Maths resit and access course helped Nicola gain a university place to study dental therapy and hygiene despite going through a major operation
Maths resit and access course helped Nicola gain a university place to study dental therapy and hygiene despite going through a major operation
Nicola Barber wanted to apply to study a degree at university but found that most universities which offered her course of interest, required a maths GCSE.
Armed with her GCSEs from school, she only needed to gain her maths qualification so she decided to study Coleg Ceredigion’s online evening course. This enabled her to juggle family commitments alongside her access to higher education (health science) course at the same college.
Nicola also had the added challenges of undergoing significant surgery on her lungs during the course, which entailed a very brutal procedure and recovery.
This meant that following her operation, she missed all her lessons and an exam and had to catch up when she felt able to, revising online, joining online classes and completing coursework.
The college made some adjustments which Nicola says helped her to achieve completion of the course and also provided her with her own ground floor exam room and invigilator at a time when she was still feeling weak and tired after her operation, which was to rectify a medical issue where her lungs kept collapsing.
As a result, Nicola is now on her journey to recovery and is preparing to study a degree in dental therapy and dental hygiene at Cardiff University.
Nicola Barber said: “Maths is a subject I have always found difficult but the college was great, they offer so much support on top of the weekly lessons so if extra revision is needed that can be arranged.
“My tutor also set up some extra revision classes during the mid-term breaks which were really helpful as we could go over certain areas that we needed extra support with.
“To be honest I can’t thank the college enough as my situation was difficult in the final stages of the course but they were there for me and because of that, I was still able to achieve my grades.
“I’m so grateful to them, I mean you really do have to put the work in outside of the weekly lessons and I doubted myself the whole way through but I revised the work I was given and I gained the grades I needed.”
