My heart leapt into my mouth when I saw the post by a fellow student in the OUSA A215 conference this morning – they weren’t due until Wed 6th August so it was a bit of a shock to get them two days ahead of schedule.

I could feel my heart beating faster as I quickly logged into StudentHome and saw the link saying my result was available …one click, and there it was – GRADE 2 PASS!!!!! I have to confess that I bunched my fists tightly, waved them in the air and chanted (quietly because I’m in the Office next to the Gallery) Yes! Yes! Yes! It was such a relief to know that I’d managed to achieve my goal.

However, I was quite surprised to discover that, although I’d scored 75% for the OCAS component of the course (that’s the Overall continuous assessment score), I’d only scored 66% for the OES (that’s the Overall examinable score). I’d worked it out that I needed 70% and above for a Grade 2 Pass. I know that the OU sometimes adjusts the cut-off level for grades to take into account the overall student results, but it was still a (very pleasant and unexpected) surprise.

Clicking a little further into the results, I found that 1583 students had submitted the final End of Course Assessment (the OU called it the Project) and finished the course. Of those, 181 scored the 85 – 100% distinction grade A, 635 scored the 70 – 84% grade B, 547 scored the 55-69% grade C, 198 scored the 40 – 54% grade D, and 16 scored the 30 – 39% grade E. Below that, four students scored F (15 – 29%) and two students scored G (0 – 14%)

Reactions to the marks are slowly coming into the conference now and most people seem happy but there are heartbreaking stories of students who were just points off a distinction grade for their five TMA scores but then scored badly in the Project and dropped down to a Grade Three for their final result. I don’t think I’ve ever achieved a higher score in the ECA component than in the TMA continuous assessment score in eight years – I’ve always dropped several percent.

In fact, for B120, the level One Business Studies course, I dropped from 74% in the overall TMA scores to 54% for the End of Course Assessment (which was a stinker, even for a first time presentation) and many MANY students were extremely unhappy. I was just happy that I passed!

So what next? Well, I think I’ve finally settled on S189, Understanding the Weather (10 point level one short science course) for September, followed by SA188, Archaeology: the science of Investigation (10 point level one short science course) for November. That will be two courses towards the six I need for the Certificate in Contemporary Science. Next year I will probably take a breather for the first six months of the year, maybe even nine months, and start again in June or September. I have two VERY important family and business commitments looming for early/mid 2009 and I think I’d be pushing it to tackle anything above Level One.

So that’s finally the end of A215 for me – I’ve got a good result and it’s all been worth it!

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!

It’s so frustrating! I’m doing lots of writing but hardly any of it is creative

I’m so bogged down with other stuff right now that I can barely muster any creative thoughts. When I can, it’s usually the middle of the night and my husband is a light sleeper so I don’t want to turn the light on to write because he’ll wake.

I got quite a good pass for my first assignment, a good foundation to build on, but my tutor group has gone very quiet now. Our tutor posted a ‘character sketch’ informal writing exercise however only three have responded (including me) and she obviously doesn’t have enough time to give much feedback which is rather disheartening. Nevertheless, she has responded to both of the other pieces of writing. When I queried the lack of response to mine, I got a rather terse reply which basically said she was too busy to spend much time doing ‘extras’ above and beyond her other responsibilities both in and out of the OU.

The next online tutorial for our group is coming up soon and three dates were suggested. The first was the only one that was suitable for me because we’re going away again on December 8th for eleven days. Unfortunately, everyone else plumped for the second of the three weeks which means that it will start just as I’m getting organised for going away. I’ll have four or five days to take part before we have to leave. So, having missed the first online tutorial completely, it looks like I shall have a severely curtailed second online tutorial …

In the meantime, the First Class OU conferencing system is only working sporadically for me – sometimes I can log in and other times I can’t

*sigh*

I’m happy to report that I’ve finally managed to get First Class set up on my laptop I’d missed a folder which needed deleting and, once it had gone, the installation of First Class 8 from the OU’s Online Applications CD went without any further problems. I copied my fcp settings over for Server One and Server Two as well which made connecting even easier.

*heaves sigh of relief*

The Artist has returned in such a state of ‘knackeredness’ (is that a word? well, it should be!) and euphoria that, if he hadn’t fallen asleep in the chair late afternoon, I think I might have needed to tether him by his ankles to the nearest heavy immovable object to stop him floating away. His Big News was that he’s been offered a Solo Exhibition at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (Birmingham is his birthplace) for Easter 2009! Of course, it’s still in VERY early stages and there’s a HUGE amount of hard work to be done between now and then, but this is what he’s always wanted and he is ecstatic

It has been a truly glorious day here today in the extreme south west. The Met Office was stubbornly showing ‘low cloud and light drizzle’ for us on their website almost all day but someone obviously didn’t tell the Weather Gods. We were basking in bright sunshine, gentle breezes and almost clear blue skies. It was so warm I might have suggested a celebratory barbecue this evening if The Artist hadn’t been so pooped.

I’ve put a bottle of Petillant de Syrah in the fridge to chill and we we have fresh hake from our wonderful local ‘Fish’ lady for dinner (it was probably swimming the night before last) so a celebration dinner is in order.

*raises glass* Cheers!