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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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. ;)

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 :)