Academy
How Long Does It Take to Complete the Academy?Compared with the typical standards of today’s popular online education platforms, the PillingerWorks Online Trading Academy offers a considerably more detailed and comprehensive learning experience. We take our work seriously, and in this case, we have focused on the quality of knowledge transfer. That is why our curriculum is not built around a single, narrow trading strategy, nor does it promise an “easy way to get rich.” Throughout the course, you will not simply learn a handful of tricks. Instead, you will gradually learn to think like a trader. Our curriculum consists of more than 250 lessons and is structured so that even those who are still struggling with the basic terminology can get started. For this reason, some learners may find the first level a little tedious, as it focuses primarily on learning fundamental concepts. The upside is that you can progress through it quickly. The Beginner level takes a minimum of 15 minutes to complete! The Elementary level explores the topics in a little more detail, while still presenting them in small, easy-to-digest learning units. As a result, you can move through this level relatively quickly. It takes a minimum of 1 hour to complete. These introductory levels are essential for understanding the more advanced material covered in the Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert levels. The Intermediate level explores its subjects in considerably greater depth. Lessons include case studies, practical examples, and exercises. Depending on the topic, you may need anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes to work through and fully understand a lesson. This means the Intermediate level can take approximately 9–40 hours to complete! After completing the Intermediate level, you should be capable of opening trades in the financial markets and may even experience some early successes. However, you should not expect to achieve consistently positive results just yet! The Advanced level offers a genuinely rewarding learning experience, regardless of the learner’s starting point. The focus shifts towards professional analysis and systems-building thinking. The depth of the material, the connections between topics, the comparisons and parallels drawn, the development and interpretation of hypotheses, and the case studies and practical applications can make each lesson a real intellectual thrill for those who enjoy learning—or who are genuinely curious about the knowledge contained within the course. Completing this level may take anywhere from 9 to 60 hours, depending on your previous experience and personal commitment to learning. After successfully mastering the Advanced level, you will be able to read an entire story from just a few lines and a handful of coloured candlesticks. In other words, you will understand what has happened in the market so far and be able to develop well-founded ideas about what is most likely to happen in the near future. You will also be able to select a strategy that suits you, adapt it to your individual needs, and execute it appropriately in the markets. And then there is the Expert level. Professional Trader Training at the Systems Level. Honestly? We have put an enormous amount of work into this level! Anyone who completes it deserves to be called a perfectionist. They will understand the stock market better than 99% of retail traders, giving them the potential to achieve more consistent and greater success than the majority. We would also appreciate it if anyone who completes the Expert level would let us know. We are still collecting data, but we currently estimate that this level alone requires at least 10 hours. If we had to give you a single estimate for completing the entire Academy, we would say a minimum of 40 hours, but more realistically around 160 hours for learners starting from scratch with no prior knowledge.Using Bookmarks in the AcademyWould you like to return to a particular learning material because you find it especially important or interesting? Or perhaps you want to bookmark a piece of content to remind your future trader self of something important? Registered members can bookmark any learning material in seconds by clicking the pin icon below the content title. You can then find your bookmarked materials at any time at the bottom of the Academy homepage or under the My Learningmenu item. When a piece of content has been bookmarked, the button changes to its inverted state. This feature is particularly useful when you want to revisit and practise a topic, such as a trading strategy or a particular aspect of trading psychology.Notes Feature in the AcademyTaking notes is an integral part of the learning process. We experienced this firsthand during our own studies, which is why we considered it important to introduce an intuitive, easy-to-use note-taking feature in Academy, starting with version 0.4.2. This article provides a brief overview of how the feature works. Academy students can create notes alongside any learning material, starting from the Elementary level. Notes are saved automatically and linked to the learning material currently open, so you can find them in the same place the next time you visit. Once you have started writing a note for a learning material, you can return to it at any time to continue writing, edit, or delete it. If you have already created a note for a learning material, you can access it at any time by clicking the pencil icon. When a note exists, the icon—which is normally white—turns black. You can find all your notes collected in one place, organised in the same order as the learning materials, under the My Notes menu item.