Motivation Needed - Please!!!!!!!!!

[RudyDudy]

Have my first of 3 exams a week tomorrow and have had a totally useless day trying to revise as DS was up teething in the night and am too tired to even think straight. I have 2 years left on my course...someone tell me that I will be able to do it with a little one please!

I know I'm having doubts because of sleep deprivation but what if he has a bad night the day before an exam? Feeling a bit pathetic but just want someone to tell me it will all be alright.

it will. even people without kids feel like this before exams/half way through courses...instead of teething it's hangovers tho .

you can and will do it. just bin today, and put on a fresh swotty hat tomorrow

You can do it RudyDudy!!!

Thanks for the support guys. I kind of know deep down that if i just keep plodding on and take one day at a time it will be okay but frankly it just feels so bloody hard sometimes. But it is what I really want so I will persevere with it. DS quiet so far so fingers crossed tonight I will get some sleep. Speaking of which...

Thanks again, it's silly I suppose but it does really help

Hi
just to add my support I finished my degree last summer. I studied for four years in total and started at college doing an access course when my eldest was 5 and my triplets were nearly 2. It took a lot of hard work and determination I was on course for a 2:1 then just as I was about to go into my last year my husband left me. I spent three agonising months wondering whether to continue in the end with the support from uni and my tutors I completed my degree, I got a 2:2 and have just got a place on a PGCE course. The sense of achievement is amazing don't be afraid to ask for help and most tutors understand what you are going through but also have a lot more time for mature students with family commitments. good luck and if you need any more help just shout ps do you know you can get funding for childcare even when you are not in uni to give you extra time to do coursework. its worth a try.
annmarie x

Wow tripletmum!! Congratulations on your degree and the place on the PGCE course. That is a very impressive achievement in a difficult set of circumstances - I am filled with admiration for you.

Thank you for posting - it is always reassuring to hear of others that have done it, especially when it is seeming so hard. And you're right - I can imagine the sense of achievement must be immense. That's the feeling I will think about when I am questioning what the hell I am doing it all for!!

Thanks again and good luck for the PGCE.

Tripletmum!! You sound like an amazing woman!!
You can do it Rudydudy, yes you can, yes you can!!
Think-in a few years you can enjoy long leisurely holidays with full pay while the rest of us seethe quietly You will be so proud of yourself and what a fantastic role model for your kid/s when they're older.
Dh has been studying for an MSc p/t for the last 4 years and has one more exam to go.
I really admire him. He works incredibly long hours, has to travel loads and we have been apart for ages but wherever he is, he will just sit down quietly at the w/end and get on with it.

I want to organise something really fantastic for him next year when he finishes.

Go for it girl!!!

You can do it RudyDudy.
If your ds has a bad night before an exam, then tell someone. I am a lecturer (not a student myself) and we're always being asked to take into account things like noisy neighbours having a party the night before someone's exam, or (this happened today) an armed police raid on a neighbouring house (!!!!), etc. So, if you've had no sleep, tell your personal tutor or module tutor or someone. The way we'd use this information is that it wouldn't affect the way your paper was marked in the first instance. But it would be kept on file and if you were in any way borderline it could be used in your favour.
No-one can claim that it's not hard to be a student with a little one, but it IS possible. I have seen several mums of small children graduate (even one who had a baby during her course). And... if it's any consolation... those of your lecturers who have small children themselves probably feel just as knackered and have just as much trouble concentrating and focusing sometimes.... Or is that just me?
Good luck.

Sorry, I can't help. Here I am surfing Mumsnet when I have an exam tomorrow.

Don'y think too far ahead Rudy - I have come close to jacking my course in many times (every time an assignment is due Actually). Once it is done the relief is immense and I promise myself I will be more organised next time!

Definately speak to your personal tutor - mine has really boosted me many a time. Stick in - you CAN do it. Good luck with your exam.

Good luck with the exams Rudy, let us know how you get on. I always feel scared and not up to it in the run up to an exam or a deadline. Even if you do have a bad nights sleep the night before the adrenalin should make you feel alert when you are in the exam room. It always works for me and I rarely sleep well the night before an exam as I am too wound up.

Thanks for all the support. Especially interesting to hear from the 'other side' Ellbell. There are quite a few mature students and people with kids on my course and in the uni so the lecturers do tend to be quite understanding - though I am one of those crap people who doesn't like to 'be a bother' iykwim . But I shall bear your advice in mind and talk to them if I think things are getting too tough.

Much admiration for your DH moondog. Really lovely that you are so proud of him. I know my DH is of me and being a role model for my DS is also one of the things that keeps me going sometimes. Family support is very important - so good on you too!

Hope the exam goes well Slug! And good luck to everyone else with exams / assignments on the go.

I am trying to study at college at the moment. The work load is huge - I fell pregnant on the first week - I have been so ill that getting down to it is draining. Not to mention I moved house to a whole other city - couldn't transfer my courses so have to drive back to college 2 days a week.

Honestly sometimes I don't know if I'll ever get to uni - I thought I would have to work hard this year and that was without the impending baby situation. I'm going to be a single mum too - it is daunting thinking how I'll get down to it. I think I'll have to go and meet the tutors at Bristol university and explain my circumstances as otherwise I am not sure if I can make it all happen.

I will be a mature student - I hope to start 2006 doing an English degree at Bristol. I think as a mature student if you go and talk things through - have good work behind you - approach them they may be able to make some concessions that they wouldn't make for younger students.

Right now I am trying to get my exam papers sent to a local college as my due date is 12 days after the exams and I would hate to be stuck in another city with nobody to help me out and something to happen with a baby suddenly deciding to appear. I guess I completely took advantage of how simple life was when it was just me. Working is that much harder now - however I need to work that much more for my child's future.

Some days I just can't study because I am paralysed in fear lying in bed - in denial that I am pregnant at all. Well that said I am looking forward to starting a weekly course at Bristol (life long learning) on the changing face of feminism.

Keep going ladies you'll get there in the end.

Dear PinkArjuna
Good luck with it all. Bristol will definitely take into account your different (and difficult) circumstances. I can't say exactly HOW they will take them into account, as all departments will be different, but in my experience departments are willing to do as much as they can to help mature students and/or students with families to do as well as they possibly can.
Rudydudy... Good luck for the exam on Tuesday. Let us know how it goes!