Learning AAT with BPP

Nisar Ahmed is AAT’s  Programme Leader at BPP. Nisar has been Programme Leader for five years and within that time BPP have achieved very high success rates with students studying the core AAT qualification. Here Nisar talks through their learning model.

We currently have over 2,000 students currently studying the core AAT qualification at BPP. This number has increased year on year with an 8% increase in the last year. AAT has a good reputation within the industry and is open and flexible which appeals to the diversity of our students and their needs.

We currently have a high proportion of career changers, those studying as part of an apprenticeship programme and learners that have experience working within finance and accountancy and want to gain formal qualifications to match their existing skills.

Most students that study with us have heard about the AAT through their employers, colleagues at work and friends and family.

We do find that students that choose to study AAT are highly motivated and have a strong drive to succeed. Many employers will be investing in the students training and quite rightly expect their students to do well. Those that have invested in the qualification themselves naturally also want to do their best. We are fortunate to have engaged students with a passion for learning.

Students can either study through distance learning or classroom based learning and we follow the same principles for both study options.

We follow these three principles:

• Learn – This is where we provide the knowledge on a subject matter and we ensure the students understand the reasoning behind core aspects of the subject.
• Practice – As the saying goes ‘practice make’s perfect’ – we apply the knowledge learnt to exam paper questions. We believe it’s important that students get used to exam papers and they answer the questions thoroughly.
• Rehearsal – We give students the opportunity to attempt practice exams in an exam environment and this is really useful as it’s on the clock so students have to get used to prioritising their time accordingly.

Every student gets full access to our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) which includes recorded lectures for the whole course. Students can revisit these recorded lectures as many times as they need.

We proactively contact students also to ensure they are on track and to generally obtain feedback to see how they’re getting on. Many students are studying and working at the same time so we want to make sure students know we are on hand to help. We also have an open door policy so students can come and talk to a tutor whenever they need assistance.

We also work with subject specialists to write our study materials and this means students are learning the most up-to-date principles. We avidly encourage learners to sit their assessments as soon as they feel they have mastered that specific part of the qualification while it’s fresh in their heads.

Students are encouraged to use the AAT resources available. This includes reading the AT magazine, listening into podcasts and webinars as well as chatting to students within their cohort through the discussion forums available on the VLE and AAT’s own forums.

Luckily students do realise that in finance and accountancy CPD is highly important and continual learning is expected so the majority of our students are utilising and tapping into BPP and AAT learning tools on a regular basis.

The great thing is that the majority of AAT students are learning and applying  their knowledge directly in the workplace and this is the best way for anyone to understand the theory behind a subject.  This very well could  be why we get such fantastic pass rates!

Thinking about studying AAT? Ask a question on twitter @StudyAAT to find the latest information about training provider open days. 

(To find out more about studying AAT at BPP please visit their website. Also if you’re 24 or over and are looking to study AAT at Level 3 or 4 then you may be eligible to apply for a government funded loan to help cover the cost of the course. BPP is one of very few private training providers in the UK that is able to offer this funding. Since the loan became available, the highest uptake across all qualifications was for AAT with more than 2000 students benefitting from the 24+ loan since applications opened in April 2014. See our website for full details).

This content has been sponsored by BPP. 

AAT Comment offers news and opinion on the world of business and finance from the Association of Accounting Technicians.