I’ve been recovering for a couple of weeks now - I think I was too traumatised to talk about it earlier but I had a week or so off work to study for my CIM diploma exams. Now, perhaps I was over-confident, perhaps I was lazy or maybe just plain overworked, but I really hadn’t put in any extra time at all above attending the lectures. And boy did I suffer for it!
I haven’t done nearly as much studying as I’d hoped for tomorrow’s mock exam, but I have done about 10 hours this week which isn’t bad. There’s so much to learn, but now I’ve had a proper look at the questions and worked through a sample answer I feel a lot better. The good news is that the core question is always basically the same and tests your knowledge of the the different techniques you might apply to market research in specific sets of circumstances. You have a basic format that you always work to and then you apply your knowledge of the different techniques within that framework. Hurrah. The bad news is that I’ve now got to learn all the techniques inside out. However, the stuff we’ve been told in lectures is, at least, starting to fall into place now - I’m beginning to see how it all fits together. So that’s progress anyway.
Oh dear, I’ve been very lazy in terms of my study programme for the CIM Professional Diploma and now I’m suffering for it. Fortunately I may have caught it early enough to avoid complete disaster and embarrassment.
So far, apart from religiously attending the lectures I haven’t really done anything. I have read the introductory text book that I bought - Essentials of Marketing (3rd Ed) by Jim Blythe - which is excellent I have to say, very easy to read, clearly set out and, dare I say it, interesting. This has proved invaluable in giving me the basic background in marketing and business which is completely missing from the CIM workbooks. I think the CIM assumes, perhaps not unreasonably, that you’ve studied the CIM Professional Certificate first, or if not, that you’re bright enough to work out that you’ll have to do some background reading. The only problem is trying to remember it all. I keep having to look the basic stuff up again because it hasn’t sunk in yet.
We’ve got a full day of lectures on Saturday including a mock exam of sorts, so now I’m frantically trying to do all the background reading and (at least attempt) to learn the contents of the Marketing Research and Information workbook. It’s taken me four hours just to do the first real unit in the book (unit 2). Phew, it’s heavy going really with all the stuff about the Data Protection Act and codes of practice. I think the contents probably get more interesting (and perhaps a little more intuitive) as you go along though - at least the lectures have. I’ve a long way to go before Saturday though!!
Then, next Friday I’ve got another full day on the Marketing Communications module - which I haven’t yet started the reading for. Hmm.
Oh well, you shouldn’t join if you can’t take a joke. And I’m glad that this Saturday’s thing has given me the kick up the bum I needed now rather than in three weeks time when the whole thing would have been hopelessly impossible.
On Sunday we took it easy and devoted the day to cinema. First off we saw the Seamonsters 3D IMAX movie which was very impressive and then Resident Evil: Extinction which was OK, but was a bit of a montage of end-of-the-world movies, particularly Mad Max (the one with the bus). It didn’t help that watching an ordinary cinema screen straight after IMAX is a bit like going from a 50 inch flat screen HD TV to a 14 inch black and white. I don’t think we’ll be making that mistake again. We also went on the big wheel in Manchester city centre which was fab - it’s huge!! We had a great view over the city and I’d love to go back in the dark. I reckon it would be spectacular on bonfire night.
Yesterday was given over to serious things like studying my course and Mark was setting up new study materials for his students on Moodle. I learned a lot about marketing yesterday. I read most of the basic textbook that I bought to ’scene-set’ for the rest of the course. It’s a great book actually - I can’t fault it. It’s very easy to read and covers everything in enough detail to be meaningful but not so much that you yawn and fall asleep.
I started the CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing a couple of weeks ago now. I have to confess I’m finding it hard going. I have no background in business studies at all, so while I’ve picked up quite a lot of practical marketing experience at work, the terminology they use on the course means nothing to me.
After the first week I was really uncertain that I’d done the right thing. I wasn’t sure that I’d fit in with my classmates and for the rest of the week I felt completely wiped out, absolutely shattered. But it’s my firm belief that you should never give up on this type of thing until you’ve given it a good six week trial so I went back the next Monday night. It was much better - I feel I have a reasonable grasp of what we were lectured on and it’s interesting and engaging. Plus I seem to be meeting people. My main worry is that the exams are in early December and I’m not sure I can fill in all the background and learn all the stuff that I have to remember in so short a time. I have nothing to connect this information to, no framework of knowledge on which to hang these new concepts. Also again I felt completely wiped out for the rest of the week.
I went back last Monday as well. I’m getting to know a few people and it seems to be OK to admit that you haven’t got a clue what the lecturer is talking about. Some people seem to already know a lot of the concepts and acronyms that are being bounced around the room, but most people only seem to know about the things that relate to the area of marketing in which they work, a bit like me. Also, most of the people that I’m meeting seem to have studied Biology at degree level - so this obviously answers the question ‘Where do all the biologists go?’. Marketing apparently. I’m enjoying it, but there’s this nagging fear telling me there’s too mcuh work and too little time.
It doesn’t help that I’m working vast amounts of overtime at work either - I’m not getting home until 8pm most nights and the last thing I want to do is homework for my course. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
So, this is my plan:
Leave SK189 until after the exams. I should be able to finish that course in the space between the end of this semester and the start of next semester.
Buy an introductory marketing textbook for first year undergraduates. Hopefully this will give me the background knowledge on which to hang my CIM studies and introduce all the terminology in a systematic way. I’m hoping the book will have a glossary. I’ve chosen the one recommended for the first unit of the CIM’s Professional Certificate in Marketing which is for folk who are completely new to the subject. It also gets a 5-star rating on amazon.com so someone obviously likes it. I should get it on Tuesday.
Get some studying done on my half term break - in fact I think I’ll go visit my mum and dad for a few days (without Mark). Traditionally I’ve always taken textbooks with me when visiting them so they won’t be surprised or offended.
Write up my lecture notes and try to tie them in with the notes in the course texts.
Create World Peace and save the Universe.
I think I’ll tackle the Universe first - it shouldn’t take me more than a few days.
For better or worse, in exhaustion and weariness, I’m enrolling on the CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing next week. I’ve finally got the funding from work and an offer from the uni. I’m quite excited, but also nervous of what to expect. I don’t know where I’m going to get the energy to study after work for 4 hours every Monday night - and that’s just the lectures. There’s the actual exams and general studying to fit in too.
Good job I’ve got a good memory really - gotta cram all that info in there. I need to finish SK183 before the end of October as well. Oh well, who wants to relax at weekends anyway?
Now that I’ve completed T189 I don’t see why I can’t share the images I submitted for my ECA with the rest of the world - so here they are - View Photos.
I’ve also put together a page of the photos that were near misses - I didn’t use them but it was a really tough choice in some cases - View Near Misses.
I’m not claiming to be a good photographer - that takes a creative flair that this little scientist will never possess. But I enjoy it and that’s all that’s important really.
Hurray for me!! I’ve passed the digital photography course I did with the OU a couple of months ago. I got a score of 84 - I presume that’s percent. Having worked as an Admissions Officer I know that the OU marks level 1 courses generously giving about 15% extra to encourage people and give them confidence in their ability to study - that means I really got a score of 69% which I’m very pleased with and is more than I was expecting.
Just have to get out there and keep taking photos now. Oh, and get on with studying my human nutrition course as well.
This should be a simple question, but it isn’t. What we should eat has been clearly defined and how much energy we need is also easy to find out. However, combining these to say how many calories should come from certain types of easily identifiable foods - well that is a mission.
I’m on that mission but so far I’ve failed to find a satisfactory answer.
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It stands to reason that if you want to lose weight one of the first things you need to know is how many kcal you should consume each day. What’s the max you can eat without putting on weight and how much less than that should you eat to start losing weight?
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