Work line by line through that gathering all the research you need to meet the assessment criteria.
Make sure that your research is from reputable sources - good, up-to-date books; the RHS website and the websites of other educational bodies.
Write down all your research, so making your own study notes. A couple of A4 refill pads are ideal.
You can use a computer, but I find writing is the best way to memorise the material, plus it gets you used to writing quickly and neatly for the exam.
The Past Papers (with examiners comments) are available on the RHS website free to download, or you can order them as paper copies for £2 each. The Past Papers are great for pointing you in the right direction in terms of what is expected of you in the exam.
The only thing with learning via correspondence or teaching yourself, is that you have to make the arrangements for the exam yourself.
You do this by contacting the RHS, who will tell you where your nearest exam centre accepting external candidates is.
You then contact the centre and register for the exams with them, paying them a fee.
If there isn't a centre accepting external candidates near you, then you can apply to the RHS to sit the exams under Exceptional Supervision, usually at a 'normal' school/college or anywhere else with similar credentials. You find a local school/college willing to take you (they will usually require a small fee to cover use of their facilities and their supervisor) and then you pay a fee to the RHS for the provision of the exam papers/marking (it was £14 per unit when I sat my exams).
The RHS send the exam papers to the school/college, you go and sit your exams on the day and then the papers are sent back to the RHS for marking.
I sat my exams under Exceptional Supervision and will also do my Level 3 that way, because my nearest RHS exam centre doesn't accept external candidates unfortunately.
All the best to everyone with their studies and future careers.
Very good advice pbff. I did the RHS level 2 diploma course at Capel manor college Enfield. I did this for my own interest but over half the class were either working as gardeners or wanted to. It is not cheap but you can save time. The day theory courses were in blocks from September to end Feb so they were mostly over periods that would be quiet for work anyway. The practical did run from march to July though. We had one student who did both the theory courses in parallel, (consecutive days) and then the practical following on so in less than one calendar year she completed the whole thing. Another was doing the gardening course with a design course on another day. You can as pbff says do it yourself but you need to be very organised and it will take longer. Monty Don is proud of the fact he has no formal qualifications at all be he certainly does not lack knowledge & he says he has his own extensive reference library of books & journals. These have a cost too but presumably he built them up over a long time.
Yes we were given extensive course material and in fact you could have managed without buying any books or other material so that should be factored into the costs. We all have different learning styles I too had to re-write a lot of the material as my way of learning.
To go back to the original question it might be worth looking at some profiles of other designers & see what qualifications they say they have. It might give you a bit more of a clue as to which way to go, as review of courses on line might not be as reliable as you might hope.
Some time since I studied the level II diploma but garden design was only a very small element of the RHS course.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
Some time since I studied the level II diploma but garden design was only a very small element of the RHS course.
Agreed. I know the syllabus has changed a lot recently, but I wouldn't say that the RHS course as I did it gives you anything more than a basic understanding of what garden design is (ie: this is a formal garden, this is a cottage garden, remember that plants change throughout the year so take that into account when designing, these are suitable hard landscaping materials for a particular style, etc). It's a horticulture course, not a garden design course. The new syllabus may have more, but I think it's still horticulture.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
Posts
Having studied RHS Level 2 and now working through RHS Level 3, I would highly recommend.
They are the qualifications to have if you are serious about a horticultural career.
I began my studies with the Horticultural Correspondence College http://www.hccollege.co.uk/
who are not as overpriced as many colleges.
However, I then switched to teaching myself, which is free - apart from purchasing some books, paper and pens!
All you need is the Qualification Specification from the RHS website - here is the RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth, Propagation & Development as an example https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/pdf/qualifications/Level-2/q-qao-qualification-specification-level-2-popg.pdf
Work line by line through that gathering all the research you need to meet the assessment criteria.
Make sure that your research is from reputable sources - good, up-to-date books; the RHS website and the websites of other educational bodies.
Write down all your research, so making your own study notes. A couple of A4 refill pads are ideal.
You can use a computer, but I find writing is the best way to memorise the material, plus it gets you used to writing quickly and neatly for the exam.
The Past Papers (with examiners comments) are available on the RHS website free to download, or you can order them as paper copies for £2 each. The Past Papers are great for pointing you in the right direction in terms of what is expected of you in the exam.
The only thing with learning via correspondence or teaching yourself, is that you have to make the arrangements for the exam yourself.
You do this by contacting the RHS, who will tell you where your nearest exam centre accepting external candidates is.
You then contact the centre and register for the exams with them, paying them a fee.
If there isn't a centre accepting external candidates near you, then you can apply to the RHS to sit the exams under Exceptional Supervision, usually at a 'normal' school/college or anywhere else with similar credentials. You find a local school/college willing to take you (they will usually require a small fee to cover use of their facilities and their supervisor) and then you pay a fee to the RHS for the provision of the exam papers/marking (it was £14 per unit when I sat my exams).
The RHS send the exam papers to the school/college, you go and sit your exams on the day and then the papers are sent back to the RHS for marking.
I sat my exams under Exceptional Supervision and will also do my Level 3 that way, because my nearest RHS exam centre doesn't accept external candidates unfortunately.
All the best to everyone with their studies and future careers.
pbff
Very good advice pbff. I did the RHS level 2 diploma course at Capel manor college Enfield. I did this for my own interest but over half the class were either working as gardeners or wanted to. It is not cheap but you can save time. The day theory courses were in blocks from September to end Feb so they were mostly over periods that would be quiet for work anyway. The practical did run from march to July though. We had one student who did both the theory courses in parallel, (consecutive days) and then the practical following on so in less than one calendar year she completed the whole thing. Another was doing the gardening course with a design course on another day. You can as pbff says do it yourself but you need to be very organised and it will take longer. Monty Don is proud of the fact he has no formal qualifications at all be he certainly does not lack knowledge & he says he has his own extensive reference library of books & journals. These have a cost too but presumably he built them up over a long time.
First time I've ever been described as organised, Iain!
(After all, there is the Snail Society....)
You're right about the longer though - you have to write your own study material, rather than just buying it.
However, by writing it myself, I did find that I memorised it more effectively than just reading it.
Then again - everyone has a method of learning that suits them best.
Yes we were given extensive course material and in fact you could have managed without buying any books or other material so that should be factored into the costs. We all have different learning styles I too had to re-write a lot of the material as my way of learning.
To go back to the original question it might be worth looking at some profiles of other designers & see what qualifications they say they have. It might give you a bit more of a clue as to which way to go, as review of courses on line might not be as reliable as you might hope.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham