64

That's how many measly percent I got for my Sociology essay.

My disappointment was tempered by the superb comments from my tutor which pointed out exactly where I had gone wrong (as well as where I had gone right).

Among the most telling of these comments was:

"Some of it is, however, slightly off-topic, almost answering a different essay question to that set here."

In other words ' twisting the question to fit your answer'.

It's a fair cop. I need to work on that.

I like it when a tutor takes the time to provide a comprehensive critique of my work - it makes the assessment process part of the learning experience and helps me to learn how to express ideas coherently and efficiently.

Having said that, I also like it when few comments are required. When I did higher Geography in 6th year we were set a question from a past-paper as homework every week, and every week I would spent a little more time than normal on them because I wanted to get full marks for at least one during the year.

The closest I managed was 19.5/20 on two occasions - one of which I was docked half a mark for a spelling error. I felt incredibly hard done by at the time...

I did once manage full marks for an essay mind you - and for a proper 2000 worder too; none of this highers crap!!

It was when I (briefly) trained for Primary Teaching (imagine...) and it was for an essay about teaching Drama and Music.

It was marked by two tutors and there were two comments:

"Well done" from one

and

"Well done for showing that a music lesson doesn't have to include a song" from the other.

I wrote it on an early Mac and, iirc, spellcheck ensured that my Higher Geography heartache was not repeated!