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!