Student blogger Carrie Walton on surviving a manic month - two meetings at OU HQ, two TMAs and one exam. Phew!
Student blogger Carrie Walton on surviving a manic month - two meetings at OU HQ, two TMAs and one exam. Phew!
And here we reach the end of the 10th month of the 10th year of the 21st century and the second millennium. THANK GOD! October has just been absolutely crackers busy for me and I’m absolutely not sorry to see it disappear into the annals of my history. I’ve been dreading it coming since the summer as I knew I had such a busy time with my final TMA being due, three weeks later was my final exam, four days after that my first TMA for the next module was due in and amongst all that I had two committee meetings which involved a 500-mile round trip each time and was asked to start blogging for Platform. How on earth would I manage it all?! Here’s a chronological account of the last six weeks of my life:
Saturday 18th September
Went to see my absolute favourite band play in Newcastle, FANtastic night, got home and immediately booked tickets to see them in Manchester in November. Will worry about hotels and money and all that jazz later. T minus 28 days (plenty of time yet, no need to panic).
Tuesday 21st September
Round at bro and sis’s house as it’s my ma’s birthday and ma and da’s anniversary tomorrow. T minus 24 days (still plenty of time, besides, still working on TMA06, can’t think about exam yet!).
Thursday 23rd September
Emailed tutor to ask for a minor extension to final TMA so that I can work on it Friday evening (due Friday lunch time thanks to stupid new TMA cut-off deadlines!). Tutor said no extensions can be granted on final TMAs. I cry. I wipe away tears. I work my socks off, manage to get TMA submitted, sleep like a baby. T minus 22 days (gimme a break, I’ve only just finished my TMA!).
Saturday 2nd October
Decide I need some exercise so go for a big jaunt in the Cheviots with Gordo then straight round to friend’s house for Strictly Come Dancing launch party. I say party, I mean lasagne and ice-cream with a bunch of girls; good times. Next module, DD305, officially starts today, can’t even contemplate it until AA308 is finished. T minus 13 days (I’ve at least STARTED revision but don’t seem to be getting very far).
Wednesday 6th October
Half day off work, travel down to Milton Keynes ready to start my position as Central Rep and attend the Social Science Faculty Committee meeting at OU HQ (Walton Hall) tomorrow. Don’t arrive in MK until late and five-hour drive has worn me out. By the time I’ve re-read my committee papers and found somewhere to eat (Asda, cold quiche) I don’t get time to do any studying (read: also got distracted by The Apprentice). T minus nine days (oh crap, it’s getting really close now isn’t it!)
Thursday 7th October
Attend SocSci meeting at OU HQ in Milton Keynes, which I find genuinely interesting, meet up with the Platform team, wander round campus a bit then head home. Decide to surprise Gordo by picking him up from his mountain bike ride with the boys, wait for him in the wrong car park and nearly get stranded in the woods and eaten by wolves. Get home at 10.30pm, flake out 30 mins later with a belly full of chips. T minus eight days (too tired to panic, I’ll do it tomorrow).
Tuesday 12th October
Half day off work again, travel down to Milton Keynes again for another meeting, as a Central Rep this time for the Senate Reference Group. Managed to get down a bit earlier but still didn’t manage to get any more studying done. Resign myself to the fact that I’m never going to be prepared for this exam. T minus three days (have practically given up hope by this point and am figuring out a way to tell Gordo I’ve wasted £600 by failing this module).
Wednesday 13th October
SRG meeting at Walton Hall, again really interesting and great to meet more of the people behind OUSA. Get home earlier than I did last week but still too knackered to do any studying. T minus two days (still have an entire 200 page book to revise, all hope is gone).
Friday 15th October
Judgement day. Exam at 2.30pm, spend all morning frantically revising, get into exam, turn paper over, realise my three favourite subjects are available (robots, zombies, Humpty Dumpty) and smile with glee. Come out of exam fairly confident I’ve not done too badly. Plan to forget about studies and revel in freedom but DD305’s first TMA is now due in five days and immediately begins preying on my mind. Get a celebratory takeaway for tea. New T minus five days (can’t I have ONE night off from it all, please?!)
Saturday 16th October
Start reading module material for DD305 and realise there’s actually a lot more to read than I realised, spend my usual study-Saturday bumbling about the books doing mental summersaults about how much work I still have to do and yet somehow don’t actually do any. T minus four days (four days. Ugh.)
Monday 18th October
Begin work on TMA, try to reassure myself that it’ll be easy since the 1,800 words are split into three sections. It didn’t work. Instead I worry about how little I’ve managed to write today. T minus two days.
Tuesday 19th October
Somehow, against all odds, manage to get TMA finished and submitted tonight, 16 hours before deadline. The determination to NOT fall behind so soon into the module paid off and I get a confident TMA submitted, bringing an end to what has been an emotionally brain-frazzling six weeks.
This is not an unusual illustration of life as an Open Uni student. Such is the battle of trying to fit studies in around work life/social life/family life. At times though it feels like the polar opposite; it feels as if you’re trying to fit your life in around studies and you know what, if you’re dedicated enough you understand that the best thing to do is just suck it up for the short period it lasts – after all, it’s all for the greater good.
Comments
Ha, I love the photo the Platform team have attached to this entry, when I was down at Milton Keynes for the first of my Central Rep meetings I did actually fall alseep on my papers like that. True story.
edit: I fell asleep at the Travelodge... Not IN the meeting... Just to clarify
Brilliant! That must have been dead uncomfy.
My mother used to say I could fall asleep on a clothesline and it's true. Gordo will vouch for that too, not only could I fall asleep on a clothesline, I could sleep through an earthquake too.
I'm a 9 hours a night girl without fail.
Sorry to say this, but you misery actually made me happy that I am not the only one who ends up battling against the clock!
Such is the life of an OU student. We love it really
Caz,
The first thing I do when studying a course is 1) Read the TMA. The second thing I do is 2) ( Seriously attemp to ) make the TMA. Which always fails but I have succeeded by incepting ( the new word for implanting I suppose ) numerous questions into my subconscious which will do their work when I am studying and hopefully when I am dreaming.
Nilo de Roock - Mathematics Diary
P.S
Whoever invented this style of starting each word with an uppercase letter is either German or out his mind or both. Try to do this anywhere else and you have a major problem as webdesigner. Instead he/she does it for the OU which should set the standard in many ways. Would have commented more but I don't like the editor either. Sorry. )
Hi Nilo de Roook. Thanks for commenting on Caz's post. And rest assured, we know Platform isn't perfect and we're working on it, with changes due at the end of this month. As I'm sure you know, technology is great when it works but the Platform team is working hard behind the scenes to deliver something a little more whizzy and accessible. Watch this space!
Robyn (member of the Platform team)