Thanks for the update, Plato. Based on your experience, I think I'll just wait and not worry too much about VLE. I wonder if UoL's webmaster and java script slinger are taking time off to watch the London Olympics? --Ron

Hello Plato, Casey, and all:

Well, for what it's worth, I've been unable to log in to the VLE for a couple of weeks. I tried to complain online to London, but that also took me to a New Student Registration page. Seems like they are doing work on the site as well as altering our account info. Not sure why there has been no warning about this, but, well, that's the situation. Oh well. How's the weather in your corner of the globe?

In the meantime, I have enjoyed reading the brief note on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in Lear's intro book on Aristotle: The Desire to Understand.

I wonder, how many of you out there read into to some of the readings for the Ethics II (Modern) module in order to work on the Ethics I (Historical) exam? Seems like they are more related than one would guess just by the review materials. Manuel? You're an expert on this topic, right?!

Thanks! --Ron

Hey, if anyone can help me out, I have been off the net for a couple of weeks and suddenly I don't recognize the student portal at all, it is taking me into a page that has my information on it but seems to be aimed entirely at new applicants.
What happened to the VLE? Did it move somewhere else?
And about registration-I am guessing it is online again this year, did it open up yet? Will it be on the student portal?
These are probably sort of dumb questions, but if anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it!

Hello Heraclitus & welcome to the UoL Philosophy Forum!

To be honest, no one is really sure how long the exam answers should be.

I manage to fill one whole exam book with my ugly cursive script. One time, I went over into a couple of pages of the second book. Generally, I try to leave the better part of a blank page after each answer; that way, I can go back and add some additional thoughts.

One other student, it may have been Adele, I'm not sure (and my VLE access has been inexplicably disabled), said she typically filled three (3) exam books. I don't know how that's possible. Maybe she leaves massive gaps between paragraphs or overall points. But still: wow.

I would say that you are writing enough to get high marks. It's really a question of how you answer the question. You need to define the terms involved, identify what line of philosophical thought you are engaged in with the question and answer, then lay out the standpoints on the question, and, finally, engage in argument yourself with the line of thinking that is exposed by the question. If you write just a page or two, you can show you understand the concepts and the question, maybe you can give a single answer to the question, but in that space, it seems to me that you can't detail alternative replies and engage in the argument along your own lines.

Lately, I've been trying to (give the standard) answer the question outright in the very first paragraph. I might not agree with the standard answer, and maybe in the last sentence of that paragraph, I'll say something to the effect that the standard answer has been challenged and that the challenges are successful, or even that the challenges are unsuccessful, but they need to be defended in another way. I've been trying to be more rhetorical in my answers. This takes some time and space, though.

Maybe some of the other forum lurkers have some insight?

It seems like the students that get the highest marks are more argumentative and less exegetical in their replies. Just from my recollection of prior chatter about this topic. My marks have been in the mid-60s, pretty good, but I haven't been able to break into the Bernard level just yet.

That's all I can suggest. There are some sample essays on the forum. Are they about the right length by your lights? Thanks, stay in touch, and welcome again! --Ron

This is a question I've been meaning to ask for some time. What's the expected essay length/word count in an exam? In this year's exams (my first), I generally filled in around two or two and a half double-spaced pages (i.e. four/five sides) per essay with the third dropping down to one and a half (3 sides).