Daphne

May 22, 2021

Excellent and Supportive Study Environment

I had really good experience with Open Colleges (OC). Some of my experiences I wanted to share: 1. The trainers were very responsive to my queries. I was only available to study on the weekends but any queries I sent to OC, I always get a response by Monday when they get back to work on the weekday 2. The assessment tips and especially the Webinars were extremely helpful for completing the assessments 3. You do need to have Microsoft Office on your computer to make your life easier with the study 4. I also like the fact that the course includes 2 memberships IPA & ABN as well as the subscriptions to Reckon. That helps with starting me off the ground for bookkeeping works 5. Would like the course to include Xero subscription and training, but you can always sign up for free 1 month with Xero and Xero does have free Xero HQ training if that's what you're after 6. The turnaround time with the assessors to all of my submissions were within 2 weeks as promised. Most of the times much quicker, I guess it depends on how many assessments they got submitted at the same time. The assessors were also very encouraging and provide easy to understand feedback should the assessment need to be resubmitted. 7. One of the things I wanted to mention is the trainers/assessors are not there to provide us with answers to the assessment, they are there to guide us. And sometimes I find their guidance helpful, sometimes I find them a bit vague, when I find the response a bit vague, then I asked more specific questions and usually then I get the response I needed to complete the assessment. So just keep your thinking hat on and remember the course is to give us the knowledge and also help us to develop the skills (like research) to be working as bookkeeper in the real world most of the times on your own 8. The discussion board is also another place I find very helpful. That's the first place I go to when I start each module's assessment to read through what all other people queries are so I don't have to ask the same question to the assessor. 9. I started my course in July-20 and finished in May-21. But I had about 5 months break during COVID/XMAS (remember I can only study on the weekends). So really, this course can be done within a few months if you want to finish quickly. But you can also take your time and finish it within 2 years, so I think OC is pretty fair to have the course open for 2 years for most people to complete the course. I had in mind to start my own Bookkeeping business after this course, and I certainly feel that it has given me a lot of ground works to put me in the right direction. There are of course a lot more to learn and complete in order to start my own business. So in conclusion, definitely recommend Open Colleges.