I've completed both parts of the EMA for M140 which concludes the work I need to carry out on that module. I've got some excellent grades in this module so far and am hopeful for a distinction, I'm pretty sure I've put enough work in to get a very good mark but will have to wait a few months to find out.
In the meantime it is back to MST125 and unit 6.
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.
I'm just about done with unit 4 now which puts me a third of the way through the module in terms of content. I'm tracking just over a month ahead of schedule which should give me plenty of time to tie up the loose ends from M140 and should cover what will probably be slow progress during my 3 week holiday in April/May.
Unit 1 was a nice recap on MST124 condensed down into 1 unit. I was pleasantly surprised working back over some of this content and even found that I understood it a little better this time round.
Unit 2 was all about typesetting maths and since I've been doing that for my previous 3 modules I'm already pretty competent at it and whizzed through the content whilst managing to learn a few nifty tricks that have increased my speed.
Unit 3 covered number theory and mainly focussed on congruences. I really enjoyed working through this unit although I'm still a bit unsure about why we learnt this, I understood the content OK but I always find it much easier if I can understand what the content is useful for. Maybe that will come later in the module or maybe something will click when I revisit the content during revision.
Unit 4 is all about conics and focusses on ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas and specifically in the normal position. Again a very interesting unit although due to the length of it, I found it hard work towards the end.
I've got a few unit 4 related questions to answer on my TMA and a few little bits left to tidy up and then I'm going to move onto unit 5. Hopefully by the time I've finished this, the remaining assessments from M140 will available and I can get them knocked down.
Oh and I've just completed iCMA41 and was pleased to see that we get an indication of our grades straight after submitting again (green ticks or red crosses) and was even more pleased to see that I'd got green ticks across the board.
I've completed everything I can do now in M140, all 4 TMAs are complete and handed in and the 2 iCMAs that are currently open are complete and submitted. That just leaves me with an iCMA and the two parts of the EMA, none of which open until March.
I have recently received my TMA02 result and managed 94%. Pretty happy with that and I would be very disappointed if I didn't manage to achieve a distinction on this module as all my scores so far have been very high.
Overall the module was a good introduction to statistics, it started off very gently and didn't really find the content overly challenging at any point. The stuff on probability was probably the most interesting to me and I'm looking forward to studying that in more depth as the degree progresses.
MST125 is my fourth module in 2 years and once finished will be the equivalent of a full time student's first year complete. So far I'm enjoying it and am very proud of what I've achieved.
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 vastly over estimated the amount of studying I'd manage to get through in December suffering enough hangovers to make a first-year, full-time student happy.
Anyway, due to my lack of progress I've still got a couple of units left to get through in this module and the final TMA. I'm midway through unit 10 now and have started the mustard seed growing experiment which should run for 5 days.
I'm scheduled to start MST125 at the end of January and was hoping to get a bit of a head start on it considering that I'm going on Holiday for most of May and wasn't intending on packing a mathematical companion. Will just have to see how I get on in the next few weeks but ideally I'd be completed by 19th January apart from the unavailable final ICMA and the two parts of the EMA which don't open 'til March. That gives me two weeks to get through 2 units and a TMA. Easy
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.
I'm half way through the material for M140 now and have found unit 6 the most interesting and most challenging. Unit 6 focusses on probability and is a kind of beginner's guide to probability - this is definitely the thing I find most interesting about statistics and I'm looking forward to building on this knowledge as the module progresses.
The content even got me thinking about gambling on a 50/50 probability and tried to model up a system in Excel where you use half of your overall pot of money to back 5 events with 50/50 probability with an equal stake on each and then modelled that out over a period of weeks with the same bet happening each week. Guess what....the bookies always win but it was interesting to go through the process and a good indication that the unit has got my mind working.
I also had my first day school on this module last week. It is always good to meet fellow students, however, I'm already a few months ahead of schedule so the content of the day school served little purpose other than some light touch revision.
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....
Almost through unit one on M140 already and the course doesn't officially start for another few weeks. Ideal for me to get a big head start on this one so that I am almost complete by the time MST125 kicks off early next year.
All of the TMA papers seem to be available already which is a bit odd but not complaining as it will enable me to hopefully get them complete and not have to worry about them.
It seems to just be a pass or fail module although there looks to be the possibility of gaining a distinction also which again seems strange.
Initial thoughts on this are that it feels like light relief compared to MST124, it will obviously get more difficult as the module goes on but I don't have that feeling of "oh sh*t" like I did when I started MST124.
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.
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