Exams at the open uni

hargi · 12 Dec 2009 at 21:01

Has anyone done any open uni courses that have exams at the end of them?
Im busy trying to top up my foundation degree to a full degree and so far i have done 3 level 3 courses worth 10 points that were just ECA's ( Assignments) at the end no exams. which I have got distinctions, grade 1 and grade 2 in, which did supprise me. At uni all our courses were project based so again no exams.
The last exams I did were about 9 years ago at A level didnt do to bad at physics but my maths exam 3*3hours i sucked at answered about 5 questions in total and failed.

I much prefere projects to exams. But I've nearly run out of choises that are just projects. So I can either do courses with exams or do a unit on something totally differnt like social science.

I suppose what im asking is how hard are the exams. ( and is it a lot of remembering things)

TIA

MrMoonX · 12 Dec 2009 at 21:46

OU exams arnt that bad, pretty much standard uni level exams, dont avoid them as you pretty much have to at some point, so you might as well do a course that has one. Im doing a honours degree in psychology and the only course without an exam is intro to social sciences (DD100) which is level 1, all the other compulsory course have an exam at some point.
Your gonna have to do exams if your doing 60 point course's, 10 point course seem like a waste of time if your looking to get a degree at the end

hargi · 12 Dec 2009 at 21:49

Thanks MrMoonX,
Having not done exams at uni im unsure what to expect. Can I also ask where do you go to do them?

Mr. Anderson · 12 Dec 2009 at 21:52

Have a look at past papers!

john_s · 13 Dec 2009 at 00:14

hargi said:
Thanks MrMoonX,
Having not done exams at uni im unsure what to expect. Can I also ask where do you go to do them?

I've done three OU courses now (just deciding which new ones to sign on for next year).

The exams were harder than the course work, but certainly not impossible. Some of the difficulty was in having to write out computer code by hand... it's just nowhere near as easy as coding on a keyboard.

The 3 exams I've done have all been at a local(ish) conference centre, where they have a room laid out just like a typical exam room.

The biggest surprise for me was the number of people that don't bother to turn up for the exams. :eek:

I'd guess about a quarter of the allocated desks had someone fail to turn up.

dowie · 13 Dec 2009 at 00:48

Mr. Anderson said:
Have a look at past papers!

^^^

this tbh...

go through the sample/past papers - try to get hold of solutions for the past papers so you know what the examiners are looking for (i.e. how much working out/detail they require, how they want the answers presented etc..)

Basically there are only so many questions the examiners can ask and in almost all uni exams questions get repeated from previous years albeit with minor changes made.

Work through a past paper, re-revise any areas you were stuck on (do some exercises associated with that uni) - work through another past paper (again go through any areas you struggled on - work through another past paper...)

If you do this for say the last 5 years worth of exams you'll likely score very highly.