Made a start on the first two questions of TMA01. Definitely feels a step up in difficulty from MU123.
I've also completed iCMA41. Not sure if this is a new thing but it seemed to give me my score immediately. Annoyingly I managed to get a couple of questions wrong for silly mistakes so looks like I only achieved 80% but can't see it confirmed anywhere on my assessment details. Since it is only worth 2% of the continuous assessment part of the module I don't think I'll beat myself up too much.
I've received my results back for iCMA43 and scored another full marks. According to the course guide, I've already achieved enough marks to pass the continuous assessment element.
I've completed the first unit on the new module MST124. It worked through the key maths skills needed for this module at a pretty decent pace. There were a few things that I had to spend a bit more time on but for the most part it was fairly easy going.
I'm struggling a bit with this module so far because we only appear to have half of the course material - according to a group on facebook this is due to the course material not being fully completed yet. We don't even have the handbook yet which I think is pretty poor.
The first TMA looks to be open on MST124 so I'm going to get started with the first few questions before moving onto unit 2.
I've completed the penultimate iCMA on MU123 which covered units 8, 9 and 10. There were a few bits that I had to revisit the course material for but managed to work out most without referring back.
I've also contacted the learner support team and my tutor about trying to get the end of module exam moved as it is very close to my wedding.
The iCMA 41 results came through last week and I achieved a score of 100% which I'm delighted with. It was really easy and I would have been disappointed to drop any marks but it still feels like a big deal! Its only worth 2 percent of the whole module yet I was eagerly checking the gradebook page every few hours to see if my marks had arrived yet. It amuses me when I think back to turning up late after a night out to pick my A-Levels up and not even caring what was inside the envelope.
iCMA 42 came out this week and it was predictably more difficult that iCMA41 but I still feel like I did well in it. There was only one question that I wasn't 100% certain on so hopefully that is reflected in my marks.
I finally made the decision to take on an additional module. I'm still well ahead of schedule on this course and have found most of the content fine. The course I chose was MST124 and it was really easy to get enrolled on it, even with the added complication of the student loan. I have had various advice on which course to take on next with most stating that M140 would be the best choice. Having spoken to my tutor at the tutorial however, she explained that this was due to MST124 assuming all knowledge from MU123. Since I feel confident with the majority of the content of MU123 and I will be very far into the course by February I don't see this as a blocker and decided to leave the (probably) easier M140 to work on next academic year alongside a more difficult module.
Fairly sure I've made the right choice, just hope it doesn't overload me during the period the courses overlap.
The first two assessments opened on Monday this week, iCMA41 and TMA01.
I tackled iCMA41 first and correctly assumed that it was going to be quite a quick test. I set aside an hour to do it. I found it really simple and had completed it and triple checked it within 10 minutes or so. I decided to also leave it a few hours and came back for one final check. This seemed like a good approach considering how easily I seem to lapse concentration and make simple mistakes on the practice quizzes.
I was really happy with my answers and submitted them, I'd be really disappointed with myself if I dropped any marks as it was really basic.
The next day I got on with the TMA. I glanced through the paper straight away and found most of the questions fairly simple and set about solving them in my mind. When I actually sat down to do it though, I really struggled with it. It wasn't the questions that posed the difficulty but knowing what level of detail to include and how to strucure your answers.
I took to the forums and took heart in the fact that there were others suffering the same issues as me. The moderators responses to my fellow students were helpful and helped guide me through.
Some of the questions were really simple and the question asked you to show your working out, it felt as though I was putting in far too much information for such a basic calculation but I took the view that this was deliberately simple and was there as a vehicle to improve your mathematical communication.
By the end of it I had written 10 pages, plotted a graph and filled in a few sections of another two pages. It still seems an awful lot but reading through it several times I couldn't find anything to remove. I got my girlfriend to read through it too and she could follow all of my reasoning which I guess is a good indication that I'm somewhere near.
I think the first TMA is deliberately vague on the amount of detail to include so you can get the super valuable feedback when the tutor marks it. Even with this view in mind I still pondered over my answers for hours because I really don't want to drop any marks at this simple stage.
I keep getting thoughts in my mind of me, head in hands, sweating over some hieroglyphic-looking equations whilst trying to salvage every mark in order to get a decent grade in the final year. All the while thinking back to the first TMA, how simple it was and kicking myself for not getting full marks.
All in all the iCMA took me an hour and the TMA took me 5 hours 30 minutes.
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