Sweet and sour bittersweet

Sour:
Yesterday the University I have been chasing during two years to top up my degree changed the degree name to exactly the same name The OU uses for its flexible degree. I was trying to escape from that name since 2010 but that name follows me.

I feel I'm jinxed on this, cannot I just have the degrees with the names I want for God sake?

I contacted them trying to see if I can claim the old degree instead of the new one. It's not possible, I have stopped my application process yesterday and I'm back to point zero in my research on finding a University that would offer this degree online (with good modules if possible).

Only one Uni found at the moment and it was the one I discarded in favour of "the mutator one" :-).

This is very sad for me, the Uni had no exams, had a very good approach to the materials, fantastic modules, it's one of the UK Universities with the highest percentage of people going into work straight away after they finish...and it's even cheaper than The OU.

Sweet:
My M263 results have been published. I got a 88% OES, with a 91% OCAS. Providing that I finish all my modules on time I have now mathematically a 2:1 degree. Just having a 40% in the two modules I have ahead that will be the minimum grade I will be having.

Now I have 10% of probability to have a First, 90% to have a 2:1.

The new unofficial table is as follows:

Unnecessary automatic substitution?...again?

My results in the M263 TMAs are already released (TMA01: 88%,  TMA02:93%, TMA03: 90%, TMA04: 91%). Grading (OCAS) before substitution: 91%. Grading (OCAS) after substitution: 91%.

(drums) Ladies and gentlemen, once again in my life: Unnecessary substitution!

It happens to you when the grading in a module before and after substitution is applied is exactly the same but not all your TMA gradings are the same.

First of all, I think substitution is not a help at all else a way of masking mediocrity. How many times people that is not good at something have appeared as they are just because of substitution? How many of those helped by substitution would have jump in a job queue over others that have had the same grades in a different country where substitution didn't apply? How many of the "helped" ones that didn't need the substitution at all have been harmed by the unnecessary textual "gift" added? If one of your TMAs is at 50% level why should other TMAs compensate your ignorance in that part?

I hope that this time The OU has solved their issue and it doesn't appear the mention "(Substitution applied)" in my module description document.

The OU has "gifted" me with the textual mention already in other 3 modules I have completed 2 years ago, where my grading before and after that "substitution" was the same (M255: 94%, M364: 90%, M256: 88%).

In fact the only real substitution I have had in all my OU studies was in M359 that year also where a 91.25% was converted into a 92% (oh, thank you ever so much indeed for such a huge difference).

Just to start: Did I really need any kind of substitution in those cases? For a Distinction only 85% is needed ...wasn't really clear for the OU that I did not need any "help"? Second, if my grading before and after is the same what substitution has been applied? Third, what kind of help is adding a "substitution applied" text in a case like this? Fourth, why is not allowed to opt out of substitution? IMHO They are harming hardworking individuals through those mentions in their academic statement records, benefiting only the mediocre ones through the substitution practice.

The issue with the mention seems to be due to an OU rule stating that if not all your TMA grades are EXACTLY the same this textual mention will appear because the substitution system will fire (even if the system has really not added any value to you with the substitution!).

Sometimes I wonder if the person that dictates this kind of rules really thought about all the possible scenarios and decided that in a case like this the system would include the textual mention anyway or if it's a bug.

Just a helpful code in case it's a bug:

if (valueBeforeSubstitution != valueAfterSubstitution) then {
  //print the "helpful" mention only in this case.
  //No worries, the other cases do not need your "help", believe me
}

Coding that was easy, isn't it...well, not if we look at how The OU answered my email two years ago when I contacted them regarding this case. They replied me inviting me to use a form that is in place to claim should you're not happy with your grading.

...and that wasn't exactly the case, was it?

Question marks

I have just received my M263 TMA03 results two days ago and I had a 90%, this means that I only need now a 53% in TMA04 to keep the Distinction option for the exam. I have never had such a low mark in any TMA during the 4 years I have been studying with The OU so I assume it's very doable to sit the exam with the Distinction option in place.

A completely different thing will be to have more than 85% in the exam in June. If that would happen my classification table would be reduced to its first column and I officially would be in route towards what is called in UK a good degree (a First or a 2:1 Honours degree classification).

Today I'm already highlighting Unit 15 (out of 16) of M263, the last one I will need for TMA04 (due on 16 May) as Unit 16 is assessed at the exam only. So, I calculate I will be uploading the last TMA soon with more or less one month in advance. That will allow me to concentrate on preparing the exam and doing the TMA02 for M362.

Now that I mention M362, I uploaded M362 TMA01 on 1st April (15 days in advance), my tutor marked it straightaway (2nd April) and it's now waiting to be released (probably on 17th April).

So, some question marks are still to be unveiled in the next months but for now is good to dream a bit about it. That is to say, the other columns of my classification table are still there but small-dreaming like this provides motivation :-)

M263 TMA03 almost baked :-)

This will be one of the most "near the cut-off date" TMAs I have ever uploaded into my Student Home since 2009. I will yet need to do a spell-check and final presentational amendments to the TMA before that but I have finally considered it "almost baked" today.

Normally I upload my TMAs much sooner - sometimes even months before the cut-off date - but this time I'm not in that situation at all, and this is not due to the materials difficulty or something similar else due to my commitment to my new job as there have been a lot of weeks were I have worked between 45 and 53 hours in a week (those total hours do not include the lunch breaks) in the last months.

During this module the teachers had commented several times that part 3 and part 4 of the module are very hard but fortunately for me I consider this part the easiest by difference.

I have been working with Boolean logic almost during all my University life in Spain (during my IT and Telecommunications studies containing both Maths, Algebra, etc.). Part 3 of the M263 materials is a mix of Boolean logic, Databases and Testing!! :-).

Whatever my final grade on this TMA is I'm thankful to God for having the relieve of facing what I thought was an easy TMA at this busy time in my life.

Unfortunately even with that behind me I have now a bigger fish to fry as I need to do yet the TMA01 for M362 and my timing plan for having two months to prepare my M263 exam has already been totally smashed due to all the hours I have put at work.

Conclusion:
Shortly I will see myself trying to find time to prepare the M263 exam at the same time I do the TMA02 for M362...but at this time that is the far future, now I still need to deal with M362 TMA01 ...and days are substracting themselves from the calendar very fastly this year.

Oh, my! :-)

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).

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.