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This document is meant to help M269 students in succeeding their TMAs, and the module. It contains a few notes drawn from my past experiences in marking TMAs and tips to achieve higher scores. Nonetheless, students from other modules, can also use this at their own advantage.

Here follows a series of tips.

Getting organised:

1. Read your TMAs well in advance (perhaps at the beginning of the module), so when you study you will know where to invest your energies;
2. Plan your study time! When you need to ask for an extension, reflect on whether you need it:
   1. Do not ask for an extension too much in advance (2-3 weeks in advance), as there is still plenty of time to complete your TMA;
   2. Do not ask for an extension too close to the deadline (e.g., the day before). This is because your tutor may not read your email on time to grant you an extension. Also, it is not ideal to realise the day before the deadline, you will not be able to submit. This shows poor skills in time planning.
   3. The final TMA has a fixed deadline and a higher value for your grade. If you request an extension for prior TMAs, you will have less time to work on the final one, which happens to be the most important one.
3. Exercise with Python. Attempt to solve a few of Leetcode tests. This platform is designed to upskill developers and prepare them for the industry. You'll thank me later.
   1. Additionally, implementation exercises are the ones with the highest number of marks. Doing them well will boost your final mark. Instead, not completing them will fail your tutor's tests and will lower your grade a lot.
4. Learn by heart the different ways in which we can represent an algorithm (sketch (English), structured English, pseudocode, program code, flowchart and others). You could have the best solution, but if its representation is not correct, you will get marks deducted:
   1. For instance, some students when asked to "Outline an algorithm in English which will implement the function …" provide a pseudocode.
   2. Pro tip: do not forget to initialise variables.
5. Constantly check the forum for questions (even if it is not your question). Their answers can still be informative. On the forum, you may even find code (there could be pieces of code to solve a certain problem not available on the book but still useful for the TMA)
6. Attend all tutorials. There could be tricks that you won't learn from the books.
   1. Several students praised my tutorials. I won't complain if you attend in mass.
7. Sometimes things don't go as planned. Don't worry if your TMA didn't meet your expectations. You can learn from this experience and improve for the next TMA. Follow the feedback in the TMA (or consult your tutor) to identify your priorities for the next TMA.

Preparing your TMA:

1. Read what the exercise/question is asking you. Perhaps, read it twice before even thinking about the solution:
   1. Read the question thoroughly and answer all the points. We take away quite a few points if the question is not fully addressed.
2. Challenge your answers:
   1. If it's text, read it more than once, check it with Grammarly.com
   2. If it's code, test it.
      1. If you are given test cases, create a few more of your own. Your tutor will likely use different tests, so it is important to consider edge cases where your code might unexpectedly fail. This will help you ensure your code can handle a variety of scenarios, as we have seen examples where student code works for the given tests but not for others, highlighting a lack of generalisation.
3. Be concise with your answers.
4. When asked about developing/implementing a function: do not forget to include the docstring and set the types of input and output. Commenting the code helps your tutor to quickly read your implementation.
5. Struggling with a question? Ask your tutor, or ideally, ask on the forum.
6. When you outline an algorithm in English/pseudocode, challenge it afterwards. Ideally, a few days after writing it, try to read and code what you wrote. Does it work? Feel free to use the Rubber Duck Debugging approach
   
7. Sometimes, there are sequences of related questions. You can take advantage of this to maximise your marks by making sure all your answers are consistent.
   1. A typical sequence is:
      1. Write a function definition;
      2. Outline an algorithm;
      3. Implement the function.
8. When the question asks a precise number of outputs, e.g., "identify four…", "state three…"; please use a numbered list in your answer. This will make it easier for your tutor to mark your work.
9. Please, refrain from using ChatGPT (and similar) to generate you TMA answers. Your tutor can easily identify if an answer is genuine or automatically generated. This will lead to plagiarisms issues.

Please note that this is a living post and may change over time with additional tips.