I am supposed to be taking the distance learning course and I was wondering if I am going to be losing out because I won't be getting the first day's tutorial. What do people who have done the course think?
I don't think you're at any disadvantage. The first day clarified what it said in the notes and the speakers gave you a few pointers.
You won't miss much. They just go through the course (audit trails, models, reports) and give some examples of good and bad practice. Just make sure you are aware how the marks breakdown and focus your work accordingly. There is some time pressure so make sure you are working on your audit trail as you are building the model. I would recommend leaving at least two hours to do the report - it's only 5 pages but it takes time to get it right and is worth a lot of marks.
Personally, I thought the first day was pretty useful. I'd say that paying close attention to what the tutors/assessors say on the first day is one of the keys to passing the exam - they tell you pretty much exactly what they're looking for in terms of audit trails, documentation within the spreadsheet, etc. I think that what they tell you does go a fair way beyond what's in the notes. As Student1984 says, the other key to passing is to have a close look at the allocation of marks - more than you might think are allocated to the discussion of results and suggestions for other work in the final report. Better to leave time to do this than to polish your spreadsheet too much - it's OK for the spreadsheet to have errors (within reason), so long as you're aware of them and mention them somewhere.
