So you’re a fellow student at the University of London? Hi, nice to “meet” you 😊

I’ve started my studies some time back and I’m planning on completing them in 2023.

Since it’s just you and me here, let’s be honest – beginning at the UoL can be a bit confusing. They do their best to provide information but experience shows that most newbies have the same questions all the time, which we notice in our WhatsApp groups. Hence, I thought why not create a FAQ page to help people onboard. Below you’ll find a few answers to some of these questions (status August 2022).

IMPORTANT: If in doubt, please always contact the UoL. The information below has been collected as per my best knowledge, but I cannot guarantee its correctness. Raising an enquiry is the best way to do that as it provides a time stamp of your request. This can be useful if you miss a deadline for registration due to them replying slowly. In this case they normally manually open the registration for you so that you can do the necessary.

How do the forums work?

Each week, you’ll have to enter two “meaningful” inputs into the discussion forums. Yes, that shows only 66% in the grading system, but it’s enough unless advised otherwise. 

You’ll know if your post was accepted when you can see a “(1)” behind it. If a tutor doesn’t accept it as sufficient, they usually comment on it asking for more details etc. 

If your post doesn’t get graded within the relevant week (give your tutor some time, not each of them checks student’s posts daily), drop them a message via email or the message function on top of the page in VLE. They might just have overlooked it. 

How do I quickly check if my posts have been graded?

The fastest way to check if your posts have been graded is the following: In VLE, you click on your name in the top right corner, then go to “Grades” and select the module you’re checking. It will show you the ratings for all weeks in an overview. This is helpful to make sure you got all the ratings before the end of the course.

Alternatively, go to “Profile” after clicking on your name, then on “Forum posts”. This leads you to your posts and you can see if there’s a rating or not. Clicking on “See this post in context” allows you to see any comments your tutor might have provided.

How do the assessments look like?

Assessments are currently held online (due to COVID-19). For multiple choice exams you have a 48 hour window. In there, you have 2 hours from the moment you download the questions/access the file.

For essays you mostly have 48 hours for 2 out of 5 questions, starting from 10 am GMT+1 (London).

The essay topics for Life Career Development were made public quite in advance, which allowed for more preparation and writing time. I would assume though, that the expected standards are accordingly high.

I’ve signed up for too many modules, what do I do?

If you’ve signed up for too many modules (don’t worry, that happens a lot), you can defer one or more. Just contact the UoL. 

I can’t/don’t want to take an exam at the end of this term, what do I do?

If you’re sick and you can’t take the exam, no problem as well. Just drop the UoL a message, no need to provide a sick notice. 

The emails from the forums are driving me crazy, how can I get less of them?

Trust me, you’re not alone on this one. Receiving all these single emails can be very stressful and they clog your inbox unnecessarily. To solve this, go to your profile by clicking on your name, choose “Preferences”, then “Forum preferences”. Then, select “Complete” or “Subjects” as opposed to No digest, which delivers every post separately into your inbox. Done. Enjoy the silence. 😅

There will be more information coming up as we go along. If you have any questions or suggestions, drop me a mail at mona@monastoschek.com or find me in the WhatsApp groups.