Studying is draining.
Assignment writing is particularly draining.
I'm glad I don't generally work with a computer anymore. I had forgotten how it makes my eyes feel; like they've been pushed further into my head and a little out to the sides. I find myself squeezing the sides of my skull to get them back to normal.
Last assignment of the B3 course. I'll likely get the results for no. 2 and no. 3 at the same time now, which is weird. Gives me very little idea of how I'm going to do overall, and it is still bugging me, though of course I am very grateful that it is at least being remarked. Although rightly so. Still, it must be annoying for the tutor too. I hope they're both good enough to give me an incentive for the ECA. I'm undecided on my preference for ECAs or exams. Exams I think are marked less harshly due to their very nature, and of course there is little need for the tedium of referencing and that sort of thing. ECAs allow you to complete your very best work. However, I perform under pressure, and do not perform without it. I am always pulling all-nighters to get assignments in. So having 24 hours instead of 3 is not hugely different. Overall, my marks have been about 10% higher in exams than in my ECAs. However my TMA marks have been about 15% higher than my than my exam marks, and only about 5% higher than my ECA marks. I think in an exam, I can tell myself that it is just 3 hours of my life, and it will be over very soon, and I can celebrate and blah blah blah - I can get my head around it. But it doesn't work the same for time periods of 2 weeks or more. For me.
Anyway, assignment 2 is in the post, and assignment 3 is going to brave it through the computer system in a few days. I hope it makes it through intact this time.
I'd better get on with it really. Quick squeeze of the skull and I'm back on it...
Comments
New comment
Ha!! Not so fast!!
I just wrote on someone else's blog who had asked for tips on pulling all-nighters for writing assignments. It got me thinking about what I actually do as standard, or if indeed I do... and I do. I'm very routine based! I have set things that I have to have:
My actual strategy tends to be a combination of music, chocolate covered coffee beans, pepsi max, vodka, hot chocolate, water, ice lollies, facebook, tickets to something cool pinned above the laptop as incentive, and more recently tea, jelly and crabbies ginger beer. I also have to wear a study outfit. These are clothes that are comfortable, great in number, and wholly inappropriate to wear out in public. This offers three corresponding advantages: comfort, layers (maintaining body temperature on an all-nighter is a nightmare I find), and no inclination to go out for fear of being seen. Things that I have found to be greatly unhelpful include wine, whisky, TV, phone calls, google, other people, the cats sometimes and marshmallows.
It just goes to show. Show what? I don't know.
New comment
Ha! I love that styudy routine and have to say that I am terrible at letting things take my attention away from studying. Like right now for instance I should be studying but instead I am checking my blog and reading yours. Mad!
Well done on getting those assignments in, I hope it goes well for you.
As for ECA's vs Exams, I've done both with the OU so far and I much prefer ECA's mainly because I work myself into a pretty good panic at the simple thought of an exam, no idea why that seems so much more daunting that a ECA since they'll both determine the outcome of your course but they scare me.
Ok I'm really going to study now.
New comment
Cheers!!
I know, people tell me that if I spent as much time studying as I do avoiding studying then I could've completed my degree about 4 years ago.
I'm inclined to reply that if I had just gone straight to Uni after school I could have completed a degree 6 years ago. The downside would be I would have a degree in something that served me no purpose, and knowing me as I do, would probably have been a largely drink induced result, and not at all representativeof my abilities. In fact, the concept of 'what ifs' in general irritate me so much that it makes me want to stop this degree at 355 points, and never actually graduate. It is that kind of fool hardy hatred of conformity that leads me into all the ridiculous, unfortunate, embarrassing and wonderful situations that have made me who I am today.
Hmm, a lot of people panic about exams. The only bit I worry about is the finding my seat part. It terrifies me. The last exam I took I was lucky because there was a really nice woman on the course who I was able to sit with before we went in, and we sort of found our seats together. I usually have to spend the first 5 minutes of an exam waiting for my resting heart beat to return. That horror being completed, I settle very nicely into exams. The only thing I find annoying with OU exams is that they have to come round and check your ID during it rather than before. I find it hard to give my full attention until they've checked mine, and in the last one it took half an hour, so I lost quite a bit of valuable time. Otherwise, I find the knowledge that no one is going to attempt to interact with me for a set period of time wonderfully freeing!
Thanks for commenting... I love to read comments on here. It's still a bizarre concept to me, but it grows on me by the day!!