19-year-old Shabaz Ali came to college to do the Level 2 extended certificate in business after doing his GCSEs and enjoyed it so much that he progressed to the Level 3 foundation diploma and is now studying for the Level 3 extended diploma.
Shabaz said: “I prefer college to school as it’s more independent learning. Tutors deliver the lesson, set you tasks and tell you what is expected, but the rest is up to you if you want to extend your learning.
“The extended diploma covers identifying business issues and business decision making and we’re given a case study to analyse and use our knowledge to recommend solutions.
“The tutors give feedback and highlight where you can improve – in a recent rest I didn’t do as well as I hoped and was disappointed with the result, so the tutor went through the paper with me, made some suggestions and gave me the option to do another test, and I felt better and more confident the second time.
“At school I was shy but since coming to college and communicating with tutors and others in the class I’ve become more confident and better at time management and meeting deadlines too.
“After gaining my qualification I want to do a business apprenticeship and the course is preparing me well as I’m learning things that I’ll be expected to know in a work environment.
“To anyone whose exams didn’t go their way, college will lead you to the same result, it just means that the journey will be a little longer.”
