All work that I had to do at home is now compleat. I only have to do assessments in class for English Lit., history and Spanish.

Today is review day on the Access course and what I thought about it.

OVERVIEW.

In a lot of ways I was very nervous about this course. First of all I had been away from education for 28 years and I did not know what to expect. On the first day I met previous students of this course and I felt a bit overwhelmed by what they had to say. I had left a secure job paying a good wage and I was starting to think, that maybe I had done the wrong thing. As the week progressed I started to settle in and realised this was just what I needed, something to push and challenge me. I had been a manager and was used to working to deadlines, time management and being focused on what I was doing. These skills were transferable to the learning process. The course has progressed at a good pace. Over the past year I have learned how to investigate topics on my own, work in a group, present my ideas, write essays, both critical and factual and also understanding a new language (to a certain extent.)

I found the tutors were very supportive and the subjects were interesting. English Lit was a struggle to begin with, but I now have a better understanding of poetry. All the other subjects have been very good. I found the trick was to keep an open mind and keep pushing myself. I am now near the end of the course and I can look over the past year with satisfaction and pride. I have put a lot of hard work into this and I am ready to reap the rewards, namely a place at Edinburgh Uni. I would never have been able to achieve this without this course.

All the subjects apart from Study skills felt relative to what I was doing. I have singled out Study skills because at first I thought the information i was getting was a bit daft e.g. "make sure you have a proper desk to study at, in your house" One of the best bits of advice I could have received. Study Skills does make sense after a while because it does give you the skills to learn. This might sound silly, but no matter how long you have been out of the education system, it is always good to be kept informed and hear about new ideas on how to make study more simplistic. What I liked about most of the topics was the fact that, after the tutors explained the subject with me , I then had to go and under my own steam, produce a written piece of work to reflect my understanding on the subject. Feed back was quick and the comments were always helpful.

I look back on the past year and I can see how I have improved. My thinking process and my outlook on life has changed along with my self esteem. I am now able to look forward and know that so many doors are going to be open to me. I really only have positive things to say about the course and the tutors on it. However, room changes and lack of facility's in some of the classrooms left both myself and the tutor perplexed. I felt that some of tutors were being a little lax with their deadlines. I would make sure that I would have my essays done on time, only to find out that others still had not started theirs. To me this defeated the purpose of setting a deadline. These are niggling details, as I have mentioned before, this course suited my needs.

The main thing I have learned on this course, is not to be afraid of new challenges. Ask, if I'm not sure. Keep focused and enjoy the experience. I have, throughout this year set myself targets and I have been able to achieve them. I now feel confident to say, "I'm going to be a University student."

College has given me the opportunity to see that I am more than a butcher and that I do have untapped knowledge and potential. I am now starting to formulate plans and ideas for my future that I would never have imagined last year would be possible.

Right then let's review my progress on the targets that I set myself for last time.

History: I have only one whole essay to do at home and to tidy up my personal project. My timetable for this is on track. Essay will be in on time 14/05/10 and personal project will be in the week after for Evan to evaluate. I'm on top of this and will finish by the end of May.

English Lit: Comparative essay was difficult, but I have this ready to hand in for 11/05/10. The class essay is still to be done. Therefore, I am on course to have this ended by May.

Spanish: Oral and writing to be done in class. These are the only I have. To combat this I am exploiting my Spanish friends and girlfriend. These are classroom exercises and will be completed in due course.

Maths: I only have half of outcome 4 to do and outcome 5, but outcome 5 is straight forward and I will be able to do that on 11/05/10. Outcome 4 on the other hand is on algebra, which is as clear as mud to me, so it might take a bit longer. I want to have this done by 18/05/10.

Yet again I am writing this to outline what I have left to do on this course and the timescale I will take to do this.

HISTORY: 2 essays on Germany. This will take me 1 week. Personal investigation, 2-3 weeks.

ENGLISH LIT: 3 essays. 2 at home, 1 in class, 5 weeks for all, this is a liberal estimate.

SPANISH: There are still 3 assessments left to do and the only one I have concerns with is the oral assessment. This should be compleated by the end of May.

All the above will be reviewed on a weekly basis to see if I'm on track.

Easter break is over and only 8 weeks left to go, Christ.
I can safely say that I have finished communication, investigating Europe and maths (well I'll leave that one for now.)
History is ongoing but I am making a start on the last 2 essays and I have a good understanding on the topic so I should find them easier than the previous ones. My own topic is ready to type, so I'm not to worried about this subject.
English Lit is another matter. I'm struggling with my comparative essay and I will have to talk to Maddy about this. My own critical essay is OK because I know the story well.
Spanish (when she can get back!) is still hard but I am doing enough to pass. Dose not seem to matter what I do I can't seem to get to grips with it.
Diacas class is still a good opportunity to raise any concerns regarding the course and to discover things that will help me study even at this late stage.
I have a meeting with Jordi to discuss the course so far.
All in all things have went a hell of a lot better than I thought they were going to go at the start of the course.

TIME TABLE FOR FORTH COMING ASSESSMENTS.

SUBJECT ASSESSMENT PLAN TO COMPLETE

SPANISH LISTENING THESE WILL BE DONE
ORAL ON SET DAYS AND I
WRITING CONTINUES STUDY.


COMMS 2 PRESENTATIONS READY TO DELIVER
2 OUTCOMES READY TO DELIVER


ENG. LIT. COMPARATIVE COMPLETE 1 OVER
ESSAYS EASTER THEN AS
THEY ARE REQUIRED.


HISTORY INVESTIGATION TO HAND IN AFTER
2 ESSAYS EASTER. ESSAYS
STILL TO BE ISSUED
2 WEEKS TO DO.


At the moment I have 2 outstanding assessments for communication but they will only take 3 days to finish and I will hand them in on Thursday.
English Lit. and history is still to be handed out but I have already started my history investigation. On average an essay takes me 2 weeks and I know that we have 2 essays for history after Easter so that is a month straight off. English is only 750 words so this will take me less time to complete. I confident that I will achieve the entire course work in the time allocated without getting stressed.

Been a while since I have done this, so I should have done what I set out to do last time.

Eng Lit: read Heart of Darkness, God it was hard going, not my type of book but I feel ready to answer questions on it. New poem by TS Elliot, that was a bit dark but it gave an insight into an Edwardian mans frame of mind. Expect there will be questions on this as well.

Spanish: Not getting any easier but I seem to be doing ok in the tests, just have to stick with it.

Communication: Done the group talk, went well, have my other 2 talks prepared and will do them on Thursday also hand in my 2 other written outcomes.

History: gearing up for the next essay which should be on Versilles Treaty and reading up on my personal investigation.

Study Skills: Not been for 2 weeks, so I will find out what I have missed on Monday.