OU Students Past, Present and Future

karmacookie wrote: »

I've just started D171 Intro to Counselling. did you do it first? What do you think of Fear and Sadness?

The first part of D171 is quite heavy going IMO very theory based but quite interesting, i'm starting to prepare my first TMA. The next block looks a bit more user friendly!

Good luck with your studies x

Hi there, no i didnt do that 1st, i started on this course, which they did advise against. Im finding it ok so far, though its only the 2nd week. week 1 was just thinking about your own experiences and reflecting on that, this week is more about the hisory of diagnosis of mental health. Im finding it okay but have a feeling i may come to some struggles further down the line! Good luck with your course

cazziebo wrote: »

and it wasn't. Told today they will not mark due to late submission. :mad: I know it's my own fault. I did have a scratched cornea for the four weeks prior to the submission date so sent a medical certificate but still no go. I've been studying with the OU for 10 years and gone through redundancy, painful and prolonged terminal illness of a parent, daughter's meningitis and the worst of all - teenage years of two girls :eek:. None of which meant I was late with anything. 2 days late with an ECA and I miss out on a whole qualification, not even sure if I can resit. (£3k - NOT retaking the whole course!)

if there was something close I could throw, I'd be throwing it! Guys - get your work in on time!

Can you not appeal, maybe a strong worded letter, and back up (although u have sent them a medical certificate), re speak to gp, all this stress isn't doing ur health any good.


I would put everything u can think of in the letter, I know its not nice for you haveing to drag the past up but it may be the "straw that breaks the camels back"

Is there any other way, maybe sounds extreme but write to your MP for assistance,

If the worst comes to the worst, as the ECA would have a 0 it means you will have to do the course again. (sorry)xx

Do all courses have an exam at the end?

Pinkphoenix wrote: »

Hi,

I've just registered for L120 next Feb! I know it might not be the best idea (full-time job, busting last bit of debt and want to save for a family) but I've wanted to do this for soooooooooooo long.

I was just wondering if anyone could help me? How long does it take from signing the initial forms to having your registration pack?

Also, how do people manage with full-time jobs? At the moment we don't have any chn, but I hope this will change in a couple of years and just wondered if this is course(I hope to get a degree!) will be feasible?

Thanks

Pink x

Hi Pink

Good luck and welcome to the world of the mature student!!

Without sounding daft its like how longs a piece of string, with the course not starting to Feb next yr the registration will be left open for quite a while, think mine took a couple of weeks, got finanicial assistance, but my place was on hold to mid May, so I had to ring them to explain that was having probs getting the documents, and they were great, they extended the as I call it "that seat for my bum".

Your be fine, its just getting into the habit of studying, but I would say with the debt busting -you've had to put time and effort into that, then studying will be easy.

Not sure how many points ur course is, but as a general rule of thumb a 30 point course they estimate 8 to 10hrs a week, a 60 point course about 16 hrs. I will be honest and say that each week differs, some weeks your fly through your allocated week and others take longer.

I tend to leave my books etc downstairs as I can then pick up and study as and when, admitaddily I am a stay at home mum, do ad-hoc mystery shopping, so I do have more freedom.

But once you've got your 1st course on route, your be searching for the next course, the idea of the Open Uni - to me is an as and when, I always try to get 2 to 3 weeks ahead incase anything goes wrong, but at one part of my last course I was 5 weeks behind, had some personal issues and couldn't motivate myself, but I am glad to say I passed it, exam and all.

Good luck.

Yes - it can be done with children, just see Penguin83, shes working full time, and studying law. I did Level 1 law and brushed the level 2 to the side!!

xx

Pinkphoenix wrote: »

Hi,

Also, how do people manage with full-time jobs? At the moment we don't have any chn, but I hope this will change in a couple of years and just wondered if this is course(I hope to get a degree!) will be feasible?

Thanks

Pink x

It is completely feasible but I'm afraid you will feel like it isn't at several points along the way You just have to push on through those bits as best you can. I'm currently doing the Modern Languages degree (Spanish and German although I did have a go at the L120 as I did the first year of French at Uni) and the best advice I can give you is to learn to use your down-time to the best of your advantage. CDs in the car, pocket-sized grammar books that never leave your handbag and an MP3 player with either course audio or podcasts easily found online. That way even if your proper textbook hours are eaten into by real life you are still making progress.

Also the language course forums are SO helpful. There are hundreds of people that are in the same (and worse) positions than you and they are usually all helping each other out with revision mindmaps and planning online conversation practice over Skype or Lyceum/Eluminate. The language courses are the most fun i've done with the OU.

Good luck!