Oxford Brookes University BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting

Research and Analysis Project - online mentoring programme by Kaplan

Jennifer Batten, Surrey, UK

Graduate - Submission Period 24 November 2011

About myself After completing A Levels, I went straight into full-time employment with a firm of Chartered Accountants as a Trainee and studied towards the ACCA qualification which I completed in 2007. I currently work for a firm in London as an Audit Supervisor within their Public Sector Group. Why I chose to do the Oxford Brookes Degree Having studied for the ACCA qualification straight from A Levels, I felt that the Oxford Brookes BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting was the perfect opportunity to gain a relevant degree-level qualification to my chosen career path, develop skills that are not necessarily developed from taking the ACCA examinations alone, such as presentation

and report writing skills, as well as being able to achieve a class of degree which reflected my previous efforts, time and studies towards the ACCA qualification. I found the recognition for my ACCA examination results, highly motivating and encouraging in pursuing this degree. Additionally as it has been a few years since completing my ACCA qualification, I thought this would be a good chance for me to revisit some of the areas of my ACCA studies, which are not regularly directly a part of my job but that I feel are very relevant to the accountancy industry and my future career. Why I decided to have an online mentor Having qualified over 4 years ago, it had been some time since I had studied and therefore I was concerned about the time commitment to attending a course face to face at a college. My preference was to use a mentor through Kaplan, as I attended the Kaplan courses for my ACCA qualifications and really felt confident in the tutors I had met through them as well as the added benefits of their previous experience with the requirements, process and marking of the Oxford Brookes degree, which I would not have had if I had chosen a mentor through another route such as my employment. When I found the Kaplan Online Mentoring Course, it felt like the perfect program for me. By doing this online course, I was able to plan my study time to fit in around work and other commitments, whilst also saving on the travelling time and costs of going into the nearest college. I felt being able to attend my mentoring meetings and accessing the online course from work, home or wherever situations found me in, very comforting and the course and RAP completion felt a lot more achievable and realistic for me from the beginning.

Oxford Brookes University BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting

Research and Analysis Project - online mentoring programme by Kaplan

How I organised my studies The online programme is structured in a very clear and manageable way. There is a week by week guide suggesting online reading materials and targets to achieve, making it very straightforward to see exactly how much I should be achieving on a weekly basis to complete the RAP in the required time for submission. The dates of the mentor meetings are already known from the start of the course, which made it very easy to plan and ensure that I was ready for these meetings, well in advance. Once I had become familiar with the weekly guidance and structure of the program as well as what I needed to achieve on a weekly basis, I found it easy to make sure I planned time each week to focus on achieving the targets and keeping on track. The online element to the course also meant that there was flexibility in the timing and location of my studies for unforeseen circumstances. My favourite elements about the course I felt really supported throughout the course, from the administration and technical points of view as well as the mentoring itself. I felt comfortable contacting my mentor, between mentor meetings if I had anything I wanted to discuss so that I was not prevented from continuing on and making progress before the next meeting. I really appreciated the flexibility of the course, from the locations and times of the mentor meetings to being able to access the online course material at any time from any location – I was able to watch some of the lecture casts on lunch breaks at work or when I had some unexpected free time outside of work. My hopes for the future I hope that the first class honours degree I have achieved through the Kaplan online degree course will reflect to my current and future employers the skills I have developed as part of completing this course and I am hoping to demonstrate the skills developed especially the presentation and report writing skills in my future career. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More testimonials

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