Chapter 21: Minimising Stress For University Assignments

With my Open University studies over for another year, I thought I’d share some advice on how to minimise stress levels ahead of the big assignments.
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So, my big week of pressure and meeting the high demands I place on myself went off without a hitch. With three 2,500-word essays to write for the FPL Nightmare and an end-of-module assessment to complete, I had given myself a lot of work to do and, rather than prioritise my university work, I forced myself to stick to the pre-determined deadlines by the Premier League as to when each gameweek ended. With time off work booked until Tuesday, I managed to get the first two of three FPL Nightmare essays and my university assessment completed by the Friday night. With the pressure then off, I was able to write the final FPL Nightmare essay of the season as the gameweek was taking place, finishing and posting it within half an hour of the bonus points being finalised. In the end, I achieved my big challenge with relative ease.
 
Of course, there’s no way of knowing how well I actually did on the assessment until the end of July, when my final module result comes through. I think I have done quite well, but there are a couple of things I could maybe have taken a bit more time on, a few points I could’ve rewritten to add an extra argument or two, and I think that will cost me the big marks. If my aim was to achieve a first-class degree, I’d be super-stressed right now, because I’m not convinced my assignment will get the 85% required to stay on course for that. My target has always been a 2:1 degree, and I feel like I should be right on track to comfortably achieve that, so I’m happy. I could’ve taken a few more days to refine and rework my submitted essay, but I actually think that would’ve been detrimental to me, even if it ended up getting me a few extra marks.
 
As a perfectionist, one of the key things for me is accepting something is good enough. Nothing I create, whether for fun, work or education, is ever of a high enough standard to leave me happy. The curse of perfectionism means this would’ve been the case whether I spent another three days making minor alterations to my essay or whether I submitted it early. Despite everything I’ve written this year, all fifty-odd essays and the 60,000+ words I have so far on my book, I actually like very little of it. All I see is flaws, all I focus on is everything that could’ve been better. I will be this way for the rest of my life with anything I create, so, at some point, I have to say enough is enough and just accept that the quality of these things is subjective and hyper-focusing on one thing leads to me achieving nothing. It’s why deadlines are so wonderful to me, and why I impose them on myself all the time, because they represent a point in time when I simply have to let the bloody thing go.
 
To counter the hyper-obsessive tendency of mine, I have developed a personal assignment-writing routine that works for me. I am going to share it here, in case anyone can benefit from it. I study through the Open University, and things may be different at traditional universities, but I reckon it’s all adaptable:
 

• The first thing I do is go to the ‘relevant material’ section. This is, by far, the most helpful area of the Open University website, and they have one for every assessment. In it, it tells me which specific areas of study to focus on for the particular assignment; which book chapters, which aspects of online work from which particular weeks of study and whether any independent study is required.
• Then, I open up a Word document, and I break each assignment down as much as possible. If it asks me, for example, to present a historical overview of a subject, arguments supporting and opposing it and a conclusion, I make sub-headings for each of those topics. I then skim-read all the work from the ‘relevant material’ section and I copy-paste the most pertinent parts into the Word document. I don’t edit it, or rewrite it or anything like that. At this stage, I just make a note of the week or chapter it is from, and I put it in the document verbatim, in the relevant section. This normally gives me about 10,000 words of information for a 2,500 word assignment.
• I read the question, focus on the key process words – is it asking me to analyse opposing views, or justify a particular argument, for example. Once I know what I’m looking for, I then read through all the notes I have placed in the Word document.
• Once I have read it, I then highlight all of this information, and turn it all red. This is key for me, as it makes it much easier to see what I still have to use later on.
• Once this is done, I’ll open up a second word document, and have them both side-by-side on my computer screen. I lay out the basic structure for the assignment: Name, student identification number, TMA/EMA number, essay title and any relevant sub-headings. I am now ready to write the essay.
• In my head, I’ve worked out the narrative for each paragraph I am going to write. Some people may benefit from writing this down, but it’s not something I’ve ever done. With that narrative in mind, I then scroll through the ‘Notes’ document I compiled, which is visible on one half of my screen, until I find a point I want to put in my assignment. I write this point into my assignment in the other Word document, putting the full reference in as I do it – some may prefer to leave referencing until the end, but they add a lot of words to the count, and I prefer knowing where I stand as I go.
• Once I have the point in my Assignment document, I highlight it in the Notes document and turn it black. I then repeat this until the first draft of the assignment is completed, normally aiming for about 150-200 words too many for each section of the assignment.
• When my first draft is finished, I go back through the Notes document and see if there are any key points or technical concepts still in red. If there are, I put them in the document. The more words you have in the first draft, the better.
• After that, I put the document down for the night, and allow myself to sleep. It’s always best to edit on a clear mind.
• The next day, I go through it and rewrite every sentence. You will be amazed at how many words you save and how much better you write when you cut as much out of each sentence as possible. I do this throughout the essay, until each section is bang-on the word count for that particular section. You normally get a leeway of 10%, but my perfectionism demands that I hit the word count exactly. I find this challenge fun, if I’m honest.
• If, after rewriting, you find yourself needing extra words to make it to the count, go back through the Notes and find something in red you can add to it. This will only improve your essay.
• Once this is done, I stop writing the essay. One draft, one rewrite to get it perfectly on the word count. If you haven’t made a particular point inside two drafts, it’s not worth making.
• This is where I run a Spelling & Grammar check. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget to do this. Do it here.
• Then, I double-check all the in-text references, and add the full references at the end. People say referencing is difficult, but it isn’t. It’s just boring. Save it to the end, and you’re buzzing on having finished the assignment, so the tedium is minimised.
• Finally, I double-check it has my name, my student identification number and the TMA number on, then double-check I have titled the document properly. After that, I submit it, before I have a chance to second-guess myself. Then, I never look at it again, unless it is sent back with notes on.

 
This is the process I developed in January, after I was kicked off the course for a few weeks because of an admin error on the part of the Student Loan company. I had no access to any of the online work in the run-up to an assignment deadline so, before they revoked my website access, I went through and got all the ‘relevant material’ in one Word document. Since then, I have repeated that process for every assignment, and my stress levels have been far reduced as a result. For the End-of-Module Assessment, worth 40% of the module marks and the biggest assignment by far, I had the lowest stress levels of any assignment I have done. This process stops the assignments feeling daunting, turning them from an unassailable challenge to a paint-by-numbers exercise.
 
It’s not a perfect guide, and by refusing to do several drafts, I probably cost myself some marks. What it does do, though, as manage both my stress levels and perfectionism, and enables me to submit an assignment and move on with my life. I’m now halfway to my degree, fifty percent of the way to getting that key that opens up new doors for my future. If I wanted a perfect degree, I’d maybe do things differently, but it’s not a perfect degree I want, it’s that key. Right now, I feel relaxed about the challenge ahead, because I feel like that key will soon be mine.
 
I hope this can help you in your studies.
 
Take care,
 
LAWES
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Song of the Chapter:
 
‘Little By Little’ by Oasis

Quote of the Chapter:
 
“Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.”
 
Anne Wilson Schaef