Qualifications

[Lewis]

The HND isn't an option 'if all else fails'.

You would find that most FD cadets (at least at Warsash) would prefer to be on the HND than the FD.

Especially if you haven't started yet and have no chance of benefiting from the exemptions.

[jteed]

[QUOTE=Ducki52;57662] The HND isn't an option 'if all else fails'.

Perhaps I worded that wrong!

What I meant was that I've heard from a family friend (who is a seafarer) that the HND route is aimed at people who decided not to opt for the A level and FD route. Don't know the truth behind this though.

[jj-1994]

The HND isn't an option 'if all else fails'.

You would find that most FD cadets (at least at Warsash) would prefer to be on the HND than the FD.

Bit of an over statement that! I highly doubt that's true but by all means find me some cadets on the FD who wish they were doing a lower qualification...

[jteed]

Bit of an over statement that! I highly doubt that's true but by all means find me some cadets on the FD who wish they were doing a lower qualification...

So is it better to opt for the FD or HND route? I've heard that the studying is more intense for the FD, whereas the HND route is more 'hands on'. I suppose it depends on what sort of person you are too I guess.

[Lewis]

The HND isn't a lower qualification. Maybe your thinking of the HNC

[Ducki52]

Bit of an over statement that! I highly doubt that's true but by all means find me some cadets on the FD who wish they were doing a lower qualification...

Not an overstatement in the slightest, the HND is taught totally differently (more daytime contact periods, less evenings spent grafting in the library), whereas the FD have lots of free periods but are expected to catch up in their own time.

And HND and FD/PD are both level 5 on the national qualifications framework, so hardly a lower qualification.

[alistairuk]

Hi,

Both courses lead to the same level of industry qualification, that is your first CoC either an OOW or EOOW depending upon whether you are on the deck or engine route. However as the above have said on the academic level they are different. Foundation Degree technically thought of as being a higher academic qualification than the HND and as such there are differences in the way each is taught. (Although UCAS class them as the same level).

HND tends to be more “directed study” that is what you are used to at school, where the lecturers cover the majority of the work (or all) that you need to know. Foundation Degree on the other hand the lecturers may cover aspects of the work or point you in the right direction, however you will have to do a lot of the work yourself - it’s designed to have less teaching hours and ultimately save the colleges money.

Lewis has mentioned the main benefit of the Foundation Degree route - that being that those students who followed the Foundation Degree route were exempted from the SQA Chief Mate & Master examinations (in Stability & Navigation). This exemption has been / will be revoked so any new candidates starting on the foundation degree route will not benefit from this.

[laura]

Probably looks better to have a maths/ physics based subject... saying that though I went into the MN with an arts degree and never got less than 90% for any maths based subject, stability, nav maths, celestial and so on.... I like maths right enough!

[jteed]

I get maths, it's just that my teacher scared me off by saying "you'll get put in classes with people who got A* in their GCSE!" whereas I'm currently working at a grade B and targeting a B or A at the end of the year. Having said that, I'm still capable of the aspects that are required, such as trigonometry, it's just the algebraic part that lets the side down. I might change my options to Physics, Maths, English and Geography. That way I'm covering 2 of the relevant topics, an essay based subject as well as a humanity which gives a broad covering, as well as something to fall back on.

[Hatchorder]

Well all this has certainly given me some food for thought! Presumably maths with mechanics is favourable over statistics? Physics is obviously a consideration. The reason I chose the A levels I did was because I was told before that as long as the required UCAS points are attained it doesn't really matter, so I went for the ones I thought I could get the best grades in. But having read this forum it's probably best to stand out from the crowd with some A Levels that are relevant to the course. It's not too late to change them, so I might see what I can do. How about the HND route if all else fails?

The Maths is all about the mechanics! Pure maths is mumbo jumbo in my eyes, even now. I did pure and applied A level maths and believe Stats and pure maths to be the work of the devil. To me Mechanics works, A ladder against wall makes sense but throwing a dice 6 times does not!

As said before the HND is more of a classroom style teaching as to a Uni style teaching but it does mean you have no exceptions at Mates and Masters.

Trust me when I say you will benefit from the mechanics side of A level maths later.

Ian

[Hatchorder]

I get maths, it's just that my teacher scared me off by saying "you'll get put in classes with people who got A* in their GCSE!" whereas I'm currently working at a grade B and targeting a B or A at the end of the year.....

My son got a B at GCSE and a B at A level - it just depends on whether you love Maths and "get it". If you do then you will pass it easily if you put the work in.

Ian

[Lewis]

And HND and FD/PD are both level 5 on the national qualifications framework, so hardly a lower qualification.

Actually the PD is rated on the Scottish credit qualifications framework as level 9 the equivelent to a degree without honours
The HND and FD are level 8 on th same scale and HNC is level 7. The PD dispite not being a "degree" like the FD is a higher level qualification. Although for all practical purposes it's getting the CoC that matters.

[chris]

You might want to consider the maths and physics content of the foundation degree in the deck department and compare it to the A-Level syllabus for each subject. I'm of the opinion that you could study all you the maths and kinematics you need in the 1st year of each A-Level which is now taken as an AS Level and only go on to study your humanities to A2 level. It would depend on how the course is delivered though.

Here's a summary of the syllabus for the 2013 Physics A Level.

I General Physics
II Newtonian mechanics - 3. Kinematics, 4. Dynamics, 5. Forces, 6. Work, energy, power, 7. Motion in a circle, 8. Gravitational field
III Matter
IV Oscillations and waves
V Electricity and magnetism
VI Modern Physics
VII Gathering and communicating
information

I've provided a bit more detail on Newtonian mechanics because that's the only part of the course that I would consider to be relevant to deck studies, statics, stability etc.

and only some of the Maths A Level is really relevant, the dynamics which is already covered by the physics, the rest such as statistics is probably useful to know but not that important.

[Hatchorder]

But I have a feeling that my son only did Mechanics in the second year of his A level?

Ian

[chris]

I better read the 2000 style A Level maths syllabus and get back to the forum. My old style A Level Physics covered mechanics first, I cant remember the order for the Maths but there was a lot of pure maths and proofs to remember.

Update

AS Level with AQA
2 compulsory core maths (Pure core 1, Pure core 2) and a unit from either statistics, mechanics or decision maths.

Full A Level with AQA
4 compulsory core maths (Pure core 1 to 4) and 2 units from either statistics, mechanics or decision maths.

So you would need to do the full A Level to cover both mechanics modules.

So I would recommend the full Maths A Level but maybe just the AS in Physics if you can do the mechanics module in the 1st year.