MyCIMA

Studying F1 with Kaplan

Posted: Tuesday 20 December 2011 by Sebastian Chee
Replies : 5
Keywords: study kaplan recommend quality

I am planning to study F1 course with Kaplan.

My choices for study centre in London are Hammersmith or London Bridge.

At London Bridge the choice of tutors are as follows: Erin Morton, Neil De Costa

At Hammersmith the choice of tutors are as follows: Durgesh Desai

My choice of centre is purely based on quality of teaching so would be grateful to anyone who has been tutored by any of the above and could share their experiences, good or bad.

Many thanks in advance.

F1 with Kaplan

Posted by Angela on Tuesday 20 December 2011 17:20

Hi Sebastian,

I have not studied at Kaplan Hammersmith or London Bridge. But I have studied at Kaplan Milton keynes. I had few CBA failures with them and changed the tuition provider. I can not comment over the tutors for F1 with Kaplan, but I would suggest you to consider INSAFF business school if your choice is based on quality. Certainly they have best tutors as per my experience. But they offer online live programmes scheduled as per your time (1-2-1 course). So if you are considering live online only. Good luck with you :-) 

Whichever is closer to work/home

Posted by Coigach on Friday 23 December 2011 17:51

I find the tutors make relatively small difference to the study. Kaplan have very similar approaches to the way tutors teach them and so I'm sure either will provide a good experience. 

 

If you pass/fail I doubt it will be excuse of your tutor but more a lack of study as due to time they race through the material and expectation is you have to put your own hard work in. As such I'd recommend going for whichever is closer to your home or work depending if you want to go straight from work or if you might have to work late.

 If you're still curious ask the centres for previous pass rates for the particular courses and choose the higher. 

Tutor quality and students' hard work both are needed

Posted by Angela on Saturday 24 December 2011 15:39
I think it's very important to locate a good tutor. This does not mean a tutor alone can pass exams for you. But, without a good quality tutor, I think it's hard to pass exams, at least for students like me. It's difficult to do self studies. After working, we need someone who can teach us things in a simple manner, than we learn text book ourselves. If the tutor was not that fine, it's difficult for the student to score higher marks - believe me, to be a good tutor, many things are needed, except the subject knowledge; such as good communication skills, ability to explain the concept very clearly and more importantly allocate time to motivate each student are what I really expect from a tutor. These things work really well. I still firmly believe that I feel so much difference to the tuition I had with Kaplan and INSAF business school. I felt that INSAF tutors allocate more time to teach and motivate me well, while Kaplan tutors were just rushing through the syllabus. I dont say Kaplan is bad. But my experience shows that "teaching style" has so much to do in learning, in addition to the students' hard work. Good tutor + student's hardwork = Sure PASS !!!  Just my opinion :-)

I disagree

Posted by Coigach on Saturday 24 December 2011 16:00

If you need all aspects of the syllabus explained in simple terms you'll never get through it in time.

 A tutor has to speed through the syllabus to get it all done in time and of course are there to approach and explain anything you have difficulty over. Kaplan and BPP have excellent pass rates overall and Kaplan in particular write the official textbook with elvesier for CIMA now.

The tutors at these training partners will be of a high standard and if you put the work in you will pass the exams. I think focussing on the tutor alone is of less concern and I don't really understand the comment about higher marks? All you need is to do is pass the exams - scoring high marks doesn't benefit you as employers don't care whether you scored 80+ in all exams they're much more concerned on whether you've qualified and what experience you have.

 

To the original poster, many of my colleagues go to the London bridge centre so would suggest one of the tutors there. 

It was my opinion

Posted by Angela on Monday 26 December 2011 09:53

It was my opinion only. Scoring good marks (not necessarily high marks - but 51 and 70 has lots of difference in between!) is also important I think, otherwise, it does not make any sense that CIMA and other professional bodies:

1. Give you the marks, instead of just "PASS / FAIL" grade and,

2. Place students worldwide and national rankings.

But I accept the comment that employers are much more concerned about the experience and qualification. Perhaps you may find it's good that tutor speeds-up the syllabus. But, still there're lots of my colleagues (as well as myself) have found that rushing through the syllabus makes it very difficult to catch-up. You're lucky to have such a nice mind really who could cope with such syllabus coverage.