Lessons and checks

Reading a lesson

Open a course from My courses and pick a module. The lessons are numbered; do them in order, because each one builds on the last. Each lesson is split into steps, one idea at a time: the list of steps sits on the left (under Contents on a phone), and Back and Next move between them. The Academy remembers which step you were on. If you would rather read the whole lesson as one page, press Read it all on one page. At the foot of every lesson are buttons to the lesson before and the lesson after.

Trying things as you go

Most steps have something to do, not just read:

• Quick checks are one-question checks marked in your browser as you go. They are for you: they are never scored and never count towards anything.
• Think first folds hide an answer until you press them; Want the detail? folds hold the longer explanation for anyone who wants it (the full text is in your course pack too); flip cards show a term on the front and its meaning on the back.

Your notes

Press Notes in the bar under the lesson to open your notebook beside the text (on a phone it rises from the foot of the screen; Close puts it away). A note written there is stamped with the step you are on, and pressing that step's name later opens the lesson at that step. Some steps have a Your note card with a question to write against, and what you type in a Try it card's box is a note too; all of it is saved to your account as you type. The Notes tab at the top gathers every note from every lesson, with a search box. Your notes are printed in each course pack and, from Downloads, as one PDF of their own.

Time spent

Each lesson has a suggested time, and the Time spent counter at the top shows how long you have been on it, counting only while the tab is in front and you are doing something (reading, scrolling, typing). It is a guide to how long the lesson usually takes, not a limit: nothing happens when you pass it, and there is nothing to start or stop.

The time you spend on each lesson is recorded, only while the tab is in front and you are active, so the course can be improved: a lesson that takes everyone twice as long as it says is a lesson to rewrite. Your tutor can see it.

The check at the end

Most lessons end with Check your understanding: between five and eight questions. Some are multiple choice (pick one answer); some ask for a number (type it in; units and commas do not matter, so £1,250 and 1250 are the same answer).

1. Answer every question.
2. Press Check my answers.
3. Every question is marked Right or Wrong straight away, with a line or two explaining the answer, whatever you chose.
4. If you have not reached the pass mark, read the explanations, change your answers and press Check again. There is no limit on tries, and no waiting.

Your best score is kept, so a worse try later never undoes a pass. Once you pass, the lesson shows Completed and the course page ticks it off.

Why this matters

The course's exam only opens when every module is passed, and the checks cover the things the exam asks about. If a check takes several tries, that is the lesson telling you which part to read again.