The first term of second year has proven to be very fast paced and very intense and I have appeared to have neglected my blog over the past few weeks and not really given myself time to reflect! Note to self... in reflection I need to give myself more time to reflect! However it can be a challenge with a very busy timetable.
So... what have I been up to!?
During the 5 weeks of term I have been attending classes for my Applied OT (2) module and learning about many different specialist areas of OT. Along side this I was learning and researching another specialist area of OT in preparation for an assessed 30 minute viva examination. Alongside this I have been working on my dissertation ethics documentation (which have now been approved!), and I have also been preparing for placement. I have just finished my first week of placement but I will be writing separate posts about this.
So the past few weeks I have spent time mostly stressing out about the Viva... I think this is because I had never done a viva before and was unsure of what it looked like, and the expectations of masters level within a speaking examination. Here are strategies I used to prepare:
To begin with I chose a topic area that I was interested in but didn't know a lot about. I chose paediatric OT using a sensory integration approach. Sensory integration is something that I have an interest in and I chose paediatrics as there was more literature available and to make the most of learning about a new area that I have no experience of.
I started by slowly reading... and I did a lot of reading! Just to gain a broad understanding and a foundation to build further understanding on the topic area. On reflection I probably did read too broadly as I ended up with 40 pages of notes scattered everywhere in no particular order which made the situation a lot more stressful (I wouldn't advise doing it this way!). I also ended up with lots of tabs open on my laptop and was not very organised in keeping on top of my referencing as I went along. At that stage I did feel very stressed out...
I decided then that the best way for me to collate my information and condense it altogether would be to create a visual mind map basing it around the structure of example questions that had been provided to us.
This did end up being quite a giant mind map even though I did condense a lot of the information I had gathered! Our formative assessment for this module was to present an overview of our specialist area to a group of 1st & 2nd years and a tutor. This actually proved to be quite helpful for me as it made me aware that I had gathered a lot of un-neccesary information that was quite descriptive. It also helped me to gain ideas of areas I could critique and go further into depth with.
After the formative assessment I made a plan and did yet more reading and added more critique to my information. I then condensed this further and typed it into a script. Now I know we were not to learn our information in a script but in order for me to learn and retain information, I have to put the information into a structure or an order (I spent a lot of time being baffled by this!)
A good tip which I would personally advise is to try and practice your viva with someone, however I know for some people this is not possible. I practiced my viva with my partner and told him to deliberately switch the order of the questions as he was asking them so I would not be reading from a script of information and so that it would flow more freely. This was really difficult at first as it did highlight weaknesses (like responding in scripted answers) but it gave me really good practice of what to expect in the viva and it helped be be more conversational with my answers.
How did the viva go??
Unfortunately my little pussy cat passed away the night before the viva (if you know me, you'll know just how much I loved my cats). I traveled to uni on my 3 hour long commute on just 2 hours sleep and feeling very distressed.
But, I did manage to get through the viva and even though I was not feeling my best, the experience wasn't as bad as I thought it may be! The environment was actually very relaxed & friendly and after a few minutes I forgot I was being filmed or that I was in an exam at all at times! I felt relaxed into the conversation (This may also be a bad thing) but I won't know how i have done until we get our results in another couple of weeks so I have my fingers crossed!
So all in all it has been quite an intense few weeks to say the least. I think because of the volume of work required in such a short space of time. On reflection I needed to be far more organised with my preparation methods! This is a good outcome though as it will assist me in better preparation for my 45 minute viva next year!
I will post soon about my placement and dissertation I promise! :)
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