6 months left

Today I received my results from TMA01 and all the hard work has finally given its fruits: 92%

It's not a bad start at all, having read and highlighted the entire book "Projects in Computing and Information Systems. A Student's Guide" by Christian W. Dawson has helped but it also helps to read carefully what is expected to be present on the TMA.

So far I think this is the module that demands more time, effort and dedication in the entire BSc. Maybe it's because my idea is an original idea and I need to do a lot of work just to have it up and running but maybe not and all of us are exactly in the same situation. I cannot see why my case would be different from others, so I assume all of us are under pressure ;-).

As an advice for all those ones taking this module in a future: It's not easy to fit all the tasks in the allocated time, remember: "it implies hard work", a lot of it.

For some reason this year the forum moderator tended to show as "acceptable" mostly original ideas and not extensions or versions of something already existing. Some of the comments have been quite devastating and I have to recognise I felt relief when my second idea was well received. I would have expected that approach on original ideas to be present in the research module of a PhD but not exactly for a BSc.

After that I relaxed until the beginning of the project on 1st February as a way to avoid engaging into the preparation forum just for ending being told my idea wasn't good enough or similar...and haven't relaxed since the module started ;-).

My tutor is very kind and encouraging, I hope the allocated time it's enough for me to finish the project and learn a lot of new things. It looks that I lost my 8% because I did not reflect on my process at the level I could have done.

I had this same issue in BU130 where I passed from a 69% (OCAS) to a 44% (OES), that have been my lowest grade with The OU (by difference) and believe it or not it happened because I'm a very reflective person (maybe too much) and when I need to talk about something in a module that expects you to make a new reflective process for it, as I do it as normal and it's not new for me at all I cannot find what is the thing that is so different to what I do every day for me to add it to the TMA. On the other hand if I add all the things that I reflect on it would be a book instead of a TMA.

I will need to find the equilibrium on this.

It's being engaging and also interesting, on the other side of things I do not have free time at all, my weekends are "project weekends" and my life can be summarised as "house work - project work - job work".

Only 6 months and it will be over, hopefully with a BSc (Hons) Computing under my belt a few months later.

I contacted the Uni in Sweden and they have just told me that I cannot apply this year because my BSc results are released in December and the Masters degree starts in August, so it will be a 2015 start for me if they accept me next year.

Déjà Vu

My result for M362 TMA01 was published today and I had an 88%. This is the same grade I had in the M263 TMA01 and also in the first TMA of M363 last year.

A real Déjà Vu!

Not the paradise but good to know I still keep over the 85%. I cannot say I'm jumping for joy with a mark like this but considering how busy I am at the moment with my job responsibilities, that I only dedicated 15 days to it and all that I will consider it a good one.

I just hope my marks in M362 this year are a bit better than the ones I had in M363 last year were I ended up achieving just a 85% in OCAS (88 | 87 | 80) and a 81% in the OES.

Let's see if I have the elusive Distinction at level 3 this time. :-)

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).