Degree classification progress (Dec 2012)

Part of the new year resolutions should be the process that help us know if we have opportunities to make them real.

During the last years my resolution of having a First degree seemed to have more opportunities than at this time but all of them were thrown out of the window by different situations: a sudden illness, allegedly a norovirus, during M364 and M359 exams gave me a Grade 3 and Grade 2 respectively, instead of the two Distinctions I was going for and last year I couldn't make it better when an 81% in the M363 exam gave me another Grade 2, reducing drastically my options as only around 4% of people achieve a Distinction at the project module.

My current situation is as follows:

M263 only seems to have an impact in my final degree if I do really bad in M362 and TM470. A 2:2 result probability will be reduced to 6% if I achieve at least a Grade 3 on it. Having a Distinction on it would remove the options of having a 2:2 from the table after June 2013 (reducing the table to the first column, with 90% possibilities for a 2:1 and only 10% possibilities for a First).

If I achieve at least a Grade 2 in M362 this year (an option that looks very feasible to me now, as I will try to get a Distinction on it) that would make M263 result totally irrelevant for my degree classification calculation (providing that I pass it).

A First Class degree is only possible if I achieve two Distinctions at third grade (as I already knew), any other combination will be a 2:1 or 2:2 at the moment. So a First Class degree is at this moment unlikely, only a 10% probability, curiously the same as having a 2:2,  the remaining 80% probability is for a 2:1. 

Good point is that if I achieve at least a Grade 3 in M263 and M362 this year but don't get a Distinction in M362 there will be no pressure for having more than a 40% in the project module. The need to have just a 40% is a big margin for a project module.

In summary, I just need a Grade 3 in M263 and M362 to have a 2:1 so in case problems managing the two modules workload would appear I should focus all my efforts in M362 that is the only module that will be able to boost my degree result and keep my opportunities for a (now unlikely) First degree.

Anyway providing that I pass both of them this year, in December 2013 I will have a very clear picture of how hard should I work during my project module.

For now my new year resolution would be at least a Grade 3 in both modules. Focusing on having a Distinction in M362 if possible. That give me some margin to maneuver :-)

Mirror, mirror on the wall

263|362 (mirrored numbers)

This year M263 and M362 will be for me the modules to study. Unless I change my mind before 10th January I will not be registering for the project module this year else the next one.

That will give me all the time to dedicate myself entirely to the project during the academic year 2013-2014. There is an extra pressure added, though. It will be the very last year I will be able to claim my BSc (Hons) Computing with The OU and so failing the project module for some reason would mean for me to have to renounce to my dream as I can only claim my degree until 31 Dec 2014.

But thinking negative is not my thing at all, so I'm convinced everything will be fine for me and that I will finish my BSc on time.

For now M263 is going really well, I achieved a 88% in the first TMA (so far so good).

Results are out

Today my results were published.

DB123:  OCAS:80% / ECA: 80%.

M363: OCAS: 85% / OES: 81% (Grade 2)

All the efforts during the year don't seem to have been taken in consideration by the examination board at all when deciding my final grade, only the exam result seem to have counted to define my final grade.

Such this life.

My options for a First are now too tight as I would need to achieve a Distinction in the two level 3 modules I have ahead. A 100% effectiveness that doesn't look like too much possible when someone knows that normally only around a 4% of the pupils achieved a Distinction in the project module last years.

It looks like I can top-up my DipHE Comp & IT

Today I contacted the online University that offers the IT top-up year I'm interested to study (using my DipHE Comp & IT, after I finish it next July 2013).

They did a very fast reply and have basically said that they will consider my application as even when they had in their requirements that they normally accept HND's, Foundation Degrees and access courses as entry requirements DipHE's are of the same FHEQ level (5) so I could be elegible.

It seems to be I can study both qualifications at the same time if I can demonstrate I can face the workload that would entails. That shouldn't be difficult to demonstrate as I have been studying 4 modules per year with The OU and I have done it fine. Apparently I will not need to wait until I have my BSc(Hons) Computing under my belt to study another BSc in parallel.

Hurrah! Definitely this is a good motivation to continue to study M263 and do it well.

Let's see what future brings and how this unfolds then but it's very good to see opportunities are there. It sounds like "everything is possible" for now and that makes me happy.

I would need to double check with The OU once I have claimed the DipHE (or maybe a bit before) to be 100% sure though. I don't want to lose my opportunity to be entitled to B29 as that's a high priority for me.

Overlap between academic years is here again

M363 exam preparation is draining my forces but I'm happy with my revision progress, the exam will be on 12 October.

M263 will officially start on 29 September. They opened the module website today and (horror!) M263 cut-off date for the first part of TMA01 is on 15th Oct. I will need to study for my M363 exam at the same time I read the first block of M263.
:-(

Second year this happens to me as last year M257 iCMAs 1 and 2 appeared into scene at the same time I was studying for the exams of M256, M359 and M364.

Does The OU realise this can happen or is this a self-inflicted punishment I have being up to for being so brave to follow a crazy plan to take the years with (almost) even distribution of modules?

After 12 modules I have never asked for an extension in a TMA so I will try to do my best again, instead of breaking that record.

Distinction opportunity in M363 remains!

For some reason August is always a very busy month for me so I pushed myself to have my TMA03 done, spell-checked and have it "perfect " before15th August because I was afraid of not having enough time if I would delay its completion, but being a perfectionist I wanted to be sure that it would be a very good TMA and not one just done rushing due to time constraints so I finally submitted on 17 August after I was happy with the result and all the revisions I did to my answers, cut-off date was 5th Sept.

My teacher's feedback is fantastic and - for the first time in my OU experience - he marks my TMAs almost as soon as I upload them, it was "marked on 20th August and waiting to be released" since then, so it has been a long waiting time, an experience almost identical to when one expects an exam results. Today I was very nervous, 40 minutes ago I visited the page to see my results.

I needed a minimum of 80% in this TMA to have an overall OCAS equals to 85%, so keeping my opportunity to go for a Distinction on M363.

I have worked very hard in this TMA, seeing his feedback it seems to be that the points I lost where due to my perfectionism, (over)trying to secure a good score I lost the point here and there, giving too much explanations sometimes and taking a different path to the requested due to it.

I scored an 80%!!

It's the first time in my life that I pass a threshold so near I could have failed in my goals but I'm over the moon with this.

Just the exam now, I have past the last week revising already and 7 out of 14 units are already reviewed. I have bought all the past exam papers and I'm already refining my notes while going through the Units.

It's true people normally do worst in the exams than in the TMAs but there is still hope here. Fingers crossed  and hard work is the road to take now.

Handy tools for your degree classification calculation process

Beside the documentation that The OU provides I have found very useful the following tools available on the Internet.

Calculator
http://cleveret.net

I find it very useful to make module result combinations and to know which is the worst and best case scenario for me, etc. It contains useful Manchester google maps for the metrolink as well.

Handy PDF Table
http://open.wibble.to/hons_class_table.pdf

I find it very helpful as being so graphical it helps to see the relationships between the possible combinations very fast, there are a lot of more resources in the main page, they are mainly for old modules but can have some use for someone.

Be aware that some degrees have some modules that mandatorily will appear as part of your degree calculation and others that even being at level 2 or 3 will not count at all for it.

Hope you find it as helpful as I did.

NOTE: These tools are related with the way The OU degree classification calculation is done and not for other Universities, they are not developed by The Open University else by former or current pupils and of course you can only take it as an approximation to the degree you can expect. No exact science here.

UK Educational system questions

Being a foreigner means sometimes that one doesn't know all the small things around something that is understood as common knowledge.

In my case, even when I'm studying with The OU since 2009 and living in the UK since 2007 I doubt sometimes that what I assume is exactly how things are, one example of this are the Diplomas I have chosen to claim.

I've chosen to claim D12 last year because I thought it would be good to have it (career relevance) - even when my professionalism and knowledge is not in doubt at all at work - but I wasn't sure when I did claim it that a Diploma like D12 would count after having claimed B29, as it will probably be superseded by it then.

Can you do something with D12 once you have B29 under your belt? It would be relevant to mention it in a CV? If so, why?

With E66 I have understood that I could go to another university and do a top-up year with it but the question is:

Once I have claimed E66 next July, can I go to another UK University at the same time I'm studying B29 with The OU and top it up there or do I need to wait until I finish my B29 studies with The OU to go to another University to top-up E66?

3, 2, 1...blog

I'm studying for a BSc (Honours) Computing with The Open University that I hope (pray, count the minutes) to have asap.

My intention doing this blog is to be used to write regularly (at least when something I find interesting for me happens).

Ideally that will help me to get used to be ready for the mandatory blog in TM470 (a module I will start in Feb. 2013 or Feb. 2014).

I'm the kind of person that writes lots of text when I start to write a post or email, explaining everything in detail so I need to practice writing short comments as a way to train me for the (ideally) daily posts that the project will demand.

Let's see how it goes.