Updates so far….

So third year is still proving to be quiet challenging…but it hasn’t got too overwhelming as of yet!

I’m really enjoying my Social Psychology module, but there is just so much information to take in, and the only assessment we have for this is an essay worth 100% of our grade! So I’m worried if I get it wrong, this module could really bring down my overall marks!! :/  We were giving the chance to complete a practice essay though if we wanted too, which I did, so I’m hoping I’ll get some useful feedback from this which (fingers crossed) might help me improve my skills in time for the real essay.

One of my other modules, Exceptional Human Experiences is equally interesting, but for some reason this module is turning me into a bit of a sceptic. I have always had a keen interest in all things supernatural but after hearing various different accounts of people seeing spirits, having out of body experiences and people who believe they have supernatural powers, I really have started to question the authenticity of it all. I thought this course would have done the opposite of this, but regardless, it is still a really interesting module and I think I’m just going to have to put aside my scepticism and approach it with an open mind as I want to come across impartial in my essays.

My last module of this term is Positive Psychology, where a key area of this branch of psychology, mainly focuses on how to improve people’s happiness and wellbeing through the use of positive psychological interventions. One of our assignments is a reflective account, and requires us to complete some of these interventions and assess whether we think they actually improve our own happiness. The one I recently did is called ‘Three Good Things’ where each night you have to write down three good things which have happened to you that day, and explain why you think they happened…at first it was fairly easy to do to as I wrote about bigger things but after a while it began getting more difficult and I started  writing things like ‘I got the early bus to work and wasn’t late’ and then eventually I just couldn’t think of anything to write on a daily basis so I gave up :P I’m not sure whether it did make me happier or not as I didn’t really notice a different, so I’ll see whether any of the other interventions have a more noticeable effect and keep you updated, although feel free to try this one for yourself and see how you get on!!

Finally, my third year project is really coming along. I have finished collecting/entering all of my data now, and have analysed it, although only half of my data was found to be significant :(, It’s better than nothing I suppose, but it still wasn’t the result I was looking for. I am now in the process of writing it all up ready for the draft submission, so fingers crossed I’ll have the majority of it out of the way before January!!

Anyways, that’s all for now folks :) take care x

Talk about thrown in at the deep end…

Considering I thought second year was hectic, that’s nothing compared to how third year has been so far!!! I mean the majority of the 'hecticness' is down to me, as the modules themselves aren’t too bad at the moment as they’re mainly introductory lectures, what’s really hectic is my dissertation.  Both myself and my project supervisor thought it would be a good idea to get the data collection out of the way as soon as possible, which is a great idea in theory as it gives me longer to do the analysis and the write up, but in practice it’s very stressful!! I’ve managed to get about 100 participants so far, and just literally need a handful more before I can start attempting to sort out the data, which is a lot easier said than done, considering each participant has had to complete about 8 separate forms each!! It’ll definitely be a great relief once I get it out of the way and can focus on the assignments I have for my other courses!

One point which I can stress enough to any potential psychology students is to plan your project well ahead of when you actually need to!! So many of my friends have yet to do their ethical approval forms, and some haven’t even thought of an idea for their projects yet! This is going to put them at a major disadvantage when it comes to next year and they’re still desperately trying to get participants to take part in their project in time for the deadline!! It also helps to pick a topic in an area you’re most interested in as this motivates you to actually want to work on it and do well on it, rather than it feeling like something which you HAVE to do.

As I said before, the modules haven’t been too bad so far as they’re just easing us in at the moment. In the exceptional human experience course, my lecturer managed to successfully freak us out by picking my friend at random using a number game and proceeding to accurately describe her house…it did turn out that it was all a set up and he was actually using google maps to know what it looked like, but he was a good actor and certainly had me convinced for a bit that he had some supernatural powers or something!!

The other interesting thing we got to do was in my Social Psychology class, where we watched this German film called ‘The Wave’ or ‘Die Welle’. It’s all about in groups and out groups and relates to the social categorisation theory, as well as linking back to the Nazis from world war 2, and surprisingly it’s really engaging as although it’s not based on a true story, it depicts a very realistic scenario which could actually occur today, given the right situations.

Anyways, that’s it for now…Hopefully things will quieten down a bit sooon :)

xx

And so the final year begins….

Well not yet, there’s still technically two weeks before we start back, but I’m excited so I’m jumping the gun a little bit with my preparation :p

I am excited about starting but nervous at the same time, and not for the reasons you might think either, as I’m not so much nervous about the course, or my dissertation or anything like that, I’m more nervous about what me completing my degree actually means. Namely that I’m one step closer to graduating and having to pick what I could potentially be doing for the rest of my life.

I think I’ve managed to narrow down my choices now though; to either doing a primary PGCE as teaching is an area which has long held an interest for me. Or applying for a full time research assistant job with the University. A almost perfect job came up yesterday, and I met all the requirements for it and I got so happy and started filling out the application form and everything, until my colleague pointed out I had read it wrong, and instead of starting in September 2013, the job actually runs until then :( meaning that I’m not eligible to do it as I still have one year left of my degree :(. Apart from being gutted about that, it has given me slightly more hope though that a job like this may actually be possible when I graduate!

Moving on to the more foreseeable future, I can’t believe I’m ACTUALLY going in to third year. Seeing the freshers get all excited about coming to university brings back so many memories of me starting 2 years ago, and it really doesn’t feel like I’m going into my third year already!! Time has gone so so quickly!!!

I am looking forward to starting my modules though, as this will be the first time that all the subjects I’m doing are of my own choosing :D . In my first term I am going to be doing: Positive psychology, Exceptional human experiences and Social Psychology 3. And then in the second term I’m doing Law and Psychology and Advanced Statistics! :D I’m pretty excited about all of the courses to be fair, but I think the Law and Psychology one is going to be the most interesting as it’ll tie in with the subject  of my dissertation  and the research work I’ve been doing :)

Speaking of my ‘dissertation’ I don’t really know why I call it that as technically its as ‘third year project’, but hardly anyone knows what I mean when I say that, so dissertation is just easier :P. In psychology the third year project means you have to pick an area of psychology which you’re interesting in and then come up with a research question and design a study to test it :) I’m happy with how mine is going at the moment, I have completed my ethics and just waiting for ethical approval now :) and I’ve done my first draft of my introduction and method, which is all I can really do for now until I actually conduct my study :( but its something at least!!

Anyways that’s all for now, I’ll be sure to keep you updated with all the goings on of my third year :)

Byeeeeee xx

GOALS UPDATED- 2 and a half down, a half to go (plus a new one added) :P

I know it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted…but lots of things have happened since then!! Previously I wrote a blog about my short term goals for the future and I’m happy to report I have achieved almost all of them :D

The first of which was getting a first this year at Uni  :D which I’m very happy to report that I got :D I know it’s only my second year but it still counts for 25% of my grades and since second year is the hardest in Psychology, I feel a bit more confident going in to my third year… :D

My second goal was to pass my driving test as quickly as possible…this one I’ve only half completed as I passed my theory test, despite my horrendous lack of revision, although the Hazard Perception part of it was quite hard….So the last thing I need to do in order to complete this goal is to take my practical test, which is currently booked for the 13th August (less than 4 weeks away, eeeek). I’m not too worried about the actual test as I feel quite confident about how my driving is coming along, but what worries me is the fact I’m doing it at 8.05 in the morning so they’ll be a lot of traffic on the roads at that time and there’s 3 roundabouts on the route I need to do :( so we’ll seeee :(

My third goal which I managed to achieve was getting the position of senior clearing officer at the Enquiry unit, which I’m really happy about. I was confident going into the interview (maybe a bit too confident), but after the few tests we had to do I started to really doubt whether I would actually get it or not…I’m the sort of person that panics about every test I take whether it’s really simple or like a big exam for university or something, I slowly attempting to learn to have a bit more faith in my abilities.

Since I have completed the majority of these goals, I have decided to set myself a new one…possibly my hardest one yet…but my goal is to lose two stone by the time summer is over. I say it’s going to be hard because there is always food in this office!! Especially over Clearing, where everyone brings in some form of goodies, be it cakes or crisps or chocolate or some other tempting treats…and it’s so hard to resist when it’s staring you in the face!!! When you combine me working in the office for the last year with my love for food and the fact the netball season has been over for a while now, you begin to realise how I’ve managed to put on TWO whole stone in less than 10 months :( sob sob…I know it’s my own fault really…but I really am going to try and do something about it this summer (or what passes as a summer in this country)!!

My only other dilemma right now is in regards to my third year options….I mentioned previously that I got all the options for my third year that I wanted, but now I’m wondering whether to change one of them or not :/ I really do like all the options I’ve chosen at the moment, but I did really well on my statistics exams, and to be honest I didn’t really find the exam or the course particularly hard, so now I’m wondering since I seem to be good at it, whether it would make more sense for me to take it for third year instead of the mental health module which I have no experience in whatsoever… I spoke to my course leader about it and he said since the module is in the second term I have until Christmas to make my decision….which gives me plenty of time to think I guess…

Besides all of that I haven’t really been up to much…Uni has now completely finished for the summer, so I’m working full time in the Enquiry Unit at the moment, and I’m still doing my research work in the evenings and weekends, so hopefully by the time I start back at Uni in September I might ACTUALLY be out of my overdraft (for once!).

But yeahh….thats it for now :)

Take care xx

Goalssss

I swear all I have heard lately is goals….goals made in football….career goals…personal goals…goals goals goals…I suppose I wouldn’t have noticed much if only I had goals of my own….I mean I have short term goals, but in terms of my career when I leave Uni, I literally have no idea. The thing about a Psychology degree is that it is so versatile that it provides the starting point for numerous careers, which I used to think was a good thing, until I realized I had no idea what I actually want to do with my life once I complete my degree. Sometimes I envy people doing degrees such as Nursing, as they have such a clear path they can follow, and although they can branch off, ultimately they’re still going to be a nurse.

I have been considering a few careers paths, the first is teaching, which would involve me doing a PGCE in lifelong learning (psychology), and is only a year long and the money is good…

My next option I’m considering is the PGDip in Mental Health Nursing, and would require a further 3 years of study before I could begin earning money.

My third option, is work as a research assistant at Greenwich University at the same time as completing my Phd…so I’d be earning money to support me through my (hopefully funded) studies, but it can take up to 6-8 years to complete…

My fourth and final option is to go through a MET Police Graduate Scheme and work earning money straight away.

So yeahhhh, four very different career options and I have absolutely NO idea which one of these, (if any) that I want to pursue…for now I guess I’m just going to have to continue with my degree in the hopes that one day I have a sudden epiphany and realise what I actually want to do with the rest of my life….

HOWEVER, I do have a few short term goals to be getting on with for the time being…the first (and probably the most pressing) is to pass both my theory and practical driving test in quick succession…it is so depressing having a car yet not being able to drive it…although on the flip side I still need another pay day before I can even afford to insure it, so perhaps it’s a good thing I haven’t passed yet :P ANYWAY I have my theory this week and I am yet to even begin revising (Silly I know) but I will revise…soon…well at some point anyway :P

My next goal is to get a first this year (and my degree overall) although this is probably the least pressing as having sat all my exams I am now at the mercy of the examiners, so there’s nothing more I can do to improve it…I’ve worked out though, even scraping the bare minimum (40) in my exams I’m still guaranteed a 2:1…BUUUUUUUUT I want a first…the perfectionist that I am :P

My third and final goal is to become a Senior Clearing assistant, throughout the main Clearing period. I already meet the first requirement, as I have worked for Clearing previously, and I have just sent off my application…all that’s left to do is to wait for the interview and complete the skills tests and then we’ll see whether I’m good enough for the job!!

So yeahhh, that’s my short term goals for now…fingers crossed I manage to achieve the majority of them…although achieving ALL of them would be amazing!!

Hope you guys have some goals to be aiming for too :)

Bye for nowwwww xxx

PHEW!!! Let the updates begin....

Soooooo, I know its been a while since I’ve last written on here, but I actually have a good reason!! EXAMS :(. Over the past three weeks all I've done is eat, sleep and revised. And anytime I wasn’t revising I felt horrendously guilty that I wasn't revising so I didn't feel motivated to do anything else anyway. It didn't help as 2 of my exams were bang smack in the middle of the lovely heat wave we had, meaning it was almost doubly hard to do any revision at all :(.

Out of the three exams  I did, I’m confident with one of them, and the other two, I think I definitely did enough to pass, I am just not sure whether I did good enough to get the first that I have been aiming for. BUT there’s nothing I can do now until the results come out mid July, so for now I’m focusing on other things and trying not to panic about it :)

Moving on to slightly happier news, I bought a car :D :D :D its my first car so I’m very excited/proud of it, even though I can’t technically drive it just yet...although thats just a small technicality :P I’m planning on starting my lessons when I get back from holiday, and I’m going to attempt to do an intensive driving course, which is approximately 30 hours of driving a week, with the test at the end of it...fingers crossed that it goes okay, as I have now officially wiped out all my savings/overdraft on it :( !!

Now the exams are officially over, I can begin the preparation for my final year project. I am aiming to get the majority of it written up over summer, so I can conduct it the first week back next year. So if you’re going to come and study Psychology at Greenwich next year, chances are you’ll be participating in my study :D it’s a fun one to do, don’t worry :)

In other news, I’m currently preparing for a film shoot, with a German news programme Planetopia, in regards to the research I am helping out with, with the MET police :)! It should be a great experience, and appearing on TV  is always a good thing to have on your CV. It’s also good preparation for the segment of Crimewatch they will be hopefully filming us for in the run up to the anniversary of the 2011 riots.

Besides the fact that I am going to Turkey for a well deserved break in a couple of days, there isn't anything else left to fill you guys in on :) hopefully you all are well, and I’ll have more to update you will after my holiday!!

Bye for now xxx

My new baby, Bertie <3

A serious blog (for once)

So after deliberating for ages about whether to attend the interview for this other job, despite the fact that I decided I didn’t want or need it anymore, I decided to go, purely for the experience of it. It was only about half way through the interview when I began to learn more about the research they were conducting and about how flexible they could be in terms of working around my two current jobs, that I decided I really actually wanted it!! By this point I was still fairly certain that I could still get the job, as I’m usually really good when it comes to interviews, that was until they then surprised me by asking a seemingly random statistics question. As I had didn’t have an interview for my other research assistant, this was my first one and I wasn’t expecting these types of questions at all, so it just completely threw me!! Normally I’m quite good at statistics as Maths is something which I’ve always enjoyed, but being so unprepared I just couldn’t think straight let alone give an appropriate answer, so I just said they first thing that came to my head and hoped they wouldn’t think of me as a complete idiot. This threw me for the rest of the interview as I just wanted to leave as I was just convinced I wouldn’t get the job and after not hearing back from them for about 3 weeks I decided this must have been the case....UNTIL I got a call in the middle of one of my lectures saying I got the job :D I was so happy....and almost in a state of shock considering how bad I thought the interview had gone, but yeah....I shall be starting that shortly :D . At least this experience has taught me to always be better prepared for interviews though, especially as they can literally ask you just about anything.

Another stressful thing that happened recently was picking my third year options...In psychology all the modules you study in third year are of your choosing, which sounds good on the surface, until we got told that most courses have limited places and fill up within the first minute of the link going live...talk about a rush or what!! So on the day we had to pick I was sat there refreshing the page every 2 seconds until the link appeared and then rushed to select all the ones I wanted...I think I did it correctly, but annoyingly as they don’t show you a copy of what you submitted so now I’ve managed to convince myself that I selected the wrong first choice, selecting psychology of neuroscience as opposed to psychology of exceptional human experiences, which is what I really want to do!! So now I’m just nervously waiting to see what ones I actually get!! :/

Besides that I have finished the majority of assignments now, with only one left to complete and just revision left to be done so for now I am actually enjoying the lull of mad rush of things...

Anywhooooo, more to come later J

p.s. here’s a picture of my cat to liven up this blog.