Good luck to all!

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Good luck to all!

Dieses Thema ruht momentan. Die letzte Nachricht liegt mehr als 90 Tage zurück. Du kannst es wieder aufgreifen, indem du eine neue Antwort schreibst.

1Booksloth
Nov. 17, 2008, 1:55 pm

It's been a few years for me now but isn't November exam month? Assuming you're all not to busy revising to come to LT, I just wanted to say good luck to everyone out there. I know how hard all OU-ers work and every single one of you deserves all the luck you can get! Would love to hear how the exams went for everyone.

2klarusu
Nov. 17, 2008, 4:20 pm

Ugghhh! I remember the November exams - I'm so glad that I'm over that now!

3soniaandree
Mai 26, 2009, 2:37 pm

Well, I have been studying AA316 'The Nineteenth-Century Novel', and my exam is on the 16th of June - wish me luck! ;-)

4Booksloth
Mai 26, 2009, 3:32 pm

Consider it wished! I did that course and loved it (apart from Heart of Darkness and Germinal). June sounds very early to me for OU exams - mine were always November - have they changed the way things are done now?

So are you doing a BA? How far through are you? And are you enjoying it? I miss my OU days - might still go back for an MA sometime in the future - and I still envy all current students (including my own son). Have your other courses so far all been literature ones? And how are you feeling about the exams?

Sorry about the barrage of questions but I don't often get another student to chat to these days. If you want to discuss any of the books pre-exam or if there's anything you're not sure about I'd love to help out if I can (can't offer to sit the exam for you but you probably wouldn't thank me for that anyway). Good luck for the 16th! Will be thinking of you.

5thorold
Mai 26, 2009, 4:50 pm

Good luck!

6klarusu
Mai 28, 2009, 3:13 pm

Good luck!! And Booksloth, how can you not like Germinal, that's my favourite book ever. *weeps into her keyboard*

7Booksloth
Bearbeitet: Mai 28, 2009, 3:28 pm

Yeuch, yeuch, spit, spit! Just couldn't get into that one at all, though I loved all the others. Please don't weep into your keyboard though - I'm just a bad person and I know how bad it makes me feel when other people hate my favourites.

8LittleWish
Mai 28, 2009, 3:34 pm

#3: Good luck soniaandree!!

Im coming to the end of DD100 - I have one more assignment left. I am planning on doing DSE212 in october as im working towards psychology degree.

#4: Booksloth, someone else told me they used to do the exams in November, but i now a few people who have sat theirs in October and June.

9Booksloth
Mai 29, 2009, 11:50 am

#8 I guess that gets it out of the way before the summer holidays, so probably a good idea. Do tell us what DD100 and DSE212 are - I'm guessing social sciences but that's as far as I've got. Is DD100 what they now call the Social Sciences foundation course? If so, then I've done that one too - think it was D103 at that time - and it was a lot of fun. Good luck with your exams too!

10soniaandree
Mai 29, 2009, 12:16 pm

>4 Booksloth:
Yes, I am doing a BA (Hons) in Lit with the OU, studying from Normandy, France. The year start is now in September, like the normal academic year. I am enjoying it very much, although I must admit that studying Germinal and Mme Bovary in English was a novelty, but it made the books shorter.

As for the exam, I have based my studying on past exam questions, so I am choosing Middlemarch (instead of Dombey and Son), Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, Far from the Madding Crowd, Dracula, The Awakening and Germinal, with their main critics. Portrait of a Lady and Heart of Darkness will be used only for the narrative techniques for Q1. The ones I am skipping are Dombey and the Woman in White. And what's left are the critics Part 1.

I'll probably start panicking when I'm on the train on the way to the exam!!

11soniaandree
Mai 29, 2009, 12:24 pm

Thanks to all your kind wishes! :-)
I'll follow with A(ZX)300 'The 20th Century Novel: Texts and Debates' - should be fun!

>6 klarusu:, 7
'Germinal': despite the difficulty in reading the book in French in secondary school (before the OU), the story is a gem - you won't find so many authors who write novels about the mine workers (and the difference in social classes) so vividly. I also appreciated the performance in the movie with Depardieu, Renaud and Miou-Miou. If you do not like the book, you may like the movie, who knows...

12LittleWish
Bearbeitet: Mai 29, 2009, 12:30 pm

#9: DD100 is introduction to social sciences (im guessing that is the new version of D103) and DSE212 is Exploring Psychology.
I am have been enjoying DD100, and some of the topics are interesting except for the stuff on economy, and globalization etc.. which nearly sent me to sleep a few times :D

13Booksloth
Mai 29, 2009, 4:53 pm

Hmmm - I fell asleep during the economics and quite a bit of the politics but I really enjoyed the rest - plus it turned out to be a really good grounding for the lit courses I did later, and it was nice to be able to look at the lit texts from a slightly different viewpoint that most of the other students, who had done the arts foundation.

14klarusu
Mai 29, 2009, 6:04 pm

I think you just get addicted to OU courses - I'm submitting my PhD thesis at the end of June and then I start work back in the Life Sciences department at the OU ... perks of the job? Free courses. I'm considering Creative Writing or one of the lit courses for fun (see, I'm damaged for life ... I consider these things for fun).

15LittleWish
Mai 30, 2009, 1:13 am

#14: your not the only one klarusu! I also considered doing one of their lit courses for fun, but decided it is probably best to concentrate on my degree.
If you do decide to take one of the courses, i would love to know what you thought of them.

16Booksloth
Mai 30, 2009, 6:53 am

#14 I'm another for sure! By the time I finished my BA I wasn't able to work, for health reasons, so couldn't really justify the cost of any more study. However, I find all of a sudden that I might soon be able to afford to do another course though I'm not sure the MA English lit one really grabs me - will probably spend a year or so brushing up my Greek elsewhere before I take the plunge again. Not quite as much fun as OU but I used to work in Adult Education and took full advantage of the free courses there - typing (back in the days when people still took typing classes), likewise shorthand, computing, drawing, watercolours, British Sign Language, Greek, singing - you name it! Education's a wonderful thing and highly addictive! Absloutely dripping jealousy for soemone who gets free OU - good luck!

#15 Don't know if it's any help here but I took the short social sciences (just for fun - I think it cost me about £35 back then) course before doing the foundation year, which was a great inro to study, and am partway through the just-for-fun A174 (Start Writing Fiction, a freebie) though I have let it slide badly over the past few months (other commitments). They're fun courses though a bit 'light' for someone who has done undergrad level study. Interesting for sure and better than nothing but I do miss the structure of 'proper' courses as I have no self-discipline and really need TMA deadlines to keep my nose to the grindstone. Do check out the freebies though - there are so many I'd be amazed if someone couldn't find something they fancied, though I would suggest trying a subject you know nothing at all about as they are pretty basic.

17LittleWish
Mai 31, 2009, 1:02 pm

Im so happy. I just completed my last assignment of my DD100 course today, and it is all ready to send tomorrow in the post. This means i have no more studying till October and more time for pleasure reading :D

18soniaandree
Mai 31, 2009, 1:23 pm

>17 LittleWish:
Lucky you! ;-)

19Booksloth
Mai 31, 2009, 3:45 pm

That's a fantastic feeling - good luck!

20soniaandree
Sept. 2, 2009, 12:28 pm

What's more? I managed to get the exam and enough points to count towards a Diploma in Literature, finally obtained in July. Now, on to the BA (Hons.) with the 20th Century lit. (AZX300) and Shakespeare (AA306) as the last course... :-)

21Booksloth
Sept. 3, 2009, 7:01 am

I think 20thC lit has changed a bit since I did it but it seems to be more or less the same course. It was my favourite of all the courses I took and I think you'll love it! Congrats on your exam results and good luck with the rest. Are you doing the two courses together or one after the other? I recently had a good look through the current courses with an eye to taking up something else or going on to the MA but I must admit I wasn't keen on the MA Lit ones at the moment. The 5thC Athens one that I always wanted to do no longer exists either so I won't be adding another grad one to the list just yet. We'll see - maybe in another year or two.

22soniaandree
Sept. 6, 2009, 1:53 pm

>20th C lit - you'll love it!
I hope so! I am trying to achieve the BA (Hons) for going into teaching, but now they (the French government) request the MA to apply for the CAPES exam (1st year entrance PGCE), before going to the IUFM (National Teachers School)'s second year. And this is just to teach in secondary schools and high schools.

23TheHumbleOne
Sept. 7, 2009, 4:48 pm

AA306 only has a February start date so presumably soniaandree will at worst be doing an overlap. I enjoyed A300 more than I thought I would, despite the excess of poetry, and as a result I have actually read a smidgeon of modern fiction. Mind you my mark was going to make no difference to my final grade so I more or less wrote what I fancied rather than sticking strictly to the TMAs they set. Nevertheless most of the texts were very interesting - and I may one day come to hate Orlando slightly less.

Shakespeare however is the bees knees!

24riverwillow
Sept. 8, 2009, 1:10 pm

I too enjoyed A300 when I finally got past Sunset Song... which was my personal bete noir on this course - didn't think much of When Androids Dream of Electric Sheep either, but found the course material fascinating.

Have to say that I've just signed up for the new Lit MA - very much a last minute decision and one that I may regret - I was advised years ago never to take an OU course in its first year because of all the adjustments but we will see - but its the only MA I've found that covers texts which interest me, although I am not sure about the Coetze and Wide Sargasso Sea. But Paradise Lost does really excite me...

25soniaandree
Sept. 8, 2009, 2:40 pm

I am currently having second thoughts about the Shakespeare course, because the new EA300 'children's lit' would probably be more relevant to teaching (I have already done 3 plays of Shakespeare with the short course and A210; it is also not certain that doing a year of Shakespeare will be relevant to French teaching in the long run, all things considered).

An OU course advisor would need to be contacted, in my opinion.

26TheHumbleOne
Sept. 9, 2009, 1:45 am

Although it would be a shame to miss AA306 I can see the logic there. I've also got the new Children's Lit course on my wish list but I think I'll wait until it beds down and I see the feedback. Besides which I have a History Degree to track down and loads of courses coming up to their last presentation.

So many courses - so little time in which to take them

27soniaandree
Sept. 9, 2009, 7:17 am

Yes, I think I am changing my qualification planner's final course for 'children's lit'. I could always get the Shakespeare coursebooks separately if needed later on.

>loads of courses coming up to their last presentation
That is not an ideal situation, for certain. Maybe if you keep your least favourite course for last, there may be a new course that would be more interesting (and updated).

28TheHumbleOne
Sept. 9, 2009, 5:25 pm

I'm hoping for the best as I'm doing five courses over the next three years and they will all be in their last official year of presentation - unless they get pulled first.

Naturally I've bought the set texts and recommended books for all five!

Anyway there are usually quite a few sets of old course material available on University Booksearch so I can work through the stuff on my own if necessary.

29soniaandree
Sept. 10, 2009, 4:51 am

Best of luck, then, for your courses! :-)

My BA (Hons) should be done in July 2011. I think, with the OU, patience is a virtue!