I am a Food Technologist by profession since 1974. During my time I worked my way up and eventually owned and ran my own company for 15 years. However I had to close the company and go back to working for other people, which is very difficult at times. Skills train has helped me take a new view on a career that will eventually allow me to be independent once more.

Four years ago, having just completed a temporary contract I had a prolapsed disk in my neck while moving out of my temporary accommodation. To keep a long story short I have gone through 3 operations so far and am now looking at a 4th. This means that my studying has to be done during my lucid moments when the pain killers are starting to wear off. This is limiting but the design of the course allows me to be flexible in my approach.

Like your last months winner my wife has secondary bone cancer and this month came the bad news that it has now spread to her other vital organs, and she has had to start again with Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy. This takes up an enormous amount of time travelling around the country to various hospitals and then spending hours sitting waiting. Again the course has given me the opportunity to do something useful with this normal dead time.

I am feeling particularly pleased with myself having completed 7 TMA's during July and with only one result dipping to 90% I think I can feel justifiably proud.

The one important thing to keep the momentum going has been the rapid turn round of the marking of the TMA's by the Tutor Team to whom I am very grateful.
Many thanks

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Even if I struggle with concentration due to the medication I take for Cancer I managed to undertake all my Assessments for CCNA Discovery Semester 1. I achieved a total mark of 99% for Discovery Semester 1 and 90% on Skills Based Assessment I which l really appreciate. I didn't think it was going to be possible to achieve this so far and I'm very proud of myself and my achievements. I'm glad that I started the new CCNA Discovery Course even if I had almost finished my CCNA 640-801. I realised that there are new things that are on the new syllabus that were overlooked on the old one that are really helpful for a technician in troubleshooting a network. I'm really enjoying CCNA Discovery as its easy to understand and well structured.

Right now I'm in the middle of Semester 2 of CCNA Discovery and l feel very confident, motivated and my average Passmark is 98% . I'm looking forward to finishing Semester 2 and take a CCENT exam which I'm confident I will do well with the help of the Tutor Team who have been tremendous in my achievements so far.

To those who are disadvantaged in some way like me l say 'keep the spirit up and believe in yourself because you are special and nothing is impossible'.

Thank you.

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Hi there, I thought I would share my achievements with you all as I am sure I couldn't have done it without Skills Train! It probably taken me longer than most because I've had to work full time throughout the training course, but even before passing my CCNA exam, just the fact that I had nearly finished it was enough to get a decent pay rise and start at a company called Wedgwood in Stoke-on-Trent. It is a well-established company and someone who I am proud to work for. They recognise that this Cisco qualification is well worth having and appreciate how much work needs to go in to it. A few weeks at Wedgwood and some more days of hard studying and I passed my CCNA exam without having to even start the final semester. I am very proud of my achievements so far and I am eager to now start my CCNP. The Network+ exam seems a distant memory but that was the stepping stone I needed. And today, I have been offered an interview for an even better Network Engineer job which is also in Stoke-on-Trent. I feel like things couldn't really get any better and I am now extremely motivated to continue my studies. I've never even had to phone up and hassle anyone at Skills Train! Lastly, thanks to everyone there for helping and keeping it running smoothly for me. All the best!

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I'm extremely delighted that I have successfully completed the CCNP certification requirements and became CCNP certified.
It has been very long and exhausted journey which started back on October 2004. I began the course with N+ and I was doing pretty well according to my TMA results and in the same time I learned the basics & principles of Networking.
Unfortunately, I have had personal & family problems which drifted me away from pursuing my studying for more than 8 months, however, I always stayed positive & optimistic, knowing that I've got faith on my self & determination to achieve my goal regardless of all the circumstances.
So, back again to study with a lot of enthusiasm and by the end of autumn 2005 I completed N+ and then I started straight away with CCNA Introduction then CCNA ICND, I studied from books for the author Wendell Odom which Skills Train provided me along with their course materials, he is awesome really great author, I like his method of explain things in interesting style.
It took me more than a year and half to complete my CCNA certification, but by that time I was so confident to go and apply the online exam which I passed with score 949/1000 from the first go.
I didn't waste any time, immediately started the CCNP route beginning with Building Converged Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN 642-812) to be honest that was the most difficult exam ever I faced but I manage to pass with 879/1000 from the first go. So, I jumped to the next course The Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI 642-901) I really enjoyed that course and I managed to pass the exam with score 977/1000 from the first go.
By that time I've gained a lot of confidence & the fear, anxious about the exam has disappeared, I also learned how to deal with questions and more important to understand them very well in order to get the full marks.
For the last two exams The Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks (ISCW 642-825) & Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks (642-845 ONT) I studied very hard up to 10 hours a day, eventually I managed to pass with remarkable score, Yes my score was 1000/1000!!! for each exam from the first go!
As I mentioned earlier it has been really long journey & I have learnt a lot of skills in IT and in Networking particularly.

I would like to say that the help & support I received from Skills Train either through Emails, Live Internet Training, Labs or through Cisco Academy was inexpressible and I am extremely grateful for your assistance and advice which guided me all my way through to achieve the CCNP certification.

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I have been working a 50 hour week in a busy IT department in Stockport, Manchester as well as working 20 hours a weekend in a bar doing pub work to fund my course. Despite all of the working hours I have still managed in the last month to have submitted 6 TMA's with none scoring less than 90%.

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After being diagnosed with cancer l thought that was the end of everything including my capability of studying. The only thing that keeps me going even if l suffer a lot from chemotherapy side effects is my College Course as it is the only thing that gives me a reason to want to live even more. This month l have passed with an average of 92%.

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I have faced some serious problems in last two months and my studies were totally freezed due to the reason that I went to Pakistan because my mother got serious arm fracture.I was not in a position to leave as I already lost my job. I was in financial crises as well and at some stage I thought I wont be able to continue my studies.But thanks to Skills Train College and CDF who supported me alot and encouraged me to continue my course.After a long break of about two months I again started sending my TMAs and now I have covered all that time which was lost and managed to complete three assignments in 10 days.I am enjoying these studies now and will encourage my friends to join Skills Train because of there dedication and support I have got.

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After starting the Comptia Network+ course in September 2006, and submitting my first assignment, I have finally fully successfully completed the course.
All around work (changing jobs halfway through) and a busy family life.

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Since successfully completing my A+ Certification, I have been selected for the role of Head Technician and manager of the PC Clinic orientation, in PC World.

I was offered this role over colleagues that have been employed in the technician role and have been with the company for many years before myself, however, this achievement was made possible due to the understanding of computer maintenance and repair that I have gained from carrying out courses via Skills Train and my determination to succeed.

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Over the past two months I have been studying very hard for promotion at work. One of my key tasks was to pass my A+ and N+ exams to help put a case forward for promotion. In December 2007 I passed both external exams to certify as an A+ IT Technician and now have the certificate on my wall at work. Then to make things even better I sat and passed my Comptia N+ exam in February and am now awaiting that certificate to go alongside my A+ one. My manager has just said he is going to support my case for promotion and fingers crossed it will be made true these coming months. All of this is down to the course materials received from Skillstrain making the studying a lot easier with excellant course materials.
Thanks

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Since I started the course I haven't found it difficult instead I have learned new things about IT that I didn't know. The course is a smooth process of learning which can be helped with a lot of studying

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We all have come a long way (SkillsTrain college, myself and all students of the college). I started off on a SkillsTrain IT programme without thinking of the implications of doing so. Now, I have realised the impact of my actions which comes with huge responsibilities IT-wise. Having completed the first two parts of my programme with the college, I almost gave up on carrying on with the third part (CCNA) due to sickness, finance, etc. I didn't give up due to support from family and friends, now I am happy I continued.

I have just made my first professional money from repairing a work colleagues PC. Hopefully, I would be tarnsferred/promoted to the Applications Department by January.

I just succeeded in configuring a router (might be simple for other people, but never thought I could ever try it in my whole life).

Most of my work colleagues and friends now call on me once their PC encounters any type of hitch (they don't want to know if I could resolve the problem or not - all they know is that Donny has been trained by SkillsTrain college).

Thanks SkillsTrain for the career and personality boost.

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Within just four weeks I've managed to complete the entire Section 2 Part B of CompTIA A+ course, having a full time job, working on shift pattern (usually 10 hours per day) and looking after my family. I've been studying very hard, pushing myself to complete this section within a week and my aim was not to get below 90%. I've achieved that. Now I'm waiting to submit TMA30, do the revision suplement and pass the exam.

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