DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Two Weeks to the Exam

On the plus-side, the weather last weekend was super for the whole three days of the Crick Boat Show.

On the down-side, not a jot of revision carried out over the last week.

So two weeks, and importantly two whole weekends, left before the exam - panic study will kick in shortly.....

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Three Weeks to the Exam

Email received from the OU today confirming the date and location of the exam, and very helpfully for anybody planning to orienteer to the exam venue the email contains not only the address and directions but also the grid reference of the venue.....

So, with time swiftly passing my revision plan has reduced to Books 1, 2 & 3 and the theme 'Evidence & Argument'.

The trick is to stop putting off serious study and get on with things, not easy with an extended holiday break starting tomorrow, oh well more to do in the last two weeks then :-)

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : TMA06 Marked and Returned

Got the results of TMA06 through the post this morning.

The good news is that my tutor appears to have no difficulty reading my hand writing..... well they didn't exactly say that, but the lack of comments saying how poor my hard writing was has lead me to this conclusion.

The other relatively good news is that considering that this is a pretty good test of an essay under exam conditions I was pretty pleased with my mark. Not good enough for a Pass1, and when taken with the the poor result from the last TMA this has left my overall OCAS score tantalizingly close to a Pass1, but not a Pass1.

Tutors comments were both encouraging and helpful, although ideally I think I would like some clarification or advice on specifics, but seeing as this Theme will not come up again maybe that is a waste of precious time.

 So, I guess its time to knuckle down and get the revision started in earnest.

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Day School

Really good day school yesterday.

The main things to be taken from the day school were,

• The exam questions will, in all likelihood, be fairly open, meaning we will not be asked very  targeted questions on a specific aspect of the course. The exam is to test if we have understood the course, not to see if we have revised very aspect of the book by wrote.

• Take time and 'unpack' the question. Calm down and read the question, pick out the 'active words' and understand what aspect of the book or theme they wish you to focus the answer on. 

• Do not launch in to a well rehearsed discussion of a favourite case study, that is unlikely to answer the question, but know what aspects of case study can be used to illustrate your answer.

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Week 32

18 May

• Study Guide Week 32 URL
  
• Activity: Specimen Examination Paper; Discussion Audio I, 'Reading across'; Theme Lecture 5, 'Evidence and argument'; Discussion Audio J, 'Revision and the exam'

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : TMA06 problems......

Received an email from my tutor to say he has not received my TMA, which was posted on the 3rd May.

He says he has however received notification from the post office that there is an item waiting for him which does not have enough postage on it, but he hasn't had time to collect it (he seems to have some difficulty getting to the post office which is why we were asked not to send the TMAs recorded delivery, as he would not be in when they came round and he would then have to go to the post office to collect them which was a problem), so  I'm sort of hoping this is my TMA otherwise it really is lost in the post.

Apparently this (under payment) is not uncommon as people misjudge the weight and thickness of the TMAs, and as they are more than a normal 1st or even large packet 1st class stamp there are quite a few across the country waiting for the tutors to make good on the under payment when they collect them. As I 'relied' upon others to post this for me, this could well be my TMA cluttering up the post office.

On the plus side, when I had not received confirmation of the TMA being received by the 8th May, I emailed the scanned copy of the TMA as a backup. However, as this does not have the OU form with it he was giving the post a bit more time and will wait to see what is at the post office before reverting the to electronic version.

On the downside, it looks really unlikely that  I will have a mark or comments when the day school comes around which is a bit unfortunate.

So the moral of this story is don't rely on others for anything important and regardless of what the tutor wants send it recorded delivery.

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Week 31

11 May

• Study Guide Week 31 URL
  
• Activity: Discussion Audio H, 'Reading across'; Theme Lecture 3, 'Participation and dissent'; Specimen Examination Paper; Theme Lecture 4, 'Equality and difference'

Its been over a week since I sent TMA06 in, even though the deadline was the 9th May, so it seems like ages since it was completed and I just want it back.

At least the mark back - I won't be able to picik up anything sent home until the end of the week, but at least a good mark would be a  motivator towards more study. So, I guess I'll keep checking the OU website and hope for the best.

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Official exam season.....

Got an email from the OU this morning titled "Getting ready for your examination". Full of 'useful' advice such as re-read your course texts and notes, and learn the key arguments and theories..... thanks for that, was rather hoping for a more targeted nugget of advice such as "if I were you, I'd be looking at these two books and this one theme - as we will be asking this........"

Oh well, better get re-reading and learning.......... the countdown has begun.

DD203 - Power, Dissent, Equality : Week 30

4 May

TMA week

• Study Guide Week 30 URL
• Assessment Guidance Repeat
• TMA 06