Printed: 29 July 2010 at 15:38:34

Keys to Success

Everyone has a different way of learning and the joy of distance learning is that you are in control of what you do and when. However, over the years experience has shown that there are some keys to success:

1) Read your welcome pack.

2) Contact your Distance Learning Course Director - kiran@marketingcollege.com - with a few details about yourself and any issues you have with studying (sometimes delegates have not studied for a while, others are juggling a new job).

3) Ask your tutor for the model study plan for your module. This is an interactive spreadsheet which guides you on what to study week by week for each module and which you can adapt to produce your own personal study plan.

4) Register with the CIM for membership and for your assessments - whether exams or assignments.

5) Set aside set times each week for studying and be clear about these with your employer, colleagues and family.

6) Don't try to study for hours at a time. You will dread starting and you will become bored! Better to do two hours well than 6 hours badly.

7) Read around the subject. Watch BBC Working Lunch (this can be downloaded). Listen to BBC's business programme In Business. Read Marketing and Business Magazines. You are looking for real life examples of companies using marketing strategy.

8) Keep in contact your tutor or Distance Learning Course Director if you begin to have any problems with studying. Don't struggle on on your own and leave it too late for help.

9) Get to know the College website. The delegate pages have downloads of lectures, past exam papers, specimen assignments and lots of useful links.It is also the place to book webinars and revision classes.

10) Assignments take more work than many delegates realise. In addition to reading the course material, you need to research your company, read around the subject and then write the assignment. Allow yourself enough time to do this by the CIM deadlines.

We can't emphasise enough how important it is to make the most of the tutor support available to you. Your tutor is there to help and guide you, answer questions and provide feedback on your exam practice questions and draft assignments. Please note that it is especially important that you send your tutor a draft of your assignment before submitting your final version. Experience has consistently shown that this can make a real difference to the quality of your final result. In the most recent set of results for one Postgraduate Diploma module ten distance learning delegates submitted a final assignment. Seven of these passed. They had all had regular contact with their DL tutor and submitted a draft of their assignment for feedback. Of the 3 who failed 2 did not bother to contact their tutor at all and one sent a draft assignment in only at the very last minute. The lesson is: if you want to pass first time make the most of your tutor support, plan ahead and make sure you submit a draft of your assignments.