Destressing...

Well the past few days for all U211'ers has been quite stressful with the run up to the first TMA deadline of the course.  There has been so much support and comradeliness on the Forums it has been great, the new posts were coming in thick and fast as people were taking a break from the word counting, referencing, general muddling over what the question meant.  Whatever time of day you visited it was active, for the first time I felt that I was not alone and that I was part of our community.

As for the TMA itself well, I am glad to be rid of it, I managed to hand it in with plenty of time to spare before deadline which was great!  I don't know what to expect in terms of a grade, I am hoping for a 40% pass at least I might even be hopeful for 50-60%.  The biggest sense of achievement really comes from actually carrying on when I wanted to give up and making a submission of something I worked my hardest on.

I have learnt a lot from this experience, I know that going forward to make notes as I read, I know not to worry about other peoples experiences of the course and to concentrate on how I am getting on and deal with it in my own time, I know that I can ask for help or express a concern on the Forum and will be met with others in the same boat.  I am not the worlds most organised person, and if it were a sliding scale I'd probably be closing in on the worlds least organised person, but I have begun to make use of organisational tools.  Every TMA and Tutorial is marked in my Outlook calendar, with alarms to remind me plenty in advance, I have also marked in other appointments and commitments so that I can make study appointments with myself.  As a result it is not only helping with my studies but every area of my life.

Now we all just have to think about what we wrote until the marks come back, which should be within the next two weeks, I'll keep you posted.  Now best get started on the next lot of studies and checking out TMA02!