TMA02 was due on January 4th 2008 which has raised more than a few grumbles from the autumn intake students since it clashed horribly with Christmas, New Year, family visits, trips away, unpleasant ‘lurgies’ and heaven knows what else. So I gather that a fair number of students – like me – had extensions. My agreed extension was a week but I managed to submit only six days late – so that was Thursday 10th January 2008.
On January 18th, our tutor posted a message in our tutor group to say that she’d received a fabulous selection of stories and that we would be pleased to know that the TMAs were marked and returned …. but that “those with extensions will be returned in due course”
It’s now Thursday January 24th and I’m desperately haunting First Class waiting for that ‘plink’ that indicates a missive has appeared in my inbox. I’ve even taken to checking the eTMA system several times a day in the hope that my returned TMA will appear there before the missive arrives.
However I’m not filled with confidence.
The number of A215 students who have been shocked by their TMA02 results seems to be worryingly high. Some said they’d dropped 15 to 20 marks! Others have pointed out that TMA02 is marked much more rigorously than TMA01 which is a fairly easy ride as an introductory TMA (and only worth 10% of the continuous assessment marks anyway). But TMA02 is worth 30% of the continuous assessment marks – officially a one-and-a-half-times-weighted assignment which is a real burden when it has to compete with Christmas and New Year for a student’s study time 
I’ve been working on my poetry but it’s getting harder and harder to be positive when my TMA02 result is bogging me down and worrying me. I’d really like to get it, read and inwardly digest it, then move on smartly.
Oh, I do hope I get my result soon!
