To Submit or not to submit, that is the question…..less than 24 hours left!!

Decision time – Period 28 submission has now opened – so should you submit this period or defer to Period 29?

You want a BSc (Hons) and you want it now (yesterday would have been even better)! Results won’t come out until Sep so deferral means you won’t get your degree until Mar 2015 at the earliest. But what if your RAP is a bit borderline – you don’t feel very confident about the analysis? but some of your friends managed to get a C, so maybe you might be just be lucky to scrape through… But if you don’t, what then? The reality would be you would have the extra expense of another submission fee (probably in the region of £200 for Period 29 as it seems to go up a bit each time!) and then there is the psychological aspect of failure – how will you cope with the inevitable questions from colleagues / family / friends? Failure knocks your self-esteem – let’s face it no one wants to fail – could you cope with that nasty four letter word when you get your results and it is staring you in the face – FAIL ?

Only you can decide whether you submit but I suggest that you ask yourself a few basic questions to help you with this important decision. Obviously if you are about to be time-barred its submit or bust, so just do it by 21st May – you have nothing to lose – however do read the points below before you press the submit button – they are intended to help you get that all important C grade (or above if it is your first submission)!

This info applies to all students considering submitting in Period 28
1. Have you really read all of the OBU instructions, guidelines, 2013/14 information pack etc and understood the requirements? Have you satisfied all the criteria set out in the Info pack ‘Appendix 6 -Research and analysis project checklist’?

2. Have you looked at the actual assessment criteria – Info Pack Appendix 1? (in particular are you sure that you have avoided all those weaknesses shown in the Fail grade boxes)?

3. Are you satisfied that you have referenced fully and used a good range of sources? (e.g. not just the annual reports for Topic 8). Note: Information gathering and referencing (that is the lack of these) are common reasons for failure

4. Remember RAP stands for ‘Research and ANALYSIS Project’ (you never find me using the abbreviation RR as it is NOT just a Research Report – in fact arguably the Analysis is more important!) – so have you covered both of these aspects adequately? Have you done more than just ‘describing’ things e.g. just commenting on the movements in the trends (again if submitting Topic 8)? This is not ‘analysis’ – you have to ‘add value’ to this by explaining what has driven the changes in these movements.

With Topics 17 & 20 have you done more than just stating what the company does with regard to the Codes? Have you OBJECTIVELY EVALUATED what they have done in relation to other companies and the codes? – are there some articles in the business press that question the integrity of the company perhaps? (As I write RBS and Barclays shareholders are making a stand about the bonuses for example)

Don’t take absolutely everything you read in the annual report at face value – the directors are going to hype up the good points and ‘bury’ the bad news – your mission is to produce a BALANCED report so you need to dig out independent articles etc that either confirm the annual report statements or present a slightly different picture.

Topics 11 & 13 by the nature of the topic are often ‘heavy’ on research (describing the set up) and ‘light’ on analysis – so you need to ensure that you have been able to do some form of original analysis, constructive criticism and independent thinking of your own etc to satisfy the analysis criteria.

5. Have you linked your models/ theories from Part 2 with the analysis in Part 3 e.g. the business and financial analyses are inter-connected (topic 8), motivation theories need to be applied in a company context (topic 6)? Assessment criteria 2 requires you to APPLY the models and theories not just state them, whatever topic you do.

6. Have you thoroughly understood the SLS requirements? (see p.39-40 Info Pack). If you don’t do adequate self-reflection you could fail. Imagine the frustration of not getting your degree and having to shell out another submission fee because you overlooked the SLS!!! There are 3 things you need to include in answering the 4 questions in the SLS – Self-reflection, self-reflection and self-reflection! (There are no right or wrong answers to the SLS but there are right or wrong approaches. It is supposed to be based on self-evaluation and reflection about what you learned and its possible use for the future. Just stating you did this, you did that etc is not self-reflection. Neither is being vague about what you have learned from the experience and the mentor – be specific give as many examples as possible– you might even use the Open Tuition forum as an example of how it made you approach the RAP, SLS etc and made you think about what academic research analysis and effective communication means – now there’s a thought!!!)

For students resubmitting PARTICULARLY IF THIS IS YOUR THIRD AND FINAL ATTEMPT

7. Have you read and really understood the feedback and reasons you failed last time?
8. Have you gone through the latest Resubmission Guidelines / Info Pack?
9. Have you listed out each of the points you failed on and shown what you have done to correct the deficiencies in your Resubmission Statement? (if you are required to submit one – see the Resubmission Guide) NOTE: the Resubmission statement in my opinion is intended to help you pass, rather than just another bureaucratic hoop to leap through. I think its purpose is to try to help you recognise what you need to focus on and correct. If you don’t spend time on examining the reasons why you failed and addressing the problems then you are wasting your time and money in resubmitting!
10. Have you complied with points 1 – 6 above where applicable?

And finally
11. Do you have someone who can objectively read through your work and make constructive criticism where required? If you have a GOOD mentor they will probably do this for you but if not, a knowledgeable friend or colleague perhaps? Remember though this is intended to be an exercise to help you get that pass grade so don’t take objective criticism too personally…. They are only trying to HELP you! Ask them can they follow the arguments and reasoning, is it lacking anything? Does it contain too many numbers (without adequate graphs and charts) so that they keep having to re-read bits to take it all in? Is it boring in parts (ask them to be honest!) and are there ways it could be made more interesting (e.g. chopping out long paragraphs, putting in a bit more line spacing, adding some graphics)

12. Ensure that you have uncorrupted copies of your whole RAP submission files available in case your submission versions prove to be corrupted (if OBU can’t open the files, then it can’t be marked!! – so I would suggest saving a couple of copies on different flash drives ‘just in case’).

13. To ensure you load the correct versions of your files – either delete older versions/ append FINAL to the file name / keep them on a separate USB stick. Once files have been uploaded and submission confirmed they are ‘on their way’ and you will have no further access to them. My understanding is that OBU will only allow a recall in very exceptional circumstances ( and I bet they just ‘ love’ students when they have to interrupt the process for a ‘manual’ recall!! 🙁 )

File formats: RAP & SLS – must be in Word and spread sheet file must be Excel – NO pdf versions for these are allowed ( although the system may accept them they will be rejected for marking at that stage). Appendices, Reference list and anything else can be pdf. The Presentation file would normally be PowerPoint but I am not aware whether this is mandatory.

If you can answer YES to all of that and implemented 12 & 13 then in my opinion you are probably ready to submit!

One final piece of advice – check and DOUBLE CHECK your submission confirmation that lists out exactly which files you have submitted – especially if you do it at the 11th hour on 21st May. Apparently OBU will not accept errors and omissions by a student after the deadline – so if you loaded the SLS twice in error and didn’t load the RAP at all and you don’t notify them of the error and reload the correct files BY THE DEADLINE then that’s it. (I appealed on behalf of a student and was told that if they allowed students to resubmit a correct file after the deadline, in effect they would be extending the deadline for some students – like those who might have deliberately misloaded files to gain a bit more time). It’s harsh for those who genuinely messed up, but those are the rules – so you have been warned – so make sure it doesn’t happen to you!

For those who can’t answer YES to everything above before 21st May then you are probably better off deferring as your chances of passing are likely to be compromised. If you are facing your final re-submission you are advised to ensure that you really have done everything you can to get that C grade before you go ahead and submit as it is better to defer for 6 months and get an BSc (Hons) then go ahead with something that is deficient and end up with nothing…

So only one thing left now and that’s to wish ‘Good luck’ to everyone!

PS think I now have wrist ache from typing that lot – but fortunately I can touch type !!!