The price of 17th ed course

[Paul.M]

There has just been a thread posted by a learning center offering the 17th ed course and exam for £570 inc vat. The thread has been correctly removed due to not being a forum sponsor.

My question is, do you really think you need 3 days tuition to understand and pass this exam? Yes its a very important qualification that all electricians need but for the price, well can it be valid. The exam by itself costs around £35 and a few people on this forum have revised at home and just sat the exam and passed with flying colours.

People with electrical training should be able to down load past papers, look through the brb and get themselves familiar with it and save themselves a whole lot of money. After all this is no way near as hard has the 2391 that does need a lot of classroom and workshop practice and the 2391 is only about £100 more?

What are your own views and opinions on this subject? Is it to expensive? Do we need a 3 day course?

 

[john25]

my College were doing the 17th Edition at $275 up $30 from last year.

 

[trebor]

I work in a centre as a tutor so I might be shooting myself in the foot here but I have also been a self employed sparks so I have an undestanding from that side of the fence, some of the highest pass marks I have seen have come from self taught exam only delegates.

 

[bomjac]

Did this 2 weeks ago using Electacourse's online exam simulator as the basis for my study. Found the simulator to be exactly the same layout and set up as the official C&G exam.

Total cost - £50 exam, £64 regs book and £35 for the online course. A lot cheaper than the £300 - £500 that I was quoted by various colleges and training providers that I contacted before deciding to go down this route due to uncertainty of being able to make evening classes due to work.

I would recommend the self taught route for anyone with experience in the trade that is just looking to update their 16th edition.

 

[Mr.Si]

Electacourse is good - it was useful for my 2330 Level 2 exam revision. Noted!

 

[tony mc]

Bit steep the course prices and must vary around the country.

Just last year a Northeast college was charging £250 for a 2391 and it was a excellent run course.
Looking at the prices on here think I got a bargin.

 

[Sparky Ninja]

I work in a centre as a tutor so I might be shooting myself in the foot here but I have also been a self employed sparks so I have an undestanding from that side of the fence, some of the highest pass marks I have seen have come from self taught exam only delegates.

From my experiences, I couldn't disagree with you more.

 

[SMB]

Thats interesting widdler.

It must be due to the people you have experience with; they didn't have an understanding of 7671 in the first place ?

It was obvious after the first tea-break on my course who knew nowt and who was informed.

There were a couple who were very informed, they didnt need to do the 3 day course, but had somehow got conned into it (self employed people).

The 'exam-only' idea should be promoted for those who already have the knowledge, this isn't advertised though.

None of this affects me.

I wish you well.

 

[Phil]

i can say i took my 16th and 17th after studying the books at home and when the 17th came out i was lucky enough to grab a place at the eca update conference. that one afternoon i believe was greater than many of the tutors i have seen teaching the regs. i suppose thats what it boils down to really. you may be lucky enough to get a good tutor or you may fall unfortunate to get a tutor that gets you to underline things in the book as paul did, i also know the tutor he had and if i had relied on his tuition alone to pass an exam good luck. for the guys who just take the exam i suppose it boils down to you get back what you put in. i for one put a lot in and it worked for me because i wanted it but lets be honest some can`t be bothered to pick a book up and the courses given a good tutor will do well. i could teach my 15 year old daughter to pass it though. so passing the exam is not always the same as understanding the regs though.

 

[SMB]

okay Phil, good point.

But I was talking about the people who don't need a 3 day course.

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

 

[Phil]

okay Phil, good point.

But I was talking about the people who don't need a 3 day course.

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

no need to apologise mate, i wasn`t responding really to anyone just my thoughts overall on the thread. i know there are many out there that don`t really need the 3 day course and would be fully able to just do the exam

 

[Knobhead]

I’ve always been in heavy engineering maintenance but had to do the 17th.
I was bored out of my scull for the entire course, why in the name of god do I need to know how to wire a caravan! As far as I’m concerned I’ll stick to the M&Q and Foundry regs.
Don’t think the course tutor liked me when I ask him why he had to go back to do a second fix, “you should have fixed it the first time round!”

 

[High Tower]

Tony please don't take this the wrong way but that is quite a elitist mentality!

Doesn't matter if you repair foundry machines or fit fused spurs in a domestic kitchen it's all still electrical, and were ALL still electricians albeit of different skill and ability. But one thing we all share, and rightly so is BS7671, OUR regs we should all be conversant with them no matter what!! Your attitude that what do you need to know this and that is probably wrong, I could say the same about the parts that cover heavy industry but I don't, because it's all knowledge and all contributes to make me a better spark.

And the most important point, As self respecting professional electricians, why would we not want to keep ourselves bang up to date with these quals??

As I said Tony please don't think I'm having a go because I can assure you that I'm not it's just my opinion on it!

 

[grantr37]

theres the ILA in Scotland (Individual learning allowance) that is a government scheme and gives you 200 pounds off 1 course a year, so you can claim it every 12 months providing you are unemployed or earning something like 25k or under......it says it is for Scottish UK residents only, but I have seen P*lish people arrive here, and 6 weeks later they were doing 17th edition (as they were told they would get a pay rise) and have successfuly claimed the 200 pounds course discount voucher, I think then anybody who comes up to work in Scotland should be allowed to claim it, fairs fair...by the way they do the course in a stack of different European languages for people who cant read english just like the driving test...
So anybody doing a course in Scotland and earning nothing or burger all after tax.....phone up your college, ask to get put through to student services, then ask the girl on the end of the phone "what about ILA Scotland" they will keep you right.....or you could go to google and type in - ILA Scotland ...where you can put in your details and they will post you out all the forms....you can get it in as little as 1 week after applying.....
I would go for it now and that way maybe you can claim it next year as well before it falls victim to the cutbacks, which I hope it wont, but it is a Scottish scheme so it will probably get hit sometime in the cutbacks...

 

[JLD]

Your right, in 1999 & 2000 when I studied the 16th and 2391 over 14 weeks, one evening a week for each course. You learned something, the tutor wanted you to learn, but that was a proper college. Now its all about pass rate, they are not bothered if you don't learn anything.

Not every training centre is about pass rates though. Most evening classes at colleges run over a longer period because when people attend it is after a hard day at work and so they do not take in the required information and so each week is spent recapping most of the work from previous weeks. A short intensive course can often result in more information being learnt and absorbed. It is all about learning the reasonong behind the book and how to apply and use the knowledge. Many people that call themselves electricians never open the book once they have the qualification and think they know it all. This as we can all agree is not the case.

I agree short courses should be longer but people do not want to give up the time to attend them so until the client base change their wants supply continues to meet demand.

 

[Sparky Ninja]

Your right, in 1999 & 2000 when I studied the 16th and 2391 over 14 weeks, one evening a week for each course. You learned something, the tutor wanted you to learn, but that was a proper college. Now its all about pass rate, they are not bothered if you don't learn anything.

Maybe you should enquire about a college/training centre before parting with your money?

 

[tonys]

Maybe you should enquire about a college/training centre before parting with your money?

Not got a problem with colleges, they have an head of department, not fly by nights in for a quick few quid. They seem to be more interest in their students imo and are in it for the long haul. Little bit different to these skill centres popping up all over the place jumping on the band wagon, to rip people.

Went to Loughton College of Further Education as Apprentice and followed up with the 16th and 2391 at Hertford Regional College in Turnford at approx 30 years old.

College first choice every time for me, second choice training centres only if I can not get on the college course and I get desperate.

You could say I was desperate to get my 17th.

 

[rryles]

I did 2382 exam only for about £80. I've never had any electrical training at all but got 98%. If you're a working electrician there is no reason you should need a 3 day course. It's multi-guess, open book and the pass mark is only 60%!

 

[Sparky Ninja]

I did 2382 exam only for about £80. I've never had any electrical training at all but got 98%. If you're a working electrician there is no reason you should need a 3 day course. It's multi-guess, open book and the pass mark is only 60%!

That's completely against the point of the qualification.

 

[rryles]

That's completely against the point of the qualification.

Care to elaborate?

I'm saying the exam is easy, and a working electrician should have more than enough knowledge to pass it without spending time in a classroom. Do you disagree?

 

[High Tower]

Care to elaborate?

I'm saying the exam is easy, and a working electrician should have more than enough knowledge to pass it without spending time in a classroom. Do you disagree?

Its about more than just bein able to look up the answers to the questions in the appropriate place which is all that you have done if you managed a 98% with no electrical training on what you describe as a "mutli guess" paper.

You sould understand the chapters, understand the tables and the curve graphs, you should understand the reference materials and understand and be able to work the formulas. Most of all you should understand and be able to implement the regs and not just read through them to find the answers.

If you can do this without any training either for the 2382 or and electrical training in general then you really are something special!!