changes in fourth year uni FREAKING OUT!!

Post Reply New Topic

I am just starting my last year of university. I am doing an under-grad degree in biological psychology. I just changed my major (to psych) a year and a half ago and I love my new program School has become my obsessive interest and I have been doing really well. However the fourth year courses that I have to take this year are SO different from the 2nd and 3rd year courses I've taken in previous years. All of the 2nd and 3rd year courses that I took had exams (multiple choice and short answers) but no papers, no presentations and no group work. Some of the courses had sections in which you had to write a paper and other sections in which you just had exams. I always made sure I got sections of the course that only had exams. F I am required to do a thesis in my fourth year. I finally got over that shock/ anxiety regarding that and came up with an idea and got a supervisor. I am actually pretty exited about my project. I was really hoping that the thesis would be my one big new hard thing that I had to do this year, and all my other courses would be similar to the ones I took last year only the material would be more complex or studied more in depth. It turns out that all the fourth year courses have at least one research paper, at least one presentation, and most have a group presentation or group project! These presentations are worth a substantial portion of the final grade. This one course Neuropsychology of Abnormal Dev., which I've been looking forward to taking for the last couple of years, has three presentations each worth 20% of the final grade!! ! We are graded on creativity and ability to engage the class etc. along with knowledge of the material of course). I always did horribly on presentations in high school. I would get marked down because of lack of eye contact, failure to engage the students etc. My presentations are never very creative either 9I am not good at creating good visuals). I always did my research and new the material well, but that was only worth maybe a C. I absolutely despise group work.....on this site I guess I don't have to go into exactly why.... I am not as terrified of having to write research papers.....but I am MUCH more comfortable with exams and tend to get better grades in courses with just exams than ones with papers.

This is my last year....the year where I am supposed to get good grades if I want to get into grad school. I feel SO unprepared for these courses! Everything is SO different than it was last year and I HATE change.

Anyone have a similar experience going from 3rd to 4rth year?....... mostly I just wanted to vent as I am freaking out!!

*knew not new.....sorry for all of the typos/ spelling/grammar errors..........


I never edit my posts before I send them and then read them on the site and am embarrassed by errors
lol.

I am so tempted to suggest that you begin with the following:

"I am a really good example of a biologically-based psychological condition: autism. Let me demonstrate how this biologically-based psychological condition affects my ability to give a presentation..."

Yes, groupwork and presentations do not test your knowledge of a field, they test your ability to operate like an NT.

I liked exams, because you went in, wrote for 2 or 3 hours, and then left - done! Essays just dragged out the pain - I would always do them in a rush just before they were due ... so I might as well have sat an exam. I managed a short thesis (15,000 words), but I failed when I tried post-graduate degrees by research (eg 65,000 words). I would spend years trying to write the first paragraph of my thesis. Aaaargh!

Since your difficulties stem directly from Asperger's, I would talk to the people who deal with Disabilities at Uni. If it was me, I would take the definition from the DSM and write out how that aspect disables me in the performance of group activity, presentations, etc. And then write that you would like permission to do all your as ... etc.

It's funny to see group work in so advanced classes - it's usually in first year I see that. I always thought it was a way to lighten the burden of grading for the professor.

Thanks for the advice guys.............actually I am doing my thesis on AS and memory and will probably will pick a topic related to AS ....no idea what yet)for my papers/presenations ...so I probably will talk about AS and mention the fact that I have it in my presentations.

I have spoken to the office for persons with disabilities. My counsellor said that she could speak with my prof's if I wanted...but she couldn’t guarantee that they could accommodate me and evaluate me in some other way than presentations.

I am not sure why there is more groups work in the last year...it does sound strange to me as well. There was absolutely NO group work in the early years. The presentations/ research papers are to train us to be "psychologists'' and to go to grad school for psych. Do psychologists have to give a lot of presentations??
I don't even want to go to grad school for psych.....I definitely don't want to write another thesis. I want to do a practical MS in speech pathology. Some of the [presentations are individual and some are group (we are supposed to learn how to collaborate). I just don't see how they could spring this on us in fourth year.....having to give presentations ....when we don't have any experience with this...........there were NO presentations in ANY of the third year courses. I know I am repeating myself....I am just so annoyed about this. I feel like it is really unfair to change the requirements for courses just when grades start to really matter.

What I ended up doing is dropping the course that required 3 presentations worth 60% of my mark. I have 2 fourth year courses that have only one presentation, one paper and then 2 exams. I am missing one of my fourth year requirements (I need 3 more)....because I can't find another course like these ....where the presentations aren't weighted a ridiculous amount...so now I am depending on a couple particular fourth year seminars being taught this summer in order to graduate this year I am still terrified of the courses with the one presentation....but I figure I can make up the marks with the exams.

Ya.....I always do essays at the last minute too.... or otherwise I obsess over the exact wording and don't get anything written. I am much better at studying for exams...I know how to study for a multiple choice exam and I usually start way in advance...especially for interesting courses. =) For tests/exams the more I study the better I do (if I'm understanding everything and studying effectively)....for a paper I can obsess and spend hours and hours editing but my writing doesn't necessarily get better for it. It seems like with writing I have less control over how well I do. I think if I ever tried to write a master’s thesis it would take me years to write a paragraph too.......

I think you need to have another word with your counselor. She seems to think it's optional. It's not optional, not shyness, not phobias. It is a neurological disability which makes it *impossible* for you to communicate in those ways.

I copied this from http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-aspergers.html

=======================

Diagnostic Criteria for 299.80 Asperger's Disorder

[The following is from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM IV]

(I) Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(A) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction

(B) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level

(C) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)

(D) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

<snip>

(III) The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

====================

The functions described in A, B, C, and D are required to do a presentation, alone or in groups. What the counselor has to understand (and make the prof understand) is that for Asperger's, to the extent that you have it, this is a neurological impossibility.

Is there anything in your student manual about making courses possible for the disabled? I hate that word 'disabled' - it's only a difference - but in dealing with institutes you might as well use their own ammo against them to level the playing field.

I know how you feel. I'm in my last year of college too and it's totally different. I have to secure an internship for the spring semester, attend an etiquette dinner, do mock interviews and the kicker: pass a comprehensive exam or I won't graduate at all. I have to get a 100% on the exam to graduate. Are they nuts? I'm taking it this semester so if I fail, I can retake it in the spring. If I fail it then, well I guess I'm back here again until I pass the damn thing. I know I have to do a bunch of other "senior" stuff but I can't remember them all right now. I want to enjoy my last year of college so why are they making it sooo painful? D:

Claradoon,

Thanks for the quote from the DSM...that may come in handy =)

My university does require accommodations for people with disabilities, but the accommodations must not conflict with the "academic integrity” of the course. Actually my university is supposed to be well known for providing disability services. My counsellor said that an alternative to presentations is not on their list of accommodations so she will have to discuss my case with my individual Profs and see if they consider it a “reasonable accommodation", or think it would compromise the integrity of their courses. I don't see why there is not a listed accommodation about presentations or group work given the number of people who have disabilities that affect social interaction.

A presentation is one less term paper to grade.
A group project is maybe 4 or 5 less term papers to grade.

Of course one must approach with love in one's heart -
I'm not kidding - prof isn't just a lazy selfish person -
they do have a heavy workload.

So what's needed is a compromise - can you move
closer to the idea of "not requiring additional hours
of professor's time" ?

Good luck - I hope you're going to come back and tell
us how it goes.

Thanks for the insights and the good wishes...I will let you know what happens. =)

Yep, I'm in fourth year too, and stupidly chose the unit "counselling psychology" instead of "neuropsychology", because my degree covered the neuro side of things. I thought I'd just be learning what I already knew, and counselling might be interesting. Now I'm stressing out about having to do a video recorded counselling session with another student. We have to watch ourselves and review how we went. Also, the classes are much more group focussed.

I don't know if it is the same in Canada, but here in Oz the fourth year is regarded as the "research" year, to prepare those of us who want to be researchers (as well as the stepping stone into Masters/PhD which seems a bit contradictory). Researchers would have to do presentations. Psychologists, depending on the specialty, would probably have to do some at some point in their career as well. So it might be good practice. Good luck!

I'm curious to know, what field of psych are you interested in?

I am in biological psychology. The courses that I am taking/want to take that have these presentations are "The Neuropsychology of Abnormal Development" (has 3 presentations, at least one must be done in a group), 'Seminar in neuroscience, Rhythms of the Brain" (has essay exams and a presentation) and "Atypical Development" which has 1 presentation, You would think these courses would have to have m/c exams bcs they are all biology (except maybe Atypical dev. which isn't a bio psych credit). I am also doing a "specialized honours thesis" a mini-thesis for my under-grad degree. We have the research year thing here too. It's just SUCH a big change from third year bio-psych courses. It is not good to have AS this year.....cognitive inflexibility and all.....

I want to go into speech pathology. This requires a masters of sciences (in speech pathology), but it can be done as a "practical masters", this means no thesis only graduate level courses. =) I am interested in language development and neuroscience. I want to work with ppl who have lost language function due to stroke, neurological damage etc.

That counselling course sounds terrible. I would rather do a presentation then have to work with another individual classmate and bee video-taped during a mock therapy session You seem to have a good attitude though......What are you interested in doing after you graduate? Do you want to be a clinical psychologist?

That's heaps more presentations that I would expect, while you are trying to write a thesis as well. So do you have to get through this year to get into speech pathology masters, or can you do it with just the three years behind you? If you can switch to speech pathology now, do that instead!

I try to have a good attitude about the counselling, but I'm definitely cringing I'm not doing any further study as I don't want to be a psychologist at this stage. Got a job lined up at the end of this year in statistical analysis. Might be some presentations involved, but no video-recorded therapy sessions!! lol

[/quote]
That's heaps more presentations that I would expect, while you are trying to write a thesis as well. So do you have to get through this year to get into speech pathology masters, or can you do it with just the three years behind you? If you can switch to speech pathology now, do that instead!

I try to have a good attitude about the counselling, but I'm definitely cringing I'm not doing any further study as I don't want to be a psychologist at this stage. Got a job lined up at the end of this year in statistical analysis. Might be some presentations involved, but no video-recorded therapy sessions!! lol[/quote]

No unfortunately my school does not have an undergrad program in speech pathology and I have not taken enough pre-req's (in 2nd and 3rd year) to switch my major to anything else ( w/o taking an extra two years to graduate) so I'm kind of stuck.

That’s pretty sweet that you've got a job lined up.......I love stats actually! There was a fourth year seminar offered in stats (an optional course after taking the 2 required stats courses for a psych degree) and I was planning to take it. It got cancelled though because not enough people signed up. Good luck...it sounds like an interesting job.