For many people, the hardest thing about education is not the actual learning itself - rather, it is the way that the learning is examined - at school level, this is most commonly done via examinations. Examinations are not generally a good method of testing the deep understanding of a topic, and the results can be skewed by your particular mindset and performance on that one day. As a result, they tend to only be a good option for confident people with a very good knowledge, who never have an 'off day' - of course, this is impossible to achieve.

Because of this, many learning providers are recognising the value of coursework only courses. You will simply work through the course syllabus in your own time, using the guidance available as to how long to spend studying. Whilst you are working through in this way, there will usually be a workbook for you to test you ability for yourself. These will contain reminder type questions, or ones asking you to explain what you have just learnt. For some subjects, there are simply assignments at the end of each topic. These will cover one area of the work in detail, and are submitted to your tutor online, making the learning process much easier for you. Another of the advantages of coursework assignments over exams is the ability for you to learn from work you have already produced. Your assignments will be marked by an expert tutor, who will be able to give you advice for any points of development required for a better understanding - as well as to commend you in areas where you did best. Some people may think that courses marked by a tutor will not be recognised in the outside world, by employers or other learning providers. However, this is not the case, as courses are tailored to requirements laid down by professional bodies, meaning that the course content covered is designed to be directly relevant to the workplace.

As assignments usually focus on one particular area at a time, you will be able to show your employer or any other interested party your mark for that actual topic, to demonstrate your most relevant skills. You can also use the points of feedback you are given to highlight your strengths within that particular topic. Although assignments will generally have a date by which you need to submit in order to get a mark back from the tutor, the pressure of taking an assignment based course is less than that of an exam. You do not have the stress of 'cramming' (i.e. rush learning) all of the material the night before - instead, you can just do the assignment at a time and place to suit you. As the courses on offer are relevant skills that can be used in the workplace, some people may be able to negotiate spending time during working hours on learning or on completing the assignment. This is particularly true if you are already using, for example, the relevant software packages in your day to day work.

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