OU - Exploring Psychology DSE 212 let's chat and worry over assignments!

[muppetgirl]

I?ll start off with an introduction.

I?m Muppet and I?m 32 and have 2 children ( 4.6 and 10 months) I used to be a teacher, early years trained but taught in yr3/4/5. I loved teaching but when I worked in a difficult school I knew I?d found my vocation so would really love to become an Educational Psychologist.

I started this course in Feb. 07 and completed 2 assignments but became pregnant with ds 2 and developed a serious case of baby brain so stopped with a view to re enrolling when I could.

Very excited to start!

Thanks Cocodrillo. That's what I wanted to hear! DS is 4.7 and DD is nearly 3, in September they will be going to school/pre school so I kind of thought I'd manage around the baby's sleep time but wasn't sure if that was complete madness. I'm just worried about starting and then not managing and giving up, that will annoy me more than not starting at all IYSWIM. I guess I've got a bit of time to decide. Thanks for your advice!

I think it will depend on whether your baby sleeps reasonably well at night though - DS, although still waking at night, has had a fairly predictable pattern from quite early on, and is not nocturnal - he has a distinct day and night so I'm tired, but not EXHAUSTED. If he was a very erratic sleeper things would be much more stressful I think...

Is your DD at home all week at the moment? If so, are you already used to fitting masses of work into your evenings? You might even find it easier next year than this year...

DD goes to nursery 2 half days so I do a bit in the day and some at night at the moment. Your sleep point is a good one, there is a distinct difference in being able to manage things if just tired rather than absolutely shattered. I'm hoping for a ludicrously chilled baby of course but the reality could be very different!

My other option would be to do the 'Biology of the Brain' course which is a 30 pointer so should be less work. Although I've had a nosey at the summary of the course and it looks like it's out of my comfort zone - child development looks far more interesting which could make all the difference when it comes to motivating myself.

Oh well, I've got a while to think about it all.

How's everyone getting on with the revising?

Revising? Remind me what that means?! I went to the revision day in Oxford last weekend which was good, although one of the tutors didn't turn up so we couldn't go through one of my chosen chapters.

I got the Erika Cox revision cards which seem good but I need to condense my notes to a format I can actually learn.

Hope everyone else is getting on well. Congats on your news docket. I am supposed to be doing the second week of August in Bath but it is looking less and less likely unfortunately.

oh dear revising not going well. have just spent the evening drinking wine and eating cheese with DH. This is not the way to pass exams!

I have learnt one chapter well and half the definitions. So much left to do. My head spins when I think about it! (Or is that the wine?)

Sooooooooooooooo.... how did it go ladies?
I am very relieved it is done for now. No more fretting and having revision hanging over us (well for those of us just doing DSE212 on its own.
What did you think of the exam? What questions did you do? How did those of you with litle ones or pg cope with it all?

Hello! Really glad it's over too. Hope it went okay for everyone.

I thought it was alright, slightly better questions than I had feared. I did 2, 3 and 6 in addition to the short answer bit. Found myself afterwards wondering if I'd actually addressed 2 properly but I really need to stop fretting. I've had far too many sleepless nights worrying about bloody bottleneck theories of attention recently and need to get my mojo back!

Which questions did you do Greeneggs?

You know, I have already repressed the question numbers .
I did the question on psychoanalysis, trait theories and sex and gender. I though some of the questions were quite narrowly focused, but I wrote about 4 pages on each, so I managed to think of something to write about! Really not sure how to gauge how I did. I would say for definite I have passed. I was aiming for 70% + - we shall see about that!
How do you think you got on?

Repressing sounds like a plan! I did psychoanalysis, sex and gender and perception/attention. I thought the latter was the worst question, I think I fudged that one a bit, psychoanalysis the best. The short answer bit was okay. The time went so quickly I was really rushing at the end.

I think I've passed and I'd definitely like to get 70+ too but it's really difficult to know what the marking is like. I mean, I know my essays were of a much lower standard than my TMAs. I don't know whether they mark in the same way? My writing was so appalling by the end the marker might not actually be able to make anything out anyway!

I was worried I wouldn't be able to fill 3 hrs, but it did seem to go quite quickly. I still have a red indent on my middle finger from the pressure of holding the pen for that long!
I was glad I could do my 5 questions without having a perception and attention one - in fact it didn't come up lol - because I found that chapter really hard to recall, it just merged into lots of boring theories in my head - am impressed you managed to write an essay on it!
I assume that examiners don't mark to the same sort of scheme as with TMA's - I write pretty fast and I only just managed to get what I wanted to down on the paper. They can't expect the niceties you get when working on a TMA over a period of days...she says hoping!
Ah well, all done now. I am sure a thorough de-brief would be a useful exercise, but I can't face it!
take care

Well thank F* that's over. how long do we wait for results? I did the psychoanalysis, lifelong development and trait theories ones. Not sure how did, like others I know I've passed, but I'd scraped an A average on my TMAs - so I'd love to do well on the exam, but my essays were not great quality I felt. We'll see!

apparently the results come out in august (mid i think).

feeling so chilled today, so pleased it's all over. hopefully we'll bump into each other soon on another OU course thread

take care y'all!!

According to the forum on the OU site, DSE212 results are imminent! The text on the assignment scores page has turned from blue to red where it says 'Not yet available'. I am assuming that 'imminent' means today, so best of luck everyone !

Nothing today so I wonder if it will be tomorrow (Thursday) although the original date was Friday 7th.

Good luck everyone!

I'm doing the Applied Psychology course next. Is anyone else doing it? I had to drop out of the residential week unfortunately so hope to do it online next year (am away for the beginning of the online course this year and was told I'd automatically fail if I missed two weeks!).

Think we will have to organise another Psychology thread. I'm interested in knowing how those of you who are doing the online course get on.

RESULTS ARE IN
Good luck all!

I passed (albeit only just on the exam!). Am delighted although I want to do better for the next course. Looking at the comments for my answers I reckon I was very very lucky indeed. . Am at home with a horrible bug (like SF but no temp) so just what I needed to cheer myself up!

Hope everyone else gets the result they wanted.

Hi MollieO
Sorry to hear you are poorly, but congratulations on passing DSE212!
I did well, and am pleased my (very) selective revision strategy paid off - I couldn't have answered any other questions than the ones I did!
When you mean comments on the exam, do you mean the 'excellent', 'good', 'adequate' etc scores, or is there anything I am missing?
I am not doing Applied Psych next as I don't need it for the Diploma. It's the online research project for me - which has had shite reviews thus far - gulp!
Take care

Yes I mean the little comments next to the answers - adequate etc.

I will do either the residential course or on line course next year. Probably the online course as I will be doing ED209 exam somewhere between 11th October and 20th October 2010 which precludes doing our usual jaunt away for half term.

I'll be interested to know how you get on with the online project as the reviews are horrible, aren't they. I also think not enough thought has been taken by the OU for those of us who have limited options to do residential courses because of the lack of childcare.

I don't need the Applying (don't know why I think it is called Applied) Psychology either (am doing the Diploma too) but I felt like doing it as there is too long a gap between now and next Feb. Am currently dithering about doing that or transferring to the new short Autism course which looks interesting and may be of interest for ED209.

Mollie, I also thought the Autism course looked interesting but am somewhat reluctantly booked in for the online research project.

(Also interested in the new children's literature course - which is totally irrelevant to psychology! - but I would really enjoy)

Well done Mollie and GreenEggs. I scraped a distinction - very happy and pleased, but suddenly feeling a bit unfocused.

I was wondering if anyone had the data file available for DSE212 TMA3 - I lost my disc and whilst I still have SPSS I can't do the assignment without the data! To make matters worse the deadline is next week and it takes OU 14 days to post a new CD out. Help!

Vicky did you get something sorted? I've only just spotted your message. I'm currently doing the course too and submitted my TMA03 earlier.

Did this thread get restarted or forgotten?