National Extension College Reviews 242

The overview of the course and what to expect was easy to follow and I received the sign-in details, access to the system and the e-book within a couple of days which was faster than I expected.

My tutor contacted me within a few days of starting and has already given me some feedback on my study plan.

All looks very slick so far!

Really disappointing structure to the course, there isn't a structure at all actually.

As other reviews have said, the help I received over the phone while researching a French GCSE course was great. Setting up a direct debit to pay for the course each month was easy. Before I knew it I was into the introductory session to the course.

I'm an adult learner and have not been in education for 10 plus years. I set myself a personal goal to get my French GSCE. Once I was signed up I was really excited to get started. My tutor introduced themselves and I felt happy I would progress.

However, once I started the first section, Home and School, that is where the good feeling stopped. There is nothing in this course that offers anything more than just buying the Edexcel GCSE French book. There is nothing to build your knowledge, no lessons, no classes, no building grammar skills. You are instructed to work through the Edexcel book. I was left wondering what my £400+ went towards.

After struggling with the first section I contacted my tutor. The course states that if you no not understand a word, simply look it up in the dictionary. That seemed fair enough. But when I approach my tutor to say I did not understand the first sentences in the book, or when particular words changed based on a number of grammar factors, his exact response was WYSIWYG ("What you see is what you get")!

The response was so poor it made me cancel the course straight away. Instead I have signed up with a private tutor, 1 hour a week that sets me clear goals and explains the grammar.

This course is a bit of a con. As people have said in these reviews, you may as well just buy the Edexcel book and work through it by yourself.

Glad there was a cooling of period for the course as now I have found a way of studying that suits me and I have already started progressing.

I have done several courses with the NEC and always found both the materials and the tuition first class .

There was a discount put on courses at the weekend but as no one was available on your telephone lines over that weekend, there was no option to pay this in monthly instalments, which the website says you can do (this option is only available if you pay over the phone).

Enrolling on my Art History course with the NEC was easy and straightforward. A couple of days after receiving confirmation of my enrolment I received an email from my tutor welcoming me onto the course which was nice.
The course material is easy to follow on the website and there is a wealth of additional reading if required. The constructive feedback I’ve received from my tutor regarding my assignments has been helpful. And Student Support have also contacted me to check things are going okay.
I would thoroughly recommend studying with the NEC for the excellent comprehensive course materials and tutors and Student Support are always on hand to answer queries and offer support.

Very good...

Course material very easy to follow? Tutor very positive and encouraging

This has been an excellent course which got me through a long Covid winter! I feel that I have learnt a great deal, and it has inspired me to continue with my Latin studies - in fact I can't imagine not having a piece of Cicero or Pliny to enjoy translating on a cold winter evening. My tutor has also been excellent, both by patiently answering all my queries and by marking my assignments extremely quickly. I would recommend anyone who is seriously interested in learning Latin, and who is not afraid of the intricacies of Latin grammar, to give it a go.

Maths A level course seems good quality. Only criticism is that full worked answers for all exercises would be an improvement.

Everyone at NEC has been helpful and supportive from the very beginning and I am so grateful! This is my first time enrolling in an online course so I was a bit hesitant and nervous about how I will do but from the very beginning I felt reassured that I will be supported in my studies and it gave me some confidence.
I am currently two weeks into the course and I have managed to fit studying into my routin without an issue.

Been with NEC for 3 GCSE's this last year and have been nothing but impressed with the service and support received. Every interaction I have had with the NEC has been positive and professional. The Tutors have been incredibly supportive throughout what has been extremely challenging year with Covid. I highly recommend the NEC for anyone who is considering distance learning. The portal is simple enough once you get used to it and the content is well laid out. I would like to end this review by giving a big thank you to my tutors Donna, Bethan, Amanda and also Louise from the Exams Team.

Nec have been so helpful with my sons course, and he is enjoying it

NEC has given me the opportunity to achieve my academic potential from home. I am enjoying my courses as well.

Navigating through the website seemed complex. The format of the website was confusing, It had too much information. Had a lot of repeated subheadings.

The website is clear, the tutor accessible for an elderly student like me I recommend the NEC for studying at home.

Very helpful, i wish i had discovered it earlier

The source material they use seems good enough but the tutor support is woefully lacking (based on my personal experience)

A claim of 2-3 days response is, in almost all cases, 2-3 weeks. There is a lot of information supplied by tutors on the website and through emails to all students, which is useful, but I would suggest you don’t expect a lot from “allocated tutor”.
As long as you are not factoring this tutor support into your study plan, you should be fine but if that support is important I would look elsewhere for your study / qualification arrangements.

I am happy i started my studies with Nec.

Very clear and easy to purchase and set up. As a parent of the student I've been very impressed with the support and resources available.

Good, would of been nice for support in the best qualification needed for purpose. I could of had a better route given for what I needed.