Can someone tell me if 70 is a respectable mark for a first OU TMA?

[livinginadreamworld]

I'm on my first OU course, which also happens do be a level 3 course... i think i am mad! i just got my mark of 70 for my first assignment, but it is covered in loads of negative comments, I really don't know whether to take the mark as good, and the comments as helpful, or if the negative comments means the essay is bad!

Well, 70 is a level 2 pass isn't it? A 2.1? So that's not too bad at all

The comments should certainly be helpful, aiming to get you more comfortably into the 2.1+ area. Apart from the ones which say "you could also have mentioned such and such" while ignoring that you were absolutely at your word limit and making no suggestions as to what you could have left out. Grrr. Or was that just me? pwink]

Oops.

I don't know what system the OU uses but they will probably have given you more info about the mark scheme at some point - either it'll be on the website or in a student handbook or similar.
You can't really read anything into the absolute number of comments - sometimes the things the lecturer wants to say just take a lot of words and sometimes just a few, eg one essay might be undermined by a lack of research, which you can say in a single sentence, while another one will have something more subtle and complex which needs improving, so you will have to write a lot of comments on it to get the point across. Also sometimes lecturers write a lot on it precisely because it is a stimulating essay that they enjoyed engaging with!

Of course it is a good mark, you know it is don't you. Well done. Be proud!

I think it is just a level 2/2.1 pass which is pretty good for a first attempt at a new way of studying.

Don't worry about the comments. They have to write something because it is one of the tutor's few chances to actually teach (although I never refer back to them).

Agree with TFM - winds me up no end when they say you should have added this that and the other and you have no words left. Usually for me I have handed it in after spending hours cutting it down from 4000 words to 2000 so I know there isn't a single extra word to squeeze in. It would be more helpful if they would tell you what to leave out instead.

Whats the course anyway?

Yes, Kathy is right, the marking structure is in the Studen handbook and/or the assignment book.

My very last OU tutor was the best, and she did say which bits were superfluous to the argument. It was a revelation, and consequently I got some of my very best TMA marks while actaully coming in under the word limit. If only I'd had her earlier on...

Why are you starting at level 3 BTW?

its KE312 working together for children. I already have a foundation degree in early childhood education, but I was one of the first at a new college to do it, the tutors and the course in general have been widely criticized and lots of changes have been made. Not only is this a very different way of studying, i am unsure of which bits of what i have been previously taught are correct! and did get some comments for this TMA for something i had been told to do by previous tutors iyswim! i did get full credit transfer from it from the OU though, so this will be my one and only course to get BA Early Years. Unless i decide to go for the honours abit.....! Thank you all for your answers, almost proud of myself now!

Don't be almost proud - be very proud!!!!

On to the next one now!