Home schooling three children through lockdown hasn’t stopped Angela Davie completing her AAT Foundation Certificate in Accounting – and progressing onto Level 3.

As with many AAT students across the country, Angela has experienced extra pressures and commitments over the past year.

However, she has taken them in her stride and is now progressing rapidly through the Level 3 Advanced Diploma in Accounting.

“I did enjoy the Level 2 course,” she remarked. “It took me 18 months as I stalled a couple of times due to family and household issues.

“We had building work done, it was the summer holidays, I lost momentum, started back up again and then Covid came along and home learning with three kids was challenging. When I finally dug deep and got back into it, I progressed quite quickly at the end of the course.”

The flexibility of Premier Training’s AAT distance learning courses – which can be started on any day and fit around students’ jobs and lifestyles – was key in enabling Angela to complete the Level 2 qualification.

She explained: “I like studying as and when I can and fitting it around other commitments although I wish I had just kept going and not stopped for extended times! I’m ‘in the zone’ now though and keen to get through Level 3 more quickly.”

As with many AAT and Premier Training students, Angela is retraining as an accountant or bookkeeper after initially taking a different career route.

Putting knowledge into practice

She continued: “I studied accounting at school in the 1990s and had thought about being an accountant ‘when I grew up’ but I ended up in pensions administration instead.

“After a few years career break I decided to retrain with a view to doing bookkeeping for small businesses. I chose Level 2 because I had forgotten all I had learned at school so I did the self-test on the AAT website as to which level was best for me.

“Since then I’ve unexpectedly gone back into pensions on a part-time basis, but I’ve decided to keep my options open and I’m still studying in my spare time. I’m also using what I have learned and putting it into practice by helping out my sister-in-law with her books for her new business!”