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Hi there
I’ve just started seeking information as to my RAP I have some queries;
Will I certainly benefit from paying Kaplan for a mentor? so far I’ve been doing self-study and have not paid any tuition fees thanks to the benevolence of OT : ) so I wonder whether I can find someone here to help me?
I’m planning to choose subject 8 but I wonder whether you’d recommend any other subject in terms of having easier access to information, a subject that would allow me to complete the project in a couple of months?
I work full time and I have two P papers sittings one in Sep and one in Dec and I wonder whether it’s feasible to me to meet the period 31 deadline?
As for the deadlines they have 1 and 18 Nov 2015, do I get penalise if I send it on the 18 Nov?
Thank you in advance.
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Thanks for the insight and the quick reply, much appreciated. I trust your words and I will certainly contact “learningluminarium”
As for the topic, I will probably be in touch in another thread I’ve been reading ?
Thanks trephena
Hi Trephina,
I failed my RAP but passed my SLS in period 29, do I still need to use approved mentor for resubmission in period 31?@Blowy – I think you will find that you still need a listed mentor to certify your work.
(I think the only situation where you won’t need one is where you only have the written SLS on self-reflection outstanding)
If in doubt students should check out their mentor’s status or whether they need a mentor with the OBU Office SOONER RATHER THAN LATER
If you register on the OBU website you should find a list of current mentors. If the person you are using is not there then you will have to discuss it with thm to find out what the problem is. It may be because of non-payment of ACCA subscription, they have not passed the mentoring course or do not satisfy the ACCA/OBU requirements to be a listed mentor.
If you need further advice with this problem then consult the OBU Admin as soon as possible so that you can get the problem resolved in time for P31. From the discussions I’ve had with the OBU Office no work from a student with an unlisted mentor will be accepted and this is not something they are prepared to be flexible about.
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Yes.It is a strict requirement of the OBU RAP. The mentor would have some knowledge, skills and experience the student does not have. Thank you.
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I also have a question. I want to know how a student can get access to view the registered list of mentors online. Thank you in advance.
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How can a student know a mentor is on the registered list?
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he would be on the list that is provided by obu online which is accessible by the students.also i think they will have a certificate showing they finished the mentoring course from obu
A registered mentor can be found on the database provided by OBU during your search for an online mentor. He would also have a certificate showing that he has completed his online mentorship course with OBU. Feel free to ask for the certificate before committing yourself!
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I am really late in starting my research for November research. Can someone please guide me what is the best place to start when writing a topic 8 on Tesco and Sainsbury as a competitor.
Please suggest books, websites, articles I can look at to gather information.
What would be the best way to get information from primary sources.Am I realistically going to complete the project In time or should I defer till next submission?
You need to use the services of a listed mentor – see IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR P 31 – and the type of advice and guidance you are seeking should come within the remit of such a mentor
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I have a mentor through kaplan but not seem to be getting much help from there.
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What kind of input should i expect from the mentor. In the first meeting, i was asked about how i am going to approach the project and thats about all.
@ayeshah – sorry to hear this. It is a bit of a perennial problem – some mentors are like tutors and some do the bare minimum such as confirm the work is yours and leave you to get on with it. However if you have shelled out a sizeable amount for the mentor then I would expect a more personal service. Some mmentors, for example offer different packages with different levels of support as students’ experience of producing reports of the standard required varies enormously so ‘no one size fits all’ (or indeed the package prices fit every pocket and budget!).
Have they given you a study manual for the RAP? (I think both Kaplan and BPP produce one), if so this should contain some basic information about research methods etc. Possibly if you have one the mentor expected you to read this before the first meeting. On the one hand doing a degree is about working things out for yourself but on the other the approach is rather different from exams so some initial guidance is expected. So first off ask the mentor for the manual and then scan through it.
These days for something like topic 8 unless you have access to a physical academic library most of your sources will be from the internet.
– First you should familiarise yourself with what Referencing is all about as it is easier to do referencing once you know what it is and also difficult to apply it retrospectively as you won’t remember where you got info from. For this first read Appendix 3 of the info pack and then all 3 parts (Introduction, Golden Rules and FAQs) of my article on Referencing on our homepage http://www.opentuition.com/obu
– Then you need to get on to the investor relations section of the companies’ websites and download all the relevant pdf versions of the annual reports and save them. Read all the CEO and directors’ reports as these are critical to their plans and strategies etc.
– Set up links to the BBC online news website business page and the Telegraph biz. pages and possibly forbes.com and any other reliable business pages too in favourites and use the online search facilities to look for articles on your companies (you are expected to demonstrate that you have researched broadly)
– Take a look at Google Scholar for ideas on how to do and apply a proper SWOT or PESTLE. You may find there are specific academic articles on your companies but most of these require payment. However items with a link on the right hand side often are available free of charge or alternatively once you have the name and author and title of a paper you are interested in feed this into the search and you may find that the author has given free access to their work via a different link
As for whether there is time, you have (like a lot of students) have left it a bit late to do a really good quality report for P31 unless you have a lot of free time on your hands as I personally recommend that 3 months rather than 6 weeks. This is because a rushed report often will only get at best a C grade. The mark of good RAP is that it has a detailed analysis that has been well thought through and is well written and presented. This takes both time in ensuring sufficient and thorough research and having a good review process where the student stands back from their work and views it critically and subjects it to many changes so that it is polished and professional and reads well. Unfortunately most RAPs fall down on this which is why the vast majority do not get above a C and only about 50% pass first time round.
When you have done your initial research I suggest that you read my article on Evaluation and Analysis (again the link is on the OT OBU homepage) and also take a look at The Learning Luminarium website as one of their experienced tutors outlines the 5 most common reasons for failure in an article – so forewarned is forearmed. Good luck! 🙂
Note: TLL has kindly agreed to let us link this article on our homepage so I hope we shall be able to provide this link directly to it shortly. In the meantime it can be found at:
https://learningluminarium.com/2015/07/03/5-main-reasons-failure/
Hi trephena,
I’d like to ask about the new requirement for the mentor from P31 (ie to be listed). I failed to pass on P30, and intended to resubmit my RAP in this Nov period. If my previous mentor wasnt listed, would it be compulsory for me to change my mentor?
I read in the Re-submission guide that as a student passed SLS, he/she does not even need to meet the mentor again if unnecessary. So I think that having to work with a complete new mentor in this case is quite time-consuming 🙁
Thank you for your help
@rong219 – you will still need a mentor to certify that the work you are submitting is your own, so unfortunately you will need to get somebody of the register.
There would be both advantages and disadvantages of a new mentor. Some mentors offer a resubmission service which as you have posted a query on the ‘Marker-speak’ forum could be useful to you. A new mentor would be looking at your work with a fresh pair of eyes and may be able to be more constructively critical of what went wrong and what needs to be done to pass. A specialist service such as this is not offered by all mentors but may be worth considering. I know The Learning Luminarium do take on resubmission students – I mention this merely as a suggestion but ideally you need a mentor with the experience to help you focus on the weaknesses and what needs improving so that your resubmission is successful. By the way what topic did you do – was it T8 or T15 as you haven’t posted this element on the other forum and might help me to give a better reply 🙂
@rong219 – Trephena’s answer hits the nail on the head. (And thanks, Trephena, for mentioning that we do have the resubmission specialization)
To join in the discussion, the new mentor you get need not go through the 3 meetings with you since you passed the SLS. So it will not be as time consuming as before.
However, she/he needs to be confident that the work is done by yourself. One way to do that is by keeping the mentor constantly updated of your progress.Also, we highly encourage you to find a mentor (it doesn’t have to be TLL, just make sure its an experienced one) to review your report and point out/reaffirm how you can apply the examiner’s comments. We have had students who approached us after failing twice because they misunderstood/misapplied what the examiner said. The anxiety inherent in a third and final submission is very unpleasant.
Hi Team,
I know that mentors for the BSc Applied Accounting – Research Analysis Project (RAP) now have to be registered with Oxford Brookes University and ACCA. If not a student cannot submit. Do you have a section within this forum where such registered mentors can enter their details for all students to see and make their assessment.
I know you recommend TLL as mentor, but do you give students the chance to evaluate from a list of mentors who have entered their own details on this forum?
Regards,
Michael
@michaelg – You need to register on the OBU Mentoring website and you will find a complete list of CURRENTLY registered mentors. You will then be able to select a mentor from there.
ALL MENTORS ARE REMINDED THAT YOU MUST NOT USE OUR FORUMS TO SOLICT STUDENTS DIRECTLY…..AND STUDENTS ARE REMINDED THAT NO REPUTABLE MENTOR WILL TRY TO SOLICIT YOU VIA OUR WEBSITE. It is also actually against our forum rules so anyone who does contact you offering to mentor – or worse still – just sign off your work when they have not been through the full 3 mentor meetings with you instantly shows they lack any morals and is merely trying to profit from your situation and line their own pocket in the process.
(We recommend The Learning Luminarium because of quality assurance and because OBU is cracking down on unscrupulous mentors. It is highly likely that mentors whose students are or have been involved in ACO cases will be removed by OBU from the registered list going forward. Some other mentors though on the list for now are regarded as ‘suspicious’ and if you allow such mentors to interfere with your work or unduly influence it your submission will come under greater scrutiny. OBU is keen to promote the need for integrity and honesty of mentors and as a reputable organisation Open Tuition endorses this policy.)
CHOOSE YOUR MENTOR WITH CARE!!!!
Thank you for your advice. However, I also feel that your explicit recommendation of The Learning Luminarium as the sole mentor of acceptable quality out of a global universe of registered mentors, falls a little short of true professionalism. At the minimum, all readers of your forum deserve more detailed objective disclosure of the criteria adopted in your selection of this particular one over all else.
As a matter of fact, more discerning readers are likely to think that you are in a beneficial arrangement with The Learning Luminarium (TLL), where it is in your best interest to refer students to them. My simple point is that your endorsement of TLL appears to lack full independence and objectivity despite futile attempts to make it so on your part.
However, I agree that care needs to be taken in choosing any mentors (including LTT).
Regards,
Michael
If you read the initial forum Advancing the OBU – Open Tuition Experience and my posts on some of the forums thoroughly you will see that it is a recommendation based on quality assurance but I inform students it is always their choice. In P27 one of TLL’s mentees was awarded the prize for best RAP submitted worldwide – fact. TLL tutors are well qualified and experienced – fact. By contrast as I have contacts with some senior moderators at OBU (so have checked out TLL), I also know that certain mentors are definitely ‘dodgy’ – fact.
My role is to safeguard the interests of students – for your information I am not an employee of Open Tuition (nor an employee/tutor of TLL for that matter) – I give of my time freely on the forums unpaid by Open Tuition. Open Tuition did however commission me to write the articles on our homepage to help those who are not given good guidance by mentors and most students have found my articles and checklists extremely useful. Having a ‘direct ‘line’ as it were to some of the senior OBU markers allows me to dispense reliable and up to date information and help everyone produce a higher standard of work TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE to the students on here.
Due to my other commitments I do not offer mentoring myself but am keen to ensure that students do get this. Open Tuition and I have discussed the feasibility of recommending other mentors in addition to TLL but it must be based on experience (at least 5 years), integrity, consistently high pass rates (which staff at OBU will verify) and good value for money. I have checked some of the pass rates some mentors claim and those I have checked are false – so this in itself shows dishonesty and lack of integrity.
Your personal attack on me seems to be based on a personal grievance that we refuse to allow mentors to directly solicit for students (and begs the question as to whether your real motive behind your posting was because you are a mentor trying to do so). Open Tuition itself like any business has overheads and staff costs in running and maintaining this site – so why should it permit random mentors some of whom are charging students several hundred dollars for a very average ‘service’ to use our forum as a free platform to ‘recruit’ their mentees??? Bona fide students are free to post their genuine comments about mentors but this is normally done when they receive their results on the relevant period results forum. (Those students who have posted positive feedback for TLL have done so voluntarily and as far as I am aware are fully authentic students who have used their services and in no way have been induced into posting their comments by neither me nor Opentuition). Contacting mentors should always be done via the OBU mentoring website if a student has no personal recommendation. As for my personal endorsement of TLL as you see it -this is in all students’ interests as it sets a high standard of mentoring – and I hope it will inspire other good mentors to become greater mentors and to put their students’ interests first. If that raises resentment then that quite frankly is not my problem but seems to be yours!
( By the way – Mutual respect is built into our rules and the OT ethos – so please read our forum rules! and also please refer to the section ‘What we expect of you’ on our homepage – your behaviour and the tone of your post above concerning me michaelg is NOT acceptable )
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