btec national diploma it practioners
- Thread starter zenith10
- Start date
Yes im on it and its great. Very varied in what you do, im now in my second year on the Certificate, and its enough to get me a conditional offer into uni on a Pass grade.
Its a very varied course from where i am, last year we done a lot of work on the business side of stuff, and databases etc. This year is better as we are doing a lot of visual basic work, website design etc, ive just had to knock the webby in my sig up as a project.
Their is a lot of written work, and i mean a lot, ive just handed a 40 page project in along with an Access database and its 1 of about 17 that you have to do throughout the year, and after half term we have 5 assignments coming out on the same day. However, if you manage your time well then it shouldnt be any bother at all.
Overall i am enjoying the course and would recommend it over any A levels.
Any questions ask away and ill do my best to answer them.
Its a very varied course from where i am, last year we done a lot of work on the business side of stuff, and databases etc. This year is better as we are doing a lot of visual basic work, website design etc, ive just had to knock the webby in my sig up as a project.
Their is a lot of written work, and i mean a lot, ive just handed a 40 page project in along with an Access database and its 1 of about 17 that you have to do throughout the year, and after half term we have 5 assignments coming out on the same day. However, if you manage your time well then it shouldnt be any bother at all.
Overall i am enjoying the course and would recommend it over any A levels.
Any questions ask away and ill do my best to answer them.
I'm also on this course, and currently in my second year.
It's not too bad, nice not to have any exams but you've got constant assignments throughout the year which contribute to your overall grade.
So far we've learnt about website design (HTML, Javascript, CSS, Dreamweaver), programming (Pascal, Assembly, Visual basic), and a lot of theory relating to networks, hardware and business information systems.
Amoungst the constant assignments over the past two years we've had two major projects: One which we did in our first year, which was to design and implement a website for a chosen client using Macromedia Dreamweaver/HTML/CSS/Javascript.
The second, which I've just finished, was to design and implement a program of our choice in Visual Basic. Most in my class decided to produce a quiz program. I decided to write a Blackjack card game.
As Stellios mentioned, there is a great deal of written work, and often you'll be caught up doing multiple assignments for different units at the same time.
It's not too bad, nice not to have any exams but you've got constant assignments throughout the year which contribute to your overall grade.
So far we've learnt about website design (HTML, Javascript, CSS, Dreamweaver), programming (Pascal, Assembly, Visual basic), and a lot of theory relating to networks, hardware and business information systems.
Amoungst the constant assignments over the past two years we've had two major projects: One which we did in our first year, which was to design and implement a website for a chosen client using Macromedia Dreamweaver/HTML/CSS/Javascript.
The second, which I've just finished, was to design and implement a program of our choice in Visual Basic. Most in my class decided to produce a quiz program. I decided to write a Blackjack card game.
As Stellios mentioned, there is a great deal of written work, and often you'll be caught up doing multiple assignments for different units at the same time.
thanks stellios and migsy i think im going to change to this course. the only thing that i wont like is all the coursework but seeing that its only for 1 course it wont bother me too much. like the website stellios and like you i aim to go to uni after this
im doing this currently, the first year was really fun and interesting, the 2nd year is utterly pap though (for me) as its almost all to do with business and databases etc, i really went onto this course to learn about programming and webdesign mainly, seems they are only a tiny portion of the course though 
Associate
- Joined
- 2 Oct 2003
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- 2,121
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- Chester
If you don't know anything about computers then yeh sure its great. However, if like me you already knew how MS Word worked and how to do a bit of web design, I wouldn't waste your time. Obviously its the way forward if you are looking at university but I would much rather get a real qualifaction if you wasn't looking at university.
ive done that, its amazing how much you can actually get away with, i ended up going in about 2 days a week for only a few hours and getting only a pass on all my assignments (ive never been any good at writing loads and loads, although i did have one random burst on the networking where i got a distinction for a 10-15 page thing)
very easy course, just lots of writing, a bit TOO basic at times but if it has to be done it has to be done
very easy course, just lots of writing, a bit TOO basic at times but if it has to be done it has to be done
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2005
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- 6,901
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- London
Completed the national diploma 2 years ago with DDD overall. Great course.
Soldato
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2005
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- 13,001
Im doing the certificate.
the national diploma in our college was scrapped because people were too lazy to pass it.
so we get 2 alevels not 3.
Im in my second year of the btec national certificate in ITP... and its rubbish, its boring, half of the stuff ive learned on my own and im incredibly bored, there is no scope for creativety, no chance to express your skills on the computer or your knowledge... its all rubbish reports and mainly business orientated... im not liking it at all... and the fact it isnt worth a diploma is even more depressing, now i have to do a foundation degree at uni, instead of going straight into a degree (its only a year difference, but still)
if you enjoy linear boring mundane word processing, do the btec national certificate in ITP...
if you want to do something interesting, do physics... thats a real challenge.
you do web design and all that, but you dont get to really do anything with a bit of imagination, except for the IVA project, but thats 99% report and evaluations and 1% actually making something.
thats my opinion on it
the national diploma in our college was scrapped because people were too lazy to pass it.
so we get 2 alevels not 3.
Im in my second year of the btec national certificate in ITP... and its rubbish, its boring, half of the stuff ive learned on my own and im incredibly bored, there is no scope for creativety, no chance to express your skills on the computer or your knowledge... its all rubbish reports and mainly business orientated... im not liking it at all... and the fact it isnt worth a diploma is even more depressing, now i have to do a foundation degree at uni, instead of going straight into a degree (its only a year difference, but still)
if you enjoy linear boring mundane word processing, do the btec national certificate in ITP...
if you want to do something interesting, do physics... thats a real challenge.
you do web design and all that, but you dont get to really do anything with a bit of imagination, except for the IVA project, but thats 99% report and evaluations and 1% actually making something.
thats my opinion on it
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2005
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- 6,901
- Location
- London
The course is fine, and it's not entirely useless. It will allow you to progress on to a BSc very easily (depending on what University) and how smart you actually are.
Im doing the ND and I am in my second year (got DDD for first year 
).
where im studying the course is split into two categories; "general" and "system support"
I chose the latter as it was claimed to be the category with the most challenging content. I think that the course concentrates on a more practical angle than some people have said, but it does involve quite a bit of internet research and typing.
). where im studying the course is split into two categories; "general" and "system support"
I chose the latter as it was claimed to be the category with the most challenging content. I think that the course concentrates on a more practical angle than some people have said, but it does involve quite a bit of internet research and typing.
Soldato
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 13,001
its all easy really. if you can really explain what and how you did something you will fly through the course.
things like this only lead onto degrees.... if you tried to get a good job with these qualifications youd get laughed at i think
things like this only lead onto degrees.... if you tried to get a good job with these qualifications youd get laughed at i think
