In this testimonial, the speaker reflects on their experience with the AYCI Academy’s interview and exam preparation program. They contrast it with previous short‑term, expensive courses that offered little ongoing help, describing how AYCI provided continuous support through a responsive community, personal coaching (e.g., Becky), and a structured process. Key components of the program included a milestone‑based timeline, short, repeated practice sessions, the "5 golden examples" framework, unique selling points (USPs), and a voice‑control module that helped calm nerves. By applying these tools, the speaker managed panic during a live interview, improved eye contact, and delivered confident answers that highlighted transferable skills rather than specialty‑specific knowledge. The speaker emphasizes that the program’s manageable, bite‑size practice routine builds muscle memory, and that trusting the process—regardless of how far away the exam is—leads to success. Overall, the testimonial conveys deep gratitude for the Academy’s supportive network and practical methodology.
Chapters
having been on, like, other courses for exam prep, etc., the one thing that has always sort of— I struggled with was, well, what if you have questions? What if you don't really understand something? Who do you go to and ask for help? The other courses, you know, they're only a couple of days here or there, they're really expensive. And when my friend told me about AYCI, I I looked it up and just thinking, like, can't be that great. And looked at it and was like, oh, wow, okay, actually, this is— it's not just a turn up for a couple of days, it's like a process, it's support, it's a network, it's community. You know, I've spoken to other people on other courses who've done other courses, and they've just said you just will not get the same level of support that you need to help you, you You know, when I was spiraling, just being able to pop a message on and say, oh my God, I don't know what I'm doing, and then someone, Becky or yourself, just replying and being like, it's okay, this is, you know, it's okay, this is what's gonna happen. You're gonna be fine. Yeah. I've done loads of practice with friends and with people I've met on the Academy, and then when I realized, like, actually this is it, like, these are the last 4 days, was picking and choosing the bits that really stuck with me previously and to kind of just reinforce knowledge, structure, and actually timing. And then on the night before, I rewatched back, um, uh, the session on, um, voice control, and actually it really calmed me down. And it just— I was just like, okay, this is it. Like, this bit tonight, I just need to focus on getting me across, making sure that I'm portraying the best version of myself. And in the interview, I started panicking when I was doing my presentation, and I just had her and you guys in my head being like, you've got this, it's going to be okay, just pause, it's okay to stop, take a deep breath, and just then just keep going. And I did that a few times until I could feel my heart rate coming down, could then start making better eye contact with the panel who were all there looking at me going like, go on, you can do it. And, um, and then at the end of it, just feeling like Okay, actually, you know what, it would have been nice not to have felt that way, but actually I took control of the situation. And then I sat down and was ready to, like, move on and think, this is, this is mine. I've got this. They want me to do well. I can do this. Compared to my first interview where there were questions that I wasn't quite expecting, a lot of these felt, um, They're like safe questions. They felt quite broad. Yeah. I think probably before I was overthinking what they were asking, but actually just taking a step back, using my 5 golden examples and my USPs to think, okay, well, hang on a second. What will really fit best with actually this really broad question? And that's going to showcase what I've done and what I can do. So, having actually been through that process of really thinking about what you're trying to present about yourself just meant that actually I could manipulate my answers a little bit so that when they ask something and I, you know, it's like, oh, I probably don't have the best example of that, but I know what I can demonstrate, what they want from other examples. So it wasn't always necessarily specialty-specific, but it was definitely transferable skills that, you know, were completely adaptable. And you could see that actually they responded well to that because it wasn't really about what I did, it was about or the situation. It was really about how I delivered it and sort of that high-level thinking that I hadn't really thought about until I'd gone through the Academy and thought, oh, that's why I did these things. That's why this is necessary. Just trusting in the process, trusting that actually doing the basics that you lay out in your milestones is so important. And it doesn't matter if you're a year away or 7 weeks away, it can all be done within that timeframe. It's very manageable. And It just provided me a structure of like, it's not about sitting down and doing mammoth hours at the computer. It's about sort of doing a 10-minute reading here and then a practice and practice more and then practice more so that you don't like jumble up on your words and you have a vague idea and you're creating that muscle memory in your brain of this is how you answer a question. And so just trust in the process because like for me, the Academy was just phenomenal and So supportive, and I can't thank you enough.
