When people think about the Open University, they often think of people studying part time around their jobs. However, it’s becoming increasingly common for people to study full time with the Open University. Today, I wanted to share my experience of full time study as an Open University student.

I’ve now studied levels one and two at full time intensity. At level one, I spent most of the year (September to January) studying while working 28 hours per week, but from the February to May period, I was working on a much more ad hoc basis. I wasn’t working for the majority of level two, but from March to May I was working two days a week (at two different jobs) alongside studying. I think this means I’m pretty qualified to talk about the different challenges that studying at full time intensity can present!

I’m studying History and Art History, but my tips apply to most (if not all) disciplines.

Cover photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

Open University recommendations for full time study

The Open University will let you register for full time study, but they want you to know what you’re getting yourself into. There’s a lot of general information about how Open University study works on the website. The How Long Will My Qualification Take section is particularly useful. Within this section you’ll find a link to a Time Planner, which will help you determine if there really are enough hours in the day for you to study full time.

The Open University estimates that you will need 16 to 18 hours per week for a 60 credit module. If you are studying full time, that is 120 credits, so 32 to 36 hours per week. There is a lot of debate between students about these estimates. My opinion: varies significantly depending on the student, the subject and the level at which you are studying. One of the reasons I registered for full time study was because I saw a Reddit post where people were saying that they only studied for a couple of hours a week and still achieved good scores – this is not my experience.

I’ve found that the Open University estimates are generous, but not that generous. At level one, I probably studied for about 20 hours per week. At level two, it’s been more like 25 hours per week. In a week when an assignment is due, it’s more. I don’t know what it is that makes some subjects less time-intensive, but I’d guess they have less required reading to do, and perhaps also less essay-based assignments.

Once I’d registered at full time intensity, I received a couple of phone calls from Student Support (both of which I missed) and a follow up email to make sure I was happy. This email signposted some additional resources, accessible from the Study Home page (which you get access to once registered).

How my prior experience gave me the confidence for full time study

I think there are two reasons I felt confident giving full time study a try in the first place:

I’ve studied for accountancy exams in my spare time before.

Don’t get me wrong, I hated studying for them – I had no interest in what I was learning. The important thing was that I was able to force myself through them. It took a lot longer than it needed to, but I did it. The way you study for accountancy exams is much less structured than the Open University – you know your exam date about four months in advance, you buy some books, you maybe book a course, and then you figure out for yourself how to get through the content in time for the exam. I knew the Open University would provide a week-by-week study planner, and I work best with clear short term goals, so I thought this would suit me. This all meant that I was confident that I could put in the hard graft, and stick with the plan I was provided with.

My previous role gave me a lot of experience writing project reports.

While these aren’t the same as essays, they do require a beginning, a middle and an end. They require you to set out the key points you want to get across. I also had a manager who had really high standards when it came to these reports, and I’d put a lot of effort into my draft so she didn’t make too many edits. I was still absolutely terrified when I wrote my first essay, and my writing is way better now than when I started, but I can look back and see how I was able to use my experience to plan out a solid assignment.

This isn’t meant to discourage anyone who hasn’t had the same experience as me. You might have experience of your area of study – I didn’t. You might already have studied at university – I hadn’t (I don’t even have A-levels). My point is really that it’s worth taking the time to think about how you can use your experience to give yourself confidence when studying.

My tactics for successful study

1. What is your ‘why’? When you’re having a tough day or week, it will make it much easier to plough through. I have two. I want to work in the heritage sector in future. I also want to make the most of this incredible opportunity to take time away from work to do this course.
   
2. Explore Study Home and the module pages. There’s loads of useful information there, but you have to look for it. It will save time if you familiarise yourself with everything before your module starts.
   
3. Let your tutor know that you’re studying two modules. They may have advice for you. Also, if you need to ask for an extension for an assignment at some stage, it won’t come as a surprise to them.
   
4. Plan out when you will study each day/week and stick to it. I’m not particularly disciplined, but I was really strict with myself until it became habit. Once you’ve got a habit going, it’s much easier to maintain it. When I was working, I got up at 6am on weekdays and studied before work, I studied on my day off, and I also studied at the weekends if I hadn’t finished everything during the week. Now I’m not working, I sit down in the morning and study for five hours every weekday – my brain can only handle so much.
   • Make sure everyone you live with knows your study schedule – this serves two purposes: (1) accountability and (2) making sure they leave you in peace when you’re studying. Consider studying at the library or a local cafe if point 2 isn’t working out.
   • Also make sure you’re factoring in time off to relax. You’re not a machine and it’s easy to get burnt out.
     
5. If you can, have a study space set up where you can go and get on with your work. Even if you have fifteen minutes, you can do a bit of reading. Having to get your stuff out really eats into that time.
   
6. Module websites usually open early, so try to get 2 weeks ahead of the study schedule. This gives you some leeway if you need it, but should still mean that you are able to attend relevant tutorials before completing assignments. Any more than 2 weeks can make it difficult to incorporate tutor feedback into assignments. At both levels I’ve started 2 weeks ahead and ended the year on schedule – life happens and if I hadn’t been ahead, I’d be behind.
   
7. Book onto tutorials and add these and the assignment due dates to your calendar ASAP. You can change your tutorials later if you need to. Organising these from the start sets the intention that you are prioritising study.
   
8. If you’re short on time, prioritise the chapters that you need to use for your assignments. I usually start essay planning as I read chapters, so I can add ideas and page numbers to a mindmap as I go. I’d then go back and study the other chapters once my assignment was out of the way.
   
9. Don’t write notes about chapters which you won’t use for an assignment. Note taking isn’t my strength, and the notes I do write are often scribbled in the margins of my textbooks.
   
10. Celebrate submitting assignments (not receiving scores). I think it’s important to celebrate what you have control over – the work you’ve put in, and the sacrifices you’ve made. Of course you can celebrate your scores, too, but tutor feedback can be crushing regardless of the score, so you may not feel like it.
    
11. Don’t compare yourself to others. Someone on your module will always claim to be 15 weeks ahead. Someone will always have a better note-taking method than you. If what you’re doing works for you, then stick with it.
    
12. Understand that you are sometimes going to have to make sacrifices to get through your course workload. While I was working alongside studying I didn’t prioritise my social life. I still went out, but nowhere near as often. The other thing which I let slip was life admin – I found this really stressful.

So can you study full time with the Open University?

Yes! You’ll need to make sacrifices, and you’ll need to be organised, but it’s definitely possible! It’s definitely easier if you’re not working, but other people on my course who are working and studying full time.

If you’d like to read my thoughts about the modules I’ve studied so far, you can find them here.

Do you have any questions about study full time which I haven’t answered? Drop me a comment below.