FAQs

There are many benefits of joining our community of over 130,000 learners. From a free XO Student Discounts membership to unlimited tutor support. Find out more on our benefits page.

Ohana is our newly launched bespoke learner portal, where you can find your tutor details, upload your assignments and access your course if you're studying online.

Paying in full is the most straightforward way to pay for your course. However, we realise that sometimes you may need a little help, which is why at Open Study College we offer finance plans.

Yes! All Open Study College courses are legitimate and there are two types of course outcomes.

We have courses that provide qualifications upon completion and are accredited by established awarding organisations, such as A Levels, GCSEs, AAT and CACHE. Each independent awarding body performs detailed, rigorous checks to ensure our courses meet their high standards.

For courses that do not provide an Ofqual-regulated qualification, you will receive a certificate of achievement, which may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills towards regulated qualifications in the future.

Read each course page carefully, you will find this information underneath the ‘course outcomes’ section.

Yes! With Open Study College, you can study the same A Level or GCSE as someone in a traditional school or college, but with the flexibility and benefits of home learning. You study the same coursework, take the same examinations and get the same qualification, with full tutor support to help you throughout your course.

If you choose to purchase a study pack you will receive all of your study materials in printed format, along with a study guide, an OSC pen with highlighter, a study planner and notebook. If you choose to study online, you’ll receive access to Ohana, our bespoke learner portal, within 24 hours of your order being processed, which will house all of your study materials in electronic format.

If you choose standard delivery, your study pack will be with you within 5 working days.

If you choose express delivery, your study pack will be with you within 2-3 working days.

Your study is up to you. You can complete your course in as much or as little time as you need.

Although our distance learning courses are time flexible, you still have a time limit for completing your course. Check the course page under ‘course duration’ as these will vary dependant on each course.

We always allow plenty of time to complete a course, so you are able to study at a pace that suits you!

You are also able to extend your course duration should you need to for an additional fee. Contact Learner Services for more information on this.

When you enrol onto your chosen course, you will receive your personal tutor details.

This tutor will be there to support you with any questions and further explanations on your course through email.

If you have a question, just message them through Ohana and your tutor will get back to you with help and support needed.

Your tutor will mark and give you feedback on your assignments, letting you know how you can improve.

As we are a distance learning college, your tutor will never check in on you unless you ask them to. You will need to contact your tutor first.

Take a look at our tutors page for more information.

You will send your work to your personal course tutor to be marked and returned to you.

On successful completion of the course you will be awarded your certificate.

Where we provide exams that can be included, we have certain partnerships with exam centres. Details of this will always be provided on the course page so make sure you can travel to the exam centre before you include this within your cost.

If you have a course with exams included or you have added these on, when you are ready to take your exams, contact us and we will book these for you.

On some courses where external exams aren’t available, it means we don’t have partnerships with exam boards. You will need to get in touch with the exam centres yourself as you will sit the exam as a ‘private candidate’.

Absolutely not! One of the best things about distance learning is the convenience and flexibility to study from anywhere. We have students all over the world. Contact us to find out more and one of our Student Advisers can provide more information via telephone or email.

If you change your mind, we can offer you the opportunity to transfer to another course, fees may apply depending on how far into your course you are.

If you’d like to cancel completely, we offer a refund on all study pack courses and course materials provided they are returned to us within the cooling off period, which is 14 days from purchase.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Tutors can only mark what has been created inside the course material.

It depends on which course you complete. After completing most courses, your qualification certificate will take between eight to ten weeks to arrive. However, CACHE certificates take a little bit longer, taking between ten to 12 weeks to arrive due to outside moderation.

Any queries and questions will be responded to within 48 hours (within working hours). However, marking work and giving feedback will take up to ten days.

All of our courses are accredited and are endorsed by recognised awarding bodies. However, not all courses we offer are qualifications.

When you choose to take your course online, you will receive a copy of the student guide attached to the welcoming email from your tutor. If you opted for the study pack option, you will receive everything you need in the printed version of the student guide. Course materials also include everything you need to know, from activities to tutor-marked assignments.

You will receive your work marked with feedback from your tutor within 10 days of submission.

If you have questions regarding the course content, then you are more than welcome to message your tutor with any queries. Your tutor will also be able to provide information on assignments. If you’re not happy with the feedback, then you are able to challenge it if needed. Finally, you must complete all tutor-marked assignments to get your predicted grade.

You will need to check on the course page before enrolling if it is industry recognised. We have a team of enrolment specialists on hand for any questions in regard to the course before enrolment. Just use the little chat pop up in the bottom right-hand corner.

You will not get one-to-one sessions with your tutor during courses made by Open Study College, however, there are some courses which do offer this. A select few courses, like the functional skills course, you will get a phone call from the tutor. With some placements on certain courses, like the Access to HE courses, the tutor will go out and assess them. If you have any queries about a specific course, then feel free to get in touch.

Your e-learning log in details will be sent over to you via email within 24 hours of your order being processed. If you haven’t received your login details, they often end up in that pesky junk folder, so check your spam before giving us a call.

Course packs are put together specifically for your course and study method, so it does take a little time to fulfil your order. We expect all course packs to arrive with you via courier within two weeks. The majority of courses arrive much more quickly than this, however, if you still think there’s a problem, then please contact us.

You can request your student card from our Learner Services team via email learnerservices@openstudycollege.com 14 days after your enrolment.

Once you have requested your card, it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive at your home address. You will also receive both an email and a letter from XO Student Discounts confirming your card order.

As a student with Open Study College, there are two different types of help available. To make things quicker and easier for you, please be aware of whom to contact with regard to different types of query that you may have. You can either contact:

Tutors: Tutors deal with all study questions, subject-related queries and assignments.

Learner Services: Our support team are on hand to help you with deliveries, finance and administration.

You can contact your tutor via one of two methods:

E-mail: Your tutor’s name and email address are provided in your welcome pack.

Via our Helpdesk: Click on the “New Ticket” link and submit your query.

You can contact our Learner Services via the following methods:

Telephone: Call 03300 563100 and select option 2

Email: learnerservices@openstudycollege.com

If any textbooks appear on a recommended reading list for your course, they have already been selected for their relevance and usefulness within that subject area. Any textbooks that you purchase from this list should therefore complement your studies.

However, if you find it difficult to decide which of these textbooks to buy, we recommend that you speak to your course tutor and ask for their personal recommendations. If you are still unsure, consider researching the books on the Internet and taking a closer look at their content before you decide which one to buy.

Finally, please bear in mind that most of our courses already include all the reading materials you will need. Therefore, purchasing additional textbooks is entirely optional.

You can submit assignments in several ways:

Email

We recommend emailing your assignment directly to your personal tutor. Simply attach your work to an email with an Assessment Cover Sheet (if required) and send it to your tutor’s email address, which can be found in your welcome letter or welcome email.

Online

If you are studying via Online Learning, there will be separate instructions on how to submit your work when you log in to your course materials.

Post

You have the option to post your assignments; however, it will take significantly longer for your work to be graded and returned to you than if you were to send it by email. It is important that you only send photocopies of your work – do not send originals, as we cannot accept responsibility for failed postal deliveries. We would recommend that you send assignments via recorded delivery. Once your work arrives at the College, it will be scanned in and sent to your tutor for marking.

Assignments

Do not submit multiple assignments, submit one assignment at a time and pass this before moving onto the next. It is within your interest to wait for feedback so you will benefit from incorporating your tutors guidance within your next assignment.

Unless agreed with the Academic department, you are not allow to re-submit work for a higher grade if you have already passed an assignment. Only referred assignments are to be remarked. When an assignment has been referred it can only be given a Pass grade on completion.

We do not accept draft versions of assignments as this can give some students unfair advantage when their work is assessed. If you are uncertain about what to do for an assessment, here are a few guidelines which will help you. If you follow these guidelines, you should be able to complete the assignment correctly on the first attempt:

1. Read the questions carefully and don’t over complicate them. If the question asks you to write an essay, for example, don’t present your answer as a numbered list.
2. Read the assessment criteria. These can usually be found at the end of each unit. The assessment criteria will enable you to see how your work is marked and what you need to do to achieve a pass, merit or distinction.
3. Use our Solution Centre accessed via our Helpdesk to search for general assignment information. Not sure how to reference sources? Confused by word count guidelines? Answers to these general questions can be found in our Helpdesk if you type your query in the search bar.
4. Discuss any uncertainties. If you’re unsure about how to write your assignment for any reason, discuss this with your course tutor before you start.

Because people study with us throughout the UK and internationally, all students are responsible for locating a convenient examination centre to take their A Level examinations and any practical assessments. Although this does involve some research and organisation, it is well worth the freedom and flexibility, as students can choose when and where to take exams and practical assessments.

Here is some guidance for booking your A Level examinations and assessments:

Make a note of the awarding body and syllabus number of your A Level, details of which will be included in your course pack or online course materials. If you are unsure of this information, please query it with your course tutor.

Visit the relevant awarding body’s website (normally AQA, OCR or Edexcel) to obtain a list of approved examination centres for your chosen A Level. Download any guidance for studying as a Private Candidate.

Explore the websites to identify which approved examination centres would be most convenient for your exams, and contact your preferred examination centres to enquire about booking a place on your examinations as a private candidate. We do have a list of recommended centres which you may wish to consider sitting your exams at, contact us for the list or you can find it within our Helpdesk.

Please note that Open Study College cannot be held responsible for any information provided by each examination centre or any contract entered into between you and the centre.

Once you have made your bookings at an examination centre, note the exam dates and organise an effective study schedule to prepare for them.

Our best piece of advice to you is to be proactive and plan well ahead of examination dates, which are usually in May and June. Familiarise yourself with the A level specification on the relevant awarding body’s website and make sure you understand all assessments that are required. The earlier you can organise your examinations and any relevant assessments, the more prepared you will be for success.

We are here to help if you do not pass your assignments first time, although we do expect assignments to be your best effort when you submit them. If you haven’t passed an assignment, your tutor will provide feedback on how to re-take your assignment so that you stand the best chance of passing. The number of times you can resubmit assignments is at the discretion of your course tutor.

If you have failed because of plagiarism, whether deliberately or inadvertently, you will be issued a warning. If you submit plagiarised work on two occasions or more, you may be removed from the course.

Please note you cannot resubmit ALevel TMA’s.

Courses from Open Study College have a set time limit for tutor support, these can vary but most time limits are 12 months. The time limits allows adequate time for you to complete your course.

Tutor support also includes the marking of your assessments and returning your work with feedback. Therefore, tutors are unable to mark your work if your tutor support has expired, even if you submitted your work while still within a few days of the tutor support period. Therefore, you should take in to account the time allocated to a tutor to mark your assignment and leave sufficient time in case your final assessment is referred back to you.

If you submit an assessment within 10 days of your tutor support expiring, it’s highly unlikely that it will be marked, before your tutor support expires. If it looks as though you may not complete your course on time, you can contact learner services and request an extension to your tutor support. There will be a fee for this extension and extensions are limited to the amount of times a single student can receive extensions, this will depend on the course and awarding body.

If you wish to apply for an extension to your course, please contact Learner Services via email learnerservices@openstudycollege.com