I'm trying to learn to celebrate this year and to allow myself to be proud of the "not perfect" achievements that are still something to be proud of. But it is a practice and it requires conscious choice, and often a lot of nervous system soothing.
My most recent assignment was another 85% and instead of giving in to the shame I feel about that being "so low" and not good enough, I am fighting back by sharing it.
Shame dies in sunlight ☀️.
so in good (maybe) news, the support person DSA have given me is AuDHD and has done an OU psychology degree. Seeing her on Wednesday.
I want to get this assignment finished and sent in this morning but I am, once again, struggling to understand what they actually want me to do.
"Drawing on material in chapter 7 and the online material in week 9, evaluate the role of environmental factors on an individual’s experience of stress."
I know they don't mean evaluate the research that has been done into environmental factors and what it tells us about that now.
1/2
He also specifically said:
"I think that our approach to essay questions needs to be reformed and also that tutors may need to receive more explicit guidance about how to mark TMAs based on this kind of question."
And also specifically about me right now:
"Anyway, if you have time to include a paragraph about non-environmental factors that is great but if you haven’t got time then don’t worry about it at this stage."
2/2
Does anyone know if other universities offer online only degrees, specifically in psychology and counselling?
And also if I'm able to move after a year to a different uni and take the grades from OU with me?
You join me this afternoon trying not to turn my uni assignment into a passive aggressive statement on how ridiculously you have to phrase things and how functionally useless the education system is...
Woot! Managed to power through another week of uni today.
Also had to email my tutor because I am very confused that all the material mentions the DSM when I was under the impression the UK uses the ICD (which is not mentioned at all in the study material).
Uni catch up update:
- 2 weeks study and 1 assignment to write for one module.
And then 3 weeks study for the other module.
Already powered through 2 weeks in about 5 hours today and yesterday.
Very lucky that I'm able to get through academic stuff so quickly.
Hoping to start the new year not behind in everything...
Maths question.
Uni explaining how to figure out standard deviation.
Step 2: Square each difference. We want to know the overall deviation regardless of direction (− or +), but if we add the difference scores together, some will cancel each other out. Squaring the difference scores (multiplying each score by itself, e.g. −4 x −4) avoids this.
My question: Why can you not just ignore the +/- and thus erase both this step and the square root step later?
Neurotypicals legit out here like "it's totally a summary if it's only 200 words shorter than the original piece."
For reference, the original piece was 600 words. My summary was 140. The example one they gave was 399 and followed by the laughable sentence, "with practice you'll be able to turn a complex paragraph into just a few sentences."
So today has featured complete panic trying to get another weeks extension for my assignment, crying at the assignment because I don't understand how they can expect me to evaluate something without being allowed to read the fully study, sending very Autistic emails to various people to try and get help, and an Autistic friend advising on the assignment question.
OMFG I have to get a grip. I got 75% on one recent assignment and 78% on the other and brain is stuck in "see, your grades are already dropping, this is awful, I might as well just drop out, I suck at this."
Yes I am academically aware that those are good marks but brains gonna brain.
Cracking open YouTube this morning for additional info on propinquity because the book and online resources have not done any job at all of explaining the difference between it and physical proximity, and I need to write an assignment on that.
Powered through another week of uni in 2 hours, which means I can now crack on with this assignment. Hopefully get that smashed out this weekend, and then start playing catch up on my other module.
this afternoon/evenings mission is to power through some of the reading for one of my modules so I can crack on with the assignment in the very near future.
Finished the chapter of the book for the assessment I need to write.
Currently 2 weeks behind now 😭 after being 2 weeks ahead, thanks to personal situations and then an ongoing health crisis.
Taking a break before I power through online materials - although considering skipping them and just getting the assignment written. We'll see.
Submitted my first TMA for my uni course - made the fatal error of thinking about it and editing it, which historically has always been a mistake for me.
In high school and college my strategy was just write it and send it, no edits, no thinking. And it served me well. Might need to get back to that method!
Cracked into my first TMA for my Psychology with Counselling degree. As through all my academic history, the word count is the issue - I am simply too concise and hate waffle.
Thankfully there is no penalty for being under the word limit though.
Managed to do 90 mins of study (in bed) while trying to recover from burning my spell slots with x-ray and vets appointment.
Yay me!
Question for the Toot Wales folks - if I was to run a community here for students in Wales, how would you like that to work?
I'm thinking a hashtag, #StudentsInWales, and then maybe a weekly chat hour.
Very open to ideas and suggestions!
p.s. Folks outside of Toot Wales but studying in Wales would of course be welcome!
