Well, i have been thinking about this long and hard.
None of the OU masters programs would suit my degree study.
I live on the South Coast in Hampshire.
The University of Winchester does a part time (2 years) masters degree in Modern Liberal Arts.... it is tempting, another 10k in student loans, but i would be 56 when i finished it, so l would never pay back the full loan.
I am definitely thinking about doubling down and applying for it, in a couple of years, when i get this degree finished
Well i am trying to apply for my part time loan, honestly i am.
It would appear that student finance Hades.. sorry, England are having a bit of a mare with their website....
Who would have thought getting myself further in debt would be so hard...
This must be a post exam blues..
So, with the access module, i have been at this studying game for 4 and a half years...
Two years to go...
I probably didn't give much thought to the scale of commitment when i started... but for crying out loud... six and a half years... what a grind.
The long wait for the exam result begins, which made me wonder...
If you could just slip the exam marker 100 quid and say... here mark mine now please.
....would you?
If you can have buyers remorse, can you also have post exam remorse...
The feeling you get when after the exam, you remember all the little things you forgot to mention in your exam answers....
That is me today... reflecting on how i could have squeezed more marks out if i had mentioned certain things.... oh well it is done now, it is what it is....
Well that's it. The very last exam, my next 2 modules, which are also my final two, are scored off of a dissertation.
So no more exams for me. Happy days.
I think today's exam went well for me, hopefully all of you did well.
Study England opened for part time loans today as well, i will probably do my application next week, after 9 months of economics, i have earned a weeks sitting down time...
I will be glad to be shot of economics.
Such a dry course.
So much rereading to check understanding.
It has been a dull module.
What did Dory from finding Nemo say...
Oh thats it.
Just keep revising, just keep revising.
This economics exam will be my last exam.
Essays all the way home after Tuesday.
Lets get this last exam done and dusted.
Gosh
90,000 views.
That's a lot of views.
Thank you everyone.
What can i do that would be 'special' if i get to 100,000?
When is the best time to study?
I start work at 7am each morning.
That means i get up at 5am.
I am washed, dressed, fed and lunch packed by 6am.
I then have 45 minutes to study before leaving for work at 6.45am.
The house is quiet, everyone else gets up at 6.45am, they don't start till 9am.
So sitting here quietly with a cat, purring away, i often get loads of revision done in those quiet 45 minutes from 6am to 6.45am.
Does anyone else enjoy an early bird morning study session?
If you have read much of my blog, then you will know that i am a massive fan of formula 1.
So it is a very sad day when a legend of the sport passes away, Nikki Lauda was incomparable in many ways, and his death today is sad news.
R.I.P champion.
Just a little note to reflect on what a grind study has become.
The exam in June will mean the 4 and a half year mark of study with the OU, it will also mark 2 years remaining until the bitter end.
I do recall, and my first blog posts reflect it, being all keen and excited at the beginning.
Then it started to drag by year 3, towards the middle of year 3 it became a grind, i have ground out the next 18 months to get here...
Have any of you hit a slump, or have you managed to remain motivated?
I may have mentioned before that studying has just become a habit for me now, i do not recognise much enjoyment in it anymore.
Is that quite a common feeling for anyone else?
As well as my study partner quitting, many other people who started on the P.P.E pathway in 2015 have quit or switched courses. As far as i can tell only me and my other study partner, Stephen, remain.
Since we all sit in rows, by subject, in the exam, it will be interesting to see how many P.P.E students remain in the row at the next exam in a couple of weeks, i have a feeling we have become very thin in the ground.
I do hope that DD316 next year is a good module that will bring back a bit of the spark in interest for me again.
Not long left now before the DD209 economics exam.
It will be my last exam
All the level 3 modules on my pathway require an final 3000 word essay.
My pathway also only had one level 1 module in it.
So i have had 3 exams in a row, and am approaching my 4th and final one.
It will be nice to have finished with exams.
Well that's a shame.
One of my study group, who has been a friend for years and who started the OU at the same time as me, has jacked the OU in
He does have another course and placement to go too, which is great, but sad because it is the end of our OU journey together
I think the last two modules, which i have moaned about plenty on here, have taken there toll on quite a few people on the Politics, Philosophy and Economics pathway.
So i will be plowwing on minus a good friend and good study partner.
Thank you to everyone who commented on my moany/ quitting/ why bother post from March....
I have not bothered to blog since then, such was the depth of my disenchantment.
Just stuck to the study planner, kept my head down and got the course materials completed.
Completed they are now, all TMA's submitted and marked, just the exam to do....
Made a decision for next year, after being so frustrated/ bored/ wound up/ pissed off by the last two years, I decided I may as well plough on, after all,
I am in for a penny, so why not be in for a pound?
Although my student loan balance statement came through this week, so it is more like...
In for £11,000, so why not be in for £18,000.....
Heart stopping isn't it... £ 18,000.....
I have decide to do DD316 for my next module, it is a brand new course, came out this year, and it's set book is George Orwell's 1984.
I thought that after hating philosophy and economics so much, I would do Politics next year as I have enjoyed all my politics modules.
That leaves me with Hobson's choice for my final year, Philosophy or Economics?
At the moment I think I would find a final year of Philosophy tolerable, Economics not so.
That decision is still ongoing, T+C's apply, actual decision may not match promotional material, may not be available in you area, model shown is a May 2018 model.
We will see,
I am still ahead of the study planner but i am stuck in a funk.
All my motivation for my course has drained away.
Been thinking alot lately if it is worth carrying on with my degree.
I am 52, so it is hard to see how gaining a non vocational degree with help my job prospects.
If i graduate i will be 54 years old. I don't think it is going to really help my career that much, and i am already 12k in student debt, rising to 18k if i complete the course.
I really have not enjoyed this module or the previous one, i feel like i am just grinding on because it's become habit, more habit than enjoying learning.
I really don't know what the best thing to do is.
What to do...
Is it really that much of an achievement to gain a degree? Employers are know to not have as much respect for an open university degree as one's from bricks and mortar uni's... couple that with my age when i graduate and i often feel like i am engaged in a pointless exercise.
I have managed to get one week ahead of the study planner, which is good news and extra revision time... the exam is only 16 weeks away now.
So i got 81% for tma 3.
That is my best score, so far this module.
Happy days
Well, my view counter hit 70,000. Which is fantastic.
Thank you everyone.
Well Tma 3 is done.
Thats 57% of the module done.
So i have turned the corner and have moved onto book 2. So macro economics are behind me, now onto micro economics.
It's all downhill from here.
Not many posts from me this week.
I have been busy writing my tma 03.
Tma 03 requires a post on the tutor group forum about an MPC decision, and requires my reply to another post plus a self reflection to score marks.
I put my post up 2 weeks ago, and responded to another post, to give everyone time to respond and get their own self reflections set up.
So far only 3 of us have bothered to do this, leaving another 12 students who think it is okay to leave it till the day the tma is due in, to post a comment, reply to a comment and write a shelf reflection about the comments on the forum.
That is bad form.
What is the magic formula.
6 months ago, after 3 years of blog posting, I had amassed 33,000 views.
Across the next six months it has doubled to 67,000 views.
I find it interesting, what is the critical mass required to suddenly kick start the increase in attention.
If I am being honest, I made less blog posts in the last 6 months than the 6 months before it, but the number of views has doubled despite fewer posts. That is very counter intuitive.
Do any of my fellow blog posters have a theory on when you reach the moment of critical mass with followers and views?
On another topic....
Well done to the OU for achieving it's 50th anniversary. We can only hope that despite falling student numbers, controversy over fee's, Brexit (everything gets blamed on Brexit), emergency vice chancellors and the Daily Mail's constant criticism, that the O.U survives to it's 75th Anniversary.
Hi every one,
no blog posts from me for one month, January is social media break time in our house.
All five of us took a 30 day break from the social media throughout January. January is often the hardest month of peoples mental health, so getting through that is supported by staying away from the social media mire as well.
So I am back now, I am continuing to leave Facebook alone, I have a ration of 1 hour a month going forward, as time to spend on the facebook. I think I will do my one hour in a single hit, I might even let myself post a picture on my time line.
Study is drudging along, it is now Tma 3 time, so the inflation targeting model, the Phillips curve, the virtual Phillips curve and Bank of England MPC decisions. The biggest consideration is really how inflation and the monetary measures to control it will create a negative output gap. A negative output gap is a trite phrase... given a formula (Ye-Y1). Left of the Virtual Phillips Curve (VPC) reduces inflation. Such a simple little phrase, Negative Output Gap... what it really means to most people is unemployment, struggling to pay bills, debt, harm to mental health and heartache. But that is not as catchy as negative Output Gap, so economists stick to N.O.G.
So the Virtual Phillips Curve, is a thing to aspire to. Hit it and you should have full employment, 2% inflation and savings and investments in parity. Fall short of it and you have a falling rate of inflation, unemployment and a shrinking economy. Go over it and you will trigger an inflationary cycle, which unchecked will lead to hyper inflation. Which will lead to economic collapse unemployment, heart ache and suffering.
So unemployment occurs either side of the VPC, got to get the MPC decisions right, to hit the VPC.
Which brings me to wonder, in any financial cycle, how many economist's are unemployed?
anyway, whilst I was away the counter hit 67,000 views, which is amazing. thank you to everyone who takes the time to visit me blog.
So i have kept going through the Christmas break.
I am now 2 weeks ahead of the study planner. Which is handy, time in hand is always useful.
Did anyone else keep going, or did you take a break,?
i will not be around tomorrow, so I want to take the opportunity today, to wish all my OU cohorts a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.
hopefully 2019 will bring us all good grades and light at the end of our degree pathway tunnels.
It looks like my blog views will pass 60,000 by tomorrow, so thank you to everyone for that, I think 60,000 is an excellent achievement and I thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog.
I will be using the Christmas break to try and get ahead of the study planner, I usually do and in previous year it has given me some much needed breathing room leading up to the last section of the course.
So thank you for 2018 everyone and I will see you all in the new year,
Have a cool yule you all...
It's my birthday today, my 52nd birthday.
I am so old.....
Looks like the views counter might hit 60,000 by Christmas day, that's a lovely birthday/christmas pressie.
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