Student Testimonials

Satomi Katsuta

Hello, my name is Satomi. I am 20 years old. I came to New Zealand two years ago after I graduated from high school in Japan. I completed the University of Auckland Certificate in Foundation Studies at ACG.

Before that, I studied at another language school for 1 year, because my English was awful. I could not speak English fluently and clearly. During that time, I found my dream to go to university in New Zealand. I wanted to try my best and improve my English and other skills. At the time, my teacher recommended ACG. He said, "ACG is quite famous, because the quality of education is high. If you really want to study hard and go to the university, just go!". At first, I felt really nervous, because I did not have any confidence in my English. However, I had to go otherwise my dream would not come true. Therefore, I pushed myself and decided to be an ACG student.

In the first month at ACG, I found two main differences between ACG and the school where I had studied before.

First of all, ACG teachers were working as hard as the students. The class time is 85 minute per period. I thought that it was really long and that I would fall asleep. However, when the classes began, teachers and students became one and concentrated. As a result, I sometimes felt that the classes were short, because they were interesting. The teachers made the classes interesting even when the subject was difficult.

Secondly, all the teachers were really helpful. When I was terribly distressed by the failure of an examination, they did not just say' "work hard''. They told me what I should do in great detail. Furthermore, they always said that they were our parents in New Zealand. I was really impressed when they said that to us in class.

Also, I found many good friends at ACG. There were many students who had the same dream of going to university in NZ, so they were all hard workers. If someone could not understand, we shared our ideas and taught each other every day, even on the weekend.

When I felt happy or disappointed, they always stayed with me and helped me. Finally, we got our offers of place from the university, and I remember that we were all very happy.

If I had not made the decision to study at ACG, I would not have gained a great feeling and confidence. I want to praise myself and I am deeply grateful to ACG.

If you are worried about studying overseas or do not have confidence, don't worry. At first, everyone feels nervous or scared. This is a good sign to grow up, so just go ahead! 

I hope you can find your way and come to New Zealand to study.

Good luck to you!

Satomi

Kevin Sun

My name is Kevin. I was a University of Auckland Foundation fast-track student in October 2010. Now I'm majoring Finance and Management in University of Auckland having started my degree in July 2011.

I really would love to say that studying the UoA Foundation course at ACG was one of my most correct decisions in life.

Through studying the Foundation course, my University studies were much easier. I found that about 90% of what I was taught in a number of papers at UoA in my first year studying was covered in the Foundation course. This was certainly the case in Economics, Accounting, and Statistics. This meant I had less study pressure in my first semester, so I have enjoyed my University life a lot more.

Moreover, the thing I most enjoyed studying at ACG was the studying environment and studying system. We studied in small classes. This gives much more focus on studying and it is easier to make friends compared with 500 people in a lecture at University. As well, our class style is just like University; different subjects taken in different classrooms with different classmates, therefore we can get used to University style before we go to University. Furthermore, we had lots of activities during the studying time, which made the school life more colorful – activities such as basketball competitions, video making and so on.

One more thing, I really have to say is that teachers at ACG are great. They are very kind and helpful. They just like friends and you can talk to them about everything. This also makes the studying environment very easy and relaxed.

I really appreciate that ACG offers so wonderful a place for us to study. 
I wish all the students in ACG will realise their dream as soon as possible.