Anyone used The Knowledge Academy?

dandicarla

I took my Prince2 Foundation qualification at The Knowledge Academy in 2011. After 5 years my name is not yet in the online register on the APMG website. I wrote several times to The Knowledge Academy but they just ignore my emails. After a while I had to give up and remove the certification from my CV otherwise it wouldn't pass the employee's check. My advice is to pay a bit more and go for a better service elsewhere.

Galileo_Figaro

I also did the Prince2 Foundation. The course was terrible - the English was poor and it was deathly boring. You'd be much better off just reading a Prince2 for beginners or dummies book - free from the library!

They didn't reply to my emails about booking an exam (and you can't speak to the exam bookers on the phone) so it took ages to book an exam.

And I've just had my 12th sales call from them since finishing! Don't go near them.

aife

Has anyone here done Prince 2 via an online course ?
I've seen a very cheap one advertised , the company is called 'e-careers'.
I've never heard of the firm and I'm wondering if online would be sufficient , or if it's a subject you really need face-to face teaching for ?
- they also have an 'Intro. to ITIL' course

Izzize

I took the course recently. Everyone in the class were complaining about the tutor. The tutor was useless.
I complained and I got an apology from the company.

It cost me £750 and I am unemployedelighted.

Lamentation

aife wrote: »

Has anyone here done Prince 2 via an online course ?
I've seen a very cheap one advertised , the company is called 'e-careers'.
I've never heard of the firm and I'm wondering if online would be sufficient , or if it's a subject you really need face-to face teaching for ?
- they also have an 'Intro. to ITIL' course

I gained a Prince2 Foundation certificate online with SPOCE using a discount that I got with Groupon.

For me, it was a refresher course as I gained the Practioner course certificate many moons ago and it had lapsed.

From memory, I found the SPOCE online course and practice test okay, so too, the comms from SPOCE, including their admin and technical support staff. I did forget that I would be issued with a digital certificate to download from the APMG site when I passed the exam rather than getting a postal certicate, though.

My negative feedback is about myself and perhaps the APMG website (or perhaps me again...). I am easily distracted so class-room based courses motivate me more than online ones. I have a lot of vocational experience of formal project management environments, plus I had the Practitioner cert in the past but only scrapped a pass this time round due to my failure to apply myself.

I would not like to take an online course in Prince unless I had an excellent memory or general PM lifecycle methodology knowledge as there are just so many roles, responsibilities and project management products (assets) to remember, plus their independencies, across numerous phases of the project.

I think it might be a bit dry to a newby or someone who is rusty at learning. I appreciate that it is pitched at newbies but I was bored stiff with the online course. I think I am a bit too lazy when left to my own devices though. I imagine if its self-funded and a person is choosing the online option to save money, they might be hyper motivated to succeed.

To take the exam, the APMG provides an online link to it. It requires an ethernet cable to the internet (as a wireless connection might drop during an exam which may invalidate it) and it requires a webcam for the candidate to record a 360 sweep of the room to confirm there are no Prince materials present to cheat with and which is trained on the person as they take it, with audio on. I am a total webcam newby and didn't really get to grips with that side of it. I therefore found the remote online exam taking process clunky and panicked during the exam that I'd lost the link, too.

techdave

I used the prep course from Career Academy, really helped me in passing the certification exam.

HiToAll

techdave wrote: »

I used the prep course from Career Academy, really helped me in passing the certification exam.

Well, I am convinced by this glowing review, dont know about anyone else.

honestsammy

I was trying to do some research on new courses and this old thread popped up so I thought I'd just post an update on my own further experiences with KA.

I took another 3 courses with them with the idea of getting a BA diploma and changing direction with my career. Some notes:
- Alot of the more nich courses don't run outside of the big cities. Don't book online, give them a call and ask them how many people have signed up for a date and town. I've found that if the website is reporting - 3 spaces left, it usually means 1 or 2 people have signed up. If it says nothing I don't think anyone will have signed up. I went through booking courses and having them cancelled last minute. Not ideal but at least they do try and run them every where and when they do it's convenient, but not sure if many of the advertised courses go ahead.
- The courses are to pass the exam only. If you want to learn this stuff properly, read the book and execute the teachings at work. Frankly you've got very high expectations for a 2 day course if you think you can gain life long skills from it. It only really helps to reinforce what you already know and gives you more confidence in doing your job. It helps when applying for new jobs, so that a potential employer can see you are a BA, you did a BA course, so that all stacks up.

The KA were fine, the teachers were ok to good, and they do try and pace things for an early finish on the last day. It's better to do that in my opinion so you have a night to think about the content before going to do exam. It would not put me off using them again. There are probably better trainers, but not with the reach that KA have. They are th Mcdonalds of training companies.

jobbingmusician

aife wrote: »

Has anyone here done Prince 2 via an online course ?
I've seen a very cheap one advertised , the company is called 'e-careers'.
I've never heard of the firm and I'm wondering if online would be sufficient , or if it's a subject you really need face-to face teaching for ?
- they also have an 'Intro. to ITIL' course

Izzize wrote: »

I took the course recently. Everyone in the class were complaining about the tutor. The tutor was useless.
I complained and I got an apology from the company.

It cost me £750 and I am unemployedelighted.

Lamentation wrote: »

I gained a Prince2 Foundation certificate online with SPOCE using a discount that I got with Groupon.

For me, it was a refresher course as I gained the Practioner course certificate many moons ago and it had lapsed.

From memory, I found the SPOCE online course and practice test okay, so too, the comms from SPOCE, including their admin and technical support staff. I did forget that I would be issued with a digital certificate to download from the APMG site when I passed the exam rather than getting a postal certicate, though.

My negative feedback is about myself and perhaps the APMG website (or perhaps me again...). I am easily distracted so class-room based courses motivate me more than online ones. I have a lot of vocational experience of formal project management environments, plus I had the Practitioner cert in the past but only scrapped a pass this time round due to my failure to apply myself.

I would not like to take an online course in Prince unless I had an excellent memory or general PM lifecycle methodology knowledge as there are just so many roles, responsibilities and project management products (assets) to remember, plus their independencies, across numerous phases of the project.

I think it might be a bit dry to a newby or someone who is rusty at learning. I appreciate that it is pitched at newbies but I was bored stiff with the online course. I think I am a bit too lazy when left to my own devices though. I imagine if its self-funded and a person is choosing the online option to save money, they might be hyper motivated to succeed.

To take the exam, the APMG provides an online link to it. It requires an ethernet cable to the internet (as a wireless connection might drop during an exam which may invalidate it) and it requires a webcam for the candidate to record a 360 sweep of the room to confirm there are no Prince materials present to cheat with and which is trained on the person as they take it, with audio on. I am a total webcam newby and didn't really get to grips with that side of it. I therefore found the remote online exam taking process clunky and panicked during the exam that I'd lost the link, too.

I thought I'd share my experience in case it helps.

I considered using TKA and had at least 3 conversations with them. I found their salesmen such shysters that in the end I paid a little more than they were offering. I went with Barnet and Southgate College (online) and they have been excellent. By which I mean fine, they have met all my needs - other providers are probably as good but I obv can't speak from experience.

PRINCE2 is the most boring course I have ever done. Bar none. But people seem to want it, so I'm glad I have done/am doing it.

I have now passed the Foundation and will do the Practitioner next month.

The cost - important! The most important thing to tell folks is that these providers (TKA and BSC) do seem negotiable on price, if you stick your heels in. I eventually got Foundation and Practitioner with exams* for £580 including the manual. Looking back, I think I could probably have got the package for £500 without manual, and picked up the manual on Ebay cheaper.

Two further points, very important.

1. Make sure the package you are buying includes exams, if that is what you want. And yes, the faffing around with a webcam (built into most computers) is standard. I checked mine and the microphone worked before the exam using Windows Live Movie Maker. You can get P2 packages without exam for silly money (about £60).

2. Take your PRINCE2 SOON, THIS YEAR as new training and exams are now out. (Make sure you take the 'old' version). The current/old certs are valid for 5 years, the new ones will be valid for 3 years...... Current training will be available until the end of 2017 IIRC.

j.pritchard

Steer well clear.

My girlfriend took a CEH v9 course with the Knowledge Academy. Very poor instructor who couldn't remember the commands and didn't even have the qualification himself. Constantly referring to the course material. Class hardware wasn't powerful enough to run the labs and despite what they say on their website they're not even affiliated with the EC Council who run the exam. An email from the EC Council confirmed that the KA are running illegal courses. Tried to request a refund but the quality team are a joke. Going to inform trading standards and take them to the small claims court to see if we can recoup some of the lost funds.