The (un)Official Thread for Access to HE 2011!

Original post by mczakk

well it's what i've wanted to do since i was at school, and now i'm living near Bangor with my family it's the perfect time to do it.

what course are you wanting to do?

Nursing!

Reply 1184

mczakk

1

Original post by ilovelabradors

Nursing!

cool, hope you get onto your course :smile:

Reply 1185

Original post by mczakk

cool, hope you get onto your course :smile:

Thanks. I wish you luck as well. :wink:

It's very cool to be in education again. :biggrin:

Reply 1186

RinniieX

OP

Original post by evening sunrise

Back in January I firmed an unconditional from Durham and my wife firmed an unconditional from Newcastle-upon-tyne. The decision process was easy, the houses are cheap. Looks as if we will relocate around June time, then I will have less distance to travel to the highlands with tent and cameras, thus avoiding the Olympics.

Have you firmed yet, or are you waiting for a full set :biggrin:

?

Deadlines for no good reason? Sounds too much like being employed to me.

I got all of my offers by the begining of january :biggrin:

i firmed JMU due to location really, i only need a pass to get onto the course and so far i have gotten straight distinctions. :biggrin:

Its amazing that you and your wife are both going to university together! what an adventure!

Reply 1187

BigV

9

Original post by *whatkatiedidnext*

Just curious really but when some of you are getting a couple of assignments a week, what sort of word count are they? How much time do you have to put into them? We only get 6 assignments over the whole course, typically around 1500 word essays, all worth 6 credits each except one report which is only 3 credits. The rest of our credits all come from a week of exams in May. I'd say I typically spend around 15 hours researching an assignment then about 6 hours writing it? How do others experiences compare?

6? over the whole course? sounds great!

My course had 6 assignments just for study skills (but still around 1500 words for some), 5 for GCSE English, Maths had a total of 7, three 6 credit modules were split into 2 assignments each and so on..... I actually have a cardboard box full of completed assignments from last year, so you get the picture.

I did manage to turn around a couple of the easier study skills ones in good time (i.e brief handed out monday, I handed it back completed tues or weds), but they were very straight forward with not much research required at all, one or two references only.

The worst one I did was for an "IT in the workplace" module; two essays, first one was 4300 words, second one ran to 9300, yes 9300. That was many hours researching and writing as I went.

You sound like you are doing really well if you can get the total assignment done in 21hrs.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1188

Original post by ilovelabradors

Hi guys!

How is everyone enjoying their Access courses?

I have handed in two assignments until now (I started in January) and I am now working on two more assignments. Although I have been doing my best, when I hand in assignments I have no idea if I am working for a P, M or D or God forbbid, level 2! :frown:

I do my best but I have no idea what my best means and how much or which aspects do I need to improve. SO it really feels like a shot in the dark. I know this is normal though and I have to be patient. :smile:

Also the first assignment I handed in was about creative writing and I definetely feel more sciencey than humanistic although I speak several languages I am not confident about anything I do in non scientific subjects and I really felt that assignmet was a big load of crap althoug I honestly did my best. So, I am shooting in the dark and I am insecure... After so many years out of education I guess that's normal, but I can't wait to be able to analyse my work with precision and be able to tell how good or bad my work is and what do I need to improve, etc.

How was it with you guys? And what makes a merit and a distinction?

Thanks. :smile:

I give u some advice ilovelabradors what makes the difference between a Merit and Distinction
I have already stated somewhere to gain a pass you just need to meet all the criteria on every one of your assignments you given as i am sure you are aware however to gain the higher marks u always have to go that little further
a good example is doing a sociology assignment
to gain a merit in the understanding category u have to read more about the essay topic then whats required for a pass say.
To gain a Merit in the knowlege category u have to make more use of relevant ideas,facts and read more around the subject content
The quality is mainly about all the assignment as a whole as well as it helps if u have referenced harvard style and the assignment doesnt contain any misspellings or type errors etc
To gain a distinction it just means you gone even further into depth then whats required for merit and to gain distinctions you always have to analyse and reflect more etc
It really depends on the subject topics and what ur grading criteria asks.

Some assignments i done have been more than 3 grade discriptors so hence more work or understanding etc has to be done to again get the grades
hope this makes some kind of sense to u ilovelabradors

coursewise since coming back from halfterm this first week in been given even more assignments to do
Science wise we now have two science units runing together,one is going to be a exam and the other is a very big assignment and after we have passed these two just have one more science to do
The others like psychology only have two psychology assignments left to do,one more sociology to do which i am doing the assignment as we speake
have a oral presentation to present to the class next week as well as the lecturer which we get marked on and peer assessed.
Other bits and bobs to do as well
Just hope i can keep up with the grades i have been getting.

Reply 1189

Original post by *whatkatiedidnext*

Just curious really but when some of you are getting a couple of assignments a week, what sort of word count are they? How much time do you have to put into them? We only get 6 assignments over the whole course, typically around 1500 word essays, all worth 6 credits each except one report which is only 3 credits. The rest of our credits all come from a week of exams in May. I'd say I typically spend around 15 hours researching an assignment then about 6 hours writing it? How do others experiences compare?

wow very impressive *whatkatiedidnext* as i spend a lot more time writing a assignment up more than 6 hrs really.I also spend more than 15 hrs researching a assignment but this is rather dependent on what assignment it is.I would roughly say from geting assignment on a wednesday or a thursday for psychology or sociology and we get between 3-4 weeks to do it
there tend to be done in 2 weeks tops sometimes its done a few days before its due in.

We get more than 1500 word essays most of them have been ranging from 2500 words to 3000 words for our psychology and sociology ones.There is no word count on the science assignment.As we are doing roughly 54 credits at level 3 we get loads of assignments to do
so far i have completed 5 science assignments and still have 3 science assignments left to do
We done 2 psychology assignments so far and have 2 more to do as yet
done 1 sociology assignment and halfway doing the 2nd one
we also have a 4 study skills assignments.Already done one,going to start another soon written assignment and also have a peer assessed and lecturer assessed next week by which time i would have done
2 study skills assignments and 2 more to do.
Ontop of this we also are doing a seprated maths qualification alongside the Access diploma
All our assignments are only worth 3 credits at level 3 not 6 credits
We have also done the 2 level 2 credits modules which were IT and Maths

Reply 1190

Original post by RinniieX

Im bored of the course now, the work isnt particularly challenging, and the teachers are a bit too lax for my liking, handing out deadlines and such with no good reason. 6 months untill Uni though! getting a bit excited now :biggrin:

what unis are people firming? hoping to go to?

As i dont know whats happening to me at the mo university wise i cant comment on what u asked RinniieX and i am still fascinated by what i am learning and studying and reasearching so always busy never bored of my Access course and the work is very challanging but as i said previously it all depends on where u study at and what the lecturers are like where i am the lecturers make it so fascinating and interesting and u can always go to them for advice as well as support
best of luck in ur college studies as well as with University RinniieX wish you well with it all :biggrin:

Reply 1191

Original post by wizardtop

wow very impressive *whatkatiedidnext* as i spend a lot more time writing a assignment up more than 6 hrs really.I also spend more than 15 hrs researching a assignment but this is rather dependent on what assignment it is.I would roughly say from geting assignment on a wednesday or a thursday for psychology or sociology and we get between 3-4 weeks to do it
there tend to be done in 2 weeks tops sometimes its done a few days before its due in.

We get more than 1500 word essays most of them have been ranging from 2500 words to 3000 words for our psychology and sociology ones.There is no word count on the science assignment.As we are doing roughly 54 credits at level 3 we get loads of assignments to do
so far i have completed 5 science assignments and still have 3 science assignments left to do
We done 2 psychology assignments so far and have 2 more to do as yet
done 1 sociology assignment and halfway doing the 2nd one
we also have a 4 study skills assignments.Already done one,going to start another soon written assignment and also have a peer assessed and lecturer assessed next week by which time i would have done
2 study skills assignments and 2 more to do.
Ontop of this we also are doing a seprated maths qualification alongside the Access diploma
All our assignments are only worth 3 credits at level 3 not 6 credits
We have also done the 2 level 2 credits modules which were IT and Maths

It's still a bit fuzzy but this is me over complicating... Your explanation was great though.. Thanks. :smile:

With that motivation I am sure you will keep on getting excellent grades. :wink:

Reply 1192

Original post by ilovelabradors

It's still a bit fuzzy but this is me over complicating... Your explanation was great though.. Thanks. :smile:

With that motivation I am sure you will keep on getting excellent grades. :wink:

Thanks ilovelabradors its appreciated.I just wish i had gain a offer somewhere but i remain optimistic that something always has a habit of showing up at the right moment

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1193

BigV

9

Original post by RinniieX

Im bored of the course now, the work isnt particularly challenging, and the teachers are a bit too lax for my liking, handing out deadlines and such with no good reason. 6 months untill Uni though! getting a bit excited now :biggrin:

what unis are people firming? hoping to go to?

I think if you have cracked the formula for getting the grades you want and you feel confident you will achieve your Uni offer conditions, then it is very easy to get a bit demotivated. I think there is a sense of "oh, is this it?" and once that sets in it is quite easy to start focusing on any negative aspects of the course (especially the administrative side of things if it isn't going smoothly).

All you can do it plod on, it is March now so the end is in sight.... if your college is anything like mine they will want as much of the work as possible to be submitted by the end of May / start of June.

Reply 1194