givin it a go..advice please

baller77

hi all,

im 35 year old male,thinking of giving college a go..few things about me.was not academic in school at all,have no leaving cert and did not do well in exams at all,,mostly due to the fact that i never studied,and no pressure was put on me to do so,,the thought of college was never even there,,,the last year or two its been crossing my mind a bit,,my current position is i work full time even sats,,usually a week day off,work in retail,,same place for nearly 20 years,,and am happy in my job,,and did work hard to get where i am now.

my position is probably different from others in the sense that i have not lost my job and luckily have not taken a bit hit in wages over the last few years,,

im thinking of having a go in some thing along the lines of enginnering,but the biggest fear is MATHS,,have not got a bloody clue,you might ask why enginnering, sort of have some intrest in that area more than others but the biggest put off would be the maths..for me when they brought in x and y ,i was lost,,me not careing and a bloody crap teacher did not help..

went to it tallaght last week about a pre college course and wes excited abot even going,,sat up the front which would never have been my style,,only to find out that anything in enginnering would have to be done on sat morning,,which is out for me with work.

really what i would like to do is try get to grips with maths some what,,if it clicks good and well if not well i tried..thing about now i sort of have a bit of drive to give it ago..would be prepared to do grinds,,the missus said get the first year books as well

any input welcome,,

thanks

Larianne

Definitely look into doing an access or pre university course. Most are part time. But like Tallaght, a lot have classes on a Saturday morning.

Completing an access course will greatly increase your chance of securing a place in college. Some unis that have access courses keep a certain number of places reserved for students who get good marks from the access course.

Is there any way you could get Saturday mornings off?

baller77

Hi Larianne

thanks for reply,,i have taken the step of getting a maths grind, which is a step in the right direction for me at least,
considering up until recently never had an intrest in doing anything in terms of study or looking at books.

taking time off work on sats is a def no no for me just too busy,possibly finish early some eves during week,but will see where the maths grinds take me for mo,

does anyone know of an access or pre college course not on on sats and pref in eve,,info is a bit limited online,,anyone done a good one that gave them confidence after doing it

thanks

longhalloween

Look into the online courses offered by colleges. Live lectures in the evenings all done online. Download the lectures if you miss them.

Google Bluebrick.ie (i think) for a list of the courses, I did electronic engineering qualifiers through Sligo IT last year. 4 hours lectures a week online, went down to the college once a month for a practical day and exams.

I'm doing the course full time in DKIT now

baller77

hi just logged into to that there ,looks good ,,,a day a month travel i could do,,thanks

do you like the course

longhalloween

Course was great, so were the lecturers. They're free under the springboard scheme.

Apparently the part time students get higher grades than the full time lads too.

SuperInfinity

Only a small fraction of courses are free under springboard, and even smaller is the amount you're able to do through distance learning.