Need help! I hate EPQ!

I really hate EPQ, I'm finding it so stressful. The lessons are poorly structured and we get very little support from teachers - any support we do get is irrelevant and not useful at all. As the lessons weren't benefiting me in any way, I decided to continue with my EPQ independently in my study periods. However, I feel completely out of my depth and actually dread the thought of continuing to write the 5000 word essay (I'm currently about 600 words in), even though I love the subject I'm researching, and I'm usually an excellent writer! I want to drop it, but I'm afraid it might affect my UCAS application. Should I speak to the uni I want to go to and ask them if it would change anything? And also, has anyone else had any negative experiences with EPQ? Or is it just me?

Reply 1

rafath

7

Original post by emmakatex

I really hate EPQ, I'm finding it so stressful. The lessons are poorly structured and we get very little support from teachers - any support we do get is irrelevant and not useful at all. As the lessons weren't benefiting me in any way, I decided to continue with my EPQ independently in my study periods. However, I feel completely out of my depth and actually dread the thought of continuing to write the 5000 word essay (I'm currently about 600 words in), even though I love the subject I'm researching, and I'm usually an excellent writer! I want to drop it, but I'm afraid it might affect my UCAS application. Should I speak to the uni I want to go to and ask them if it would change anything? And also, has anyone else had any negative experiences with EPQ? Or is it just me?

what did you get i hate it also but not allowed to drop it

hey what did you get

Original post by emmakatex

I really hate EPQ, I'm finding it so stressful. The lessons are poorly structured and we get very little support from teachers - any support we do get is irrelevant and not useful at all. As the lessons weren't benefiting me in any way, I decided to continue with my EPQ independently in my study periods. However, I feel completely out of my depth and actually dread the thought of continuing to write the 5000 word essay (I'm currently about 600 words in), even though I love the subject I'm researching, and I'm usually an excellent writer! I want to drop it, but I'm afraid it might affect my UCAS application. Should I speak to the uni I want to go to and ask them if it would change anything? And also, has anyone else had any negative experiences with EPQ? Or is it just me?

Are you in year 13? If not, I wouldn't worry too much about whether dropping it would affect your UCAS. EPQ is a nice thing to have, but it is no disadvantage if you don't have it.

A lot of people find EPQ quite stressful and it's not uncommon to drop it (I think at my school nearly half of those who originally picked it had dropped out before the end). However, at this stage in the process, I would have expected you to have done a lot of research and probably have the research complete, so in that sense it would be a shame for all that hard work to go to waste at this point. Additionally, the actual essay itself is not worth that much of your grade so if you've done a good job on your production log (or whatever it was called, I've forgotten) and then you give a good presentation at the end evaluating your project and what you have learnt then you are still well on your way to an A/A*.

Having said that, you have still gained knowledge around the subject that you could use in a personal statement (obviously phrase it as independent research for your own interest not a failed EPQ if you do drop it) and have probably learnt some lessons about good time management that you could take into the future. I would say if you think you can get a good grade then I would try and push through, but equally there is no shame in dropping it if you truly feel like you can't finish.

Reply 4

Thisismyunitsr

20

Original post by skc41

hey what did you get

Original post by juicygcse

Are you in year 13? If not, I wouldn't worry too much about whether dropping it would affect your UCAS. EPQ is a nice thing to have, but it is no disadvantage if you don't have it.

A lot of people find EPQ quite stressful and it's not uncommon to drop it (I think at my school nearly half of those who originally picked it had dropped out before the end). However, at this stage in the process, I would have expected you to have done a lot of research and probably have the research complete, so in that sense it would be a shame for all that hard work to go to waste at this point. Additionally, the actual essay itself is not worth that much of your grade so if you've done a good job on your production log (or whatever it was called, I've forgotten) and then you give a good presentation at the end evaluating your project and what you have learnt then you are still well on your way to an A/A*.

Having said that, you have still gained knowledge around the subject that you could use in a personal statement (obviously phrase it as independent research for your own interest not a failed EPQ if you do drop it) and have probably learnt some lessons about good time management that you could take into the future. I would say if you think you can get a good grade then I would try and push through, but equally there is no shame in dropping it if you truly feel like you can't finish.