Open University

Captain Planet said:
Just do it! Your hard work will pay dividends in the sense of achievement alone. When you feel like lacking in motivation again, post here, I'll post more motivation :p
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:Dok thanks mr motivator.

To be honest all that was putting me off this course was the maths and end examination.

I'm useless at maths and not done any examination since school days apart from the at home assessments 'tma's from previous modules. Add to that I always think of failure before I've even started a module.
 
beachBOYken said:
:Dok thanks mr motivator.

To be honest all that was putting me off this course was the maths and end examination.

I'm useless at maths and not done any examination since school days apart from the at home assessments 'tma's from previous modules. Add to that I always think of failure before I've even started a module.
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If you're worried, call your Student Support Team. They have workbooks/help materials for things like the maths to help you. They have loads of stuff to help with exams too.

You're not a failure :)
 
Deiwos said:
If you're worried, call your Student Support Team. They have workbooks/help materials for things like the maths to help you. They have loads of stuff to help with exams too.

You're not a failure :)
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Thanks, I need to try and get a bit of revision done to refresh my memory if I start in January :)
 
How's everyone getting on? I made the decision to switch to Mathematics and Physics as I get to choose an extra taught level 3 module instead of a project module (extensive coursework and personal development plans do not sound appealing!).

My study has been all over the place this year, as have my results so I'll be relieved to finish (I'm undertaking two maths modules designed to run alongside each other, although the TMA deadlines don't always reflect this - I much prefer 60 credit modules instead of 2 x 30 credits).

Has anyone had experience with TMA and iCMA substitution? I get this for both my modules and was wondering if this is done automatically at the end of the module.
 
I'm also considering the Computing and IT BSc, but I already have a degree but hopefully I'll be able to get a tuition fee under the new ELQ rules.
 
TT284 is the worst module I have done to date, avoid! I luckily started my OU studies before the price hike a few years ago, if I had to pay today's prices and was on this course I would be devastated.
 
FeFiDoh said:
TT284 is the worst module I have done to date, avoid! I luckily started my OU studies before the price hike a few years ago, if I had to pay today's prices and was on this course I would be devastated.
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In what way is it bad?
 
FeFiDoh said:
if I had to pay today's prices and was on this course I would be devastated.
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Mother of God. £1350 for a 30 point module?

Glad I finished mine last year - mine were about £450.

I don't think there was an option for a student loan when I started mine though.
 
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I got my BSc in Life Sciences through the Open University. I absolutely loved it, and compared to my peers doing post-grad after traditional university I'd say I have a broader base of knowledge than they do, although less in depth knowledge in particular areas.

Having said that, I'm not sure I'd do one today. Since the prices went up it's not as easy to justify.
 
Prices have gone up at traditional universities even more, so for some it is easy to justify... They'll see a change in demographics now - fewer people doing courses out of interest/for a hobby aside from retired people who won't have to pay the loan back. They'll be attracting more young people who don't fancy paying 9k a year in fees and accumulating a load of debt at a traditional uni.
 
Azza said:
In what way is it bad?
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You don't get any textbooks, which may not seem all that problematic, but once you finish the course all you have are your notes and epub/mobi versions of the materials. The reason you don't get any textbooks is because of the speed the technologies discussed are changed, but even the materials on-line seem really out of date. To me personally, the content also feels really scatter shot, seems all over the place and quite annoying. Even the guides to activities are out dated and don't appear to have changed so then you have to search for the answer in forum or in my case I spent more time Googling for the actual help I needed as it was easier. It even tells you to use outdated and unsupported HTML tags.

You use something called App Inventor, which is a web based version of scratch. How this is level 2 material I have no idea. This is needed for one of the assignments. Full of bugs and a complete dog to use. It actually deleted my entire assignment question leaving me with nothing on the web version. Luckily night before I sent it I had already downloaded it.

There are a bunch more reasons I can't remember right now but it is by far the least enjoyable one I have done to date.
 
Monkeynut said:
Doing TU100 and it is the most boring thing ever. The stuff with the Sense board is fun, but the boooring TMAs!
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I know what you mean, some of this stuff is mind numbing!

I've got TM129 in Oct and MST124 in Jan ready to start level 2 next October, such a shame we can't start it this October, I'd hammer through all these modules otherwise!

Have you attended the tutorials?

FeFiDoh said:
You don't get any textbooks, which may not seem all that problematic, but once you finish the course all you have are your notes and epub/mobi versions of the materials. The reason you don't get any textbooks is because of the speed the technologies discussed are changed, but even the materials on-line seem really out of date. To me personally, the content also feels really scatter shot, seems all over the place and quite annoying. Even the guides to activities are out dated and don't appear to have changed so then you have to search for the answer in forum or in my case I spent more time Googling for the actual help I needed as it was easier. It even tells you to use outdated and unsupported HTML tags.

You use something called App Inventor, which is a web based version of scratch. How this is level 2 material I have no idea. This is needed for one of the assignments. Full of bugs and a complete dog to use. It actually deleted my entire assignment question leaving me with nothing on the web version. Luckily night before I sent it I had already downloaded it.

There are a bunch more reasons I can't remember right now but it is by far the least enjoyable one I have done to date.
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That sounds like hell, I'll be sure to avoid that!
 
Just in case some people haven't received a notification email (I did for one module but not the other), the results for modules that started last October are up.

I got 74% and 67% for MST124 and MST125 respectively, I'm a bit annoyed at myself for not making the time to revise more for MST125 as the grades for these modules actually show up on my transcript! On the other hand I have met the requirements to study the level 2 maths modules by quite some margin so that's given me quite a bit of confidence.

My next module will be S217 which is a new Physics module 'From classical to quantum' and should contain quite a lot of the research obtained from the Large Hadron Collider!
 
good luck with it... make sure your calculus is up to scratch if you're studying quantum mechanics i.e. beyond the level where you're having to pause and think about which rule you should be using - you want to be at the point where it becomes second nature

best thing you can do with maths courses is just practice questions, it gets repetitive but if you just go over every question you can find on a subject it can really help not just with that course but with further courses too as you build up a solid foundation
 
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