Oh dear... as you can see, I am once again procrastinating from the hideous English coursework. Here I present to you The Procrastinator's List of Good Reasons to Give Coursework the Boot.
- It's ridiculously stressful.
- It's harder than exams.
- It's expected to be of much higher quality than work produced in an exam.
- It gives you weeks and months of stress rather than a couple of hours.
- It will haunt you for quite some time, unlike an exam which will disappear from view within a tiny amount of time, and is hence quickly out of your hands.
- You have to worry about ridiculous extra trimmings that are unnecessary in the exam such as footnotes and a bibliography.
- Most A-Level students are trying to study at least two other subjects, in addition to preparing for the actual English exam itself, plus trying to hold down a social life and possibly other commitments such as drama and music. IT'S TOO MUCH!
- Because everyone in the class is in the same boat, there's a tendency for students to wind each other up with anxiety... this could potentially lead to mass-suicide or less dramatic events such as mass-panic on Facebook.
- OK, here's the proper rational reason that grown-ups use: plagiarism. Now, I'm a good girl so I don't plagiarise, but how is anyone to know that my parents or non-existent older sister or even my teacher hasn't given me large quantities of assistance? This is as good a reason as any to scrap coursework!
- Pathetic final reason: In the modern world in which we live, it's so much harder not to procrastinate (yes, readers, I speak of Facebook). We've got it so much harder than our parents' generation, who probably had to handwrite their coursework with very few distractions while we are slaves to the internet and to our "I-must-not-be-bored" culture. Save us from despair! Get rid of coursework and maybe we'll get off Facebook too... or maybe not.
Right. I'd better actually crack on with the coursework. This is completely ridiculous.
J
xxx
Haha, oh J... I must say I agree with most of these points!
ReplyDeleteBut coursework has some good points too, you know! Like, there's not as much 'immediate' pressure as exams, which gives people who stress out in exam conditions a chance to prove what they can really do. It gives a proper reflection of your writing skills, and gives you an opportunity to write about what you want (kind of!). AND it's up to you as an individual not to procrastinate: it's an exercise in self-discipline that will be a valuable tool when you get to uni...
Not that I enjoy coursework AT ALL, but in a subject like English, I do think it's a good idea. Sorry!
xxx
Haha, epic fail!
ReplyDeleteLol, well you are right. Coursework has some good points; the blog article is supposed to be a faintly-humorous I'M DYING sort of article, it's not entirely serious. Right now I'd like them to ban coursework, but when this is all over I'd probably change my mind! XD
Aaargh, it's going so badly... at least I'm now over 1000 words!
I don't know how to get form, structure and language analysis in, at the moment i've just talked about ideas!
xxx
Yeah, I did get that... >w<
ReplyDeleteWell, that's not so badly at all! I found it easier to not think too much about what I was writing AO-wise. Just go with the flow, and then address that problem afterwards!
xxx