I have found the process extremely overpriced and negatively corners a market for underprivileged people caught in a trap of rushing and panicking about a qualification they clearly struggled with at school. I bought the course for £324, which included the exam. Being on a deadline you have to fast track your results, waiting 10 days is not an option. Resitting was another £234. I had been working tirelessly on the course for 4 months prior to my first exam, I did the tutorials, which only went round in a loop and did not cover enough content for harder sections of the booklets.
I found being left with a huge box of workbooks completely overwhelming, so I got a weekly tutor 2 months before my exam. I figured the average person needing to do this kind of test is likely to have had a bad experience as a child with maths, so taking it on without enough feedback or encouragement from a teacher sets you up to fail.
The course does not stand alone as a sure-fire way to get the pass you need. It has cost me hundreds of pounds in childcare and extra tutoring. I crammed way too much, which left terrible gaps in my learning, and I put enormous pressure my myself and my children so that I could study (I am a single parent, working full time as well as studying.) Everything was on the line, I finished my job in order to do my pcge training, have loans lined up, the school I worked at where I am doing my training is fully expecting me to be there – friends and colleagues I’d have to let down all because of a maths qualification that I will never use as a drama teacher.
I owe everything to my cousin who’s a maths teacher, who came to help me after my first failed attempt. He gave me days worth of core learning that wasn’t there before, only after that could I crack on with the booklets from the course. I went from 48% to 62%, and have him to thank.
It really upsets me to know that others will not be so lucky to have an actual person to sit with them, you need a teacher to see how you are processing what you are learning. A Star does not offer this.
Lastly, it is an absolute abomination that when you book your exam the price goes up because the deadlines are closer – it felt like a flight booking process in August. This is an unacceptable misuse of knowing people have no choice but to keep going to get the pass they need.
Whilst I am glad and relieved to have a solid pass, I’m left with a sour taste that decades of badly taught maths is turned into big business, particularly in a time when upskilling is a non-negociable component to survival right now.