M256, the £5K fee barrier and student loans

So I registered for M256, and this along with TM470 will be the last two computing modules that I undertake if everything goes to plan. The total fees paid have now topped £5000, and that is under the transitional fee arrangement. Still, it's a lot to fork out of your own pocket.

It got me thinking about the fee structure, and I concluded that if it had not been for the fact that I started on this before the university funding started, I would have had to take out a student loan. Given that I'm already the wrong side of 50, that would have been pointless, and consequently I would not have gone down this road.

I really wonder how the new fee structure will work for the OU which has a vast majority of mature students. How many of them a will be put off entirely by the price? My guess is that it will be affected severely. Still, there is no point me worrying about that, I'll just plough on regardless until I'm done and hopefully then I will get my life back.

TM470 Project Idea

TM470 consists of a self-chosen project, and I've had something in mind for a while, so I'd already given it some thought. Prior to the module starting, we are asked to post our project ideas on the module forum in order to get comments from other students and the OU forum moderator.

So....last night I posted my idea, an this morning there was a comment from the moderator, who simply agreed that it was something that should provide a good basis for a project. Good news at this stage. Not all students project ideas were so well-received. I looked at a few others, and some were really lame, and didn't seem challenging or innovative to me.

I won't reveal any more about my project at this stage, at least until it's official, but stay tuned...

Breaking open the piggy bank - TM470

Riding on the crest of the wave caused by my M362 result, and in a fit of madness I registered for the TM470 (The computing and IT project) module starting in February 2013. This will be my penultimate module in computing, with just the level 2 M256 remaining, which I also plan to start at the same time.

TM470 is the second most expensive module I've registered for. At £775 (under the transitional fees) for a lowly 30 credits, it works out at a whopping £25.83 per credit, compared to the average of around £15 per credit. £775 is over double what I paid for M208, which is a mighty 60 credits!

Why is that you might ask? And rightly so, because it comes with no hard-copy materials, and there is no exam, just 3 hefty TMA's to complete. I find it hard to justify paying this out of my own pocket, but it's mandatory for my degree program and that's that, so I'd just better get over it.

M362 Result

My first level 3 module, and I scored 90% in the exam. Add that to my 92% for the course work, it it makes for a comfortable distinction. This is the highest overall score I have had to date, and at level 3, counts for a lot towards the grade of my final degree (should I ever get there).

I am more than pleased, and that gives me just the boost I need to book a place on another module in February 2013.

As a foot note, I do admit to doing more than my usual amount of revision for a computer exam, however, I far from over-worked on the course work, although I gave it my best on each of the TMA's.

A pretty good module, interesting in parts, and informative too.

M208 TMA01 marked

Well, I got back the first TMA, and I'm very satisfied with the 87% I received, as this is well over what I can realistically expect to get in the exam at the end of the year. I'm not trying to be defeatist, but there is no way I will ever get a distinction in the exam, because I'm just too slow (apart from the tiny matter that I don't understand half of it).

Just another 6 to go...

M362 Exam Done!

Another module over and done.

Looking at the seating plan outside of the room, I was the only person there doing M362 today, which was a first for me. I was right at the back of the room too, which I prefer (some sort of animal instinct about not knowing what's going on behind I think) and I felt pretty relaxed all in all. The exam went OK I think, but you never can tell.

This exam was a more 'wordy' type rather than the emphasis on coding, but it could have been worse, and I comfortably finished within the time limit (another first, and not a bad sign I hope). I wonder if I got all the buzz-words they were looking for? Time will tell.

Results should be out in December sometime I think.

 All in all, I think M362 is a pretty decent module. I quite enjoyed parts of it, and I think I actually learned something new in parts too.

Bibliography Software

I find it a real pain citing references in my TMA's, and this year I intend to invest some time in software to help me. I think this is going to be really important in TM470.

This is a reminder to myself to do just that, and I think this one looks particularly interesting.

http://www.zotero.org/

M362 TMA03 Result

The result for TMA03, which was the final TMA for M362, and I got 95%, which is my best of all the TMA's for this module. Now it's just down to how high I can score in the exam in October.

I've purchased 3 past exam papers and will be working through these as preparation for the exam in addition to whatever revision I can manage to fit in. I really should try to give it some focus, but my mind is on some other stuff right now. 

Updated blog layout

It was time for a bit of a clean-up of the blog. Too many "gadgets", so I just created one big html file with multiple tables and moved stuff around a bit.

This means it will be easier for me to maintain and also to change to a new layout (which will probably happen, as I think this one looks a bit dull)

Pure Maths is next

My OU schedule over the last 12 months has been almost the same as that of a full-time university student, in that I've taken 110 points of study. Juggling the demands of a full-time job, and also my training (cycling / running) schedule alongside the study was difficult, and I think this was reflected in the result for my MS221 exam. I simply did not do enough study or revision.

I'm not a natural at Maths, I find it difficult. In fact at school I was pretty convinced I'd failed my o-level, and only just scraped through it. I then went on to pass additional maths at o-level, again just scraping though.  Now it has to be said that at school I was a lazy sod frankly, and was more interested in sport, music, girls and beer (not necessarily in that order), but it doesn't hide the fact that I was poor at maths.

However, I like a challenge, and I don't give up easily, so I've signed up for M208. This will test me thoroughly, but if I make it through this course I think I will make it to the finish line!

There are no computing modules starting until February, so I will just be doing only maths for the first few months, but I'm intending to do 120 points this year which will be my heaviest schedule to date. I think it will be more manageable than this year, as I had 80 points over 3 modules starting in October and one 30 point module starting in February. This time it will be a 60 / 60 split Oct / Feb with the maths being a single module.

I didn't like continually switching between modules last year, and found myself getting confused what I'd covered where (especially on MST121 and MS221). So a single 60-pointer I'm hoping will suit me better.

We will see in September.

MS221 Result - still on track

What a huge relief, and more than a little surprise.

I wasn't one bit confident that I'd passed, and was hoping to scrape a grade 4 pass at best, so there was a big YEESSSS when I saw the result for this one, 55% and a Grade 3 Pass.

My fear that my plans would be derailed were unfounded. I struggled like hell with this one, and put in a lot of hours, so this means a lot more to me than my distinction in M257.

Get in there son!

Now I'll have to register for some more modules, and go through another year of pain.

Certificate In Mathematics

Today I got confirmation of my Certificate in Mathematics. Here is the equation:-

MU123 + MST121 = Certificate In Mathematics

This was simply a by-product of the modules I've taken of course, but still nice to have.

M257 Result

A distinction! I'm vey pleased with that, since I messed up in the exam (or so I thought).

MST121 Result

A pass in this one. No surprise there, since a score of 40%+ was enough and there was no examinable part. Still, another 30 credits in the bag.

M362 TMA02 finished

I need some time off now, the exams last week left me a bit drained, but I had to have the M362 TMA02 in by the 26th of this month, so I finished it off today. I think I made a pretty good job of it, but we'll see. I got 94% on the first TMA (don't think I posted about that)

For both TMAS's I've had to use Netbeans, rather than do the development in Eclipse (my usual trick) which is for me a bit of a pain since I'm really comfortable with Eclipse, and I don't like Netbeans one bit. I still end up pasting the code into Eclipse to get it formatted for insertion into the Word document since it's easier to do that than fight with Netbeans.

MS221 - It's all over!

The exam is over, and I got off to a bad start, almost missing it completely as I'd got it into my head that it was at 13:30, and found out at the last minute it was at 10:00. I just managed to catch a train and get there with 15 minutes to spare.

As for the exam itself, it didn't go too well. I'd been trying past papers (3 in fact this week) and in each one, I only scored 34-39%, so I knew it was going to be touch and go. As it happened, I didn't have time to make a start ion part 2, (28% down the drain there). And failed to answer at least 2 of part one (another 12% there). So realistically, it's goping to be touch and go whether I pass or not, and even if I do, it will be a poor mark. I'm not holding my breath.

I knew I was going to struggle, as I'm pretty slow, and have a memory like a sieve when it comes to maths, but I did my best on the day. I just hope it was enough.

M257 Finished

On Tuesday I sat the M257 exam, and I was a bit disappointed with my performance. Despite finishing in 2 hours on each of the practice papers I tried, when it came to the actual exam, I actually ran out of time (3 hours). This was due mainly to me taking a bit more care over the answers, and trying to write neater.  I should have learned that this would happen from my M255 exam last year where I just managed to finish within the 3 hours.

I also made a bad choice of question in the second part, and chose the wrong one! In addition to making a few dumb errors on the first part.

Consequently, I think a distinction is out of the window this time, but still hope for the next best thing. I should find out by the end of July.

MS221 final TMA marked

Well, just 2 hours after posting about my fear of the impending exams, my marked TMA04 for MS221 dropped through the letterbox, and I got another good mark. 93% for this one.

It has lifted my spirits a bit, because it means I've done all I can in the continual assesment aspect of the course, and now it's just down to how well I do in the exam.

Exams Looming (wishing I had more time)

Just over a week to go to my exams, and frankly at this stage I'm pretty worried about it. I've been going through maths exercises becoming more and more depressed as I can barely remember a thing!

I'm going to have to focus on the MS221 entirely and just hope I can scrape through. I will put one or two days of revision in for M257, which I think should be enough to get me through that, but maybe not enough for a distinction, but it will have to be enough as I can't afford to fail MS221.

This seems utterly bizarre to people when I tell them how worried I am, since I've scored so highly in TMA's. But having books to hand, and all the time in the world makes a BIG difference.

Wish me luck!

M257 TM03 marked

98% for this one, so I'm more than satisfied. Just the exam now.

Clearing the plate

I sent in my funal TMA for M257 this morning, which means it's over apart from the exam in June. That on top of getting my first M362 TMA in a couple of days ago, and my closing in on completing MST121 means I'm finally clearing off what was a very crowded plate!

The truth is, I bit off more than I could chew this year. 110 credits in a year is theoretically 1100 hours of study, which amounts to a tad over 3 hours per day, holidays included!

Add to that a demanding full-time job, and I'm starting to realise why I've been struggling.

But I'm starting to feel in control of the situation again, so that's got to be good.

M362 First TMA completed

Well, I finally got around to doing this. I only had a week to spare, but it took less time than I expected. The coding tasks were straight forward, but I didn't enjoy the other parts. Too much "discuss..." or "explain why..." for my liking, I much prefer just cranking out program code. My mark will probably suffer as a result.

Still, it's off my plate now and I can focus on MS221 with the dreaded exam looming ever nearer!

MS221 TMA03 marked

My TMA03 for MS221 came through the letter box. I was fairly confident I'd done a good job on this one, and was extremely happy to see that I'd got 97%. Assuming there are no mistakes on the addition, this means that todate, my scores on MS221 are slightly better than on MST121, which is pretty wierd really since MS221 is a level 2 module and MST121 is only level 1.

Still, as I keep reminding myself, it counts for nothing if I don't do well in the exam.

MST121 TMA03 mark

The TMA03 mark appeared on my student homepage. (I like the word 'student' as it makes me feel much younger than I am) and I got 94%. I had 96% when I got the paper back from my tutor last week, but there was a mistake on the adding up. I always see the funny side of this, when I've been struggling with calculus and functions, formulae etc. that my marks can be added up wrong.

Anyway I don't really care, because I thought this was the poorest TMA I'd submitted, and 94% is more than I was expecting.

M257 TMA02 Result

My M257 TMA02 result came out today, and I got a second straight 100%. Pity the first TMA was a formative one (i.e. doesn't count toward the overall module result).

I was expecting a good mark, as it was pretty straight-forward, at least for anyone with Java programming experience. But I wasn't expecting to get full marks, especially since I'd hacked away some big chucks of the skeleton code that were downright ugly and inefficient. In fact one one of the questions I think I actually removed more code than I added.

Still, my tutor must have been happy, even giving me the full discretionary marks for "coding style".

There is hope for me yet!

MS221 TMA02 result

The marked TMA02 arrived in the post today. I had struggled with this more than any other TMA that I have done to date, and wasn't expecting a very good mark, but it was 95%. Same as my MST121 TMA02. 

This mark, although pretty good, in no way reflects the struggle I'm having with this module (same way I feel about 121 also) but in this case, it's a bit irrelevant, since it's the lowest of the continual assessment and the exam that defines the final grade, and I'm 100% sure that in my case that will be the exam. 

I will have to knuckle-down to some serious revision for this module in June.

MST121 TMA02 result

Got my 2nd TMA result and was truly amazed with it. 95% - even better than the previous one. This in no way reflects the struggle I am having with the subject, but a I guess I'm heading the right direction for a pass.

MST121 & MS221 TMA01 Results

I got the results for both of the Maths TMA01's in December, and it was 94% on each. Bit of a shock on both actually, since I've been struggling a bit. I did have to work hard on the TMA's, and they took me far longer than I would have wanted.

Although those marks look good on paper, on MS221, it's the exam in June that's going to be the real test, when all I have is calculator, handbook and my exceedingly dodgy memory.

Slight Change of Plan - 2 Degrees

My initial plan was to get a Diploma in Computing en-route to my honours degree, but I discovered that by just changing the module order a bit, I can actually pick up an Open BSc instead. This seems like a better choice, and doesn't change my overall goal. It just means that if everything goes well, I will have two degrees to my name at the end of the process instead, albeit one without the 'Hons'. It will enable me to get a degree of some sort a year earlier though, so I think it's worth it.