Hello!

In case you’re one of the 2% of the population I haven’t told, I passed my 100wpm shorthand exam (along with 100% in my 80wpm, but obviously that’s less interesting and relevant). I’m SO relieved and happy! Readers of this blog will know how many times I doubted that I’d be able to get there, so it’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I practised an insane amount the day before those exams, so thank god it paid off. In my group, six of us passed the 100wpm after ten weeks! Surely we deserve a medal?

Also, our law results have been confirmed by the NCTJ. What this means is that we’re mostly on track for the gold standard qualification! I really thought that shorthand would be the module to prevent me from getting the gold standard, so to have it over and done with is amazing.

Production Journalism, our new module, is really interesting. It’s perfect for pedants like me, as it’s mostly sub-editing, i.e. tightening up copy, correcting spelling and grammatical errors, and cutting. It also involves laying out pages using Quark, which is great, as I’ve been reintroduced to creativity, which is fantastically exciting, given how bland writing for a degree can be. Today we did some headline writing, which I loved.

I need to crack down on PA revision now. I’ve done some of the easier topics, but I need to start learning about central and local government and Parliament soon. Oh god. Any tips for revising big, terrifying topics?

Kayleigh