Journalism vs Sociology

Oh dear- it has been an entire month since I last wrote my blog. And I have hardly any excuses. In mid February I had my NCTJ Essential Law exam and the NCTJ Reporting exam a day later. But apart from that I have frivolously wasted away my time, neglecting my poor blog for more exciting reading and writing, such as my experience of speed dating (I did it for my career and I won't hear any more about it!).

So the Essential Law exam... Honestly it has been that long that I've forgotten what happened with it! There were a couple of short answer questions which I had never known the answer to- the head of the judiciary and what "taking the silk" means. But thankfully I feel like the other questions were passable at the very least. In the week leading up to the exam my brain had no capacity for anything other than McNae and even on the day of the exam I felt like I had not done enough. But the questions fell in my favour and I feel i've done enough for the pass at the very least.

The next day was the NCTJ Reporting exam and what a kerfuffle that was! The problem was we needed computers for the exam, obviously, and apparently had not booked a free computer room. Thirty minutes after the exam was meant to start we were still trekking round the maze that is the media building at Salford University trying to find a room to do it in. Eventually we came across a room of Mac's and with one guy in the group owning one we were soon all set up. This was a 2 and a half hour exam and after 90 minutes I was finishing up, went to add a header to this (bearing in mind I don't know how to use a Mac) and the computer crashed. I had saved it after the first of two questions, but not since so I had a major, but silent, meltdown. Thankfully the technician came and saved the majority of it, missing off the last ten minutes of work. So I finished up and got out of there before anything more could go wrong!

Since then I have thrown myself into my final semester which consists of entirely Sociology modules, apart from shorthand. Unfortunately I chose to do a course including sociology on a whim because I had discovered I was good at it during A-Levels. Let me tell you, for a journalist who wants to be writing news stories and features, not essays, five years of sociology is too much! It is becoming harder and harder to switch my brain between writing stories and writing essays and the harder it becomes the less I wish to do it.

Since the exams I have learnt that I passed my NCTJ Court Reporting exam. With a low mark but a pass is still a pass and that's all that matters. It worries me slightly that the one I was confident on came back with a lower mark than I was expecting, makes me nervous about the other law exam which I am far less confident about. But only time will tell now!

As for shorthand. Well! I had originally planned to take my first exam tomorrow, the 3rd of March. Unfortunately, despite my commitment to working at home this semester, I still do not feel ready, still yet to continually complete passages at 60 words per minute. So my teacher and I have agreed to postpone my first exam by a month, by which time I am hoping to sit the 70 instead of the 60. Then the 80 in May and 100 in June. Right? Right!

Anyway, very little to report, unless you want me to rant about the unreliability of Arsenal but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that!!

Examitis

I haven't written anything for a few weeks because i had one exam which i went nuts revising for! One week before the exam i decided to start properly revising for it, which is my usual system and hadn't failed me up until now, but this time it was not enough. I was in the library, in the silent zone (a heavenly place where crisps are not eaten, phones are not vibrating and even the slightest noise gets scowled at!) for at least six hours every day. Hundreds of flashcards and the biggest blister i've ever had on my finger later and it was time for the exam.

A few subjects had come up while i was revising that i simply thought would not come up on the exam, one of which was what happened to treasure. I read the single page written about it and thought that it was unlikely to come up in a court reporting exam. Sadly, it did. Luckily it was only one part of the question so tried to remember what i had read, but to little avail.

That one slip up aside i feel that i did enough to pass the exam, thankfully. £44 for an exam means that i am loathe to pay for it again and spend another week of my life learning quotes from Lord Justice Diplock, McCollum, Watkins or whoever else! So hopefully when the results come in the next few weeks it will be good news!

Until then, there are more exams to revise for. The other half of the journalism law exam is on Valentine's Day and then the NCTJ Reporting exam is the following day. I have allowed myself this week off from revision, instead choosing to remind myself how to write in shorthand and making preparations for our house party.

House party of course took priority in the last few days. Friday saw the night of the party and at 10pm we were worried that were still only a handful of guests. I had been telling myself that this was normal for a house party because it is but even i was nervous at this point. Then, as usual, everyone arrived at once and by 11pm the house was bulging with people. Unfortunately 6 and half hours later the house was still bulging and i was desperately tired! By 6am everyone had eventually left, thirty minutes later i was fast asleep and by 10am i was up again taking care of my guests!

A long winded drive around Manchester and Salford, a mountain of bacon and egg sandwiches and a vat of tea later everyone was happy and leaving. Then came the clean-up operation! Having only had four hours sleep i was not in the mood for mopping up the vodka jelly that had somehow gotten everywhere!

Yesterday went in a blur of reading, napping and watching TV in bed. Eleven hours sleep later and i was fully recovered from the weeks antics. Today's plan is to practice some shorthand (now that i am in the MA's class i feel a little more dedicated to the extra hours of work a week!) and do the last of the cleaning which thankfully isn't much.

Then tomorrow, two weeks until the exam, revision must start again just as semester two classes begin, just to make it that little bit harder eh?