And The Result Is… SADIE THREE!

I started talking about my plans to enrol in the OU and going through the application process, etc, here – my “Simple Minds” blog…as if would be of interest to anyone.

I’ve also been talking about the study I’ve been doing through the weeks and the disappointment I felt with my first assignment result.

As a consequence, I tried to put my latest assignment to the back of my mind as soon as I submitted it. Although it was due on April 5th – the day of the Aberdeen gig, I wanted to make sure that I submitted it at least two days prior to that.

I got it submitted on the Friday before (March 31st). Then I just freaked out about the gigs and let all of that take over…

Of course, once they were done and I was trying to get back to study whilst simultaneously feeling drained and wondering where all the minuscule amount of energy I had left each day had deserted me, my mind started to wander back to the assignment.

I tried to figure out when it would be due. We’re told that the usual guide is a result around 10 working days from submission. That meant it would be due today, but I was factoring in Easter and we were told it COULD take up to three weeks for a result. With that in mind I wasn’t expecting a result in today, but maybe at the end of this week or most likely early next week.

Well, no one was more surprised than me to get an email from the OU this morning to tell me that my assignment mark was awaiting collection.

Did I want to look? Well…not looking wasn’t going to make the result any better…and…who knows? Maybe I did do better this time?

Well, blow me down! Before I even got to open the folder properly I could see that my mark was EIGHTY-THREE! (Are they marking out of 200 now? Lol)

The assignment was in three parts – two essays worth 40 marks each, and a reflective study essay worth 20 marks. I scored 34 for each of the 40 mark essays and 15 for the 20 mark essay, giving me the grand total of “Sadie Three”…though I would have been just as pleased with Sadie’s One, Two or Four.

In my pursuit to rationalise and feel better about my previous result I looked at the grade criteria as set out by the OU. Last time I was in the low to mid range of a ‘Clear pass’ grade, having scored 60. This time I am at the top end of a ‘Good’ grade, having scored 83. Wow!

And my feedback from my tutor is amazing! And I understand fully what is missing and what I failed to score marks on, or more to the point the things I missed or should factor in to achieve a higher mark next time.

I AM SSOOOO HAPPY!

If only I could feel that Jim actually still likes me (tenuous thought, and somewhat deluded on my part to believe he ever did in the first place, but hey ho…) and things would be feeling pretty sweet right now.

I just have to crack melody! It’s the fucker that let me down on my Mozart essay. And I grappled with it again this week in my study of The Blues. I won’t let it defeat me! I’ll understand what it is, and know how detect it and define it if it bloody kills me!

I’m sure Jim must have thought that I was either taking the piss, or the dumbest fuck in existence when I asked him once to explain melody to me – but I was deadly serious! It’s like I have this blind spot – I just don’t get it! I mean…I think I know what it is now but I can’t find it in the music I listen to. I’m just aurally inept at hearing it. Or maybe I really STILL don’t know what it is and that’s why I can’t find it…

*shrugs*

Dunno! But for now, I’m going to just sit with the good stuff and be thankful for my bloody GOOD “Sadie Three” assignment result.

??????????