Personal Blogs

The exam went OK.  It was split into three parts and I was very confident with the first two, the final one was much trickier.  I'm still hoping for a distinction but I'd say the chances are 50/50.

I've never known 3 hours fly by as quickly.

Just got my result for M140 and got a distinction so very happy with that.

Still behind on MST125 so I've got my work cut out to make it a hat-trick.

I've signed up for the next module on my pathway which is M208 and is pure mathematics.  Its a big 60 pointer so that is all I've taken on for the year.  It has 7 TMAs so sure it'll keep me busy.  Roll on October :P

Finished working through Unit 5 and really enjoyed the content.  It is all about forces acting on static objects including tension, friction, weight and normal reaction.  Really interesting stuff and very well presented.

On the back of completing the unit I answered the final question on TMA01 and have submitted it about 1 month ahead of schedule.  The TMA question was pretty time consuming as it is quite fiddly trying to produce force diagrams without any decent software, I probably should have just resorted to pen and paper but hey-ho, it is all done now.

Next step for me now is to put MST125 on hold for a week or two whilst I crack on with the written and computer parts of the end of module assessment for M140 which opens tomorrow.  I'm hoping to have it knocked down in a week or two and then I can pick straight back up with MST125 starting from unit 6.  

My grades are really good so far on M140 so I will spend some extra time on the EMA to push for a distinction.  I'm also on holiday for 3 weeks next month so need to get everything in order and try to get as far ahead as possible before then.

Made a start to MST125 by working my way through unit 1.  It feels very much like a recap on MST124 and I'm finding it really useful to refresh a few concepts in my mind so I've committed to working through the whole thing even where I feel comfortable with the content.

It is good to get back in to the pure maths side of things after the M140 statistics course although it feels like a big step up, kind of wished I'd done MST124 and 125 in parallel now.

Pretty pissed off with the fact that half of the content hasn't been sent out to us again as with MST124.  This is the second run of the course so there is no excuse and the handbook is key to the studies from day one.  I want to be able to make my notes as I work through the content rather than have to go back through it all again once the open uni finally get round to printing a copy out for us.  I really don't think it is good enough, it feels like we are paying full price to be a guinea pig on a module.

Anyway...rant over.

Trying my best to knock down M140 now to get a head start on MST125 now the books have arrived.  Amazingly Yodel managed to find the right house this time, god only knows why the Open University persist in using them.

I've made a start on the final TMA and I'm moving onto unit 11 now.  My mustard growing experiment is well under way but think I'll have to leave it a few days and then come back to it.  Still hoping to have the module knocked down by a week tomorrow.  The final unit looks to be a summary of the previous 11 units and as such there are no related TMA questions so I'm pretty confident I'll be done by my goal.

I struggled with a few of the concepts in MST124 so I'm a tad nervous about moving onto MST125 and then there is the formal exam at the end of the module to worry about.

I'm now onto book 4 out of 5 having completed unit 7.  Unit 7 was really interesting and covered the statistician's approach to comparing two datasets to see if they have a similar mean.  Unit 8 which I'm now most of the way through covers the statistician's approach to understanding whether two events are independent.  I'm enjoying unit 8 as it focusses back on probability which I'm enjoying learning about most from this course.

I'm on track to have M140 completed by the end of the year now apart from the end of unit modules and one of the iCMAs which unfortunately doesn't open until the new  year.  That will give me the best part of a month free before MST125 kicks in at the start of February.

Just reading ahead slightly it looks as though there is an actual experiment coming up which involves growing mustard or cress.  Feels a bit like being back in second year of high school but should hopefully put much of the stuff we are learning here into more context.

My first TMA result was returned a few weeks ago and I managed 96% which is pleasing - although this module is pass or fail, it is possible to pass with a distinction and I will certainly be aiming for that.

Just completed unit 4 of M140 and I'm about to carry straight on to unit 5.  So far M140 has been relatively easy going, I've submitted my first iCMA and TMA and am just one question off submitting my second TMA.

The content is pretty interesting and well laid out and easy to follow.  It is fair to say I've not found it overly challenging so far but having said that I've not got any marks back so can't be too confident

I'm really looking forward to unit 6 as this introduces some of the concepts of probability which really interests me.  Partly as I'm interested in a career as an actuary.

I'm over a month ahead of where I should be now and would say I'm on course to get the lion's share of the module complete before February which is when I start on MST125.

Progressing nicely through M140, i've completed chapters 1&2 and have submitted my first TMA, hopefully I won't live to regret doing it this early but I've covered the material and spent a good amount of time on it so I'm reasonably confident.  I've also completed the practice quiz on unit one and two twice and got 100% each time so I should be fine.

Chapter one was pretty basic really and felt like a gentle recap on the basics that I'd covered in MU123.

Chapter two was much more interesting covering the RPI and CPI government based price indexes and how they are calculated.  The next module seems to be a continuation of this theme but looks more at how we can monitor peoples earnings.

So far I'm finding the material easy going but interesting and that is a pretty good combination when trying to cover the material quickly.  Its just a shame the iCMAs aren't yet open as that means I will have to revisit some of this stuff further down the line.

Anyway...onwards to chapter 3....

Had my exam yesterday - pretty mental really as I've been on holiday for two weeks and got married whilst abroad and the exam was the day after we returned.

All things considered I felt very positive after the exam.  I found the exam easier than the mock papers that we were given and I'm hopeful of a decent grade but I don't find out for a month or so.

Anyway onwards with the mathematical adventure and my next module content has just arrived.  Its M140 which is a statistics based course and looks a bit different to the pure maths that I've done so far.  As with last year my aim is to speed through this module as quickly as I can so that I can dedicate the second half of the study year to MST125.

Completed and sent off the EMA for MU123, I've only got to achieve a 40% mark to pass the course but still put a lot of work into it.  

MST124 is much harder going than MU123, seems like such a big step up.  I'm glad I did MU123 first but I also think it probably made me feel a bit more confident than I should have done

I'm on Unit 6 now of MST124 and have completed 1 TMA and 2 ICMAs.  My results have been pretty strong so far, especially my TMA which I got 100% in.  I'm currently working on TMA02 which I hope to finish by the end of next week in time for the deadline of the 14th May.

We've been given our exam dates and some more information about it for MST124 and I was quite glad to find out that it is a multiple choice exam - although no marks will be awarded for working out it does seem to take the pressure off a little especially considering its the day after I get back from my wedding.

I've applied now for my next two modules.  Having heard that the MST125 was starting as a new course in October, I opted to steer clear of that based on my experiences with MST124 being a new module.  Certain things have been really frustrating, not getting books on time etc.  Instead I've decided to go for M140 in October with the hope that I can get through it pretty quickly and then start MST125 in January (hopefully the course material will be ready by then!).

I've just completed unit 3 MST124 and found it really hard going.  I really struggled to take on a lot of the information around logarithms and functions.  There seemed to be a whole load of notation which I've not come across before and quite a lot of concepts that I just really struggled with.

Definitely been the hardest going of the whole degree so far for me.  I think when the pressure is off a bit with assignments I'll come back and revisit this unit - or maybe do the sample test a couple of times.

I'm going to answer the relevant questions now on TMA02 before moving onto the second book.  I'm slightly ahead of schedule at the minute but I've still got the end of module assessment from MU123 to complete in the next month or so.

Hopefully the next chapter on algebra will take me back to a more familiar happy place.

Finished studying unit 2 which covered graphs at a basic level.  Pleased that I've retained much of the knowledge picked up from MU123 and am able to apply it to this module relatively easily so far.

I've completed and submitted the first TMA which was OK and received my official grade of 80% for the first iCMA which isn't great but happy enough with it.

I like the practice booklets that we get on this module and I'm going to work through the unit 2 practice booklet before moving onto unit 3.  

I'm really dislike the fact that this course is new, the material hasn't been completed yet and it feels as though we are guinea pigs trialing the course out.  Not great at all when we are paying money for this and the fact that the handbook and the other units have been delayed (again!) is crap.  I prefer to be ahead of the schedule by a few weeks and that is impossible with this module at the moment, in all honesty its a struggle to even stay at the speed the course guide recommends when some of the information isn't yet available

Considering we are supposed to take the handbook into the exam, it would have been nice to be able to use it from the start.

Whinge over but I've picked up from the forums that MST125 will be new in September so I'm going to avoid that like the plague and take on M140 first and look to take on MST125 in February time.