The (not so old) Crocks Cafe

debbiedeboo

Serenity, did you see my GlamSticks on the red carpet at the soap awards with Kelly Marie Stewart? I am so excited about it!! I can't post a link but you can google Kelly Marie Stewart, soap awards and 2010 and you'll see the pics. Also on my FB fan page! I had to stay up two nights making them as it was such short notice!! Worth it though, she looked stunning :j

serenity79

I did! They looked amazing! (although I posted under my real life name over there )

She looked absolutely beautiful with them... and if I may be so bold, your sticks were FAR nicer than her dress

debbiedeboo

serenity79 wrote: »

I did! They looked amazing! (although I posted under my real life name over there )

She looked absolutely beautiful with them... and if I may be so bold, your sticks were FAR nicer than her dress

Ah, didn't know I might possibly know you!! Thank you! I used swarovski crystals for the crutches which unfortunately are pricey if anyone else is interested. The normal ones are far cheaper but if anyone wants to spend £360 on a pair of swarovski ones.... I guess that's a silly question in a money saving forum!!!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

SingleSue wrote: »

Oooppss, someone misinformed me or I was doing my usual and getting the wrong end of the stick!....my scores so far have been just a tiny bit under that, not by much but still a little less than that, so no first for me then.

Mind you, still proud of myself, maybe a little less proud than I was and ever so slightly gutted (oh and feeling slightly silly for getting it wrong!) but it's still worth it.

And it's only going to get harder from here....I am not looking forward to the exam this year, exams scare me.

[grovels to Sue]

It appears I was the one misinformed! Although, if you can make sense of this and work out your classification, you DESERVE a 1:1!

The following is because I am assuming you have had ECAs rather than exams before, so it's your first exam for a while - if I am wrong, then feel free to ignore it!

The exam I had for a level 2 wasn't that bad in the end. All I had to do was find the place (no mean feat in Central London), go down stairs and stairs and stairs and stairs, then wait standing for 30 mins at the bottom of the stairs while they got ready to let everyone in, then sit down, prove my identity (passport, driving licence or OU Student Card is their preferred thing) and block out the sounds of panicking people who couldn't remember what year they started their course (so didn't know if they were taking the resit questions or this year's ones - I thought the clue was in the 'this year' or 'resit' statement, but apparently not so for them).

Then I had to answer the questions. Which isn't too bad.

Write out all the front cover sheet first - if you forget, it could be handed in without any way of knowing whose work it is. (yes, people were complaining later that they weren't told to write their PI on the answer booklet).

Then have a sweet and some water with a couple of deep breaths then look at the questions. Don't answer them at first, just look to see roughly what they are asking you to do (say 3 from section A, 1 from B, etc), then look at content.

You should have some idea from Day School as to the structure of the exam and how many marks are available for each section, so relate this to the time allocated - 3 sections of equal length for a 3 hour exam is easy, but the odds are that two are roughly the same, but one has some subsections, and another comes up slightly longer/carries more marks than the others/vice versa.

There is no law saying you must answer the questions in order - but MAKE SURE THEY ARE CLEARLY NUMBERED so they know if you are answering Q5 first.

You will benefit greatly from having a watch/silent clock on your desk to keep time allocations in check - there is no guarantee that you will be able to see a clock from your desk and running five minutes over for a question doesn't seem like much, but do it often enough and you could miss out a whole section at the end.

When you are getting onto the last side of your answer book, stick your hand up for the additional sheets, so they arrive before you run out. That can save you 5 minutes by the end of the exam. But write your PI on it before anything else, not afterwards or you could have orphan sheets.

It's better to scribble down whatever you can manage at the end if you're running out of time rather than leave it blank - you can still get some marks for a list of points, as compared to an empty page. If you go on to have enough time to do it in neat, cross it out, but don't until that point, as they will ignore it as soon as you draw a line through it.


****

On a physical/practical note, you will need;

Quiet sweets - no crinkly wrappers - I vote for fruit pastilles already opened during the initial sitting down process.

Still drinks
Painkillers
Several comfortable pens
Several pencils
Rubber
Ruler
Tissues
Acceptable calculator
anything else specified in the exam info you get sent

All in a transparent plastic food bag

I also suggest a wraparound cardigan, some fingerless gloves and a hat as those halls can get cold even in summer. You will have to leave your coat and bag in a heap with everyone else's, so wear the cardie with the other bits in your pockets when you sit down, taking it off if you are hot, as they won't let you go and get it during the exam.

Oh, and I found out the hard way that I hadn't actually had experience of writing for 3 solid hours for over 20 years, so a bit of practice over the months to build up the strength would go a long way.


Other than that, the general feeling with the OU is that if you completed the TMAs and turned up to the exam, you have passed. I have also found that you tend to get the same or a couple of marks fractionally lower in exams than in your continuous assessment component - 76 rather than 78, for example.

And any pass is still a pass.



I hope that has reassured you, as I didn't mean to knock your confidence, I shall be having a quiet word with the tutor that told me the nonsense I said earlier!

bigzippy

Thanks for the birthday wishes guys. I know you wouldn't've know when it was lw, don't worry

i'm struggling lately to keep a lid on how frustrated and fed up i am with feeling permanently pathetic and in pain, so i'm keeping my head down a bit.

Debbiedoo i think the GlamSticks are great, and if i used mine more and had any spare cash i'd get some.
I'm glad you guys all seen to have managed to settle your quarrel-for what it's worth i think neither side meant any ill will and we all appreciate prettied up grimness and that any nod towards your designs are a compliment

Goin to find another way of distraction from pain so i can try sleep this century. Twas 8am before i slept last night

SingleSue

Jojo - Eeeekkk....3 hours writing is going to be fun with arthritic hands! Strangely, my worry at the moment is arriving in time and not getting held up in traffic..sounds weird but that is the sort of thing that really freaks me out even though I always make sure I have oodles more time than needed, it still stresses me out.

Still waiting for the pdf to open here and only 5 mins before school run starts, so will have a look at that when I get back..although that could be some time as I am helping my brother do his application for funding for his next OU course.

debbiedeboo

Hey SingleSue, good luck with the exams! I know this sounds weird but relax and try and enjoy them. I remember when I did my degree in the 1980's, Steve Davis the snooker player was winning a lot and he said his secret was to treat each championship like it was any other game and to relax and enjoy it, that way the pressure didn't get to him. I took his advice on board and did the work required but pretty much chilled out for the exams. Even if I got questions I couldn't answer I would still write a long essay but use my initiative and muddle together something. Don't leave anything unanswered, stay calm and make sure you get your timings right. If you are spending too much time on one question then leave it and go on to the next one, you can always come back to it. x You'll be fine x

Careful_with_that_Axe

Debbie, the crutches youmade for Kelly Marie Stewart are wonderful! You should call the showbix editors and tell them you want a mention and see if they will give you any PR?

Biopsy is on hold lw as I've had a fluey type thing for the last month with pusy eyes, an infected mastoid bone in my ear, ulcerated eardrums and a chest infection. Despit various anti-biotics etc everytime I do more than just sit on the sofa and breathe it's sraight back to square one with the infections. It's getting old.
S/e is arriving today to nurse me for a few days!

Quick wave at the Cornish people - I'm near Truro.

LameWolf

Sorry to hear that CwtA; I was hoping you'd have had the biopsy AND the results by now.:(
Say Hi to S/e for me.:o

I'm having yet another bl00dy flare, which I can well do without, as I have another canine guest coming on Friday 21st May for 11 days. The little chap is diabetic, and will have to have 2 injections daily.:eek: Luckily Mr LW is having that Friday off on leave so that we can both get the details of what little Sidney needs done for him.

Other than that, we have tickets for The Pirates of Penzance at MK Theatre on Saturday.:)

TOBRUK

bigzippy, Happy belated Birthday to you! Sorry you haven't had a very good time of it lately, I know exactly what you mean about a continuous flare up and being never ending! Wouldn't it be nice to have one whole day of feeling relatively good!! I haven't had a relatively good day for ... um ... can't remember!

Cwta, you also having a long bout of ill health! Hope things pick up for you soon. I haven't posted much here recently, I too seem to be picking up bugs or something and really struggling.

Single sue, well after EVENTUALLY going to the doc about your own health problems and getting such a reception from the GP, that is terrible! Is there another GP at your practice you could see?

Suep, glad you had someone to drive you to the hospitals - doesn't it take it out of you! Why can't the hospitals that are supposed to work together arrange for you to go to your nearest one, surely they could do this quite easily! Hope you're feeling better today and got over the travelling!

Hello to everyone else. I've tried reading up on what everyone's been up to but my mind is like a sieve and by the time I come to post I can't remember who's done what etc so sorry if I've got anyone mixed up!;)

I feel wrecked and the past couple of days I've been feeling a bit rough having some shivers, sweats, sore glands and just feeling generally unwell. On top of that I had a letter from DWP last tuesday saying I was getting a visit from a 'compliance officer' on Friday, and it didn't explain why or what it was about!

The chap turned up and had a letter from a section of IS department about an overpayment! I couldn't understand why or how this was possible but when he read all the correspondence I'd received from IS and DLA he said he would report back but didn't think there had been an overpayment.

He told me that I should let them know of any changes of DLA etc in future - the thing is they did know of changes because I'd received letters from the IS office about the increase of IS due to DLA changes!! Not only that but I had just received a backpayment of the increase so if there had or has been an overpayment it is down to them!

What a waste of time AND making you feel as though you may have done something wrong when you hadn't! I've only just found out that a 'compliance officer' is another name for a fraud officer! I'm glad I didn't know this before hand or I would have been worried sick. He was an odd chap and he hardly made any eye contact whatsoever.

Anyway, hope everyone's feeling fairly good today, but don't you think it's a bit cold this week or is it just me?!