Have you tried the university's student union? They may be able to give you advice and will not have to feedback anything you might have to say.
I suspect you will not be able to stay anonymous if you wish to make a formal complaint, and to be honest, you need this problem sorted and so it needs to be clear to the supervisor who the problem is with.

Your supervisor is also likely to defend themselves quite strongly. What evidence have you written down? Have you thought how you will defend yourself if they try and say all the problem is with you?
Sit down and write it all out at home. Think of all the excuses the supervisor might say and try and see if you can prove that it is all their fault.
Next think what you want to happen. getting the supervisor disciplined for their behaviour is one thing, but what do you want for you?
Do you want another supervisor? Is there someone else who can be your supervisor? Do you want things to just improve with your current supervisor.

There is NO excuse for bullying and no supervisor should make their PhD students feel they are being treated unfairly. You do not deserve to be made unhappy.
I hoep for you that something gets sorted soon.

Age is certainly no barrier. I am on full funding (in first year of PhD) and I am 40 next year.
You are young enough to have a long career ahead of you and so will be employable, and having work experience you will have the skills of working in a team, dealing with a boss (now to be your supervisor) and getting on with your work without guidance all the time.
Some people go into postgrad study because they don't know what to do, you obviously have chosen this and so are more likely to stick with it and complete. Supervisors are judged on how many of their students drop out before thesis so you are more of a safe bet, this can only work in your favour.

I was born and bred in England but ANYTHING that is going to be marked, or published I will get someone else to proof read first. Hopefully, the people you are helping will need large scale correction less and less but, because English is a very complex language compared to most others, I would say that any non-native speaker should get their work read and corrected no matter how good they are at the language.

If a PhD student can communicate their subject in the lab/office/conference then their language ability I think is proven.
A future employer would expect them to be able to talk with their colleagues and be understood. By the time they've got through PhD their writing ability should be good enough for most work situations.

I don't think even English born speakers are ever at a point where they also don't benefit from someone checking their written work - especially as there is the danger to write how you speak which is not how you write for publication. So in some ways you are teaching your fellow students good habits on getting a second opinion, and it is great for them that they have you to help.

There are some people who are just amazingly brilliant at what ever they do. I am never going to be as good as them so I just ignore it and carry on trying to do what I can. I have friends who didn't get many GCSEs let alone qualifications afterwards, I still love them and value their company even though 'academically' I have achieved more. So I know I don't judge others on that and so shouldn't judge myself on it either.
There is no standard you should expect of yourself but just 'try your best'.

When I go to meetings with my 2 supervisors I feel such a twit. They have awards a plenty, and international recognition in their field. I am still at the start of my PhD and currently fall into a bundle of nerves, wibble pathetic rubbish at the meetings and forget what little science I do know. Total inferiority complex is normal.
Just keep bashing at it, you are not the only one out there who is in awe of their colleagues.

It is possible. Once uploaded rotate the view so you can see more of the page and zoom to see the text and fine graph details better.
However, I only use my kindle for papers if I am REALLY limited on space in hand luggage or it is a paper I regularly refer back to (i.e. will need to read to death to understand fully ready to quote in my work).
It is not great for graphs - so best for papers you've scan-read once on the big screen and now want to read more in depth on the sofa, on the beach etc.
I like my fav papers in paper/real form as I can doodle all over in lots of colours where the colours either link themes or follow through some process in the paper. Not tried the note facility on the kindle with a pdf.
If you do a lot of travelling on public transport I would recommend the kindle for pdfs, or if you are going to a conference and want to have a copy of all the papers you've found useful in the past it is also handy.

One disadvantage of work stuff on kindle:
You need to read papers... you are distracted by that new novel you have just downloaded to the kindle.
You need to relax and sit down to read new novel on kindle..... you feel guilt because there are 15 unread papers looking at you in the main menu.

Today has not been a waste because I actually had some time to go outside while it was daylight and enjoy the sun highlighting all the colours on the autumn leaves, and then got to scoff a huge piece of cake while doing background reading in the campus tea shop. :-)

Thanks for the replies, now just got to fiddle about getting child benefit off exhusband (long story!) and can then play form fill in time.
The big question now will be if my husband's September payrise takes him above the threshold for the full amount. (Bonkers that an extra £50 a year equals £2300 a year less in tax credits!)
My daughter is delighted because it means if we get it she can go on any school trips and have music lessons - the perks to being a student are more and more;-) (am leaving the world of work).

Hi there, Really need some advice from peeps who have been studying with children and how to get tax credits. In September I start 4 years of a MSc/PhD program. I will get a studentship around 13/14k. I have one child aged 11. I have a working husband who earns 15k. Is the studentship counted in the child tax credits calculation? (Have already looked at the government website and it's not very clear.)
Is there anyone out there who does have a studentship and a working partner and their studentship is not counted in working out tax credits? Or even is there anyone whos studentship had to be counted....?
There is a 2.5k difference in studentship counted or not so really, really would like to get it if I can.:-)

Ta very much in advance for any advice peeps can give me.

Hi there. Thanks both of you for the response. Yes, Bilbo I think an Open University degree can be an advantage and I suspect that holding down a job, family and sorting out my own degree without tutors chasing me had a big input in why I got a place at such a highly applied for university. The only thing I have to be critical about with an Open Uni degree is trying to explain their grading (different to every other UK university) and the hassle I have had with admissions (universities don't like to take students on who officially are still linked to previous university because the OU year runs Feb to Oct).

Summer reading books have arrived now and I can't wait for September.
21 weeks and counting. 8-)

This year I will be studying with a Doctoral Training Centre on one of the 1+3 year MSc/PhD combos.
They are sending me the set pre-course books that I have been given chapters to work through (so I figure know that and academically I am prepared), however I wonder if there is any advice that anyone can give me to ensure that this first MSc year is a successful and enjoyable time.

I am used to juggling my time as I currently work full time, have a family, and am also doing my BSc in the evenings, so I'm not too worried about becoming a full time student and managing the work load. However as a mature student I only know life from the distance learning prospective so would love any feedback from those who are students in their 'day job'.

Cheers in advance for any advice.:-)

Just say what you have put here: you want to continue in research and obviously you can't say doing exactly what because you don't know what opportunities there will be. Mention the field of the PhD place and say to build further on that or maybe you will branch out in to research on 'insert other areas of interest you have here'.

At my interview I was told most of their students move into industry and I should expect that path was most likely for me. However, I said I wanted to do research and stay in academia, and that is still my plan.
You can't know what will crop up in a few years and they will know that too - they just need to know you are doing this with a direction rather than something to do instead of a job.

Hi there. I have just got onto a 1+3 degree at Warwick and from what I heard at the open day the Masters year of this sort of degree is really tough so I am not surprised you are up to your eyeballs in work. The 1+3 degrees all appear to be at universities who also get the top grade students so you will feel you are surrounded by geniuses and need to keep up.

Like you I tend to the obsessional side for wanting high marks however this can cause burnout and the danger you are focusing so much on perfection that you are letting stress interfer with your ability to study.
Do you highlight? Read the core papers - skim read to get paper gist - have a break -reread highlight the relevant features - go away - go back next day quickly reread highlighted key points - go away - think if you really need further depth on this paper - go back and read reference papers in similar manner but only if really essential otherwise reread highlights again. You must give yourself time to go away and digest your understanding of the paper - then you may find you do not need more information from other papers.

Breaks: for effective study you MUST have an evening off a week. Your productivity is actually slower if you study constantly than if you take regular breaks and the odd time off. Go out, see a movie, visit family, go to pub. Like a sportsman the muscles need to rest for ability to improve and your brain is the same, it needs time to rest and transfer the learnt stuff from the short term memory into the long term memory.

You also need to get a grip of the whole distinction thing. I understand this cos I get huffy when I get marks under 90%. Will the world end if you fail? No. Will the world end if you don't get a distinction? No. Will the world end if you are not the best student on your course? No. You mention you've had mental issues in the past so you know how bad life can really be - bad exam results etc are nothing like the awfulness that mental illness brings - you do not want to go back to that. You deserve better. Yes you want good grades but you must think of the other part of you that needs a social life. You deserve to enjoy your masters - you do not deserve to be ill again. Maybe you are the best and if you are then you will get there in the end / maybe you are not the best then so what we can't all be Einstein get over it. 'Work hard' needs a bit of 'play' too.

;-)

I wouldn't worry too much about being 'recognised' either. You are a hard working student - this is good! You have mentioned your mental health but this is nothing to be ashamed off and is very common in high achievers. View your past as an 'it happened so what' and while it can take others a little getting used to they also soon accept to view it as 'so what'. (I am very open to people about my previous depression and OCD - people do get used to the idea).