Anyone else feel like there’s a huge difference between how their tutor marked their TMAs compared to how someone else has marked their EMA? Almost to a point that feels overly unfair/harsh, or that your tutor was maybe being too lenient the entire time?

For example, one thing I was consistently and repeatedly praised for by my tutor from the very first TMA, was referencing. But upon reading my performance feedback from the EMA, I was given a “bare pass” grade and told that I still haven’t grasped how to accurately do it??? Some of the references I used in the EMA were exact ones I used in a TMA so I just copy and pasted them word for word from my previous reference list (and the rest followed the same structure just with obviously the different names etc.) so I don’t know how the result can be so different?! I also have received a lot praise for my paragraphing/structuring and academic vocabulary since early TMAs, but again, the EMA result gave me a “bare pass” and said “there has clearly been an attempt to structure this essay”.

I feel almost hurt by the feedback, mostly because it’s so out of the blue compared to the comments I’ve been used to from my tutor. I don’t understand why my tutor has not been more strict with feedback throughout the year if I’ve clearly been making so many mistakes. I’ve had a lot of conversations via email with my tutor on exactly how to improve and have been seeing that reflected in my TMA results. So how can the feedback be so drastically different? I’ve been getting high 70s and low 80s in every TMA and yet my EMA barely got into the 60s if I had to guess. Overall the EMA gave me a “bare pass” for every single category.

I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses as I know it’s obviously my own fault for not working hard enough somewhere along the line but I guess I’m just so confused. I was feeling so confident with my progress and proud of myself for doing well, but I feel so disheartened and like a complete failure now, if I’m being honest. If I can’t even succeed and get a good result for my first year, how am I supposed to do well going forward? I’ve genuinely just been crying and struggling so much with what to do with myself ever since getting my module result.

Obviously there’s no one to contact directly to discuss this kind of feedback with and EMAs are marked anonymously, so I wasn’t sure where else to just get this off my chest.

This evening I received an email saying my end of module result has been put as pending because one or more of my assessments are currently being reviewed due to some potential academic misconduct issues having been identified.

I’m wondering if this was because I haven’t used quotation marks when I have referenced something. I have always struggled with referencing (I’ve just finished my first year). I have referenced 8 times and have put where I got the information next to it. Then, in the reference list I have written it out fully and put the link. In my previous tmas I have had between 80-91, mostly positive feedback but referencing has always been an area of improvement but I’ve never actually been told I needed to use quotation marks which is why I didn’t. I didn’t realise I had to until I was looking at potential reasons earlier.

Im just wondering if this is the reason why it’s been flagged?

I haven’t used AI so I’m not worried about it being that. However, I do have autism and I have seen a number of people say the way they wrote things was flagged as potential AI use, could it be that?

Ive been up worrying about this since I received the email as I’ve tried really hard and thought I was doing well.

I was wondering how maths is usually studies at university level. More how much do you have to do without a calculator. More in context in not doing a maths degree.

Got nowhere else to ask. Im just a bit paranoid about how much id have to do without a calculator etc.

Has anyone ever had this? I was expecting my end-of-year results today but instead had this and don’t know why. All of my work is my own and I’ve worked my arse off this year! I haven’t used ai once, all I’ve done is use grammarly now and again to check my word count. I’ve taken so many hand written notes every week of the work we’ve done, I’ve tried so hard and so far my scores have been good. On my assignments I’ve had 91,88 and 80 and had really positive feedback. I have really bad anxiety which is why I’m studying from home anyway and now this has happened it’s made it even worse

I hope everyone got the results they wanted today!

I got my final module result for year 2 today. I scored 90% in my TM252 EMA, I'm delighted with this!

Best of luck to everyone for the new study year!

Today I received my degree classification (2:1) which I pretty much had already calculated. My question however relates to my degree total. I had no idea I’d have this choice and now I’m a little stumped. My two options are:

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Natural Sciences (Biology), Upper Second-class Honours (2.1)

Or

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Natural Sciences, Upper Second-class Honours (2.1)

Does anyone have any insight as to which would be the better one to accept (if there even is a “better” one)? Would the biology one be more appealing as it’s more specialised, or the non-biology one as it appears more diverse?

I honestly never thought I’d even have a say in it and it has thrown me.

hi! this might be a long post i apologise.

im currently in my 2nd year studying marketing at university, and i really and truly do not enjoy it. it was never what i wanted to do.

the course i was most interested in was engineering, but i lacked self-confidence and thought i wasn’t smart enough to pursue it. so, i ‘settled’ for marketing as i thought it was a safe option.

the marketing course im doing just doesnt interest me, i also don’t feel like im being challenged. i like having to really knuckle down and get work done and study, ive never had to do that in this course as i just dont personally require it (consistently achieving firsts)

i also am really struggling with uni itself. i commute, (about a 1hr journey) and the cost of having to go to a 50min class and go right home again is catching up to me, and doing a 2hr altogether journey for a 50min class feels counter-productive.

the above factors are really starting to impact my mental health as its becoming more and more of a struggle to find the motivation to get up and go sit in a class i dont like. i’ve been looking into open university for about a month now, and i feel drawn to it.

the reason im feeling hesitant is because im scared of feeling like a ‘failure’ to put it simply. im the first one in my whole family to go to university, and it was a very big thing when i got accepted. open university is highly regarded by employers and i feel like i’d thrive there, but i also know it’ll be a significant change and i think my parents will view it poorly as its not a ‘normal’ uni.

has anyone else been in this position? id love any kind of advice/tips on how to navigate this situation.

Hi all! Just received the email saying I passed and I can see the scores etc, just wondering if anyone knows where I could find the digital certificate? Would be nice just to have for myself as I'm now going through a degree after being out of education for many years and would be great to have for motivation! Cheers in advance

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping to apply to UK universities for September 2027 entry, and I'd really appreciate some advice from anyone who has applied using Open University (OU) credits or taken a non-traditional route into university.

I'm currently studying the BSc (Hons) Design and Innovation (Q61) with The Open University, and my plan is to complete the first 120 credits of Stage 1 before applying to UK universities through UCAS. I'm mainly interested in architecture, interior architecture, and other design-related degrees, and I'm hoping to apply for Year 1.

My situation is a little complicated because I have IGCSE and IB qualifications, but they were issued under a different name from the legal name on my current passport. Because of this discrepancy, I'm worried about submitting them and whether universities would require additional legal documentation. For now, I'm trying to understand whether I can use my OU studies as the main academic basis for my applications.

I'm also building my portfolio alongside my OU studies because I know that portfolios are important for the courses I'm interested in.

One thing I'm particularly confused about is what grades or academic evidence I should submit through UCAS.

I've already completed my first TMA for U101 (Design Thinking) and received my mark back. However, I'm still working through my modules, so I won't have completed all 120 credits or received my final module results when I initially submit my UCAS application.

For anyone who has applied to university while studying with the OU:

• What did you enter in the UCAS Education section for your OU studies?
• If you're still studying and your final grades are pending, how do you declare your OU qualification on UCAS?
• Can you submit individual TMA marks as evidence of your academic progress, or do universities generally require an official OU transcript or another academic summary?
• Do OU tutors provide predicted grades or references for students applying to university before completing their modules?
• If I complete 120 Level 1 credits before starting university, could universities consider these for Year 1 entry, even though they're university-level credits?

I'm honestly quite anxious about this whole process because I really want to study abroad, and I'm worried that my complicated educational background might affect my chances. I'm trying my best to build a strong academic record through the OU while developing my portfolio, but I'm unsure what universities will expect from me when I apply.

I'd really appreciate hearing about anyone's experience with UCAS applications, OU grades, or applying to university through an alternative route.

Thank you so much!

Having now passed my first year, how do I go about getting my CertHE please?

Anybody waiting for results check out the NEWstudenthome study record. My module class (but not grade) is up!!

Is anyone else having issues checking their exam results today. I got the email in the early afternoon that my results are ready to view, and the link where to see them, but I've been unable to log in ever since. The Student Home page is working and I can get into the module website, but when I go to the Assessment tab, I only see the results of my TMAs and a message that the exam results won't be shown on the module assessment page, but in my record (which I cannot open).

I got a pending result that says "Your result is held pending completion of a check on your continuous assessment score." and i dont know what this means? Can someone help me please. I understand if it was pending with misconduct or something but never had a "continuous assessment score" issue before

I have booked a few tutorials so far this semester but i haven’t made it to one. I’m really tunnel vision with my schedule so any spare time I have, is usually spent going through the materials myself, but there are some topics, I think it would be insightful to have a tutor talk through.

I get that I should probably keep track of this myself but I was wondering if there is any sort of built in tutorial alert I can set up that reminds me a day or 2 before hand, so I don’t miss them?

Hi! I'm currently doing MST124 but I'm finding that the tutors dont explain things very well and neither do the books

Does anyone have any other resources that they use to understand the topics better? :)

For example I am looking at question 1 for 25 marks, but I have no idea how the answer is scored. Is there usually any information available on how they are marked?

Is anyone else getting their results tomorrow? I’ve been doing a psychology with counselling degree for the past 7 years (I started with an access course in 2019!). I’m so nervous!!

Good luck everyone if you are in the same boat!

Hey I recently applied for the HSC degree taking the three year route starting in February. Has anyone else done this course that could offer me any advice. I currently work in hsc but looking to move up in the future and it would work well around my night shifts. I'm 31m

Hello! Has anyone here got into university as a mature student route without A-levels or an Access to HE Diploma, using Open University credits or a CertHE instead?

I'd love to hear about your experience and which universities accepted this route, particularly for Law degrees.

Thanks!

In a loving relationship of about 3 years with my girlfriend and started my degree in February. My gf is also a student but at a normal university, because our courses are structured differently she is often free in the evenings/ weekends, where as those are the times I often have to get on with work. This makes me feel guilty as she's studying full time and is able to give me her full attention where as I'm part time and somehow can't. Wondering if any other couples here had any good work arounds or general advice?

Hi all, i'm from Scotland and i'm considering starting a degree in the OUs Mathematics course as a mature student.

I work full time and would hope to be able to secure funding through SaaS, but im unsure about my options if I fail to get it through them, as I earn over the threshold for their Part-time Fee Grant, I have still applied for it anyway in the hopes I can manage to secure it, but are their other options in the event I don't?

i've seen a bunch of posts here like "anyone from ___?" and it got me thinking

has anyone actually found classmates in their city or someone from the same course to study with? how'd you do it?

for me it's kinda hard since everything's online. curious if it's just me or if others feel the same, or if you just don't care about meeting people and that's fine too lol