Training course reviews - Worksheet 1

C1 Advanced · Multiple Matching · Cambridge Exam Booster for Advanced, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read four reviews of training courses from a training company website. For questions 1–10, choose from the reviews (A-D). The reviews may be chosen more than once.

This was the first course I'd attended in a while, so I was a bit apprehensive as to whether I'd be able to keep up. There appeared to be others, though, who weren't as familiar with the topic as I was, which meant we spent more time than was intended on learning about the underlying principles, inevitably at the expense of putting what we'd learnt into effect. As a result, we ended up covering less ground than I'd hoped overall. I chose the 'Attend Online' option. If your company's budgets are not high, as was the case with me, not having to cost in travel and accommodation is a real help. From the perspective of viewing slides and keeping up with demonstrations via the virtual environment, it was pretty much as straightforward as registering for the training had been – everything was right there on the screen in front of me, rather than straining to see a whiteboard.

I must admit, I wasn't exactly filled with optimism when the course information arrived a couple of weeks beforehand. I'd been on so many courses where you spend so much time looking at the underpinning knowledge that you never actually get to see how it works in reality, and what they'd sent pointed to that being the case again. If I wanted that, I'd do a degree in the subject, not a training course! This feeling continued when I had a go at the exercises they'd asked us to do before the first session. I'm pleased to report, though, that all of the preconceptions I'd had about the course were wide of the mark, and several people at my company have applied for it too, after what I'd said about it. The instructor had a real knack of being able to explain some quite complex concepts in such an uncomplicated way and was really happy to talk to people individually after each session.

Prior to the first session, I was concerned that there wouldn't be sufficient opportunities for questions if I wasn't physically present in the training room. My intuition proved to be true, so I wouldn't do it this way again. That said, the instructor handled the mix of online and face-to-face clients as best he could, and the content was ideal for my line of work. The course had come recommended by my manager, and I appreciate him doing so, as I could apply pretty much everything we covered to my work, even some of the assignments they asked us to do in preparation. I've exchanged quite a few emails with our instructor since we finished, to clarify a few of the techniques he mentioned, which is above and beyond the call of duty, but he hasn't complained yet. I only wish fewer people had applied as there were too many for one single trainer to cope with, in my opinion.

What I've often found on training courses is that the promotional material is incredibly appealing, and it's made really simple to reserve a place and pay, but then what you study has little or nothing to do with what you actually signed up for. I'd advise anyone who's interested to give this course a go, though. The content was fascinating, and our course leader was able to answer all of the questions we threw at her, some of which were extremely complex. If training such as this is rushed, the participants can easily become confused. Conversely, if too much time is spent on the detail, everyone loses interest. This avoided falling into either of these traps. The tasks we did prior to the course commencing were spot on, but I wish I could say the same for some of the handouts we got during the session. A minor point on what was an otherwise excellent course.

Training course reviews

I've already recommended the course to several colleagues.

Being able to contact the trainer after the course has been extremely useful.

I thought that the pacing of the course was about right.

There was a bit too much theory and not enough practical work.

I would have preferred a face-to-face course.

I was grateful for having a choice of ways of attending the course.

Some of the materials didn't seem to be particularly relevant.

The pre-course tasks weren't especially useful.

I'm impressed by how knowledgeable the instructor was.

Booking a place on the course was remarkably easy.

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