Level 2 Cert in Arb from the HCC

[Happy Banana]

Hello everyone. I am about to start a Level 2 certificate in Arboriculture. I wanted to enrol at Treelife because of their reputation but because they purposely don't offer it on a correspondence basis I would have to wait till their residential classes start in September. To get round this and hit the ground running I want to use the Horticultural Correspondence College which would mean I could enrol now and start studying today. My plan would be to switch to Treelife for the Level 4 after I pass the Level 2. Has anyone got any experience of the HCC and/or an opinion on my plan?

 

Cheers John from Happy Banana

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi there, did you consider the ISA Certified Arborist as an option.

 

We're delivering a training course, using Andy Summerley from Treelife, but it would appear it's booked up https://www.trees.org.uk/Training-And-Events/Course-Detail?id=AEFF9FDA-5316-4943-91F8-15DE638E9053 . You could however follow the 'self-study' option see https://www.trees.org.uk/Book-Shop/Products/Arborists-Certification-Study-Guide

 

Cheers,

Paul

[Happy Banana]

Thank you Paul. You're right it is fully booked. I'm not sure where that course would sit relative to my enrolment on a level 4 ABC certificate. I'm also not sure I meet the entry requirements for the ISA course anyway because my  previous arb work has not covered all the relevant work experience to be honest.

 

 

[Treeation]

On 4/12/2018 at 12:11, Happy Banana said:

Hello everyone. I am about to start a Level 2 certificate in Arboriculture. I wanted to enrol at Treelife because of their reputation but because they purposely don't offer it on a correspondence basis I would have to wait till their residential classes start in September. To get round this and hit the ground running I want to use the Horticultural Correspondence College which would mean I could enrol now and start studying today. My plan would be to switch to Treelife for the Level 4 after I pass the Level 2. Has anyone got any experience of the HCC and/or an opinion on my plan?

 

Cheers John from Happy Banana

I started with HCC but never finished due to breaking up with a girlfriend and joining a rock band which took up most of my evenings which I used to study on! Still gained some good knowledge from it and have just completed Level 4 with Treelife which was awesome

[Happy Banana]

Yep, girlfriends and rock bands will kill your study ethic quick! Thanks for sharing. I'm just going to enrol on the HCC on Monday and get it done. I'll do the level four with tree life and hope that not waiting till September to start their level 2 course doesn't impede me too much.  Cheers John P.S. Are you still in the band?

[Valeman]

How do people cope with working this in with their schedules, assuming they are also working full time, or running businesses?  I am keen to do similar but just don't know how I can juggle it with work and family life

[Treeation]

6 hours ago, Happy Banana said:

Yep, girlfriends and rock bands will kill your study ethic quick! Thanks for sharing. I'm just going to enrol on the HCC on Monday and get it done. I'll do the level four with tree life and hope that not waiting till September to start their level 2 course doesn't impede me too much.  Cheers John P.S. Are you still in the band?

Sadly not! No time for a band once I became a dad and started my own business!

Good luck with it all

 

[Happy Banana]

Bummer. Thanks for the information

17 hours ago, bens said:

I am doing L2 with the HCC

 

It is ok, enrolled last February 2017 worked through Units 1 to 5 now heating toward Unit 6. Time commitement has varied around 1-2 nights each week.

 

I would recommend it. Does take a while to get through some of the material and do the research but depends on your existing knowledge. You can also get an NUS card while studying it for discounts at some places.

 

Being distance learning you do need to motivate yourself and read around plus the solitary nature of it maybe misses out some of the group discussion and information sharing you get in a classroom but overall I like it because it offers lots of flexibility to timetable it.

 

Good luck with it

Great, thanks for replying. I've done distance learning for much higher levels in a different discipline before and I don't struggle for motivation but I hear what you're saying. I've just enrolled now so I'll find out soon enough. Cheers John

[Happy Banana]

16 hours ago, Treeation said:

Sadly not! No time for a band once I became a dad and started my own business!

Good luck with it all

 

Bummer. Thanks for the kind wishes. John

[Happy Banana]

17 hours ago, Valeman said:

How do people cope with working this in with their schedules, assuming they are also working full time, or running businesses?  I am keen to do similar but just don't know how I can juggle it with work and family life

I studied on a distance learning basis for written exams to change career about twenty years ago. I wasn't running a business but I was working full time. I think the two main keys are to properly assess how long you think it will take you to complete the work for the qualification and then to have the discipline to programme the work to a schedule you stick to. Once you know how many hours it requires you then make a proper assessment of what you can realistically achieve in a week. Then schedule your weeks (as many as you require to complete the course) so that you have an end date that you are aiming to finish the study by. In terms of your weekly workload (perhaps you think you can find five hours across a seven day week) you need to be absolutely resolute with the time slot for study. If you set aside one hour a day on Monday to Friday, make sure it has a specific time slot and make sure you do the study in the allotted time slot, no excuses, never second, always first. It will become a bit of a religion to you if you manage to keep your discipline in the first few weeks but that's kind of the way it has to be if you are already working and definitely if you have a young family or are running a business.