that A2 coursework can be submitted at a January exam. So if your course includes coursework and you have not already submitted it you should aim to submit your coursework in June 2013 or June 2014.

We understand that candidates will still be allowed to re-sit an exam but, less conveniently, apparently only the following summer. There is not yet any restriction on the number of re-sits but there is likely to be some limitation.

No changes to the specifications in terms of content of syllabus and exam papers have been announced so far. Usually, the examination boards give two years' notice of any significant changes. When we have any information I will post on this site.

If you need to make any changes to your plans for study because of the switch to June exams only please get in touch with me

An A* in GCE AL History for Home Student

An A* in GCE AL History for Home Student

Congratulations to Edward Kimberley who gained a top grade in GCE AL History this year. 
Edward enrolled for our AS History course in 2010 and added A2, which includes coursework marked by his Tutor, Dr Andrew Chibi, in 2011. 
However, there is a lot more to Edward than an excellent grade!  He was withdrawn from schoolaged 10 with CFS/ME and Asperger's Syndrome, struggling at times even to hold a book to read. He has been supported in his studies by his mother, Sheila, who explained his difficulties to us before Edward enrolled. He uses a keyboard for essay writing as he can't write for long by hand without pain and so required medical certificates to take his exams. By the age of 13, he had gained three IGCSEs and other qualifications equivalent to five at Level 2. 
Edward began his AS Levels at 15, taking his first exams in 2009. He took AS & A2 Economics in January 2010, AS & A2 Environmental Studies in June 2010 (although too unwell to do any field trips), AS & A2 Government & Politics plus General Studies in January 2011. Along the way, he took AS & A2 units for Modern History, English Language and Literature. It is most unusual for a  student to take Early Modern History as well as Modern History. He really likes the subject! Edexcel agreed so long as one set of exams was completed before the other. And that's not all. He managed to fit in music lessons, passing Grade 8 piano with merit, Grade 8 singing with distinction and cello with distinction. His health had become more stable by then, and Edward juggled his History coursework with rehearsals for The Boy Friend in which he played Bobby van Heuse. So at least it was not all work and no play for Edward. In view of his very considerable achievements we nominated Edward for the ABCC Certificate of Merit, which was 
awarded this year. He has been accepted to read Politics at London University from next September.

GCE AL History

AL History with Edexcel
Edexcel/Pearson has recently revamped its website and a number of students who have used the website to find an exam centre have contacted us to say that History is not available to private candidates.  Those who have contacted Students Services at Edexcel have been advised that History has been dropped because private candidates cannot offer the coursework for Unit 4.
Rest assured! This advice is wrong. You can still take History exams with Edexcel.
There is no coursework for AS and so the AS history exams are available to all private candidates. For A2, Unit 3 is a written exam paper and A4 is coursework. A2 is available to private candidates only if you have a Tutor who will mark your coursework and forward it to your exam centre with the required documents. Our Tutor is able to do this for you.
I have asked for the information on the Edexcel website to be corrected. In the meantime, if you are looking for a centre and use the centre location facility for private candidates on the Edexcel website, try looking at centres for another subject, e.g. Government & Politics, and contacting the centre(s) that come up. It is most unlikely that centres, which are usually schools or colleges, will only offer one subject and so they may well offer History as well. You may need to explain that, contrary to what the Edexcel website states, History IS available. Do keep me posted with what you find out from your enquiries.

AS Archaeology for 2012

If you have not finished your AS Archaeology course or did not get the result you hoped for, please contact me about continuing your course.

Our revised Units for Paper 1 are now available. These cover the changes in sites prescribed for study in Section B for 2012-14. The prescribed sites for are: Vedbaek, Thornborough, Maeshowe, Hochdorf and Seahenge.

For June 2012, you have one last opportunity to answer a question from the previous list of sites otherwise you will need to switch to the new units.

If your 12 months' study has run out, you can extend for a further 12 months at only 25% of the current course price. We will supply you with the new units with your 12-month extension.

So, no excuses!

Prices Slashed!

Like you probably have, I have been taking advantage of the 'depression', to buy things, especially shirts, at greatly reduced prices. It made me realise that perhaps there are one or two of our courses where we could slash prices, for the time being at least. These are mainly law special interest courses that are not linked to an exam but which provide an introduction to their subject. Accordingly, we have made the following reductions:

Criminal Investigation: reduced from £95 to £55

Criminology: An Introduction: reduced from £175 to £95 or from £95 to £55 for one Module

Introduction (Access) to Law: reduced from £185 to £135 or from £115 to £75 for Module and £99 to £75 for Module 2.

We will hold these prices till the beginning of April so if you are interested in these fields of study NOW is the time to enrol. You will receive exactly the same materials and service as before.

Please note that our instalment plan applies only to those courses which cost £100 or more and so an instalment plan is applicable only to Introduction (Access to) Law both modules £135 or £145 by instalments.

Please go the Courses page on this website for full details of the courses.

Applied Criminology

A revised edition (2011) of Module 2 in Criminology: An Introductory Course is now available. This Module concentrates on 'applied' Criminology, covering policing, crime and punishment, imprisonment, alternatives to imprisonment, crime prevention and 'white collar' crime. This is a very fast-moving area of study, of interest to almost everybody, with new developments reported almost every day in the media. This module will help you to understand the reasons for such developments and to consider whether they are likely to achieve the desired outcome. The Module 2 course comprises six units for study and two tutor-marked assignments. If you have already taken Module 1, there is an additional assignment that reflects both modules.

Law for Civil Engineers

Our law course for the Certificate in Commercial Management has now been completely revised by Hamish Mitchell, with assistance from Julie Beisner. To complete the Certificate, you need to take four courses chosen from five.

The revised law course is in two modules: Part A deals with general law, with an emphasis on civil engineering where appropriate, including Law of Tort, while Part B deals with industrial law, matters such as health and safety, waste regulations and insurance, again of course from a civil engineering perspective. The course comprises 10 study sessions and 7 tutor-marked assignments.

The course ensures that you will have a good foundation in law before you go on to study C Eng Contracts and other specialised topics at Diploma level. It can also be usefully studied by anyone working in construction who needs to gain a wide practical understanding of law.

Congratulations

Our congratulations to Rodica Petrea who has completed all five book-keeping exams to qualify for Membership of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. Rodica enrolled in August and passed all the exams - Level I, Level II Manual Bookkeeping, Level II Computerised Bookkeeping, Level III Manual and Level III Computerised Bookkeeping - with distinction grades by the end of November. We think this is a record! (Her course work was pretty good too.) As a result, Rodica has been awarded an ABCC Certificate of Merit (see http://http://www.homestudy.org.uk).
Rodica is 23 and from Moldova. Her success was due to her own hard work and determination but she also has a pat on the back for her Tutor, Ray Taylor, whom she describes as 'the best tutor ever'.
We wish Rodica continued success in her career.