tech cert?

[Will Hinchliffe]

All advice welcome.

 

I applied to do the technicians certificate at Merrist wood. Visited the campus on Wednesday and had a group tour. Course seems excellent but the price has gone up to £1645 plus the £230 exam fee. I sold my car and had intended to attend by train but on looking into it further its going to be to pricey/exhausting.

 

Im currently considering either

 

Self study

 

Online Study (Myerscough?)

 

Or spending the money on short courses/seminars through out the year.

 

By not attending Merrist wood I could by some books and try to seek work experiance in the areas that I have little to do with.

 

Thanking you all in advance for your advice. Cheers

[Paul Barton]

Hi Phenom. A friend of mine recently did the online version - his verdict was that it was definitely not the best way to do it. I am not 100% sure why but I think it was down to the absence of any seminar/discussion elements and the quality of some of the materials.

 

You could do it at Westonbirt which isn't too far from you but the cost would be similar to that at Merrist Wood.

[Theocus]

I am currently doing the online version, you have to have allot of self control to do it. Its not easy at all, and i am sure the Westernbirt one with Treelife would be the way to go. Myerscough is £620 where as the Treelife one is £1500 i think. Hope that helps.

[scotspine1]

I would avoid the AA Tech Cert Exam if I were you, they do not provide marking instructions for past papers, so you cant prepare for what exactly the marker is looking for. It would seem they dont have any which is not only very amateurish but fundamentally wrong.

 

On a positive note, you would probably learn useful information studying for the exam, but then you can do that anyway without the course.

[NickJC]

Will, I'm doing it with another guy called Mark from another company (based in Shaftsbury) and we will be travelling up togther (to save fuel) to Westernbirt from September, so if you sign up for that one, come and join us, it'll make fuel cheaper and they'll be 3 of us locally who can cheat...... no, I mean, help each other out!

[Jack-Arb aka Tiago Sinclair-Julio.]

All advice welcome.

 

I applied to do the technicians certificate at Merrist wood. Visited the campus on Wednesday and had a group tour. Course seems excellent but the price has gone up to £1645 plus the £230 exam fee.

 

Hello Phenom,

 

I think I understand what you going through, the only advice I can give you is what I would do in your shoes...

 

If you feel that the Thec Cert is really what you want to do, and sinse you say the course sounds great, dont let the price be the thing stopping you from doing it. Theres always ways around these things, contact you're Local Authority find out if theres grants or any type of help for mature people to study. This was suggested to me by someone at Merristhwood, on my interview day (last monday). The travelling thing I know its a bugger, me too its made me think about whats the cheapest way to get there. And its a difficult one, but again it cant be the thing thats gonna stop you doing the course. What I thought of, is once the course starts and one gets to know people, with some luck theres someone with a car coming from the same sort of way! And most people are happy to give a lift and for a few pounds a week towards juice it might be a win-win situation good for both. I know lots of if's and but's....

 

But what I mean is go for it, dont let stupid fee's stop you doing it. Cause in the end you have a great qualification that opens lots of doors.

 

Anyway good luck - it will all work out!

 

Tiago

[Will Hinchliffe]

Cheers Tiago,

 

I will try and get myself in gear and look for a grant.

 

Thanks for the offer of a lift share to Westonbirt Nick Im going to reconsider Westonbirt.

 

Still not made up my mind, logistics and economics.

 

 

 

Will

[mark84]

Sorry for the high jack but where can I get info on courses run at Westonbirt? The Westonbirt website doesn’t give any info on courses just stuff for visitors.

 

Thanks Mark

[Paul Barton]

Treelife website. I think it might be http://www.treelifetraining.co.uk

[mark84]

Treelife website. I think it might be http://www.treelifetraining.co.uk

 

cool, thanks:001_cool: