Mumsnet Talk

Wondering whether to give up. doing English/history joint. History is ok, high 50s but English is bad got48% for last essay. lecturer says ill be fine and coold go on to do well but Im not convinced. i want to cos i enjoy t subjects but just not sure. Im in my 1st year at university. does anyone have any ideas

Could you convert to pure history?

Could next year but don't want to

How old are your dc(s)?

Ignoring the marks, do you enjoy the English as much as the history?

What does the feedback say? Is it reasonable and tells what you need to improve in order to fully understand/explain/discuss the topics? If your lecturer thinks you can do well then listen closely to them and use their advice to help you. This is what will help you on future assignments and exams.

Perhaps you need to give more time to English... sometimes we concentrate on the parts we enjoy and therefore do well in when really we should be skewing the balance towards the bits we struggle with...

Don't give up.
Do your university offer any workshops on essay writing/research etc? We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
Plus you are in first year, so in an excellent position to improve and grow in confidence for next year.

Why do you enjoy the English part of the course?

I enjoyed English at school but would hate to study it at degree level. History at degree level however if far more satisfying than at A level.

Are you sure you have sufficient interest in the subject? Why do you think you are not performing well?

is your tutor giving you clear advice about what you need to do to improve. There are a number of different possible reasons for low marks:

- including lots of irrelevant material
- poor essay writing technique
- superficial analysis
- some combination of the above

You need to know what the problem is before you can fix it. And some 'problems' are easier to fix than others.