The Uni Thread

[7om]

Are you planning a career move of sorts?

Nah, it's just that I'm going to be moving away from the lab eventually so it's been "suggested" that it will be beneficial to get myself qualified in another area.


Why not take time off and actually go to school?

Because I'm moving from the U.S. In one year. Doing it online gives me the freedom to complete assignments as I please and continue to earn money by working.

[Pepe]

Nah, it's just that I'm going to be moving away from the lab eventually so it's been "suggested" that it will be beneficial to get myself qualified in another area.



Because I'm moving from the U.S. In one year. Doing it online gives me the freedom to complete assignments as I please and continue to earn money by working.

I see. You're being groomed. :cool:

Also, did I miss the moving to China announcement? Pretty big move.

[7om]

Well you only get 6 years for a working visa and then it's either green card or leave, so I decided to hit the road. I could live in DC permanently because it's quality, I can't lie, but there's more opportunity in China. I'd rather not be here for a Trump presidency anyway, so it's fine.

[Pepe]

But, could you have taken the green card if you preferred that? I'm assuming the missus is happy to go to China.

[7om]

Yeah, I could have just done a work-based green card. Are you here on a student visa or do you have permanent residence now?

Everytime I speak with someone here they can't get it in their heads why I'm not doing green card / citizenship. I might regret it in future, who knows.

[Pepe]

Still on student visa. Looking more and more likely that we'll move elsewhere once we graduate, but we'll see.

I don't think it's that insane. I mean, I guess you could get the green card and then fuck off to China, having the US as a backup just in case.

EDIT: Wait a second, I'm confusing green card with citizenship.

[7om]

Yeah, with the green card you have to live here 9 months of the year.

Where are you considering going?

[Pepe]

We'll see. Probably France/Europe. Or Mexico.

[7om]

The U.S. will lose its two best immigrants :cool:

[Pepe]

Indeed. :cool:

Part of it is the lack of opportunities for us, but we also seem to like leaving here less and less over time.

[Bartholomert]

Well you only get 6 years for a working visa and then it's either green card or leave, so I decided to hit the road. I could live in DC permanently because it's quality, I can't lie, but there's more opportunity in China. I'd rather not be here for a Trump presidency anyway, so it's fine.

Everything you said was absolutely retarded. China is a shit hole (so is DC mind you, can't imagine how much you'd love a non-terrible US city).

[7om]

Everything you said was absolutely retarded. China is a shit hole (so is DC mind you, can't imagine how much you'd love a non-terrible US city).

I appreciate your kind words and they have been duly noted. Thanks.

[Bartholomert]

Lol at non-Americans:

http://totalfratmove.com/why-american-college-life-is-way-better-than-the-uk-from-a-british-person/

[SvN]

"Total Frat Move". A top class article source, no doubt.

The second most recent article on the website was titled "Patriotic Tunes That’ll Have Your American Boner Fully Engorged".

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:D

[mugbull]

Lol at non-Americans:

http://totalfratmove.com/why-american-college-life-is-way-better-than-the-uk-from-a-british-person/

Peaked in college

[Spoonsky]

Got my IB scores back, officially going to college.

:dance:

[randomlegend]

Good work, lad. :)

[Bartholomert]

AD you were studying law right? Where will you be working next year? I applied to a bunch of the Magic / Silver circle law firms in London.

[Boydy]

Leaving Oxford with a 2.ii. :jayjay:

Somehow managed a 67 average, with no exam falling below 65. Fuck yes.

2.i you mean then, no?

[randomlegend]

Failed one of my exams. I can resit it, but to be perfectly honest I think I'm done with medicine.

[Lewis]

Would you say... *snigger* Would you say you're sick of it?

[randomlegend]

Yes THANK you, master Betts.

[Lewis]

Dr Betts, if you don't mind. I stuck it out.

[Lewis]

I wish others would BANTER with you about this. It just looks like I revel in it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

In my shit Uni life, as I still haven't completed two units from the first year and only managed to complete one of the four units they gave me last year next year is going to be extra shit.

I'm having to do attendance for the first year stuff (Britain and Africa which is alright and American History which I hated) which I was exempt from last year, attendance for the second year stuff I didn't do (Writing the Past which is massively shit, Sounds of English which is gay and Forensic Linguistics which I like) and I have to pick another four new units for the second year from the following:

Vocabulary
Learning & Teaching Language 1
Language and Species
Language in Society
Research Methods in English Language & Communication
Syntax
Learning & Teaching Language 2
History of the English Language
Language Competences in Career Development
The Slave Trade
Introduction to Digital History
USA 1861-1961: From Civil War to Civil Rights
Britain at War: 1688-1815
'The Rise of the West', Big Questions in Global History
Making History: Public Work Experience (lol)
Crime & Society in England 1550-1750
Propaganda in 20th Century war and politics
The Age of the Cold War 1945-1991
Politics and Culture in 18th Century England
Nation and Identity: Newly Independent States in Interwar-Europe, 1918-1939
Making a Historical Documentary (lol).

I assume I'll have to pick two English modules and two History. If so I'm leaning towards: Language & Species, History of the English Language, Britain at War and either the Propaganda module or 'Nation and Identity'.

[GS]

Seems a waste to give up now. It's only an exam. Get involved.

[Bartholomert]

Failed one of my exams. I can resit it, but to be perfectly honest I think I'm done with medicine.

Don't give up dude. Just push through.

[Boydy]

How much longer would you have to go, randomlegend?

[randomlegend]

If I passed the resit, another 8 months or something.

To be brutally honest, I think there's as good a chance I kill myself as I get to the end if I carry on.

[Boydy]

Jesus. If that's the case, probably bin it, yeah.

What else are you thinking of doing?

[Pepe]

At least you would finally get something finished amirite?

[Lewis]

http://i67.tinypic.com/1z14fg4.jpg

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fuck :D

[Boydy]

Jesus. :D

[randomlegend]

Jesus. If that's the case, probably bin it, yeah.

What else are you thinking of doing?

I don't know. I just know I can't do this any more.

[Bartholomert]

I don't know. I just know I can't do this any more.

Why don't you just take some time off? Go be a bartender at a Greek island for a few months.

[randomlegend]

Because I've already had the maximum allowed time away from the course (two years). I have no options left.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Bake some god damn cakes.

[Chrissy]

So, after a 14 year hiatus I am back at uni studying to do event marketing. I already run gigs etc so hoping this fills in the knowledge gap I have in dealing with larger events. It's still £1 a pint in student unions right?

[Chrissy]

If I passed the resit, another 8 months or something.

To be brutally honest, I think there's as good a chance I kill myself as I get to the end if I carry on.

If it's genuinely getting you down, bin it and do something else dude.

[Spammer]

Just my opinion but if something is making you that miserable then nothing else can make it worth it. Bin it.

[Bartholomert]

Because I've already had the maximum allowed time away from the course (two years). I have no options left.

Get an addy prescription and just go through the last 8 months high.


Just my opinion but if something is making you that miserable then nothing else can make it worth it. Bin it.

There is literally nothing I have ever achieved of note in my life that didn't make me utterly miserable at one point or another.

[Pepe]

What have you achieved of note in your life?

Did the misery last for a few years?

[Bartholomert]

What have you achieved of note in your life?

Did the misery last for a few years?

Well, putting aside academic accomplishments, I lost about 40 pounds in the last year. That sucked / continues to suck.

[Pepe]

That's a lot of weight.

For what they charge, the quality of food universities serve is outrageous. Then again, nobody forces anyone to drink two litres of Coke with their dinner.

[five time]

I dropped out of uni the first time due to something similar (does this board attract mentals?) and it didn't help anything. Assuming the same issues are still there (the migraines?) then your sense of self worth is just going to drop even further being out of work/at home all day.

At some point you really need to talk this over with your girlfriend/family and come up with a plan.

[randomlegend]

I know I'm a very capable person, I have a good brain and I'm sure I'll find my way.

Medicine just isn't it.

[Magic]

There's no point in flogging a dead horse, mate. If you hate it that much and have no motivation it's impossible. Why force yourself?

On the other hand, one of my childhood friends has just finished her 10 year training (and traineeship?) to become a qualified doctor and she's delighted, probably going to be on decent cash too. Her sense of self worth must be so high right now. Total opposite of RL, but we can't blame him for that. Right?

[Bartholomert]

That's a lot of weight.

For what they charge, the quality of food universities serve is outrageous. Then again, nobody forces anyone to drink two litres of Coke with their dinner.

It was the beer + after alcohol pizza + not exercising because hungover repeated and me being insulated from the social consequences because I was in a fraternity / had a girlfriend. Duke's shitty food options didn't help but it's on me.

[Magic]

Yeah those FRAT LADS are so kind to obese foreigners.

[GS]

Part of it is surely mental. If you spend your time thinking "I can't do this, I can't do this" then you will, inevitably, not do it because you've convinced yourself of that fact.

randomlegend, lad, what have you done so far and what would be ahead of you to get to the end of it? I'm not saying you should or shouldn't do it at this stage, but get the facts down in list form so they're there in front of you.

[Spoonsky]

There is literally nothing I have ever achieved of note in my life that didn't make me utterly miserable at one point or another.

Yeah (I'm the same with a few exceptions), but it becomes a problem when miserable becomes the norm as it seems to have with RL.

@RL, is it mostly that migraines are too problematic or are you having some problems with losing interest in medicine itself? If you've definitely lost interest in it then it sounds like the best thing you could do, if you're in a position to do this financially, is take some actual time off (rather than academic leave with the spectre of school always waiting at the end) and do the things you enjoy, clear your head out, read some good books, and then think about what else you'd like to do with your life. I'm sure it's not easy to come to terms with though.

[randomlegend]

I've definitely lost interest in medicine, I dread every day. I'm sure part of that is because it's been such a struggle (because of the migraines) but that's how it is, I can't change it. I know it's the right thing to do, I can't go back. I'll lose my mind. It's just scary to suddenly be 24 having spent the last 6 years essentially achieving nothing and with no idea what to do now.

I want to be getting on with my life, not starting again.

[mugbull]

You're closing doors on yourself by not finishing. Even if you do decide not to do medicine, having a medical degree is so much better than not having it. The only thing you're doing by pulling out now is limiting your life options.

[ItalAussie]

I know a significant number of people who have changed their life and career path at 24 or older.

If that's where you come down, don't think that anyone will hold it against you, or that you don't have time to find another path. And don't think that you've wasted your time - experience is valuable, and you know yourself better for what you've done. If the lesson that taught you is that you don't want to do what you thought you wanted to do, that's a valuable lesson.

I'm not saying you should definitely do this, but it's important that you don't feel trapped within your current situation.

[mugbull]

Pulling out does tend to limit life options lol

[Chrissy]

Well, putting aside academic accomplishments, I lost about 40 pounds in the last year. That sucked / continues to suck.

I lost a tenner last week mate, feel for you.

[Chrissy]

I've definitely lost interest in medicine, I dread every day. I'm sure part of that is because it's been such a struggle (because of the migraines) but that's how it is, I can't change it. I know it's the right thing to do, I can't go back. I'll lose my mind. It's just scary to suddenly be 24 having spent the last 6 years essentially achieving nothing and with no idea what to do now.

I want to be getting on with my life, not starting again.

After reading over everything i'm flipping on my original advice. Finish the degree and then move on. It's better to have it and never use it.

Says me with an unfinished honours degree in primary teaching and a mechanical engineering qualification I never use.

[Spoonsky]

There's a guy in my Italian class who's an absolute doppleganger for Mahow, including his behavior. His name is even Nico or something ethnically similar. It's remarkable.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Take a picture. He's probably a cousin.

[mugbull]

How's the first few days at McGill? Have you gotten alcohol poisoning yet?

[Spoonsky]

I'm not at McGill, I deferred a year. The class is at Utah, I'm taking it to occupy myself until New Years when I fly to Italy to make a man of myself.

[Lewis]

There must be easier ways to come out.

[Spoonsky]

If I were gay TTH would be the first to know.

[mugbull]

Oh yeah I remember that. 4 months not doing anything though, damn. I suggest you sink hundreds of hours into a role-playing video game

[Pepe]

You must be a bore if you think that not going to school/college/work = not doing anything.

[Pepe]

Then again, I dropped out of school when I was sixteen and only got back to it when I was like 21, so yes.

[mugbull]

It's 4 months of waiting before doing something. You could find loads of stuff to do, but it just seems like an unnecessary weird limbo phase

[Pepe]

He can, like, experience life man.

[Spoonsky]

It's 4 months of waiting before doing something. You could find loads of stuff to do, but it just seems like an unnecessary weird limbo phase

I know what you mean, and it's not exactly ideal. I'm going on a tour of Japan in November with my 90-year-old grandmother and taking my other grandmother to Vermont to see my aunt in October, both of which logistically made it difficult to plan anything substantial before winter break, but, y'know, they'll probably die soon so that takes priority.

My plan is to read a lot and avoid the internet as much as possible. I'm sure soon enough I'll find some project to occupy me.

[mugbull]

You do photography a lot yeah? Idk how one starts a photo project but I would assume you'd go do a photoshoot and submit some pics to magazines / newspapers etc, maybe start making some connections. Do that! I wish I had started producing music back in high school instead of spending dozens of hours a week on Football Manager, but at the time I didn't really know that that's what I wanted. You might not have serious professional photography ambitions atm, but cultivate what you enjoy now - you never know when you might want to take it a step further.

[Boydy]

Sit off and enjoy yourself, Spoon.

[Spammer]

Back at college next week, and I'm starting to worry about burning out.

Work 40 hours
College 5 hours
Clients 3 hours
Children's counselling 8 hours
Essays 2 hours

That's 58 hours per week I'll be doing. Essays will probably average a bit less, but fucking hell. I'm a bit worried, especially considering the type of work (counselling training + debt advice proper job) isn't the type where I can go down to third gear. I'm hoping my paid job stays pretty quiet.

[Lewis]

Good job it only takes you an hour to fall in love with somebody.

[Raoul Duke]

Finished paying off my student loan now. In fact, due to the derpy way it's paid, they now actually owe me some money :baz:

[GS]

Fuck knows how much I still have left to pay. I must be due the annual statement soon, but I suspect it could be another few years before it's cleared.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm going to have to pay my fees this year as I'll be redoing year 2, unless I can get student finance to accept my compelling personal reasons claim which is a bit shit.

Also, I've had to re-tweak my original ideas about what I was going to study because it would have meant doing fuck all in the first semester and then stretching myself in the second.

Semester A

Writing the Past (A&B) -15 credits
Language and Species - 15 credits
Language and Society - 15 credits
Britain at War - 15 credits


Semester B

Writing the Past - 15 credits
Sounds of English -15 credits
Forensic Linguistics - 15 credits
Britain and Africa - 15 credits
American History – 15 credits

I hate Writing the Past, American History and Sounds of English so they're going to be mega shit but I did like the little of Forensic Linguistics and Britain & Africa I did. Semester A is the best on paper if only for Britain at War though, that had better be good.

[GS]

Britain at War can be summarised succinctly as: "We win."

Britain. :cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1688-1815 too. Reading about how we donned the French is going to be a highlight of course.

[GS]

So you're starting with the Glorious Revolution? Excellent.

You'll have the more inconvenient moments in there like the American War of Independence and the lesser-known War of Jenkins' Ear, but we can dismiss them as anomalies and get back to glorying in our brilliance.

As you say, smashing the French about will be a particular highlight. I think it was Lewis who said it previously, but you have to admire the way we just kept going back for more until we finally beat Bonaparte.

[Spoonsky]

So now he takes the "we."

[GS]

Of course.

On the subject of the Irish Republic's Army, I watched a lol-worthy programme on RTE a number of years ago about the prospect of Jack Lynch launching an 'invasion' of the north when the Troubles kicked off.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNCL4pL36Ok

Not only is the premise of the film laughable, it makes some incredible statements like the prospect of 'ethnic cleansing' (this isn't Bosnia, mate) and the Irish setting up a refugee corridor through south Down. Anyway, the end conclusion is that if the Irish had tried it on, the British would have sent the RAF in and they'd have promptly hammered them before the Lynch government collapsed.

It warms the heart to know that the Union is safe.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

So now he takes the "we."

Wars and Olympics, I'm a Brit (bar Andy fucking Murray) through and through.

Fat Sam might even convert me back for the football.

[Spoonsky]

I'm sure you have more in common with Wayne Rooney than Horatio Nelson.

[Lewis]

I'm checking what the sub-editors have done to my book so I can let them print it, and, not only have they binned all of my Oxford commas (probably a publishing blood feud that one), but they have changed all of my inverted commas into those ones that I hate.

[Spoonsky]

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma.

[ItalAussie]

I'm checking what the sub-editors have done to my book so I can let them print it, and, not only have they binned all of my Oxford commas (probably a publishing blood feud that one), but they have changed all of my inverted commas into those ones that I hate.

Bastards. On both counts. Not even joking.

[Pepe]

Did they make you pay for those too?

[Chrissy]

First week done of my course and i'm absolutely loving it. Aw so delighted I made the decision to do this.

Hope everyone else is enjoying it.

[Chrissy]

I'm checking what the sub-editors have done to my book so I can let them print it, and, not only have they binned all of my Oxford commas (probably a publishing blood feud that one), but they have changed all of my inverted commas into those ones that I hate.

Offt. Get them told.

[Reg]

Somebody, please, think of the Oxford commas!

[Lewis]

I'm putting them all back in. Let's see who wants it more.

[Chrissy]

I'm putting them all back in. Let's see who wants it more.

Fighting the good fight dude #prayingforyou

[Lewis]

It asks you to keep changes to a minimum. I never started this war, lads.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Assignment 1:
Language in Species Debate. The debate will take place in week 9. More information regarding groups and times will be available on studynet.
Worth 40%
In your groups, you must argue for your school of thought- Is language an accident or an adaptation? PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL BE MARKED INDIVIDUALLY FOR YOUR PRESENTATION, DEBATE CONTRIBUTION and PRESENTATION SKILLS.
Key articles and reading are provided for you on StudyNet in a separate folder, but please feel free to read more or different articles.
Use this reading to outline your argument and line of defence.
Each group will present their theory behind language development for 15 minutes. This should include key theorists and references – basically you will be following the key theorists argument and rationale behind language development (whether you believe it or are entirely convinced by it yourself isn’t important here!)
You will have 15 minutes to present your theory to the class. You MUST use power point presentation for this AND SUBMIT YOUR SLIDES INDIVIDUALLY ON STUDYNET BY THE 25th November 2015. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR NAME IS ON YOUR SET OF SLIDES SO I CAN REFER TO THEM WHEN YOU GIVE YOUR PRESENTATION. You will be assessed on your presentation skills as well as the overall content and understanding of your argument and how much you take part in the following debate. Each group member will receive an individual mark.
Each group will present their side of the argument for 15 mins. During this time take notes on what the other group are saying as you will have to think of some challenging questions to throw at them! When doing your background reading for your argument make sure you read the other school of thought too to in order to prepare for potential questions changing your argument! Please have 2-3 questions prepared before the debate to use to question the other team’s argument/theory, you can always think of more during their presentation! After each team presents their argument, we will have 20 mins for discussion and questioning etc. I will also have some questions for you as well as your team mates so be prepared for your rebuttal. I WILL CHAIR THE DEBATE SECTION TO ENSURE EVERYONE GETS A CHANCE TO QUESTION/RESPOND.


Structure for the Debate

Opening Statements - Each team will be responsible for an opening statement which should take about two minutes per team member and no more to deliver. The purpose of these statements is to lay out the outline of your case in a persuasive manner; you should introduce each of your strongest arguments. These statements must be typed as a power point presentationand submitted to Studynet no later than TBA

Make sure that each team member covers some other aspect of the team’s debate position [there should NOT be a lot of repetitive points made by several team members—coordinate your presentations!!]


II. After each opening statement (15mins), each side will have the opportunity to put the other team in the hot seat, by asking a series of questions for a period of up to TEN minutes PER SIDE. This is the time to: first, defend against any attacks made on your team’s position and second, go on the offensive yourself. Don’t hold anything back during this round - take advantage of all the weaknesses you have discovered in your opponent’s argument during the PRESENTATION. DON’T just rehash the points you made in your opening statements!


Assessment criteria:
Content
All of the information that you present should be accurate and you should demonstrate clear understanding of the topic (through reading, referencing sources, examples etc). You and your team should demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the issue and should discuss all of the points that best support your case. You should not be expected to bring up points that do damage to your case - that is the job of the opposition.

Preparation
Each member of the team is responsible for giving a well-constructed statement of 2 minutes and a half or so in length. You are permitted to bring into the debate: note cards, outlines, books and any other helpful resource. You should also be prepared to make a closing statement of approximately one minute that emphasizes your most important points.

Argumentation
The arguments you make during the debate should be logical and demonstrate a clear analysis of the issue and should be supporting with evidence (i.e. reading). Appropriate emphasis should be given to your strongest arguments, but you shouldn’t harp on only a single point for too long. Finally, you should demonstrate that you have heard and understand your opponents’ arguments by meeting them head on and giving your best counter-arguments.

Skills: eye contact, voice, tempo

Christ :face:

[Pepe]

Moves for creating a graduate student union have begun. Love the objectivity of this FAQ released by the 'Provost.'

https://provost.wustl.edu/graduate-student-unionization/

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm going to have to pay my fees this year as I'll be redoing year 2, unless I can get student finance to accept my compelling personal reasons claim which is a bit shit.

Also, I've had to re-tweak my original ideas about what I was going to study because it would have meant doing fuck all in the first semester and then stretching myself in the second.

Semester A

Writing the Past (A&B) -15 credits
Language and Species - 15 credits
Language and Society - 15 credits
Britain at War - 15 credits


Semester B

Writing the Past - 15 credits
Sounds of English -15 credits
Forensic Linguistics - 15 credits
Britain and Africa - 15 credits
American History – 15 credits

I hate Writing the Past, American History and Sounds of English so they're going to be mega shit but I did like the little of Forensic Linguistics and Britain & Africa I did. Semester A is the best on paper if only for Britain at War though, that had better be good.

I've got a timetable clash between Language and Species and Writing the Past and I'll need to drop one.

I'd rather cut Writing the Past and then replace that with ‘The Rise of the West’. Big Questions in Global History in semester A which sounds pretty shit and then do Propaganda in 20th century war and politics in semester B which would be great as I love propaganda.

It's likely that they're going to make me cut Language and Species though (the history module is a deferral) which means I'll hopefully replace that with Vocabulary which really is the best of a bad bunch left.

[Lewis]

https://s18.postimg.org/52gti896h/Photo0442.jpg

:cool:

[John]

:drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'll try and remember to cite it when I do my mid life crisis Masters in about 15 years' time.

[Pepe]

:cool:

I'll ask my library to buy a copy or twenty.

[Boydy]

Send us a free signed copy.

[Offshore Toon]

You got anything to say about Islam in there?

[Lewis]

If you read it backwards it says 'Muhammad was a paedo' over and over.

[Offshore Toon]

I'll try and work it into my Reforming Islam course, then.

[Lewis]

That sounds like a hairy topic for a university. Have you had any bomb threats?

[Offshore Toon]

Speaking of Arabs and bombs, I've just spent about ten minutes, possibly longer, waiting outside of the only toilet on this floor of the library. I heard the toilet flush three times and the hand dryer used twice. And it's not like they were all in the last minute or two. First came a hand dryer about four minutes in, which I thought was odd, but whatever if the Chinese don't flush in their own flat, why would they do it in the library. Then a minute later a flush, again, odd, but whatever I just want to piss. Two minutes later another flush, followed by a hand dryer. Then another flush, then a minute or so wait before some little tosspot Arab walks out. Didn't even have the balls to look at me. Cunt.

[mugbull]

Sometimes you got the shit with the late blooming kidney ejaculation, and you gotta go back for more. Err on the safe side

[Offshore Toon]

Then take that to the proper toilets downstairs.

[mugbull]

Yea and piss yourself on the way there too?

[Offshore Toon]

Ne chance. Its 3 minute walk against a 20 second one. For a 10+ minute shit, its selfish to not make the walk, for a 20 second piss, its not.

[mugbull]

I feel like there was always also the option of you walking up the stairs and going to the other bathroom, but whatever

[Spammer]

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TKJ99MD

Doing research for my counselling course. If anyone fancies filling in this quick survey then that'd be pretty cool. Takes about 30 seconds.

[niko_cee]

"completely anonymous"

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

So this is what I have to do to complete my semester:

20th December -
For this assignment, you should critique the following statement: Historians ‘are in fact the only people qualified to equip society with a truly historical perspective and to save it from the damaging effects of exposure to historical myth. If professionally trained historians do not carry out these functions, then others who are less well informed and more prejudiced will produce ill-founded interpretations’ (John Tosh & Sean Lang). Discuss.2000 words.

28th December -

*What role does social class play in relation to a speaker’s use of language? Include a discussion of research in this area to support your answer.

*Explain both code-switching and diglossia, and the reasons why speakers may practise such phenomena.

*1 in 5 people feel they are discriminated against because of their accent. Give an account of the research that examines people’s attitudes to different accents, and the consequences of such attitudes.

*It is often assumed that men and women speak the same language differently. Include a discussion of the various approaches (with your main focus on social constructionism and Community of Practice paradigm) to researching language and gender to explore whether this assumption is correct or outdated. Answer one of the following questions, 2500 words.

3rd January -
1) How have historians explained the consequences of the Glorious Revolution and why do they continue to disagree on this issue?
2) How have historians explained the willingness of men go to war during the eighteenth century?
3) How well did Britain deal with the consequences of the demobilisation of its armies and navies between 1688 and 1815?
4) How were the lives of British women affected by the wars of the eighteenth century?
5) What factors affected the British state’s ability to tax its citizens between 1688 and 1815?
6) What factors account for the hostility towards financiers and stock-jobbers prior to the 1760s?
7) What were the arguments put forward by Linda Colley to explain the emergence of a British identity during the eighteenth century and how have they been challenged by other historians?
8) To what extent did military ideals and influences shape the development of British society and culture during the long eighteenth century? 2500 on one of those questions.

3rd January - A 2000 word (+ or - 10%) write up of the picture choice task that was carried out in class.

So shit.

Thinking of the accent one for the second assignment so I can lol at the Scouse accent and probably the third question for the History one.

What does everyone else at Uni have over the Christmas period?

[Lewis]

I have a load of pish on 'historical myth' if you want it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sure.

[Lewis]

How are you going to approach it? The full passage from The Pursuit of History makes it sound a bit stupid, because that 'responsibility' is set within the idea of producing an 'interpretation of the past that is relevant to the present and a basis for formulating decisions about the future', which, as educated guesses (at best), would be marbled with prejudice in order to make up for a lack of information, and obviously made to fit the historians' prejudiced definition of what is 'relevant to the present'. That is to say, made communist.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

She told us this:


This statement can be broken up into three themes:
1. 'only people qualified': this is referring to the training that professional / PhD historians go through. Think about how and why professional historians work as they do.
2. 'damaging effects' refers to bad history. Think about David Irving and other distortions or misuses / abuses of history.
3. 'others who are less well informed'. Are professional historians the only ones who can / should write history?

I'll probably just talk about what historians go through, piss all over David Irving and other nutcases but then talk about how great Terry Deary is probably.

[Lewis]

1. I'm not sure what 'training' means, or why 'professional/PhD historians' are necessarily better. There are ethical and professional standards that you have to adhere to insofar as you can't mis-quote people or make shit up; but you are free to derive a narrative of your choosing from the facts/original materials, and they are always going to be prejudiced in reflecting your own interpretation. Some are obviously more convincing than others, but the credentials of the author are pretty irrelevant (how could you earn a PhD otherwise?).

2. Who decides what is 'bad history'? David Irving distorted sources (David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt), so that was more a case of worthless history; but 'bad history' could simply be a shitty interpretation, and they do not necessarily have 'damaging effects'.

3. That goes back to the first one, and the logic of it equates the strength of any argument with the reputation of the person making it.

Historians need to wind it in, basically.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Well she mentions our first lecture where she talks about the academic training they go through (PhD, first major piece of work and 'Academic rigour'), peer review, teaching, archival research and 'engagement & outreach').

So basically make them feel more special about themselves.

[Lewis]

That 'engagement and outreach' shit will eventually kill the subject by rendering all research worthless unless it gets on the local news.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You see, Lewis, the great thing about history is that it teaches us about who we are today.

[Lewis]

My old supervisor got fifty-two grand of taxpayers' money to make an interactive map of the old nuclear weapons storage facility at RAF Barnham (now an industrial estate, such is its historical significance), which the university banked, mentioned in a press release, and then forgot about when it denied him research leave to write the book that the entire project was meant to lead towards.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

But did he have a blog? That level of engagement and outreach is VITAL these days.

[Lewis]

There was one geezer who used to (probably still does) list his Guardian/whatever comment pieces in his publications, but he was a known whopper. He threatened not to be on my upgrade panel because he didn't like the tone of my e-mails, so I told him that I didn't want him on it, and then he insisted on doing it. Way to go, mate.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Had a pretty beastly timetable clash with stuff that couldn't be moved.

After weeks they've come up with a solution.

I'll be dropping Britain and Africa (a first level module which I had to defer) and picking up Nation And Identity: Newly Independent States In Interwar Europe, 1918-39. I wanted to do the Propaganda unit but that clashes too.

Still, I'll get to learn about how Poland was raped by others.

[Offshore Toon]

I'm so skint so I've been chucking my CV at everything this week. I've also got an eye on summer events that I won't be able to afford unless I get a proper job (stewarding 2/3 times a month doesn't really help that much).

[Pepe]

Rumor is that the union that the grad students were supposed to sign a contract with has dropped us, since apparently now that Trump is in charge there's no point in even bothering. Lol at that. Meanwhile, the administration is planning to stop calling TAs TAs and instead make them sign up to some sort of 'teaching practicum' so that they can get around the fact that a court decided that TAing is indeed labor.

[Bartholomert]

Isn't it because Missouri is about to become a right-to-work state?

[Pepe]

Could be, but that's not what was said. All of this from third parties though, I am still waiting on clarification. In any case, it doesn't look to me that the move towards unionization will get anywhere over here.

[Lewis]

When I tried to get some teaching responsibilities the stuff I could have done was covered, so I offered to undercut the existing 'Associate Tutors' and do it for free, but they said it was against the rules.

[Pepe]

Darn those regulations stiffling business(men)!

[Pepe]

I think it would be good for me to teach a proper course before I graduate but I am not sure I can be arsed. I know my advisor would be cool with me teaching his undergrad course, but it is fucking Heat Transfer. If it was Thermodynamics I'd be all over it.

[Lewis]

The same small group of suck-ups took about ninety per cent of the seminars, so it was a racket, and I was probably blacklisted when I told their leader not to add me on Facebook.

[Pepe]

:D

As a PhD student are you not required to teach? Here, in the Humanities, everyone teaches as far as I know. Between that and adjuncts they really are taking the piss charging $60,000 a year. But hey, they are building a larger cafeteria in the library!

[Lewis]

It was optional, but you were only eligible to do it once you had upgraded from MPhil to full PhD status, and I sort of fucked myself by doing that as late as possible.

I can't get my head around the American system for it. I'm reading the Harvard Graduate Program[me] site, and the first three years of their seven year PhD (ten years maximum) appears to be doing what you would have been doing on a specialist History degree had you not merely 'majored' in it alongside remedial spelling, road safety, and the pointless conversational French that you have to improve as a post-graduate. I applied for a couple of American post-doctoral positions years ago, and because I didn't have any coursework transcripts to send them I had to attach notes explaining why ('Here in the civilised world, Hank...'). What a stupid system.

[Pepe]

Oh yes. My gf's last course was last semester, during her fifth year. All of her literature courses (might be all of her courses) were mixed undergrad/grad courses. Can't think of anything more lol than that. She also needs to show 'proficiency' in two other languages (apart from English and French) and take two exams (which seem to be basically the same.)

As for me, I still have one more fucking course to take, for a total of twelve. I think two have been worth my time.

[Pepe]

Her department has also invented a new lol 'post-doctoral teaching fellowship,' which is a lecturer with a fancier title which allegedly will be useful in 'the job market.' It's all a disgrace.

[Lewis]

You would think that any post-doctoral position was useful in the job market (since they are so competitive), so that will probably just roll the teaching and administration load from about four positions into a new one, thereby freeing up the salaries from the three redundant people to be put towards giving the most senior layer of management another personal assistant.

[Pepe]

Or for the new Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

[Spoonsky]

It was optional, but you were only eligible to do it once you had upgraded from MPhil to full PhD status, and I sort of fucked myself by doing that as late as possible.

I can't get my head around the American system for it. I'm reading the Harvard Graduate Program[me] site, and the first three years of their seven year PhD (ten years maximum) appears to be doing what you would have been doing on a specialist History degree had you not merely 'majored' in it alongside remedial spelling, road safety, and the pointless conversational French that you have to improve as a post-graduate. I applied for a couple of American post-doctoral positions years ago, and because I didn't have any coursework transcripts to send them I had to attach notes explaining why ('Here in the civilised world, Hank...'). What a stupid system.

Moan all you like, my life is built on that system.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

For the first time in like 2 years (fucking hell) I've actually submitted an essay without the need for an extension. Now it's only an essay plan but it counts for 20% in said module and I've also geeked out quite a bit on it. That's largely because it's a plan for a historiographical essay on how Poland (there were 10 nations to choose from Finland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Irish Free State and Poland) consolidated power as a new nation.

Looking forward to doing the essay too. Planned to talk about the May Coup/Jozef Pilsudski, minorities in the nation, peace treaties/nationalism and border tension/military/Polish-Soviet war.

[ItalAussie]

For the first time in like 2 years (fucking hell) I've actually submitted an essay without the need for an extension.
That's legitimately fantastic to hear. :)

[ItalAussie]

I think it would be good for me to teach a proper course before I graduate but I am not sure I can be arsed. I know my advisor would be cool with me teaching his undergrad course, but it is fucking Heat Transfer. If it was Thermodynamics I'd be all over it.It's probably still a good thing to do. Teaching is a good thing to have on the CV, and it's actually quite fun.


It was optional, but you were only eligible to do it once you had upgraded from MPhil to full PhD status, and I sort of fucked myself by doing that as late as possible.

I can't get my head around the American system for it. I'm reading the Harvard Graduate Program[me] site, and the first three years of their seven year PhD (ten years maximum) appears to be doing what you would have been doing on a specialist History degree had you not merely 'majored' in it alongside remedial spelling, road safety, and the pointless conversational French that you have to improve as a post-graduate. I applied for a couple of American post-doctoral positions years ago, and because I didn't have any coursework transcripts to send them I had to attach notes explaining why ('Here in the civilised world, Hank...'). What a stupid system.
It's really exploitative in the US. PhD students and post-docs cop the worst of it. The system is really top-heavy: the big-name professors can absolutely make bank, but everyone else is expected to basically dedicate their life to slaving constantly.

There's advantages to liberal arts, but I've generally been of the opinion that if you go to uni, you should know why you're going, and therefore you should be able to start specialising immediately. As a rule, US PhD-level courses take you a little further in their discipline than the Australian or UK systems do when you're finished coursework, but at the expense of keeping you there for a half-decade longer than anyone ever should be. But cheap labour, so there's that.

The system everywhere is broken, but there it's really broken.


Her department has also invented a new lol 'post-doctoral teaching fellowship,' which is a lecturer with a fancier title which allegedly will be useful in 'the job market.' It's all a disgrace.
:D I've seen a few of those. I like to think most committees see through it, but they get so many people applying for jobs that they're barely able to give it more than a quick glance. So who knows?

[Lewis]

As a rule, US PhD-level courses take you a little further in their discipline than the Australian or UK systems do when you're finished coursework, but at the expense of keeping you there for a half-decade longer than anyone ever should be. But cheap labour, so there's that.

Do you mean that they count for more when you come to apply for jobs, or that they allow you to develop a better subject knowledge/understanding? My secondary supervisor went through Yale, and whilst she would bear the first one out, I would need to be convinced of the second.

[Pepe]

It's probably still a good thing to do. Teaching is a good thing to have on the CV, and it's actually quite fun.

I know, but as I said, I am not sure I can be arsed. I think I rather ride my bicycle.


It's really exploitative in the US. PhD students and post-docs cop the worst of it.

I'd say adjuncts are the worst off, with postdocs in the sciences not far behind. I honestly believe they should strike, it was not too long ago that I read that 82% of all the courses in the US are taught by adjuncts. If they organized a bit they could really wreck havoc and I don't think a decent salary and a bit of job security is too much to ask.


Btw, I really enjoyed my two years in a liberal arts college, although that one had engineering and I only took one course outside engineering. The level of education was miles above than the one over here.

[ItalAussie]

Do you mean that they count for more when you come to apply for jobs, or that they allow you to develop a better subject knowledge/understanding? My secondary supervisor went through Yale, and whilst she would bear the first one out, I would need to be convinced of the second.

Grad courses at decent universities in the US go further in terms of material than a standard UK or Australian degree. Obviously there are plenty of individual fluctuations.

It's a non-issue, because a post-grad student in Aus/UK will learn relevant stuff independently over the course of their research degree, but there's no doubt that (on average) a US student who has finished their PhD coursework has covered more ground than someone starting a research-only PhD after a focussed undergraduate course. Obviously there are exceptions, etc., but the material does go further. If you do a coursework Masters degree after a standard undergrad course, you've probably covered about the same amount of territory worth of coursework.

I can only comment on the sciences, of course. That's an important caveat.

[ItalAussie]

I know, but as I said, I am not sure I can be arsed. I think I rather ride my bicycle.
I'd say adjuncts are the worst off, with postdocs in the sciences not far behind. I honestly believe they should strike, it was not too long ago that I read that 82% of all the courses in the US are taught by adjuncts. If they organized a bit they could really wreck havoc and I don't think a decent salary and a bit of job security is too much to ask.

Yep. The academics in Australia and the UK are pretty organised, but I think even a whiff of unionisation in the US is pretty damning in a lot of places.

I honestly don't know how you'd fix the system though. I don't even really know what a fixed system would look like.

[Lewis]

Grad courses at decent universities in the US go further in terms of material than a standard UK or Australian degree. Obviously there are plenty of individual fluctuations.

It's a non-issue, because a post-grad student in Aus/UK will learn relevant stuff independently over the course of their research degree, but there's no doubt that (on average) a US student who has finished their PhD coursework has covered more ground than someone starting a research-only PhD after a focussed undergraduate course. Obviously there are exceptions, etc., but the material does go further. If you do a coursework Masters degree after a standard undergrad course, you've probably covered about the same amount of territory worth of coursework.

I can only comment on the sciences, of course. That's an important caveat.

There is probably something in that as far as a broad knowledge goes (I always wonder how you would approach teaching those 'World History 500-1500' survey courses that they all seem to offer, and which I never encountered), but thesis topics would surely end up about the same. They have to meet the same basic requirements, and, on a more practical level, by the time you are good enough to be submitting it how many people will there be in your department capable of telling you new things about it?

[ItalAussie]

Yup. If anything, I think the standard for British and Australian PhD theses is a bit higher than US theses, judging from ones that I've read and people that I've talked to. Because it's only part of their training, it doesn't quite have the same magnitude as the "this is everything" monographs in our system.

They're still very good, of course, because all PhDs further knowledge etc., but I think there might be more expected on our side.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/ubH4tct.png

Ugh.

[Jimmy Floyd]

What qualification are you working towards?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

English Language & Communication and History degree.

What I do after that I don't know. The plan was to do a PGCE to become a Primary school teacher but I'm not so keen now.

[John]

You must have the most limited vocabulary of anyone ever to have studied for a degree in English.

[Magic]

Surely that's the point?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You must have the most limited vocabulary of anyone ever to have studied for a degree in English.

I save my vocabulary for essays.

I'm a man of the people outside of academic writing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

So I have to select my units for next year in the next couple of days and my main decision is dissertation or not.

Choices for English for the year are:

Child Language & Communication
Chunky Language: Investigating Formulaic Sequences
Meaning and Context
Forensic Phonetics
Global Englishes

Clinical Linguistics
Language Processing
Debates in Pragmatics
Gender in Language and Communication
Communication and cultures

Two from each list are needed and I'm thinking Child Language & Global Englishes and Gender in Language and one of the others bar Debates in Pragmatics.

Then History:

Dissertation (10,000 words)
Extended Essay (5000)
Everyday Lives: an Intimate History of Twentieth Century Women
The 1956 Suez Crisis: Causes, Course and Impact, 1945-1962
Popular protest, Riot and Reform in Britain, 1760-1848
Migrants and Minorities in Britain: 1688-1850
The American Pacific Rim: Colonisation, Conflict and Connections, 1800-present

Bodies and Sexuality in the Early Modern Period
How Victorians Saw the World Abroad
Princes and Paupers, 1760-1820
Witch-Bottles to Wishing-Wells: The Material Culture of Everyday Ritual
Thinking with History: Applying Historical Insight to Real Life Issues

It's two from each list (or just one from the second if I choose the dissertation) and I'm thinking either Dissertation/Extended Essay & Everyday Lives with the Witch Bottles and Bodies if I don't do dissertation.

Part of me is worried that I wont be able to do a dissertation and I have no idea what I'd do it on. The only sort of idea is propaganda within comic books.

[phonics]

I'm thinking Child Language & Gender in Language

Then History:
Bodies and Sexuality in the Early Modern Period
Thinking with History: Applying Historical Insight to Real Life Issues



...

[Lewis]

Part of me is worried that I wont be able to do a dissertation and I have no idea what I'd do it on. The only sort of idea is propaganda within comic books.

Fortunately for you, Tony Shaw is probably the best historian of popular media and propaganda in the country.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fortunately for you, Tony Shaw is probably the best historian of popular media and propaganda in the country.
The chance of me getting him as my supervisor is seriously low though. Apparently he only supervises like 3 or 4 a year.

Geezer is a hero.

[Lewis]

Then make it happen. E-mail him as soon as possible (preferably right now) saying that you are sat looking at your options, and that you would like to do a dissertation on whatever it is (throw in some shit about wanting to test yourself on an extended piece of work), and ask if you can have fifteen minutes of his time to meet and discuss whether it would be viable, and, if so, to get some advice on possible approaches. Don't ask him to supervise you now. Go and meet him, make it look like you're interested, and the question of supervision will inevitably come up if he considers it a goer.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Well we had a module choices fair type thing today and I sat down and spoke with him for a few minutes.

He reckons it's viable and he gave me a few ideas.

I'm not going to do a dissertation on it (I'll do the 5,000 word extended essay) and tie it in to world war II probably.

[Adamski]

What kind of job would you expect to get having covered those type of topics at university?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What kind of job would you expect to get having covered those type of topics at university?

It will be an English Language and History degree so it's pretty open despite the wide range of topics.

I went in wanting to be a primary school teacher but now I'm not so sure, although I'd still like to work with kids.

[Adamski]

You could have become a teacher after a couple of years of college instead though, no? Definitely sounds like a varied course, I wouldn't know where to start with some of it!

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You could have become a teacher after a couple of years of college instead though, no? Definitely sounds like a varied course, I wouldn't know where to start with some of it!

I tried some primary education degrees but I failed the interview stages.

[phonics]

You could have become a teacher after a couple of years of college instead though, no? Definitely sounds like a varied course, I wouldn't know where to start with some of it!

He freaked out when a woman sat in a chair next to him and you want him to teach?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He freaked out when a woman sat in a chair next to him and you want him to teach?
I 'freaked out' in the sense of saying to myself 'oh for fucks sake, not her' because I despise her. I'm also not mental with kids.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The coursework for the module is a 4,000 word assignment which is a case study of one L2 speaker of English (your choice who this person is) and assesses (primarily through interviews) to what extent he/she is a core member of their culture. As this is worth 100% you submit a first draft by Week 8 for me to give formative feedback on so you can improve and edit your draft before final submission.

In terms of topics, we cover the following from an ICC (Intercultural Communication) perspective:

- facets of the concept of culture
- stereotyping
- cultural practices
- data collection (to help with your assignment)
- language and identity
- verbal and non-verbal communication
- Othering and barriers to ICC
- Conflict and face theory

Ugh, I guess that module is out.

[Lewis]

Well we had a module choices fair type thing today and I sat down and spoke with him for a few minutes.

He reckons it's viable and he gave me a few ideas.

I'm not going to do a dissertation on it (I'll do the 5,000 word extended essay) and tie it in to world war II probably.

That's good. Plus you're in a better position to keep getting feedback on it now.

[randomlegend]

I wanted to give med school a last shot after I'd got treated for my depression, in the hope it was the depression making med school shit rather than med school making me depressed.

It's still just shit though. I just wanna leave and do something else, but given all the years that have gone into it and all the effort it seems nuts to throw it away now. I feel like I'm probably going to fail anyway since I have absolute no motivation, so maybe I should just jump before I'm pushed.

[Pepe]

How long do you have left? If you do finish, do you want to be a doctor? What alternatives do you have or have you though of?

[Offshore Toon]

I wanted to give med school a last shot after I'd got treated for my depression, in the hope it was the depression making med school shit rather than med school making me depressed.

It's still just shit though. I just wanna leave and do something else, but given all the years that have gone into it and all the effort it seems nuts to throw it away now. I feel like I'm probably going to fail anyway since I have absolute no motivation, so maybe I should just jump before I'm pushed.
How much longer is left? My situation isn't too dissimilar but I only had a year to get through.

[Lewis]

More importantly, if you binned out of it now, how much debt would you have accumulated for nothing?

[randomlegend]

A year left, but the thought of finals makes me want to just do myself in now.

I don't really care about the debt, to be honest.

No I don't want to be a doctor. I have no idea what I would do instead.

[Pepe]

Do you want to be a doctor? No point in finishing if you don't. Also, just because you have done something that makes you miserable for a while doesn't mean you have to keep doing it forever just because 'I've already invested so much in it.'

[randomlegend]

No, I really don't want to be a doctor. But the reality is if I leave now I'm 25 with essentially no qualification beyond A-level (I think I'll have some trash-tier unclassified degree in Medical Science or something).

Really what I want to do is work with food.

[Adamski]

Then quit and go to catering college for a year, get a job as a pot washer and work your way up.

[Offshore Toon]

Just accept that most of the next year is going to be shit and do it. It'll be character building.

[Pepe]

No, I really don't want to be a doctor. But the reality is if I leave now I'm 25 with essentially no qualification beyond A-level (I think I'll have some trash-tier unclassified degree in Medical Science or something).

Really what I want to do is work with food.

Then get the fuck out of there and start working with food. Your medical qualification will do fuck all for you in that field. Also, 25 is still very young, no need to beat yourself up because omgz I have no qualifications.

[phonics]

I'm not sure working in a kitchen under extreme pressure is the ideal workplace scenario but I'd rather my baker had a breakdown over my croissant than my doctor during my open heart surgery I guess.

[randomlegend]

It's not that I find it too 'stressful', I just hate it.

[7om]

Aside from hating it, have you got the ability to pass and come out of it with a proper qualification? If yes, I'd personally consider hating something for one year and getting the qualification just in case it was something you ever wanted to go back to.

[randomlegend]

If I stick it out, then I'll be a doctor in just over a year.

If I'd enjoyed it up until now and was only now hating it I could stick a year, but I've been at it like this for years now. It's so soul destroying. I really am sure I don't want to be a doctor to be honest.

[Lewis]

If you quit now you're just another faggot with a whisk. If you become a doctor first then you have a ready-made gimmick, and you can lie your way into opportunities by claiming to have ended your medical career to follow your true passion.

[Offshore Toon]

People would actually lap up the whole 'the chef is a doctor so you know its healthy' shit.

[Pepe]

Chef? Let's not get carried away here.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

As soon as he starts though 'Dr Christian' would muscle in.

[Spoonsky]

Then quit and go to catering college for a year, get a job as a pot washer and work your way up.


Just accept that most of the next year is going to be shit and do it. It'll be character building.

Take Adamski's advice. Apply Offy's to it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have two 2,500 word essays due on Monday afternoon and I've got absolutely no motivation to do them. Doesn't help that I only need around 30 marks on each to pass the units.

Explain both code-switching and diglossia, and the reasons why speakers may practise such phenomena.

How well did Britain deal with the consequences of the demobilisation of its armies and navies between 1688 and 1815?

They're not even that hard but I really cannot be arsed :(

[Lewis]

That second one is the sort of topic you pick without actually thinking about, and then when you come to doing it you realise you've actually committed to writing about unemployment and bread prices.

[Magic]

I have to renew my certs before August. I really don't want to do it like last time, where I took about 6 pages of notes per chapter, mind maps and command references (:sick:).

I got 15/21 on my pre-study gauge test so think I'm in good stead, I have all the experience now unlike last time.

[Pepe]

#engineerlife

[Magic]

Of course I meant to say does anyone have any studying tips.

[Pepe]

Adderall.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just cheat.

[Offshore Toon]

Take the text you need to learn. Read it multiple times. Then start to condense it more and more, but with each stage test yourself to make sure you're not missing out any crucial information. Ideally you'll condense it to the point where you have just one page of notes that you can remake as soon as the exam starts. From there, its easy street since you've practically got all the material in the exam with you.

[Raoul Duke]

Beware primacy & recency - revise the stuff in different orders as you'll tend to remember the first/most recent stuff, while the opposite will be harder to recall

[niko_cee]

Remaking a sheet of notes during an exam sounds like exam technique failure 101. How can you afford that time?

[Offshore Toon]

It takes about 2 minutes. I wouldn't do it for a maths exam or anything, but noting down a sheet of keywords and dates really doesn't take long.

[niko_cee]

Aye, but if you know them well enough to rewrite a crib sheet, surely you can just remember them for the course of the exam? I can sort of understand going in with outline essay plans/structures for certain questions/topics if that is how you are being tested, but even then, by the point you've lodged it in your brain well enough for it to be there at the beginning of the exam, is it really going to leak out before the end? I can understand why it might be preferable in terms of making sure you cover everything, but then I go back to the original point about time.

[Offshore Toon]

Possibly, but I've found having prompts helpful. If I've got my notes condensed anyway, then I might as well jot them out while they're fresh in the memory from 5 minutes ago. It makes planning your answers so much easier as well. There's no point risking your mind going blank.

[Offshore Toon]

End of year deadlines have all pushed back a week because there've been problems with IT services, apparently. Hasn't effected me in the slightest, but I'll definitely take it.

[randomlegend]

Someone kicking off next to me in the library because they've fucked up her login. She's just shouted "I JUST WANT TO PRINT OFF SOME FUCKING SHAKESPEARE" :D

[Offshore Toon]

What's the consensus on swearing in a dissertation title?

[Kikó]

Bollocks to it.

[Offshore Toon]

I'm a bit worried I'd get my head chopped off by ISIS, but I like it.

‘Fuck Islam!’ Rejection of conservative Islamic ideology through a punk-inspired pursuit of Western Muslim identity.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I think that's alright.

[Offshore Toon]

"Swearing is not only fine, but encouraged."

Wasn't expecting that back from my tutor.

[Spammer]

I like it.

[Spoonsky]

Socio-Cultural Anthropology. - ANTH 202 - 001
Modern History of Islamic Movements. - HIST 240 - 001
Intermediate Italian Intensive. - ITAL 216 - 001
Introduction to Moral Philosophy 1. - PHIL 230 - 001

'mon. :cool:

[Lewis]

We must have covered three of those here. Ask them if you can skip a term.

[Pepe]

Four courses only? Are you on trimesters?

[Reg]

Looks good, Spoon. The variety should keep you interested. Is that a first year of four?

[niko_cee]

Do you actually learn anything at North American universities or do you just waste your life (and money?) on a series of introductory non-courses?

[Pepe]

He's studying in Canada.

[Pepe]

But yes, there is a lot of time wasting. But the College Experience.

[niko_cee]

Has Canada detached itself whilst I wasn't looking?

Anyway, it was more of an honest question than the pithiness perhaps suggested. What do you end up with? Is it just a 'college degree'? Presumably there must be some subjects where you can't spend your time pissing about taking foreign languages and existentialism on the side or does that all have to happen postgrad?

[Pepe]

Just noticed you wrote North American, my bad.

Depends where you go and what you study, but there are usually a lot of general education requirements. The first two years tend to be a lot of intro classes to all kinds of stuff. The last two years it depends on the student, really. You can take advanced courses if you want, but you can also get away with taking the bs ones for the full length. All degrees have space for 'pissing about taking foreign languages and existentialism on the side.'

[Spoonsky]

The science and math ones are a lot more specified and intensive. Even with things like philosophy you can get pretty intense in the last couple of years if you choose. Me I don't know exactly what I want to study most, so I'm taking a year (I have enough credits to graduate in three years, but I'll do four because why not) to piss around and see what's shit and what's interesting. But yeah, my courses at the moment are setting me on the fine path to Starbucks.

Pepe the Italian counts for six credits. But 4-5 classes is pretty standard, especially four in the first semester while you sort your life out / join a million clubs.

[7om]

Fuck the haters, Spoon. Enjoy it, because what comes next is not pretty whatsoever.

[Pepe]

The science and math ones are a lot more specified and intensive. Even with things like philosophy you can get pretty intense in the last couple of years if you choose. Me I don't know exactly what I want to study most, so I'm taking a year (I have enough credits to graduate in three years, but I'll do four because why not) to piss around and see what's shit and what's interesting. But yeah, my courses at the moment are setting me on the fine path to Starbucks.

Pepe the Italian counts for six credits. But 4-5 classes is pretty standard, especially four in the first semester while you sort your life out / join a million clubs.

Engineering is more specified since the ABET requirements need to be met. That, however, does not make it more specific. If anything, it gives you less leeway if you really wanted to get deep into a specific area.

Four classes is a good number. I probably wouldn't go any higher than that if possible. It just makes you put less attention into each of them.

[mugbull]

Graduated on Sunday. Existential as fuck. Enjoy this shit, Spoon, and do as much as you possibly can.

[Spammer]

Graduated on Sunday. Existential as fuck. Enjoy this shit, Spoon, and do as much as you possibly can.

:D

It really is actually. I had a bit of a wobble after uni as I suddenly had to consider my life more than a year into the future.

[phonics]

Socio-Cultural Anthropology. - ANTH 202 - 001
Modern History of Islamic Movements. - HIST 240 - 001
Intermediate Italian Intensive. - ITAL 216 - 001
Introduction to Moral Philosophy 1. - PHIL 230 - 001

'mon. :cool:

:facepalm:

He's going to do a Boydy but with enough privilege to actually get a job out of it at the end.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I could do electives on my course. Did both on History, which really opened my eyes to how boring historians are.

[Spammer]

I did a couple of English Literature modules and donned the shit out of them. English Lit is really great because you can argue any old shite so long as you back up what you're saying.

The hidden message of the book is that Scout Finch was actually black herself, as is shown...

[phonics]

The world would be a better place if higher education was strictly vocational.

[ItalAussie]

My students had their final exam the other day, and I've just done two straight days of marking. I'm concerned I made the exam possibly a question too long. Still, there's a good spread between 50 and 100. Possibly a couple more fails than I'd like, so there may have to be a little bit of scaling.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Trying to do a 'Sounds of English' assignment for Monday.

http://i.imgur.com/n0azE19.png

I have no fucking idea what any of that means in the last 2 columns.

[Spikey M]

They mean that you should be paying more attention.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTGaG6vGGZYa0DHQ0BFdmNNe5TQcKbLp uvfpF_fM5UBgBRPHJYnGg

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I tried, it went in one ear and out the other.

The subject is complete shit and makes me feel like a drooling mongo because I just don't get it.

[Spammer]

Said goodbye to my counselling coursemates yesterday, after two years of studying together.

It was totes emosh.

[Offshore Toon]

I got 85% on my history dissertation and 65% on my English dissertation. I was expecting about 10% less for each, so obviously I'm rather chuffed. Overall I got a 2:2 by 1% which I should be able to appeal and make a 2:1. Unfortunately Sussex give second year a 40% weighting, where as I believe most universities usually give 25%. 25% would have just scraped a 2:1. I recognise I left it far too late to pull my finger out after mucking about in second year, but there have been events that have made the last few years extremely shit at times.

[Lewis]

That is good. What was it on?

[Offshore Toon]

The role of religion in Nation of Islam and Five Percent Nation engagement, using hip hop lyrics and interviews to show that it wasn't important.

[Offshore Toon]

Just reading through my dissertation feedback now.

"Please get in touch if you would like to discuss trying to get this published -- we'd need to get it read by a black power expert, but I think there is significant potential here."

If I get fucking published nobody will be able to dispute that Team Refuge are the biggest dons.

[phonics]

I love the idea of having a title that reads 'Black Power Expert'

[Offshore Toon]

That'll be me soon enough.

[Offshore Toon]

Appeal was successful so got the 2:1, which is a relief. Graduation was actually quite fun too. I was expecting to be crap, but the fat bloke from Goodness Gracious Me is chancellor and he was pretty good. The clapping gets a bit much though.

[Reg]

Well done Offy. What are your plans now?

[Offshore Toon]

Cheers, mate. I wanna stay in the area. There are loads of creative roles around so hopefully I'll find something soon because I've only got another month and a bit that I can live rent free. Suppose I'll try and get published on the side as well but the 'black power experts' are busy until Autumn term starts.

[Spikey M]

Played Onshore.

[Magic]

My exam is next Saturday and I've been putting in about 4 hours roughly a day for the past 2 weeks. At the weekend I did an 8 hour stint. Fuck this.

Can you believe work have booked me in on another full day training course 2 HOURS AWAY 6 days before my exam? Absolute cuntery.

I'm nearly finished my course notes, I'll have to revise the shit out of them (about 60 pages of key points), do the practical stuff, and finally take 3 practice exams, maximum twice. All that in about a week. :sick:

[Boydy]

What's your exam on?

[Magic]

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccna/icnd2/exam-topics

[phonics]

I was going to say routers as a joke but it's actually routers.

[Magic]

Why is that a joke?