1st February 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
I’ve been slightly distracted over the last week, because the student I’ve been tutoring has been preparing for the last of her January exams. The last two were M2 and FP1 (maths modules, for those of you who didn’t read them and know exactly what they are), and she was really concerned about M2 because she finds it quite hard, and needs to average 90% in that, FP1 and D2 to stand a chance of getting an A* in Further Maths. Obviously I have to understand how the grading now works, but, and at the risk of sounding like an old man, it did all seem much simpler when I was at school – get over 80%, and get an A. Anyway, the exams are now over, so we’ll be having fewer lessons a week, which means less fun for me, but also more time to work on Blue Tutors stuff.
The major task ahead of me right now is categorising all of the qualifications that have ever been entered by our tutors and students. There are some 130,000 qualifications in total, and nearly 18,000 unique subject names, all of which I have to look at and decide how they should be displayed (correct for spelling mistakes etc.). I’ve got the list down to 13,000 now, but it’s a real graft. Luckily I’m spurred on by the eventual outcome, rather than the enjoyment of the task.