DD307 Exam

As I mentioned, on the 8th October 2014 I had the final exam for my degree which was the exam for DD307 Social Psychology: critical perspectives on self and others. In comparison to the TMA questions and the course material I was pleasantly surprised by the questions which came up in the exam. There were four blocks, each with a choice of two questions, and you had to select 1 question from 3 different blocks to answer. Below are the three questions I opted for:

Critically evaluate the contribution of quantitative methods to our understanding
of attitudes.

Compare and contrast cognitive social and discursive psychological approaches
to the study of groups and crowds.

Compare and contrast cognitive social and discursive psychological approaches
to the study of groups and crowds.

I don’t feel as though it was my strongest exam but I answered all three questions to the best of my ability and whatever the results, which are out on 5th December, I most definitely couldn’t have put in any more preparation and revision than I did.

For anyone who reads this post in the future or who will be completing DD307 as part of their degree pathway I strongly recommend revising much earlier than you are timetabled. I also recommended getting to grips with the four perspectives covered along with the interrogative themes as early as possible and really focus on them throughout the entire module as it seems to be a major focus and way to pick up marks!

I will do an update post when I receive my results so until then fingers crossed!

Four years

Well for the past four years I have been working towards an honours degree in Criminology and Psychological studies and on Wednesday 8th October 2014 at 1pm I put my pen down after the final exam. Four years of work now over! It’s a strange feeling and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet, I just feel as though I am having a break between modules. I have been having some much needed down time since then but I am looking forward to getting stuck back into blogging!

Revision Tip 1

I know for many it’s coming up to the start of the academic year but for those who are, like myself, part of the Open University or another institution who may have exams at differing times I thought it might be helpful to share some ways in which I revise. More so than essay writing I am always keen to hear how other people retain vital exam information as it’s something I find quite unpredictable and I don’t seem to be as consistent as with essay writing. For example, in a previous Open University module, the exam was made up of three essay questions each with the same weighting and I managed to obtain a mark in the 90’s for one part but then much lower marks for the other two.

So with my (hopefully) final undergraduate exam now next month I thought I would share, over a few posts, a couple of ways I revise. I would love to hear in the comments how you best revise.

Flash Cards


Something I have done the whole way throughout my degree is create flash cards. I find these brilliant for remembering definitions, dates etc. and smaller chunks of information. For myself they don’t work if I overload them and try and use them to condense a whole topic or chapter but they are great as small prompts. However I know of people who use them to summarise whole books and it works for them! I *try* and create these as I go throughout the module texts and then use them on a regular basis to recap what I have already gone through. This does mean that by the time revision has come around many may seem quite simple as my knowledge around the topic has been built up but the great thing about hand writing flash cards is you can always add to them. Unfortunately for DD307 I have failed to do this and only really going back through them now!

You can create flash cards on the computer, scrap paper or whatever takes your fancy but I like the thick, large index cards and some good old sharpies!

Remember to let me know your revision tips!
Sophie

DD307 – Social Psychology, Week 23

It’s actually very nice only working on only one module! As I overlapped DSE212 and DD307 I often felt overwhelemed with the workload and wasn’t able to do much, if any, of the additional reading etc. Now that I have my DSE212 results I can concentrate fully on DD307.

This weeks is timetabled to be assignment week to work on TMA 05. I am a little behind on the reading so still catching up but we do have until the 7th of August to submit this essay. I am working towards a personal deadline of a week on Friday to have this essay complete.

This is the first TMA of the module I have actually been excited for when I looked at the essay question:

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a discursive approach to studying obedience. Make reference to agency and power in your answer.
Word limit: 2000

I am really enjoying the reading for this essay, particularly the comparison between Stanley Milgram’s infamous work and Stephen Gibson’s more recent work analysing tape recordings taken at the time of Milgram’s experiments.

What’s everyone else working towards at the moment?

Results are in…

So today I received my results for DSE212 – a week early. I do find the grading of the OU slightly difficult to get my head around in that not every module counts and others count in different ways etc. Level 1 courses do not go towards the final classification of your degree providing you pass, so in theory weather you get a 41 or a 95 it is irrelevant. However level 2’s go some way towards the final classification and level 3’s count considerably (from what I gather!) So far I have received grade 2 passes for every module I have completed, which is the equivalent to a 2:1 however when I logged on to my student homepage to retrieve my results I found I had been awarded a grade 4 pass, equivalent to a third. With regards to my essays I achieved;
70, 75, 72, 72, 83 and 93
However my exam was graded at 51 which, due to the weighting of the exam, has taken me down to a third. I feel disappointed at myself however I worked as hard as I could when it came to revision considering I am also studying towards DD307 and working. If I do well at DD307 I could still be on track however I now feel a considerable amount of pressure. DD307 is the first module I have seriously struggled with, and according to forums and Facebook groups I’m not the only one! I haven’t scored too highly on my TMA’s in DD307 so far and I’m trying not to panic now! I think it may be sensible to continue working on the essays in the same way but start thinking about beginning revision now.
I do feel as though Open University exam’s shouldn’t be so highly weighted towards your final grade as many people use the OU as they have many other commitments, I haven’t found the same support is offered for exams with the OU as it is to students studying at a brick uni.

Anyway this has turned into a pretty long post about nothing! I just wanted to share with you my results and hope that others who may be studying DSE212 in the future will be able to learn from my mistakes and focus on revision earlier that is timetabled!

For anyone who had received results or will be soon well done and good luck 🙂

DD307 project

So I have now completed and submitted my ‘project’ for DD307, which is pretty heftily weighted and goes alongside my overall TMA score and my final exam score in order to determine my final module grade. I must admit I thought that this would be favourite part of the module as I thoroughly enjoyed the choice and flexibility which was involved with the DD301, Crime and Justice, project. However this wasn’t the case! I found the time between TMA 03, the project proposal, and the time allowed for completing the project, TMA 04, just wasn’t suffice! This project was different to DD301 in the sense that we had to complete and analyse our own interviews which we had to record and transcribe (such a lengthy process!) and complete a report in a pretty standard format:

Abstract
Background and Research Question
Method
Analysis
Discussion
Conclusion

When we submitted our proposal we had to choose an approach to adopt. The choices were;
Phenomenological
Discursive Psychology
Social Psychoanalytic

I decided to adopt a discursive psychological approach as this fitted with my research question. I enjoyed finding out more about this approach and it was an interest process however I don’t feel I have benefited a great deal of psychological knowledge from doing this project. For DD301 I focussed on mass incarceration and I still now feel as though I gained a deeper insight into my chosen topic. This project had a different focus and it was placed on the the approach taken and the process in which you undertook in order to achieve your research along with how you analyse your data in accordance with your perspective. I understand that, as a social psychology module, this is the focus but I would have loved to be able to investigate a topic in greater depth and I didn’t feel as though there was the time or scope to do this with this project.

I would advise anyone who will be doing DD307 in the future to take their time with the project and get started as early as possible as it does contribute towards 30% of your final grade so is heavily weighted in comparison to standard TMA’s. I didn’t find that following the time set out was enough and would advise people to get a head start. Also take time to choose an area to research as even now I am not sure that I choose a topic to best understand my approach. Once I have received my marks and feedback I will do another post which should hopefully provide some more advice for future DD307’ers!

Hooray!!

It’s over and I survived!!
On Tuesday 3rd June at 1pm I officially finished DSE212, the penultimate module for my degree. I want to say good luck to everyone with upcoming exams and well done to everyone who may have recently had an exam!

I found DSE212 to be a pretty challenging exam, and there was A LOT to revise. I would recommend starting early for anyone who will be completing it as part of their degree (no matter what your tutor says!) The exam was composed of three parts;
-A list of 8 key terms and you had to write a paragraph on 5 of the 8 (there was 45 to revise so pretty tricky) I was confident with 4 of them but my fifth choice ended up being a sentence long!
-Next was 2 essays, with 45 minutes for each. I chose the cognitive approach to learning option and comparing the psychoanalytic and humanistic perspectives approach to change.
-The final part was another 45 minute essay with a choice of a question from each chapter in the final module text book. I struggled with this section and went for the lifespan development option but I have no idea how I managed with it and feel as though this may be the section which has let me down.

It’s a pretty short wait this year until results are out on 14th of July so I have everything crossed. I am extremely happy and proud of my TMA results for this module but unfortunately due to the weighting of the exam it could bring me down grade boundaries pretty easily if I don’t do so well in the exam! It is all over now and I am going to enjoy finishing off my final module, DD307 in a less stressful manor! Due to overlapping the two modules, which are both pretty demanding, my marks for DD307 haven’t been as good as I would like so I am hoping I have time to pull it round!

The End is in Sight, DSE212

This happens every module but I can’t quite believe that I am finishing the reading and beginning to put together a plan for the final TMA of DSE212…..it’s scary! When I first started DSE212 I was rather apprehensive. I think mainly this was due to the fact that I had only previously completed criminology related modules and I was leaving this all behind to begin the psychology element to my degree. My nerves increased at my first tutorial as I was the only student who wasn’t going down the straight psychology route and so the only one who hadn’t completed level 1 and level 2 psychology modules. I remember looking through all of the module texts and purchasing some past papers and feeling as though much of it was in a foreign language! But week by week, following the study planner, things began to make more sense and I managed to achieve the highest mark of my degree yet with my past DSE212 TMA, with 93! This last essay is all about nature v nurture and something I am interested in but I also feel a little scared that this is the last piece of work to be handed in before the exam. I am nervous about the exam but I am going to create a revision timetable and try and use my time left as effectively as possible.

So which modules are people finishing and what’s next on the agenda?

A Social Psychology Book Recommendation

When I began DSE212 and DD307, the two compulsory psychology modules for my degree, I purchased a number of the recommended books as in comparison to my criminology book collection, my psychology shelf was rather bare! I tried to purchase books covering topics I had a greater interest as they would also come in use in the future, however often until you get your hands on the book you don’t know just how suitable it will be. Luckily all of the books I purchased have come in handy, needless to say some have been a great deal more useful than others. However there is one stand out book for me which has come in handy throughout all of DD307 so far. It is social psychology specific and hasn’t been suitable for DSE212 but I knew that before purchasing. The book in question is Social Psychology, Experimental and Critical Approaches by Wendy Stainton Rogers.

This book covers all areas of DD307 and often has made specific ideas or topics much more digestible than the module text books! I have not, and most likely will not, be reading this book cover to cover but it’s so easy to flick to the section needed and study specific chunks or chapters! It includes a helpful glossary which gives a succinct definition of most of the social psychology related words you need. At the end of every chapter there is a further reading list along with a list of thought provoking questions which are really interesting.

I purchased this book second hand and I would most definitely recommended anyone who is doing DD307, or another social psychology related course to get a copy of this book!

DSE212 & DD307 update

The time seems to be flying over and workload wise things are crazy at the moment. I am now up to TMA05 with DSE212 which is a 2500 word qualitative report. *So far* I am finding it a great deal more enjoyable than the quantitative report we had a while back, which I really struggled with, however I much prefer debates and essay writing to reports! It’s due in on 23rd of April, so next Wednesday, and my plan is to focus solely on this until then and then move on the the project proposal for DD307 due in 15th May. Trying to split my time between the two gets extremely confusing and I find it easier to focus on one then the other.

The DSE212 report is so so and I am not overly excited about it but so far I feel it is going well. I am however really looking forward to getting stuck into the project proposal for DD307 and the actual project (which I think follows!) I have only started jotting down some thoughts for the proposal and read through the project booklet as from next Wednesday this will be my focus. DD307 is a minefield and although module material wise there is only 2 small text books, there is so much information contained within! I am still waiting to hear back from my tutor with some queries I had as there is so much to the proposal but if all goes well I am hoping to bring a criminological element to it!

My biggest concern at the moment is that added into the mix will be revision for the DSE212 exam in June, I started off preparing for the exam early on as alongside standard revision there is 45 key terms to learn however due to other commitments I haven’t done anything revision wise since before Christmas! Once the exam is over I can be fully dedicated to DD307 which *should* make a huge difference!

How is everyone else getting on?