Level 2, eight Tuesday evenings
Your shop runs WSET Level 2 over eight Tuesday evenings, with the exam on the last night. Sixteen places, sold through the website and over the counter. A few students are sent by local restaurants and hotels, who want an invoice rather than a card payment. Two have asked to sit the exam at a later date. One needs the exam paper in a larger font.
The study packs need to reach students well before the first evening. The educator wants to know who is coming each week so he can plan the tasting wines. And after the exam, someone has to send each student their result and, for the trade students, let their employer know. It is all in the course organiser's inbox and a spreadsheet with too many columns.
A course is a term, not an evening
A tasting is a single evening. A course runs for weeks, has an exam at the end, involves materials that must be posted or handed over in advance, and has an awarding body's rules around it. Most booking tools treat it as a ticket, so everything after the booking happens by hand.
- Bookings from the website, the counter and employers arrive in different forms.
- Study packs are posted or collected, and nobody is sure who has theirs.
- Attendance is taken on paper, if at all.
- Students deferring the exam, or needing adjustments, are noted in emails.
- Exam entry details are copied out by hand for submission.
- Results and certificates are passed on one by one.
What a hand-run course costs
The organiser's time, every week of every course. Students who start without their study pack. Tasting wines bought for sixteen when eleven turn up. Exam entries with a misspelled name, which then appears on a certificate. Trade customers who send staff on your courses and never hear how they did, which is a missed chance to show them you are good to deal with.
Courses are also a strong reason for customers to choose your shop. Students who have a smooth course tend to come back for the next level and buy wine along the way.
The course record we build
- Each course is set up with its level, dates, venue, capacity, price, educator and exam date.
- Bookings from the website, the counter and employers all create a student record against the course, with employer bookings producing an invoice through your accounts package instead of a card payment.
- Students confirm their name exactly as it should appear for the exam, and tell you about any exam arrangements they need, in the booking form.
- Study packs are marked as posted or collected, and students without one a set time before the first session are listed.
- The educator takes attendance each week on a tablet, and sees expected numbers for the next session to plan the wines.
- Deferrals move a student's exam to a later sitting while keeping their course history.
- Exam entry details are exported in a tidy list for your submission, and results are recorded against each student when they arrive.
- Students receive their result, and employers who paid receive a short note, in wording you approve.
| Stage | Before | With a course record |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | Website, counter and employer emails | One student record per booking |
| Study pack | Posted, not tracked | Marked sent or collected |
| Attendance | Paper or memory | Taken on a tablet each week |
| Exam entry | Copied out by hand | Exported from confirmed details |
| Results | Emailed one by one | Recorded and sent to student and employer |
The rules for running courses and exams come from WSET and your status as a course provider. We do not change them; the record just makes sure your side of the admin is done carefully.
A course that runs itself between Tuesdays
On a normal Monday before week three, the organiser opens the course and sees fourteen students attended week two, one pack still has not been collected, and one student has asked to defer. She sends the educator the expected number for Tuesday, moves the deferral to the spring sitting, and texts the student about the pack. The exam list is already built from the names students confirmed when they booked.
When the results come in, every student and every paying employer hears within a day, and students who passed are invited to the next level with a link to book.
Signs your courses need this
- Course bookings arrive through several routes and live in a spreadsheet.
- You are not sure every student has their study pack.
- The educator guesses numbers for each session.
- Exam entry details are typed out by hand.
- Employers who pay for staff never hear the outcome.