Workload

Depending on your level of experience, approximately three hours per week should be sufficient to study the Units, find the relevant plants and write up the answers – more for the important Unit on terminology. The most time-consuming part of the course is finding the plants.  There are no specific submission deadlines on the individual question sheets and they do not have to be returned in numerical sequence, so short interruptions due to holidays, workload etc. are not a problem. However, it is essential to continue fairly steadily through the season or flowering times will be missed. Submissions should ideally be made within one month of the earliest submission dates for each unit and cannot be submitted for the first time in September. This course cannot be completed in short ‘crash’ sessions.  You need to be continually on the lookout for the named species which then have to be examined in detail and described using proper terminology. Regular feedback from your Tutor through the season is only possible with regular fortnightly submissions of the units. It is this steady practice that enables the learning outcomes to be achieved.

All Units should be marked as Complete by the 30 September deadline in order to receive a Certificate of Completion. A few unavoidable gaps are allowed at the Tutor's discretion.

You should contact your Tutor promptly if you are having difficulty in completing unit assignments on time because they may be able to help. This is a one-year course and extensions into a second year are not usually possible except under exceptional circumstances, which require detailed evidence and endorsement from the Tutor.

If you enjoy plant hunting and can find time for it, then this is the course for you.  Some former students have said that it becomes obsessive!