Starting An Access Course?

So, a friend of mine who is about to do an access course asked me to sum up the course and give some advice in a blog entry. Well, I’ve been wondering how I would go about doing this, as there is so much to talk about. So I have decided to make a short post to (1) talk about one particular subject to start with, and to help you kick start some studying… and (2) to also try and give you some tips on how to cope during the course. On my course we studied Biology, Health Studies, English and Maths.  Some of the access courses include units such as Psychology and Sociology, I didn’t study those so I can’t comment on those. So, I will begin by talking about my favourite subject, biology! If you have any questions relating to any of the other subjects, feel free to contact me.

Biology; This was by far my favourite subject. I came into it not having any idea what to expect but having done a bit of research prior to starting I knew I was going to love it. With biology, I’ve heard a few people tell me that before they start they are doing their own research (i.e. looking at the body systems), which to be fair I looked up myself. However, you are jumping way ahead of yourself. At the beginning of Access you start from the bottom and work your way up, by this I mean you learn in order of the levels of structural complexity. So, within the body are different levels of structural organisation and complexity; cells being the smallest independent units of living matter. In complex organisms such as the human body, cells with similar structures and functions are found together, forming tissues. (I would go on and explain the rest but don’t want to bore you right now), basically cells are grouped together to form tissues > tissues are grouped together to form organs > organs group together to form systems, e.g. digestive system > systems work together to form the organism that is our human body. It is also important to know the “goings on” within a cell, understanding the function of a cells contents, tiny little organs called ‘organelles’. Below is a diagram I actually drew for my cells assignment. (Not very artistic, I know lol!)

Why not look up some of these organelles and learn their particular functions? I guarantee your biology tutor will be impressed, haha!

So, jumping from a specific subject to more general advice, if you’re about to start the access course this September, these three tips may help you;

•  Take notes in class, it’s likely that your tutor will make PowerPoint slides from the class available to you, you may be an auditory learner and may just want to sit and listen, but I assure you, there will be things your tutor will say that won’t be in the slides/hand-outs that may end up being rather important.

•  Start your assignments on the day you get them. I cannot stress how important that is, the lesson was fresh in my mind on the same day so it made it easier to start planning and writing down the most important points. A friend of mine always used to say ‘I’ll start it tomorrow, a day where we had a different class, so the previous day’s lesson was but a distant memory.

• USE YOUR TUTORS! This is one of the most important points. Utilise your class tutors, as well as your personal tutor. They are there to help you, squeeze as much information out of them as you can and never be afraid of bothering them. They are there for you, first and foremost. Get their email address and their office extension number, keep in regular contact!

One of the hardest things to do on this course was maintain my time management, I’m not afraid to admit that at one point I was all over the place, wondering round college like a headless chicken wondering what the hell I was going to next! We were regularly handed one assignment after the other and it was non-stop, it become tedious and never ending. You have to keep reminding yourself that there is a point to it all, that all your hard work will pay off in the long run. There were times that I had to force myself to go into college on a day off and spend the whole day in the study room completing assignments (I don’t work well at home, too many distractions).

In hindsight, although the access course was stressful, tedious, annoying, frustrating and exhausting, it was quite possibly the best academic experience of my life thus far, it taught me a hell of a lot and I feel that I am 100% academically prepared for university.