what to expect from 3rd year?

Fire_Fox

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

Thanks for that, whats an extension? sorry never heard of the term to do with school/college before.

The main thing i am really worried about is not having enough help about, in college my lecturers really helped me out, telling me the answers etc. When i handed in essays and a bit wasn't right they would give us it back to fix, tear up the first one and pretend the fixed essay was the first attempt at it So i'm guessing they won't be doing that then at uni.

The first thing you need to buy is an academic year diary, into which you put all the deadlines for each piece of coursework. These deadlines are non-negotiable, you won't get an extension (a later deadline) unless you have mitigating circumstances (e.g. sick note from your doctor, you need evidence basically).

Lecturers will not ever give you the answers under any circumstances - that is not help that is cheating! If you attend all your lectures and do all the reading required you won't need to be told the answers anyway. You will not be given an essay back to redo, you pass or fail. If you fail and have to rewrite you will get a maximum of 40% (a bare pass): you need an average of 60% to get a 2:2 and 65% for a 2:1classification.

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

I doubt i'll be able to sign up to and of the extra classes as i am going into 3rd year, not starting from the begining at first year. Will have to find out about that though.

No idea what the textbooks will be, no idea what the classes even are yet either. God i've not used textbooks since standard grade maths!!

How much do textbooks cost roughly?

Why ask questions of existing students and then doubt the answers? The workshops are aimed at first years as, like you, they are used to being babied through college. You won't be excluded for being a third year, but you are unlikely to find out about them unless you go and ask. As I said, you are expected to be an adult at university just like at work.

How are you writing assignments for your HNC if you have only attended half of the taught sessions and not read a textbook?? Textbooks cost between £10 and £100, depending on the course. Subjects allied to Medicine tend to be very expensive, fiction books for English Literature tend to be pretty cheap. Do you know how to do academic writing (third person, no I or me), do you know how to reference your sources (Harvard style) correctly?

alwaysonthego_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

you need an average of 60% to get a 2:2 and 65% for a 2:1classification.

At my uni it is 40-49% = 2:3, 50-59= 2:2, 60-69=2:1 and 70 and above is a 1:1.

I agree with what you say about academic writing as in the third year they will expect you to be up to speed and not writing in a conversational way. Also your referencing has to be spot on as my uni are very strict about this.

I am coming up to my third year and can't wait!

GrammarGirl

Good point about the referencing, alwaysonthego - the OP will be expected to understand and be able to implement Harvard referencing in essays. Well, that's the system we used at uni - is that standard?

alwaysonthego_2

GrammarGirl wrote: »

Good point about the referencing, alwaysonthego - the OP will be expected to understand and be able to implement Harvard referencing in essays. Well, that's the system we used at uni - is that standard?

We use Harvard in my dept (education), but in the English dept it is footnotes. If referencing is done correctly it can push up your marks.

It sounds like the op will have problems because you learn all the basics in the first year and by 2nd and 3rd years you are not given any allowances.

redpete

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

The main thing i am really worried about is not having enough help about, in college my lecturers really helped me out, telling me the answers etc. When i handed in essays and a bit wasn't right they would give us it back to fix, tear up the first one and pretend the fixed essay was the first attempt at it So i'm guessing they won't be doing that then at uni.

No idea what the textbooks will be, no idea what the classes even are yet either. God i've not used textbooks since standard grade maths!!

How much do textbooks cost roughly?

What advice did you get to recommend that you did this 3rd year of study? If there was as much hand-holding at college to get you through the course you might find that you struggle with the significant step-up to university level.

littlepinkstars44

thanks for the help everyone. In college we didn't have any textbooks, for each class we were given packs from the lecturer. That was issued from the SQA and photocopied and made into a booklet type thing and given out to us. And it has stuff to read through and little question sections in it. Then for each class we had like 3-4 essays to hand in. But for each essay also came a pack telling us exactly what the essay needed and how to lay it out and that. The lecturers also gave us their marking schemes to make sure that we didn't miss any points out....looking back i doubt they really should have done that.

I've just finished a 2 year HND at college in tourism, and the natural progression from that is 3rd year at uni, as the head of our course told us all that the 2nd year of our hnd was the ecquilevent of 2nd year at uni (sorry cant spell)

The class in the year above us (when we were in 1st year...they were in 2nd year) All went on to 3rd year at this same uni...same course. And everyone from my class this year (except 3 people) are going be going straight into 3rd year with me.

Sorry i don't know what you mean by 2:1 etc? Or refrencing? When we handed in essays in college we were sometimes told to put a bibliography in at the end (but most of the time all the information was in our packs, so we didn't need to)

and no sorry i've never heard of academic writing before i'm really bad at writing, i never passed english in school (sat it twice). which is why i had to go through this route to get to uni instead of going there straight from school.

I'm really starting to rethink this now

Fire_Fox

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

thanks for the help everyone. In college we didn't have any textbooks, for each class we were given packs from the lecturer. That was issued from the SQA and photocopied and made into a booklet type thing and given out to us. And it has stuff to read through and little question sections in it. Then for each class we had like 3-4 essays to hand in. But for each essay also came a pack telling us exactly what the essay needed and how to lay it out and that. The lecturers also gave us their marking schemes to make sure that we didn't miss any points out....looking back i doubt they really should have done that.

Sorry i don't know what you mean by 2:1 etc? Or refrencing? When we handed in essays in college we were sometimes told to put a bibliography in at the end (but most of the time all the information was in our packs, so we didn't need to)

and no sorry i've never heard of academic writing before i'm really bad at writing, i never passed english in school (sat it twice). which is why i had to go through this route to get to uni instead of going there straight from school.

I'm really starting to rethink this now

I don't think your tutors have done you any favours, it doesn't sound like you are accustomed to studying at degree level at all. Some of my modules we were given a pack of information. That doesn't take the place of wider reading, it should just be a starting point. If I'd just used the pack I'd have either failed or got a bare pass (40%). Some lecturers provide marking schemes, that's not necessarily wrong.

Degrees come in different levels - a bare pass, a third class, a lower second class (2:2), an upper second class (2:1) and a first. You should not be looking to get any lower than a 2:2 or future employers will question why. Only the best students get a first, but this is more down to hard graft than brains. When I worked at an old polytechnic all our firsts were single mums!

Referencing is pretty much the same as a bibliography, but there is a very specific style that must be used and up to 20% of your marks will be on this aspect. This should be at least two pages long in the third year - that's how much you should be reading! Academic writing is very dispassionate, very factual. Nothing you say should really be your opinion it should all be backed up by your references. You never use the word I or me. If you read some proper textbooks you will get a feel for academic writing.

Is there any possibility you can go into the second year, and get some practice with all these new skills before you enter the vital third year? Is there any possibility all this stuff has been taught on your previous course but you missed the sessions? I note you admitted elsewhere that your attendance has been very poor.

pb6672

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

I'm really starting to rethink this now

You are about to start something new, and that is always scary. Yes, it will be a big step up from what you are used to doing but it's not an impossible step to make - after all, plenty of people have degrees don't they?

This thread is in some ways a perfect example of what you are used to doing, and what you need to learn to do.

You want some information about something. So, you are asking people questions and hoping to get the answers that you need.

This is very much "college" style behaviour - you are asking for the information to be given to you, in the same way that your teachers pretty much just gave you the answers.

All the information you are asking about is available for you to find yourself however, and it is all available online. "University" style behaviour would be to search for it yourself!

For example, there are some great guides showing you how to use the Harvard Referencing system, and I am pretty sure the university you are going to will have details about the modules you are going to be studying and the methods of assessment used.

It would probably do your confidence some good if you were to begin to try and locate some of the answers yourself - and a great opportunity to teach yourself some of the skills you will need before you have to use them for real.

littlepinkstars44

Thanks everyone.

I can't go into 2nd year, as this is my last year of getting funding from SAAS.

No i never got taught any of this stuff in college...i mean to be honest we had the same lecturer for 3 out of 4 of our classes. And she worked on the tour bus as well, and all she ever did was sit and talk about the bloody tour bus!!!

I was always getting pulled up for spelling mistakes and things like that, but we would just laugh it off, cause it never affected anything. We never got like an award in college for anything Just either passed or failed.

kei_2

As the OP is from Glasgow it sounds like they are going into the 3rd year of the Scottish system, if so it is really not that bad.

While the one on one tutition may not be like that of college, there are far more resources that allow you to help yourself.