Katie studied IGCSE Spanish with NEC and achieved a top grade of 9. Katie is a mature student and pursued her studies for the pure pleasure of it. As a keen traveller, she now feels more confident to use her language skills on holiday in Spain.

Katie is a mature student from London. Katie and her family go on holiday to Spain quite often, appreciating the sun, culture and food. Katie’s favourite part of Spain is Mallorca but she is looking forward to exploring other parts of the country when it is possible to do so. She was inspired to learn Spanish by her love of the country and wanted to immerse herself deeper into the culture than the average tourist is able to. 

“We holiday frequently in Spain and I didn’t want to be a typical tourist, speaking English abroad – just louder and slower!”

She had been learning Spanish casually for a few years, using online resources. However, Katie, like many people, found that her motivation started to wane because there was nothing to make her push herself. Katie decided that a GCSE exam might be just the goal she needed to maintain her progress. The structure and deadlines of a GCSE course would mean that Katie could follow a set curriculum and be guided to learn interesting and important parts of Spanish.

“I had been learning Spanish for a number of years but had definitely plateaued. I felt I needed the challenge of taking an exam to force me out of my comfort zone!” 

This was Katie’s first experience with distance learning so she wanted to be sure the course was comprehensive and engaging. Having done her research, Katie settled upon studying for her GCSE with NEC because our reputation was very strong. Katie felt confident that NEC would help her enjoy the learning process, as she was never in it for the qualification at the end. Katie particularly enjoyed the fact that NEC provides assignment marking and feedback. Gladys, Katie’s tutor, was always ready to help and offer guidance to Katie.

“I liked my relationship with my tutor, Gladys. She was always helpful and gave comprehensive and constructive feedback.”

Katie performed consistently well in her assignments throughout the course and was awarded the top grade of 9 as her Centre Assessment Grade. While she was never purely driven by the end result, it is certainly an impressive culmination of months’ of hard work and commitment. Katie is currently embarking on a new business venture with her friends so she really appreciated the flexibility of online distance learning. 

“My experience with NEC was overall a positive one that I would not hesitate to recommend. NEC provided me with the accountability to move me on to the next level of my Spanish learning journey – a bit like a personal trainer!”

Katie is planning to enjoy her new-found confidence in Spanish and is currently quarantining after a holiday to Spain in August to celebrate. Felicidades to Katie on her brilliant result!