(Archive) Mentors and Mentoring

@bik123 said:
Hi,

I am looking for mentor for May 2017. Each time I write someone from obu website or on linkedin no reply, just automatic emails. I consider topic 8 or 15. Can someone advise me how to find mentor quickly, because obumentoring database apparently do not work for me.

I have another question not related to above. Can I enroll and pass p1 exam before submitting RAP? Or after passing any of P exams you are no longer eligible for OBU degree. Currently I am eligible for OBU on myACCA account(F1-F9 passed).

Thank you in advance.

Hey Bik, i can suggest you a mentor you will not regret ! trust me he is very hardworking , involved in the process and awesome value for money , i can share his details with you if u want Cheers mate

It is not self promotion, and he is not aware of this at all, if he feels he wants to get in opentuition than its his choice, i was just sharing my experience with the community , and how mentors these days are taking the fee and doing absolutely nothing in return , i was suggesting a good mentor to my friends , not out of any personal gain mind you, if someone like me who has suffered from these issues gives advice , you say its self promotion, im not forcing anyone to join a mentor or anything , im highly suprised by your assessment and wouldnt want to continue writing in this forum,

Why didn’t you just post the name of your mentor, instead of twisting around and scamming! Just like Scammers.

Scammers are bad!

If you pass information as scammer then you will get labelled one. Next time don’t post same information repetitively and with different a/c as this is what scamming is.

Peace out.

Thank you for your comments. I have always suggested that students who have found our OBU forum helpful and have been successful with their RAP should try to help other students achieve a pass and offer relevant advice. Therefore if you wish to respond to student queries on the forums then please post your answers to appropriate questions that you feel you can answer to help students. I understand that you are new to mentoring and this way you will gain some valuable experience in dealing with queries.

You may also find it helpful to read through old posts on various topics including our tips and articles as we have lots of invaluable advice which can help students achieve a pass first time round. You are welcome to use our material and articles to assist you develop your mentoring skills with students however as our articles are copyright you should acknowledge that this material came from Open Tuition.

Take a look at the results forums as students sometimes mention their mentors there. The OBU Period 32 Results is currently available on this page and by using our search facility you can also find this for OBU Period 31 Results and Period 30 Results. Our recommended mentors for Period 33 based on proven past results is The Learning Luminarium.

Note: Whilst mentors may post answers to normal queries on our forum we do not allow mentors to use our forum for self-promotion and come on here just to solicit students. I will remove all posts from individuals who seek use Open Tuition as free platform to advertise their services. Legitimate mentors who supply their ACCA registration number and a copy of their OBU online mentoring certificate to us will be given the designation ‘mentor’ (instead of ‘participant’) but this does not imply an endorsement from us but simply means they are a listed mentor.

We reserve the right to check claims made by individuals regarding pass rates and grades.

The key to success is not who is mentoring you rather it is whether you are willing to give time to your desired topic and conduct thorough research.

trephena My ACCA Reg. No. is 2420376 and I am a registered mentor please could you tell me how to send you my certificate of course completion so that my designation is changed from participant to mentor?

@jamesstudent – a difficult one really as I do not like to recommend particular mentors (as you will see from the above post I refer students to the various OBU Results forums where students sometimes praise their mentors).

Depending on your budget you might consider The Learning Luminarium as they offer different packages to suit different student requirements and achieve good results. If you specifically want a UK mentor Kaplan and various ACCA tuition colleges offer mentoring services but they tend to be about the GBP 500. Anna Lishman is slightly cheaper, reputable and has a decent track record. If in Pakistan or you have a tighter budget try the Virtual Mentoring Network. These are suggestions and not intended to be an inclusive list asthere are others. Contact severa, l try to talk to them over Skype and then choose who you feel you could work with would be my recommendation.

Certainly I agree that to get a good grade it all comes down to the effort you put in. However for many students there is a basic lack of understanding of the overall requirements in producing a report that meets the assessment criteria and this is where a decent mentor comes in.

There is a huge difference between studying for exams and producing a coherent well presented report. Some students could help themselves by standing back from their work and reading it (or attempting to read it)objectively and applying a bit of common sense but unfortunately fail to realise this. If they recognised that there are so many figuress and percentages in their text that no-one could possibly assimilate and keep up with it, that it is a boring and going to be hard work to read and follow they could then do something about it. Instead the marker is faced with ‘death by numbers’ and the student is left with ‘F’ for fail and having to shell out a resubmission fee. If nothing else a decent mentor could save both the marker and the student this torment!

The arrangements and terms and conditions are something you agree with your mentor so it depends what you agreed with them whether you can get your money back. However it would be unreasonable for them to not return most of it. Sometimes they retain a small percentage to cover admin but more than 20% I would deem ‘unreasonable’

Getting an A grade is a big ask. Not impossible but not easy and no mentor can guarantee it It comes down to presenting your work well. If doing T8 you need to do an excellent business analysis which is used when analysing the financial results and focusing on just material figures (and not putting in lots of percentages in every sentence just for the sake of it). I keep telling students to let clear well labelled graphs do the basic talking – markers much prefer this. Also do your graphs so the trends read from left to right (earliest year on the left) as this accords with the way English is read so makes it easier for the marker to assimilate the information.

Read through our Top tips for the RAP forum topic and my articles on Evaluation + the OT Ultimate Guide to Referencing to avoid common pitfalls. See http://www.opentuition.com/obu for our articles and FAQs. If you are not doing T8 let me know which topic you have chosen and I can tailor some advice accordingly.

PS Yes marks will be rounded up for the average and the table in the Info Pack shows the matrix for the degree classifications.

The OBU Info Pack has nothing in it about changing mentor as the actual terms and conditions are a matter that are sorted out privately between mentor and student. Hopefully if you had a decent mentor they will understand your position and want the best for you.

One of the main issues with references particularly for the RAP is that the Uni needs to ascertain that you are not making up the data etc…. and yes each session apparently some students are referred to the ACO for doing precisely that.

If your employer would agree to letting you have some of the less sensitive documentation then this might overcome that problem and yes you do have to submit a consent form (again to help show your company is not fictitious as apparently markers check this and that’s how they work out that some are bogus – although it has been known for students to try to forge these letters too!). The University staff are bound by confidentiality agreements which means they must not divulge any company information and can only use it for marking purposes.

What you may be able to do is consult the staff at acca@brookes.ac.uk first who may then allow you to submit the work under an anonymous company name e.g. XYZ company and then you could supply documents with the name blanked out.

If none of this is possible then as you say you might need to choose a different topic. This probably narrows you down to one where you don’t need primary company data: usually Topics 8, 15, 17, 18 and 20. The good thing is that you are allowing yourself plenty of time as there is probably a correlation between the actual amount of planning, thought and work that goes into the RAP and the consequent grade.

Hitherto I have always recommended T17 (and have produced a forum topic especially on this) but my marker friend has said that this topic is being tightened up as too many people are taking a ‘tick-box approach’ to it so now few get an A. However they are about to change the T17 title to make it more dependent on a student looking at a company that has been affected by a major Corporate Governance scandals and include discussions on the issues and implications on stakeholders of this. It may be possible by adopting this sort of angle and introducing how the company approaches risk assessment to push the grade up I feel.

How do you feel about marketing? The trick here is to do a lot of background reading into marketing concepts and get a good grasp of those first and choose a high profile company. Am I right in thinking that from your standard of English you live in the UK? In which case you could go for a company well known in the UK. Segmentation of the market and diversification of the product portfolio is important (as it allows you to explore and discuss the issues and critical thought is crucial for an A). One possibility that springs to mind is SKY. It competes on several levels in a diversified market and has different revenue streams (subscribers and advertisers) so has to try to satisfy them while competing with other entertainment companies, internet providers and media channels with its various offerings – films, TV, news and sports channels and internet services. The main problem would probably be confining yourself to 7,500 words!

To get an A for Topic 8 it has to be exceptional and stand out from the ‘crowd’ – not impossible but it does mean that choice of company and planning are important.

Hi, can anybody tell me if there is a mentor who provide either free basic mentoring or under $150. I could only find a mentor with lowest charges of $350 and can’t afford it.

Your help is highly appreciated. Thank you.