I chose to do MU123 as my maths option for my Comp/IT degree because, despite having done higher level maths at GCSE (12 years ago), I felt that I would struggle with the harder option. Now, I can't say that I know I'm right, since without doing it you'll never truly know, but I did have a fair few difficulties and tense moments going over and over the same ground trying to answer TMA questions throughout MU123, so I'm glad I chose this.
Having said all that, I feel I should immediately clarify that my struggling was no reflection on the quality of materials and teaching in MU123, but on my apparent inherent ability to approach a problem from the wrong angle and get stuck in that way of thinking for quite a while. Once I've firmly grasped the wrong end of the stick, getting me to let go again is a real task!
So, here's my rundown of my lasting thoughts from MU123 Discovering Mathematics.
Materials - the course materials were very good quality and it was nice to have a course that was entirely set out in the printed materials (and dvd) that were sent, rather than having to read on-screen. (Aside, while I understand why the OU is moving more to the online text model and appreciate the benefit to nature of less printing, I will sadly always be one of those people who prefers a physical book. With the OU stuff, to the despair of my wife, I like the fact that I can hold on to the books to look back at in future - yes, I have some hoarding tendencies...)
Units - there is a sense of progression throughout the course, in that you can see how units build on the ones that precede them, to grow your view of maths as you progress. The statistical ones felt a little shallow, but maybe it is a subject that would be difficult to cover more of in an introductory course. I did find myself remember things from my GCSE years and particularly enjoyed the algebra and trigonometry sections of the course.
Just to add a slight proviso - I enjoyed the algebra generally up until any questions in the TMAs, where they somehow always seemed to manage to present a question in a way that had never quite been covered directly in the text (for example, if the text covered clearing fractions by demonstrating with x on top, the TMA question would have x on the bottom). Fiendishly clever of them, I suppose, in that it does mean you have to have taken in the theory, rather than just copying what was done in the book!
TMAs - MU123 uses handwritten TMAs - prepare for cramp! In various discussions, page numbers varied wildly from 10 to nearly 40. I averaged about 18 pages per TMA - generally, I would have had to rewrite a page at least two times, have ended up writing really small on at least one page and be sick of the damn thing by the time I finished.
As mentioned above, the questions could be hard, tricky and downright confusing, but in the end I always managed to find some sort of answer, even if it was nowhere near right. This is an important thing to remember on a maths course - attempt the question whatever - if you make a mistake, but the rest of your working follows on from that 'correctly' you'll still get some marks for showing an understanding of the working.
Overall, I did enjoy this module, which I was a little surprised at. Despite being good enough to do higher level GCSE, I never really saw myself as liking maths that much.
This course was a breath of fresh air when studied alongside TM129. I even ended up doing the MU123 EMA, which was due later, before the TM129 one, because I was putting it off so long, I realised I needed to get one of them done.
Well recommended. If you have to do a maths course and are not sure of your skill level, you should definitely consider this. I chose it by looking at an 'Are you ready for MST121' (I think...) quiz, which gave me heart palpitations...