Damn you Exams office, DAMN YOU!

TheVan

It is now 2 postal days before my exams start (and only 1 until they actually start officially) and

I STILL DON'T KNOW WHERE MY CLASHING EXAM IS ON AND WHAT THE ARRANGEMENTS ARE!!!!!!!

This is incompetency on an unprecedented level

Cnuts

TheVan

Oh and I just sent this to Philip "Everything's Fine" Nolan and Sinead "Its not my fault exams are a mess" Critchley after they sent another e-mail about how they're great putting on a cloakroom in the RDS:

Mark wrote:

Dear Mr. Nolan and Ms. Critchley

Thanks for the e-mail.

Unfortunately I still haven't been told where my clashing exam is on and what the arrangements are for it.

And it is on on Tuesday.

Two working days away.

And no-one else has been told either.

I'm in finals....this kind of malarkey isn't conducive to actually doing well in an exam.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Mark

Garret

a cloakroom eh? good news

I haven't been told about my clash either, although mine is nowhere near as close as yours is....

Chakar

Apparently they're now called, The Assessments and Logistics Office. They seem to have neglected the logistics part.

Fruit N Fibre

There was a letter in the independent today slating them if you got to have a look... I'm doing commerce and the cock ups for our finals timetable were monumental this year. <snip - cop on - hullaballú>

TheVan

Update:

UCD seem to be doing a frantic ring-around. I got a call telling me the details of the exam.

And yes, logistics seem to have gone out the window. I was told that we would get letters / e-mails telling us the details but now that the sh!t has hit the fan, they're just calling people.


Jobs deserve to be lost. Anyone with any sympathy for them, even if one of your parents is one of them, needs to take a long pause and think

dajaffa

T3h Indo letter linky

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=53&si=1827201&issue_id=15607


Have to say all the shenanigans are making me happy that the exams office wouldn't schedule my practicals, school had to do them themselves so at least some of my exams aren't scheduled ridiculously...

Villaricos

just to warn you Van even if they tell what exam comes first its no guarantee for on the day. At christmas I had a clash and after hounding the exam office I was told the Friday evening Id be doing my History exam first the next Monday morning.

Monday morning rolls around and Im put in a room with people with my sociology class!! So before they give me the paper I tell them I was told I had history first. Turns out they were told Id have sociology first.

Just another headache to add to the general drone!:rolleyes:

drdre

let us know how you get on and if you get a reply from the exams board

Spectator#1

That letter is brilliant. The Van, good luck, I hope it works out for you. I know so many people in similar situations.

If I could make one suggestion, if any of you end up in the situation that Villaricos just described there, especially if you're in final year, don't do the exam, ring the police and ask them to come down, seriously. This is ****ing criminal.

UCD should be sued for this.

Breezer

Any chance someone could post the contents of the letter in the Indo? You need a subscription to read it with that link. Provided this is allowed of course, I've seen it in other parts of this forum

Red Alert

URL's the same regardless of who you are, but you do need to subscribe.

Blush_01

Subscription's free too.

rainbow kirby

www.bugmenot.com ftw

beanyb

I dont think much of that letter tbh. I agree that UCD is a joke lately, but most of the things he uses as examples are crap. I love the electronic device free zone! I know it's annoying having to look for a socket for laptops, but it's just as annoying when you're trying to study hearing people tapping away on their keyboard. I need that zone! Saying there's nowhere for people to study is a blatant lie. Sure the library is packed at the moment, but it's exam time - get over it.

Expensive food - yeah it's a problem. But telling people who work in town or anywhere arent going to have any sympathy for paying €6 for a sandwich, crisps and water. It's still cheaper than most places.

The letter would have been far more powerful if he'd made more of the disgrace that exams have been this year - both timetables and results. He almost only mentions it in passing, and it's a far bigger deal and is far more likely to elicit sympathy.

Spectator#1

I see what you're saying beanyb, there's way bigger ****ups in UCD this year than the price of sandwiches or the space to study, but he does have a point all the same, and it's only a presumption that he's trying to elicit sympathy. I'd say it's more like he's venting frustration, I'd say he wrote it and sent it in without thinking that much about it from the way it's worded!

I just liked the ending, a nice rhetorical flourish! Surprised the Indo printed it to be honest, there seems to be some kind of media blackout on the ****ups this year in favour of wiping Brady's hole with the nationals.

humbert

It's not a brilliant letter but it is better than nothing. This fiasco shouldn't go by unnoticed because if it does the admin will be less inclined to make sure it never happens again. I think the post spectator wrote in the LC forum was much better but it was removed.

The food situation in UCD is utterly inexcusable, college takes highest bid and passes expense onto students.


Nice one RK btw, that's been bookmarked.

Blush_01

Or if he'd made reference to the mess that's been made of extensions to reside for medical students (and other students) by the higher powers in the residences, and the fact that the people working in the residences themselves warned them last year that these problems would arise, but they were ignored...

Spectator#1

humbert wrote:

I think the post spectator wrote in the LC forum was much better but it was removed.

That was funny actually, the guy who moved it and locked it said something along the lines of 'I'm not sure there isn't some hidden agenda behind this thread', what a moron! Hidden agenda? It was originally called "Don't Go To UCD" for ****s sake! Unless he thought I was Hugh Brady trying to use reverse psychology on all the CAO heads this year!

Thanks though, maybe I'll send it in to the Independent, think they'd give me the whole letter page?

humbert

Spectator#1 wrote:

That was funny actually, the guy who moved it and locked it said something along the lines of 'I'm not sure there isn't some hidden agenda behind this thread', what a moron! Hidden agenda? It was originally called "Don't Go To UCD" for ****s sake! Unless he thought I was Hugh Brady trying to use reverse psychology on all the CAO heads this year!

Thanks though, maybe I'll send it in to the Independent, think they'd give me the whole letter page?

I think you might have missed your window He also said he hadn't and wouldn't read through the thread. Oh well, hope he reads the indo!

Spectator#1

Oh well, hope he reads the indo!

Ah come on humbert, he was an ass, but you couldn't wish that on anyone!

princess-sprkle

sometimes i despair at the college, i really do. i feel like i have fun/ learn stuff in spite of UCD rather than because of anything they've done. I like the idea of the papers knowing how badly exams have been handled - it would have made a far bigger impact if he'd left out the more minor grumbles and stuck to the disaster of the exam dept though!

Red Alert

the letter writer should have probably stuck to one topic. either the overpriced food / corruption situation or the exams situation. would have made him seem a lot more reasonable.

i wonder will the college retaliate against him somehow?

hullaballoo

Red Alert wrote:

the letter writer should have probably stuck to one topic. either the overpriced food / corruption situation or the exams situation. would have made him seem a lot more reasonable.

i wonder will the college retaliate against him somehow?

I can't see how they might do it legitimately, but of course they can always find a way to make your life even worse.

padser

Red Alert wrote:

the letter writer should have probably stuck to one topic. either the overpriced food / corruption situation or the exams situation. would have made him seem a lot more reasonable.

Yup the exam situation is by far and away the biggest disgrace at the moment and it was only mentioned in passing.

Also the part about the lecturers lazily and reluctantly putting up 'dummy' papers made it look like they did it - and we are still complaining.

As Hull said - it wouldn't be legitimate but publically sticking your head above the parapit like that could certainly attract unwanted consequences.

Stepherunie

I long for the day that UCD cops on and faces up to it's harshest critics and deals with the problems head on rather than allowing this depressing situation to continue.

UCD is meant to be about students, right now it's about bureaucracy, petty nonsense, ineptitude, a disgraceful lack of organisation and care and consideration for anyone.

In many ways UCD reminds me of the HSE, overly loaded down with administration, not enough time dealing with people. It astounds me that one of the big reasons that Hugh Brady touted for introducing modularisation was that it would decrease the number of administration staff that were in UCD, however in my own course our administration staff numbers went from 2 to 3....

Thing is, I've heard many reports that Hugh Brady introduced modularisation because he could get a presidency in more 'prestigious' universities until he had been presided over a modularised university. However with the state of it here I think his chances are severely curtailed until he manages to get the thing actually running. Rumour it may be but could make sense.

And apologies if this is all a bit badly written, there's a party in my head and I'm not invited.

Sangre

I can't believe you used the word 'malarky' in a letter. You've clearly been middle aged since you were 15 TheVan.

Anyway best of luck everyone in the exams, hope this exams nightmare isn't too much stress for you.

themole

TheVan wrote:

It is now 2 postal days before my exams start (and only 1 until they actually start officially) and

I STILL DON'T KNOW WHERE MY CLASHING EXAM IS ON AND WHAT THE ARRANGEMENTS ARE!!!!!!!

This is incompetency on an unprecedented level

Cnuts

Just to let you know, that afaik most if not all of the clash exams are going to be on in the Quinn School of Business.

What usually happens is that if you have two exams which are meant to be on at the same time you would sit both exams in the Quinn School.

Make sure you check the latest timetable to make sure you still have a clash. If you do still have a clash submit a clash form to the exams office.

If i were you i would go into the help desk in the admin building.

drdre

have the personalised timetables been realeased yet.Like they had for christmas

TheVan

themole wrote:

Make sure you check the latest timetable to make sure you still have a clash. If you do still have a clash submit a clash form to the exams office.

Ah did that ages ago.

They rang around last night and gave the details, sent an e-mail this morning. At least I know what the story is now...

They're still jerks