Hi

I used Acorn for paper 1 and found them to be quite good. The revision notes were very concise. I'd use them again over CIMAstudy as you have access to a tutor 24/7 for any questions that you have.

When you are ready for TOPCIMA, give topcimapass.com a try, completely virtual and great personalised service.

Sorry Graham, only just read this. Yes I did use Acorn, I will tell you how effective they were tomorrow!!

They were ok, not as good as 7city though, but a million times better than CIMAstudy.

I didn't go to Acorn in the end.  I was looking at them because they were physically closer and cheaper than any BPP or Kaplan site and I was looking for convenience and saving a few pounds.  BPP really bump their prices up for London sites, so I compromised and went to their Cambridge site instead.

I have used First Intuition for P1 & E1 and I did quite like it. The lectures are very easy to follow, even in transit while commuting.

Also, the people in the campus seem to be very friendly in a almoust-family environment. Either way you chose to study I think FI are a nice alternative.

 

Regards,

Pedro

Anyone looking to purchase a high quality CIMA study package but without breaking the bank in the process, then they should have a look at what Acorn Live has to offer. I've been very impressed with the quality of the learning materials, and the high levels of customer care that they have given me right from the first day I purchased my study pack. 

I previously used the CIMAstudy, and like a few people on this forum, I found Acorn Live to be streets ahead of the CIMAstudy in terms of costs and quality - my only regret is that I wish I had used Acorn from the start. However, I fully intend to use Acorn for the remainder of my CIMA studies.

When it comes to live online CIMA tuition, I think INSAF live online is the best. I've used their services for my entire Strategic level and would be very happy to recommend them. INSAF service is completely different to what others offer. It's one to one - that we get a personal tutor to offer lessons. Live online - Can talk to the tutor and they use a wonderful smart-board to illustrate workings, diagrammes etc. Also have the ability to schedule lessons at times convenient for us. Pricing is also very cheap - about £14 an hour including text books & practice kits. Awesome. 

Anyone here currently using 7City training ? One my friend recently said she could not find CIMA courses in their website.

Hi JMCD,

Recently my friend bought Acorn's T4 e-Book from their website and she was given the case analysis of "Papy Sustainable trading" which was the T4 case relevant for September 2011 exams.

 

Hope you're careful with them ;-) LoL 

Hi,

If you're interested in recorded online courses, then LSBF is an excellent option than Acorn. Seems they've invested a lot in technology - so high quality lesson recordings and their tuition is also not bad. LSBF would be more 'lively' than Acorn simulations. Meanwhile, CIMA endorsement not always gesture the non-endorsed tuition providers are of worst in quality. CIMA Study itself not endorsed by CIMA under LTP. Likewise, many have had successful results using TCP for T4 preparation and INSAF business school for live online lectures after they had unsuccessful lessons with Kaplan and BPP like tuition colleges. TCP like, INSAF like online providers are not endorsed but still seem doing great. It's the individual tutor who matters most than a common brand name I think.

I agree to what Monika had said. I personally faced such a situation. I studied 2 of my certificate papers at the Manchester branch of a well known CIMA college chain in the UK. There we had a tutor who is really terrible and awful in teaching. Whenever we asked a question, he refers the text book and read through it. Never had the ability to explain basic concepts well. But the college for which he's working was one of the top two in the UK by brand name who throws a lot of colorful advertisements in FM and other mags :(

I've not done any courses with Acorn. But have seen their samples in their website. Seems fine enough. After I stopped having tuition from that Manchester based college, I studied with INSAF business school and found their mode of online lesson delivery quite useful. Good & friendly tutors and cheaper prices. You get a tutor who actually conducts each and every lesson for you over the internet. So far so good & excellent :)

I think CIMA also has such a rule for CBA levels. Although it's not so in their rules, still, many colleges which have been authorized to run CBA exams allocate places by giving priority to candidates who had a tuition course with them. I think CIMA can't do much in this as they rely on tuition providers for computer facility. If this issue could be overcome by CIMA somhow, it'd be great :)

Yes. Different students follow different ways. While we talk about online courses, there's a portion of students who never find online a viable option for them. They need classroom courses. But I think in the last few years many have started using online courses either as primary or as a supplementary course. 

Cheers from Manchester :)