So I guess you want to hear about how level 5 is? It’s, logically, a step up compared to last year.
From the first lecture, the lectures pretty much go straight into what assignments you have, and what is expected from you. This is great in one sense as you are aware of what you need to do and are prepared in some ways for upcoming deadlines. On the other hand, it’s a change from the first year where it was more relaxed and was focused primarily on setting the foundations of the skills you need to survive the next few years of your degree.
Time is flying by, especially as it feels like there is a lot more due and within a short amount of time. It’s like “wait, that assessment is due already? Where did the time go?”
There are more individual-based assignments compared to last year, where, for example, we had group presentations, group wiki (basically a group working on an essay) group video etc. so now, though there are some group projects; the write-up and marking of the assignments are primarily individual-based.
This meant that last year, I built and developed on my teamwork and leadership skills. This year you enhance your time management skills and prioritising further, as well as improving on projects such as on research proposals/ reports/ essays etc.
So, as I feel there is more emphasis on the assignments, I’ll provide you with some more details on them.
This semester I am taking research methods; only for one semester, though! Within this module, we have already given in the first project, which was a research proposal, on something of your choice. This is to prepare you for next year when it comes to your dissertation. I worked on this every day for nearly two weeks, changing my topic several times! Next up will be the group presentation which will take please beginning of next year.
Next up is social and developmental, but we are only doing social this semester. For this, the assignment is an essay, where you get to choose a question out of 4. To help prepare you for this, you have a formative assessment of literature review of two articles you will be using in your essay which I have already handed in.
In my Biological and Cognitive, we are concentrating on the latter part this semester. The first part of the assessment was to come up with an experiment on memory in a group. Then after filling out various forms keeping in mind ethics, the experiment needed to be approved by the lecturers before running the experiment. Next up is that you write up an individual report on the experiment you have completed.
For my Evolution and Human Behaviour module, I have a Hybrid exam, which is split into two parts. The first part is a seen essay question, and the other half contains 5 mini-essay questions that have been covered during the lectures. Lately in the seminars we have been preparing by trying out questions from the latter half of the exam.
Now, let’s not end this blog on assignments alone; I’ll leave you with what I do enjoy about my second year. I feel a lot more engaged and increasingly interested in the lectures as I am learning new content from my modules.
Worcester Student Life 