M253 put to bed

At last the result for M253 has been issued, and thankfully I achieved a pass, which was all that was required. There was no specific grading, just pass or fail.

I'd had a couple of moments of panic where the thought crossed my mind that I might fail and have to do the whole thing again.

What a horrible experience it was. I'm truly glad it's behind me.

M255 Result - Distinction!

I haven't posted on here for a while, I'm struggling to get on top of my 2 Maths modules + M257, and work has been more demanding than ever, so finding time is difficult. To be honest, I've been on a bit of a downer about it.

But...tonight I got some good news, my M255 result is up, and it was a distinction. I'm pretty pleased about that, as I didn't think I'd done my very best in the exam.

However, I now have to confess that I didn't even read a single course book. I tried my best to get the OU to accept my experience plus the fact that I'd twice passed the industry standard SCJP (Sun Certified Java Programmer Exam) to allow me some credit transfer, but those were not good enough. Only those with Microsoft or Cisco certifications are afforded that luxury, so I had to spend my £400+ and go through the motions.

But at least the distinction proved my point (if only to myself)

M255 final exam

I sat the M255 exam today, no problem with the material, although I almost ran out of time, because I was trying to ensure my writing was legible, and I was pretty slow because of that.

I'm hoping that I've scored enough to get a distinction but I can't be sure, 15 points can be lost pretty easily, and of course, I remembered something I missed a couple of hours after finishing. I'll just have to wait until December to find out.

Another model complete though.

The M253 torture is over

M253 came to an end for me tonight when I sent in the final EMA. I wish I could say that I'd enjoyed the experience, but I didn't. Not one second of it! In fact I don't even feel like talking about it.

I hope I did enough to pass.

M257, off to a quick start

Tried to get ahead a bit this week whilst away in Finland working, so I did the first two CMA's for M257. I really don't like multiple choice, some of the questions are really ambiguous, and there is no opportunity to justify your answer, so it's a bit of a lottery at times. Sometimes I think having good knowledge is worse than having little, as you can see ambiguities that perhaps was not even seen by those responsible for setting the questions.


I had an example when trying a past paper for M255, which said "which of the following two are correct...". There were 3 that were certainly correct, and a further one that neither I (nor those setting the question I suspect) could say was true or false for sure, so I just had to give my best guess at which two they were after.


Give me the coding any day!

M255 TMA04 result

Slipped a bit on this one with 95% due to a couple of daft errors (complacency setting in again). It seems ages since I sent it in now, having finished it at the beginning of July to get it out of the way for summer. Only the exam to go now!

M253 TMA02 is marked

The M253 TMA02 assignment mark showed up today. According to the Undergraduate Handbook, I should have had this within 14 days of the cut-off, which was 29th August, so it was actually slightly late, adding even more undue stress. If ever there was a module where you need your assignments marking early, then this is it, for the following reasons

(a) Each assignment has a threshold mark which you must achieve (no point in continuing if you've already failed)
(b) Without the feedback to know what you have done right/wrong, you are unsure where to go next

The result is that you are left dangling, not really wanting to do anything until you know it's not going to be wasted effort, and yet there is a schedule of activities that need completing. To be honest, I've done very little since I sent in the last assignment, and now there is some catching up to be done.

btw. I scored 78% this time, which was an improvement over my 75% for the previous TMA. Still, the worst two marks I've had for any TMA's to-date, but comfortably out of the danger-zone.

Roll on October, when I'm finally done with this module.

M150 - Materials consigned to the green bin

Since M150 is no more, and having judged that there is zero demand for the course material on ebay and because none of it is (or was ever) much use to me, it's now all been sent for recycling.

At least I have some space for the newer stuff!

M257 - Materials arrived

The material for M257 arrived whilst I was away with work this week. I opened it up this morning, and went through the first two books really quickly just out of curiosity. So far I like what I'm seeing. Seems that M257 does thing the "Java way" and not imposing some of the distinctly strange coding practices that were used in M255. I'm going to be happier doing this module.

The untold benefits (?) of M253

I'm truly hating M253, even more than I expected to having read the dire reports from previous students. It's everything anyone said and more.

The worst thing about it, is that it's caused me to lose motivation entirely, and as such is affecting my work on other modules.

Right now, I'm supposed to be doing some preparatory work for MST121, but I'm on such a downer with M253 that I find I'm not able to put my heart and soul into it despite knowing I should.

If M253 had been the first module I'd tackled, I can truthfully say that it would have been the last, and I would have abandoned my degree aspirations before completing the module.

However, I'm a stubborn SOB, and I'm going to get I'm almost 2/3 of the way through this nightmare module, and I'm determined to see it through one way or another.

And a qualification to boot...

The combination of passes for MU123 and M150 gives me....

Certificate in Computing and Mathematics

M150 Result!

And another pass. I was glad to get this one out of the way, didn't enjoy it much. In fact didn't enjoy it at all. I scored high on the programming assignments, and not so high on the boring bits. The course felt pretty dated throughout, and the programming assignments were a bit Mickey Mouse for me, but I guess that was to be expected. The course has now been replaced, so I guess it was suffering from being end-of-life.

Overall continuous assessment score (OCAS) : 93
Overall assessment score (OAS) : 93

MU123 Result - my very first OU result!

In dire need of something to spur me on in the face of the misery that is M253, my MU123 result showed up today, and although it was entirely expected, a did achieve a pass.

OES (overall examinable score) : 93%
OCAS (overall continual assessment) : 96%

1 down, more (I hope) to follow

M255 TMA03 Result

Remarkable - 100% - can't ask for better than that! (still haven't read any of the course material either)

M255 TMA04 finished

The final TMA for M255 was published last weekend, so I made a start, but didn't have much time to spend on it, so I finished it off this afternoon. It's not due until September, but it now means I can forget about M255 until the Exam in October.

The only concern about the exam is that I'm going to have to write code literally, with pen and paper (shock!).

1. I haven't done this (or much other writing in fact) for many years
2. My problematic little finger (dislocted in cycling accident in January) makes it difficult for me to write at all

I think I'm going to need some practice

I'm an ISTP apparently

I don't usually hold much store by these things, but out of curiosity, I did one of those personality tests (Jung, Briggs Myers or something) and I came out as an ISTP which stands for Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving type.

Elsewhere this had a nickname of "Mechanic" which I quite liked, and was also pleased to see myself alongside such luminaries as Clint Eastwood, James Dean, Frank Zappa and Keith Richards. (always been a bit of a Clint, or at least that's what I though people were saying)

http://typelogic.com/istp.html

Reading it, I did feel that it was reasonable accurate, so I'll go with it, and if anyone asks then I say "hey, I'm an ISTP" with pride!

M255 TMA02 Result

Just got this today, and I'm well chuffed with the result. I didn't make any attempt to change my good-coding-habits to the M255 bad-coding-habits on a matter of principle (a bit stupid in retrospect) so I was expecting the worst, and was frankly a bit surprised with the 97% mark I received. I thought that my TMA03 paper was better, but it will be hard to top that, we'll just have to wait and see.

My cunning plan of maximising my skills to achieve a result with the minimal effort seems to be working so far.

M150 TMA05 result

This was the important one for M150, since it didn't form part of the continuous assessment, and I was pretty confident I'd score highly, because I had a choice of programming or non-programming question. Of course I chose the programming one, and I scored 98%, which is OK. I can't be bothered to look where I lost marks.

Now I've passed the module, even if I score zero on the final CMA (which I doubt). Yipee!

MS221 - registered

Well, now I've done it! I'm going to tackle two maths modules at once from October. MST121 and MS221. Apparently these two modules are complimentary and designed in such a way that they can be done together, but it's still a bit intimidating. I'd been dithering about registering for MS221 for a while, but it's done now. So I'll just have to wait and see what I've let myself in for.

M253 team working?

2 weeks in, and only two thirds of the "team" have shown up. Unlike in business when there is a team and someone doesn't turn up at meetings etc, there is no manager to call, in fact, no way to even try to contact the no-shows.

I didn't really want to do this module, but I didn't really have an alternative, and it's proving so far to be living up to the reviews of past students.

MU123 It's all over!

I finished TMA05 a few weeks back, but have been waiting for my TMA04 to come back with the PT3 form I needed to post it off. So since that arrived yesterday, I was able to check TMA05, and correct a few small things. Then it was despatched via the Royal Mail.

So that's it! MU123 is all done. Now I just need to wait for my result, which will be a few months.

MU123 - TMA04 results

My TMA04 result came through the post yesterday, worst mark to-date on this module - 90%. My marks have gone downhill gradually since the start. I think I've become a bit blasé about the TMA's since I only have to get over 40% to pass, and there are no grades on the level 1 modules, just a simple pass/fail.

A few simple and stupid errors caused me to lose marks. But heh, if 90% is my worst, it's not all bad.

M255 TMA03 Available

TMA03 showed up today, so I downloaded it and finished it. No problems at all, and this time I tried to do it "their" way as opposed to "my way" as Frank (or Sid) would have said.

Just need to check it for any daft errors, then I'll be submitting it.

M253 off to a bad start

I've not been looking forward to this module, due to the bad write-ups from previous students among other reasons, but I'm trying to approach it with an open mind.

Unfortunately, we're off to a bad start, since all material is on-line, and the first file I need to load gives me a "File not found or not accessible". I called the help desk, but apparently there's nothing that can be done until Monday at the earliest, which has effectively written off this weekend.

The only consolation is that the helpdesk has assured me that everyone will be in the same boat.

A lull in the proceedings

Feeling at a bit of a loss since I've finished both M150 and MU123. Only my final TMA (which I've already completed) on MU123 to send in, but I can't do that until I get the previous one back. All M150 TMA's are submitted.

M253 starts at the beginning of May, and I'm not doing any work on M255 until I see TMA03 which is supposed to be available from the beginning of May also.

I suppose I should make the most of the free time, but I'm impatient to get thing finished.

Summary and Costs

Added a couple of gadgets to the blog for tracking my progress in terms of credits accumulated (which is of course none so far, since I've not finished a module) and the affect on my bank balance (which is considerable).

For interest, I added a cost per credit, so I can see which modules are giving good value (purely in terms of credits, not necessarily content)

M255 TMA01 result

Just got my TMA01 results - 90%. Dropped a few marks because I'd used some Java code that hadn't been covered in the course, and one or two silly errors.

I'm going to have a hard time "unlearning" what I already know just to fit in with the course idiosyncracies. I'm struggling to rationalise why I should be marked-down for using my existing knowledge, but it's just something I'll have to live with.

Targeted advertising

Supposedly adverts are linked by relevance, so given that, I had to wonder at the "Fish Pedicure" one that popped up here today. Are OU students as a rule into that sort of thing?, or is it mathematicians? or Java programmers?

Almost put me off my dinner at the mere thought of it. Does the RSPCA care about cruelty to fish I wonder?

Coding rules

Just rounded off an online debate with my M255 tutor about "course coding rules", since it was suggested that a certain Java operation was banned according to the M255 rules.

It seemed like a dumb rule to me, so I explained why, using the argument that hammers shouldn't be banned just because some people hit their thumbs.

It bug's me that I'm probably going to lose marks because I've used language features that the course either hasn't yet covered or has outlawed in the TMA's I've submitted. But it's too late now, and hopefully it won't be too costly.

In future, I'm going to have to read the course material, which I was hoping to avoid doing. ;)

Where did my marks go?

Grrr, first my MU123 TMA mark doesn't show up for days online, and then when it does, I've scored 2 marks less than my paper copy. Another mail to the OU. I'm spending too much time mailing them about inconsistencies, admin errors and system issues.

M255 - Object-oriented programming with Java (Feb 2011)

This is a level 2 30 point course, and falls nicely into my cunning plan of maximising my current skills whilst picking up the points. Since I've been programming Java since 1998 or around there, I don't expect to be phased by much this course has to present, although I've been a bit surprised by some of the terminology used.

The danger of course is that I'm too complacent and fail miserably.

As the teachers used to say back in my school days "Pay attention boy!" (do they still say that I wonder) I should ask my mate Pete, he'll know :)

MU123 - Discovering mathematics (Oct 2010)

Since I've not studied maths since my school days, over 30 years ago (where has my life gone?), I figured I'd better take the OU advice and take this Level 1 course, to get my head back into gear. It's a bummer that it counts towards most of the B67 degree options, but not when your chosen specialist subject is Maths. The Yorkshireman in me feels like I'm throwing away money and time. However, realistically, I think I've made the right decision, and I've enjoyed it so much I'm looking forward to the tougher maths to come. Bring it on!

Just posted off TMA04, and started on the end-of-module assignment TMA05. I'm hoping to finish that this weekend, which will mean I'm back to just one module again until the next one starts up in May.

M150 - Data computing and information (Oct 2010)

This is (or was on B14) a compulsory level 1 module (30 points), and as expected I've found it a bit of a chore. Basically the programming parts were too easy for me (as well they should be given how long I've been programming) and what I'd describe as the "journalism" parts are not my 'cup of tea'. Still, being mercenary, what has to be done has to be done, and I've sent in my finally assignment well ahead of the cut-off date. Now it's just a waiting game, although marks from my previous assignments give me good reason to believe I will pass.

Where it began

In the summer of 2010 I applied for a job, for which I was over-qualified apart from the small fact that the employer required someone with a degree, which at this time I do not have. I was refused an interview because of this one little omission, it seemed that my 28 years of proven industry experience counted for nothing.

So vowing that this would never happen to me again, and with the added incentives of my age and economic climate likely to count against me if I was to find myself in a similar position in the future, I decided to take positive action.

So, I registered for my first Open University modules, my cunning plan being to do a combined degree of Computing + another subject, my thought being that I'd breeze through the computing parts, and focus my efforts on the other subject, thereby being able to take on a larger workload than otherwise I would have been able to.

So, to cut a long story, B67 Computing + Maths is what I'm doing. (Originally it was B14, but the curriculum changed, so I switched). I started in October 2010, and this blog will track my progress and other related nonsense.