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.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
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?
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?
Monday, August 20, 2012
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.
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.
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