National Extension College - Post July 2010

I feel today that I need to write this review. I had signed up for a course that I had intended to complete in a year. Due to family issues I had to put my course on hold. At this point I had paid my deposit and my first payment. I was then advised not to worry about any more fees, till restarted the course.

Today I get a disgusting letter in the post telling me if I don't pay the full balance in 30days they will take me to court!

(Can I add I have never had anyone send me letters saying I owe them money)

I rang up and apparently this is their companies policy....at no point did they contact me and advise that they wanted payment.

I paid part and will pay the rest in 3 weeks.

I am so disappointment as I was really looking forward to finishing my course, but this has left a nasty taste in my mouth.

I just feel I needed to warn everyone, and take care.

After two long years studying with the NEC I thought I’d give feedback to provide information for any students considering the NEC. I undertook A Level courses in Biology, Business Studies and English Literature from 2012-2014.

Firstly I’d like to mention the online resources, which this year advised students that we would receive our results on the 15th August (instead of the 14th), a little scary for us awaiting results. For some reason the online student area also noted that I was studying English Literature and Language, not English Literature, which I had to phone-up about a few times since it meant I could not access the online resources for my course.

Secondly I’d like to mention my Biology tutor, who was generally helpful and informative when marking my assignments, regularly giving insightful feedback. For my AS year I achieved an A and high C in my modular results, but felt disappointed that my coursework result was a D. I found this a little surprising given that I edited and poured-over my coursework and amended it exactly to their specification - she ensured me that it was a good piece of coursework so I naturally expected a good grade. Maybe I was wrong to assume, but I feel I should have been better-guided through the coursework to obtain the best possible result since I had demonstrated a good understanding of Biology in my written exams. I feel that my tutor could have provided better criticism or guidance and I am disappointed that this low mark affected my grade.

Thirdly, I had large problems with my English Literature tutor (who I had complained about previously). I found her rude and her responses were blunt and uninformative - completely unhelpful for a distance learner who has never studied the subject and who relies somewhat on their given tutor for critical but constructive feedback. In my final year, for example, she told me that my coursework was not to an ‘A Level’ standard and that I must re-write it in order to obtain a decent grade. As it happens I ignored her advice and submitted my coursework, only to find out that I scored 100% in this module. Had I have listened to my English tutor’s advice, I most likely would have actually dropped marks - not encouraging. Thankfully, I had complained to an NEC representative and she had sought advice from another English tutor who agreed that her responses were inadequate. She proved very helpful and probably aided me in obtaining this grade.

After this mishap with my coursework I was provided with my exam timetable, on which I had been entered into an incorrect exam and not English Literature, which I should have been entered into, and was told that it may not be possible to change it since it was so close to the exam (a week before if I remember correctly). I was later also contacted by Denefield Secondary School (an NEC Partnership College who were great) who had not received my coursework forms or exam entry forms so was left to resolve this myself. It turns out that the college had not sent my coursework despite me sending both electronic copies alongside hard-copies (with a prepaid envelope attached). Needless to say, I was beyond stressed by this point and felt completely let-down by the NEC who made the exam period a great deal more stressful than it already was.

Considering the amount I have paid to the NEC for this service, I expected more. The standard of teaching was below average and I feel that I received next-to-no support with regards to my English Literature course and should have been provided with better guidance from by Biology tutor with regards to my Biology coursework. In my opinion the service provided was not worth the money spent and I would advise any future students that they will be completely alone in studying with the NEC.

I signed up last month for full A level English language. I've been sceptical about online college study (other than Open Uni) because none of them seem to be approved outside of their own recommendation. I found NEC through some well linked info from university and government website recommendations.

Since I signed up, I was promptly sent materials which were boxed and sealed, followed up by an NEC representative calling to ensure I knew what I was doing and who my tutor was. I've also had direct email contact from my tutor advising of her availability.

I guess I'm partly reviewing this to give a fair 5 stars thus far because all I've expected has been fulfilled. Some of the previous reviews in respect of not achieving what you wanted, to me, smacks of not trying hard enough or aiming too high. The college is legitimate and the set up is all you could ask for, short of being sent a welcome cake. I look forward to my exams next year...

I recently enrolled on the A-level Biology course as a GCSE student that would like to experience distance learning and do an A-level in my favourite subject. My first thoughts when seeing the size of the course materials was daunting (!), but when I began doing the activities for AS and A2, I discovered that they are really high quality and that the course is very good value for money. I really like the Edexcel context-led spec, and I think that that was the best choice possible for this A-level. My tutor, [name removed], is fantastic! I always get feedback very promptly (e.g: If I complete an assignment, I will always get really detailed, helpful and prompt feedback).

The only thing that could make this course better is having slightly more guidance with regards to coursework and not having such stringent deadlines.

Besides that, I am very happy indeed!

As a child I failed my GCSE Maths, so decided to give it another go as an adult. It is distance learning and it is up to the student to decide when to work during the 2 year study period, so I found it hard to motivate myself initially to study after a long day at work - once I got started there was no stopping me though! Couldn't ask for more from my tutor, he was always very polite and friendly and I got my assignments back well within the time that NEC states. The materials were really good too and explained things in lots of different ways. I did find some topics went on a bit too long and told my tutor who advised me to speak to the staff at NEC. I was a bit worried about ringing up to moan, but the lady I spoke to seemed very pleased to receive my feedback and I felt like she really cared.

Although I knew I had to book my own exams, I didn't realise how scary this can be when you don't really understand the process. I called around a couple of local centres, but in the end I went to one of their partnership centres. Everything went smoothly and I didn't have to worry. Got the grade I wanted and will use again in the future.

Would recommend!

I enrolled at the NEC last year and I asked if it were possible to do my French AS and A2 Level to sit both exams at the same time, I was told yes (on the phone I just felt as if they wanted to get my money).

It is awful, the teaching was basically non-existent, you send off your work to a 'tutor' mine was horrifically rude, would correct things with sentences that were overly long and complicated and would mark me down for not using things that I hadn't covered yet. If ever I emailed him asking for help with something he would refer me to a page in the book and not at all answer my question.

Eventually I got a private tutor who found so many mistakes in the NEC work, who would listen to the tutor's feedback with me and also find him rude, condescending and as if he wanted to show off his level of French rather than actually help me.

They "prepare" you for exams with OCR and I can only guess that their modules and advice were not relevant as I ended up getting awful grades for my AS and failing my A2, I went to a uni interview, who seemed to think I had a good level of French (I can only thank my tutor) and the only reason they could think that I did so badly on my A levels was the preparation.

Any time I tried to contact NEC I felt like the people on the phone were rude, and they basically don't care about you once you hand your money over. Also the price you pay doesn't include your books or exams. The exams are very costly. I understand this isn't ideal for everyone but I can only recommend getting a personal tutor that you can actually sit down with and talk to, get the books do the work and enter yourself for the exams privately, you may as well.

it seems very difficult to actually please the nec i always get negative reports from the tutor and wonder why i actually enrolled on the course - normally I get good grades - elsewhere

it is very expensive too and i felt they hid the cost of the exams which they charge a lot of money for when local authority charges about a third of the cost although local authority don't offer the course - presumably due to lack of demand

I am doing it because a local company asks for more qualifications that I have so I felt it was wise to get the exam although I have found it impossible to get a job.

I would have liked to know the cost of the exams before the course and a really good guide to what they expect when writing assignments.

I think it's good that one has to write their own learning plan.

“I received funding from an educational charity – I was completely astonished I managed to get the money and really grateful.

I enjoy studying which I do mostly on Fridays at home alone. I can get really stuck into it with no distractions.

I was completely shocked to see I’d got an A and 100/100 on English Language and Literature A2. A week later I discovered that I’d achieved an A grade for IGCSE Spanish.

I would definitely recommend the NEC. It helps if you have people encouraging you to stay motivated as well, my boyfriend has helped a lot with that.

I would like to be a private Spanish tutor and a freelance translator. I’m doing this because I would like a flexible job that utilises my best skills and that I can also work around my future family.”

It is a shame that NEC fail offer A-Level Spanish and that I have to struggle through the poor course materials that another distance learning organisation provides after having the level of high quality course pack that NEC provide!…

Distance learning is always going to be hard. I am unable to return to college so I am studying 3 A-levels with the NEC.

An A-level costs £430 for the materials and tutor support for 2 years which is quite good. The study books contain everything you need to know so they are very good. I haven't read them all yet but the Economics AS book was full of mistakes. The mistakes were small and not really a problem, but for the price I'm paying, I was disappointed that there were so many.

I would recommend studying with the NEC as the tutor support is excellent and the materials do teach you the entire syllabus. One thing though, DO NOT sit the exams through their 'approved centres'. One of those, which is local to me, is Hills Road in Cambridge. To sit my exams here, the charge is £100 PER UNIT! Most alevels contain 4 units (maths is 6) so for my alevel choices, to sit at Hills Road would cost me £1400! I travelled 30 mins away for my exams and paid £35 per unit with a total cost of £560 for all 3 alevels. That is a BIG difference!

How do you find an exam centre to sit at then?? Get out the yellow pages, use the net.... ring round the local colleges and find where will take external candidates. You will find somewhere in the end and if they're prices are as fair as where I sat mine, it will be WORTH the effort.

I'd been considering taking an A-level in mathematics for some time and after doing a little research I decided upon the National Extension College in Cambridge. Their website was a little hard to navigate and I struggled to enrol online, however after calling them and registering over the phone I have been very impressed by the level of service that they offer. The course materials arrived swiftly and are very well written and easy to follow (although the A-level itself is challenging!) and the support offered by my personal tutor is excellent.

I would definitely recommend NEC to anybody considering a course via distance learning.