Thursday 12 November 2009

An Elephant Never Forgets

I got my first assignment back last night and really wasn't sure what mark I'd end up with. Having never studied at university level before and it's been a good 3 years since I did my A Levels. At school everyone had high expectations of me and therefore I ended up getting them for myself too. I remember being devastated when I got a C in my GCSEs. It was only in RE, but seriously you would have thought it was the end of the world for me the way I reacted! Again at A Level I got 2 Cs in Maths and English Language, which I was really disappointed with. Though looking back I did really well due to the circumstances of having countless eye operations, missing school and dealing with my gradual sight loss.

I'm pleased I didn't go to university when everyone was pressurising me to after my A Levels, as I've had time to reflect, accept my visual impairment and study in a way that suits me. It's very easy for people to say 'oh you're smart you should go to university and you're obviously going to do well in life'!

Anyway, back to the assignment! I got 85% and couldn't be happier! I was so surprised and was aiming for 70% to be honest. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep the standard up as the work increases in difficulty, but I feel I've made a positive start and now know for sure that The Open University is the right choice for me.

3 comments:

Jen said...

Well done. I never really got high marks in college. What kind of assignments do you have to right?

Ro said...

Congratulations!!

I hear ya on taking your time to go back to school. Like a month into my blindness I'd have people say "so and so goes to college and ries the bus there and uses her cane" and I'm trying to figure out how to shower...

So good for you for doing it when you're ready! Thats awesome!

Selina Litt said...

Thanks.

This module is very broadly based and so the first assignment was on Cleopatra and Cezanne an artist. 500 words for each part. By the end of the module the assignments are 2000 words.