S104 update
Received my score for TMA01 - 72% - made some really silly mistakes but these are easily rectified for the next TMA....., one of the questions I changed the correct answer for an incorrect one which wasn't good.
Just submitted TMA02, although I will need to review it in a couple of days just to make sure I don't make any silly mistakes like I did in TMA01, it took quite a long time to piece together this TMA - over 5 hours spent today doing 1 or 2 whole questions and typing it up. Just hope subsequent TMA's don't take a longer time to do.
Having completed Book 2 I absolutely loved the astronomy part of the book - so if I do decide to continue with science after W200 then maybe astronomy/physics is the way to go.
About 2 weeks ahead now, which makes me feel a little more comfortable, ideally would like to be 4 weeks ahead in preperation for W200, which starts in February - the W200 materials are due to be dispatched end of November. Having spoken to a couple of students who were on last years presentation of W200, it definitely ramps up in quantity and technical detail, work wise which needs to be done, so really need to get further ahead in S104.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Friday, 16 November 2012
S104 update/W200/future plans?
S104 update
Am about a week ahead of schedule still, but it is literally taking me about 3-4 hours a day to keep that up... Just finished the astronomy chapters of book 2 and they were brilliant, really enjoyable.
Just started chapter 14 and it isn't the most exciting subject in the world - I know it is letting people get into physics gently, but it is a bit basic, asking questions like what happens if the push force is reduced, umm okay - nearly fell off my chair laughing when I read that. At least I suppose it isn't going straight into the complicated stuff - hopefully it will liven up in book 3.
Finished the second iCMA, and could have kicked myself, only had one question wrong on the first attempt and that was because I transposed the numbers when typing them into the calculator - like putting down 6531 instead of 6351 - really annoyed myself there.. ah well lesson learnt, will need to triple check my answers from now on, and wait some time to let them 'digest' before entering them..
TMA02 progress is relatively okay on this, need to really buckle down and spend a day or two just finishing it - deadline is still about 2/3 weeks away but would like it completed. I still haven't received a mark for TMA01 yet, which isn't helping as I am not sure if I need to amend any of my 'TMA writing' techniques for TMA02.
Also in reference to TMA01 there is a tutorial in Southampton tomorrow, and I really would like to see my TMA result before attending - don't know why this is, but I don't have any motivation to go to the tutorial at the moment.. so please tutor hurry up with the marks lol ;)
W200
Have just finalised signing up for W200 starting in Feb 2013, after a lot of trouble over this new OUSBA system that has been put in. At one point had the OU saying they couldn't see the information on their system regarding the loan, and OUSBA saying it was the OU's fault as they hadn't registered me on the course, so I had a loan for a lot of money and no course - I was not happy. I am also a little unhappy with the OU support desk as they don't seem to be taking ownership of problems. The OU gave me the phone number of OUSBA to sort out the problem, when surely they should both be talking to each other, and not leaving me to be piggy in the middle, so to speak. I am finding if you do anything slightly unusual with the OU they find it difficult to resolve it.. ah well I hope that is just a temporary glitch as they both get used to the new systems. As new students may well be put off the OU if they had encountered the same type of support I have had the past couple of weeks. They should really have one person you contact to sort out any problems, whenever I rang back had to repeat everything again as the notes the previous support person put on didn't explain the situation well. Enough of the ranting !.........
Future plans?
I am still not sure which direction I would like to go in (especially since all the Geoscience courses are being rearranged etc) - either science or law. Advantage with law is it is all laid out very nicely with the OU, and it is not going to get messed around with. They have even just put on a new LLM course which looks interesting. Will hold off any decision for future plans and play it by ear and see how I feel after I have completed S104 and W200. Taking one course at a time now.
Am about a week ahead of schedule still, but it is literally taking me about 3-4 hours a day to keep that up... Just finished the astronomy chapters of book 2 and they were brilliant, really enjoyable.
Just started chapter 14 and it isn't the most exciting subject in the world - I know it is letting people get into physics gently, but it is a bit basic, asking questions like what happens if the push force is reduced, umm okay - nearly fell off my chair laughing when I read that. At least I suppose it isn't going straight into the complicated stuff - hopefully it will liven up in book 3.
Finished the second iCMA, and could have kicked myself, only had one question wrong on the first attempt and that was because I transposed the numbers when typing them into the calculator - like putting down 6531 instead of 6351 - really annoyed myself there.. ah well lesson learnt, will need to triple check my answers from now on, and wait some time to let them 'digest' before entering them..
TMA02 progress is relatively okay on this, need to really buckle down and spend a day or two just finishing it - deadline is still about 2/3 weeks away but would like it completed. I still haven't received a mark for TMA01 yet, which isn't helping as I am not sure if I need to amend any of my 'TMA writing' techniques for TMA02.
Also in reference to TMA01 there is a tutorial in Southampton tomorrow, and I really would like to see my TMA result before attending - don't know why this is, but I don't have any motivation to go to the tutorial at the moment.. so please tutor hurry up with the marks lol ;)
W200
Have just finalised signing up for W200 starting in Feb 2013, after a lot of trouble over this new OUSBA system that has been put in. At one point had the OU saying they couldn't see the information on their system regarding the loan, and OUSBA saying it was the OU's fault as they hadn't registered me on the course, so I had a loan for a lot of money and no course - I was not happy. I am also a little unhappy with the OU support desk as they don't seem to be taking ownership of problems. The OU gave me the phone number of OUSBA to sort out the problem, when surely they should both be talking to each other, and not leaving me to be piggy in the middle, so to speak. I am finding if you do anything slightly unusual with the OU they find it difficult to resolve it.. ah well I hope that is just a temporary glitch as they both get used to the new systems. As new students may well be put off the OU if they had encountered the same type of support I have had the past couple of weeks. They should really have one person you contact to sort out any problems, whenever I rang back had to repeat everything again as the notes the previous support person put on didn't explain the situation well. Enough of the ranting !.........
Future plans?
I am still not sure which direction I would like to go in (especially since all the Geoscience courses are being rearranged etc) - either science or law. Advantage with law is it is all laid out very nicely with the OU, and it is not going to get messed around with. They have even just put on a new LLM course which looks interesting. Will hold off any decision for future plans and play it by ear and see how I feel after I have completed S104 and W200. Taking one course at a time now.
Saturday, 10 November 2012
S104 Update
S104 update
Am now slightly ahead of schedule - having just completed the mind map for Book 2 chapter 6. And am ready to do a mind map for chapter 7.. TMA02 question 1 still needs to be done, but I have all the 'answers' for that anyway, so just need to put pen to paper. Question 2 is now complete, just need to type it up. According to the calendar chapters 6-8 inclusive should be finished by the end of next week which I will be fine with.. There is definitely a feeling of the course ramping up a little with the complexity and volume of the text needing to be read, and the TMA questions. And I have been well informed that is it not until book 4 that the intensity really increases... so this could be interesting!
Still waiting for my result from TMA01, not panicking just yet as the tutor is given 2 weeks to mark them. I noticed a few students have received their marks already. Getting used to pressing the F5 key!
So current challenge is to stay ahead of the calendar. It would be so easy to get behind on this course, even getting behind by just one week, it will be quite hard to catch up so must keep the pace up.
Am now slightly ahead of schedule - having just completed the mind map for Book 2 chapter 6. And am ready to do a mind map for chapter 7.. TMA02 question 1 still needs to be done, but I have all the 'answers' for that anyway, so just need to put pen to paper. Question 2 is now complete, just need to type it up. According to the calendar chapters 6-8 inclusive should be finished by the end of next week which I will be fine with.. There is definitely a feeling of the course ramping up a little with the complexity and volume of the text needing to be read, and the TMA questions. And I have been well informed that is it not until book 4 that the intensity really increases... so this could be interesting!
Still waiting for my result from TMA01, not panicking just yet as the tutor is given 2 weeks to mark them. I noticed a few students have received their marks already. Getting used to pressing the F5 key!
So current challenge is to stay ahead of the calendar. It would be so easy to get behind on this course, even getting behind by just one week, it will be quite hard to catch up so must keep the pace up.
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
S104, potential course changes and mind mapping update
S104 update
Have now just finished chapter 1-5 of Book 2, Earth and Space, so roughly about a week ahead at the moment.. Finding this book a lot more interesting then Book 1, especially finding out how rocks are formed. The activity on analysing the rocks that came in the kit was quite good as well.
Had an elluminate tutorial on the 31st October, which went over significant figures and scientific notation. Needed to revise one question on TMA01 and change the layout of the equations as a result of the tutorial, next one is a face to face 'day school' on November 17th in Southampton which I am looking forward to.
I have stuck to the SQ3R study technique and found it a very good way to study so will probably stick to it from now on.
Exam, have found out this year that the scores from the TMA's/iCMA's will not go towards the final score. The exam determines the final score, which in my opinion is a little harsh. Only thing they enable you to do is get entrance into the exam, if you get over 40% average. I can understand why the OU have done this - with all the 'cheating' that goes on. However if you are having one bad day that is it ... I personally will try my best on the TMA's/iCMA's anyway as I think S104 is a very good course, and it deserves 'attention'.
Course changes
For those of us doing geology type subjects this will not be good, from October 14 there will be a new course - S209 which will include S276, S279 and SGX288. So all those 'old' courses will be merged into one course. My current plans were to take S276 with S283 next year, then S279 afterwards. But this new couse has confused things a lot as it contains S276 and S279, so if you have already completed S276 can you take the new course, probably not... I have contacted the OU to book myself onto W200 (2nd level law course from Feb 13 to run alongside the last 5 months of S104 - madness I know)- however if the science courses continue how they are, then the possiblity of finishing a degree with the OU seems remote as they keep on changing courses around, without letting the current influx of TA students finish their degree first. On the Earth Sciences route anyway, although other routes e.g. chemistry seem to be changing courses as well. So will make another decision in the direction I want to go in after or during W200 - law or science......
Mind mapping update
I have recently changed the type of software I use for mind mapping - a product called Xmind, which is downloadable free from the net (courtesy of Stefan who interested me to it).. I do find it a lot faster and easier to use then iMindmap, although iMindmap produces a lot more colorful mind maps compared to Xmind, it takes ages to create a mind map on it........ so for now Xmind is my mind mapping software of choice -
Have now created mind maps for chapters from book 2 and placed them in the S104 Book 2 page - located up to the top right side of this page.
Have now just finished chapter 1-5 of Book 2, Earth and Space, so roughly about a week ahead at the moment.. Finding this book a lot more interesting then Book 1, especially finding out how rocks are formed. The activity on analysing the rocks that came in the kit was quite good as well.
Had an elluminate tutorial on the 31st October, which went over significant figures and scientific notation. Needed to revise one question on TMA01 and change the layout of the equations as a result of the tutorial, next one is a face to face 'day school' on November 17th in Southampton which I am looking forward to.
I have stuck to the SQ3R study technique and found it a very good way to study so will probably stick to it from now on.
Exam, have found out this year that the scores from the TMA's/iCMA's will not go towards the final score. The exam determines the final score, which in my opinion is a little harsh. Only thing they enable you to do is get entrance into the exam, if you get over 40% average. I can understand why the OU have done this - with all the 'cheating' that goes on. However if you are having one bad day that is it ... I personally will try my best on the TMA's/iCMA's anyway as I think S104 is a very good course, and it deserves 'attention'.
Course changes
For those of us doing geology type subjects this will not be good, from October 14 there will be a new course - S209 which will include S276, S279 and SGX288. So all those 'old' courses will be merged into one course. My current plans were to take S276 with S283 next year, then S279 afterwards. But this new couse has confused things a lot as it contains S276 and S279, so if you have already completed S276 can you take the new course, probably not... I have contacted the OU to book myself onto W200 (2nd level law course from Feb 13 to run alongside the last 5 months of S104 - madness I know)- however if the science courses continue how they are, then the possiblity of finishing a degree with the OU seems remote as they keep on changing courses around, without letting the current influx of TA students finish their degree first. On the Earth Sciences route anyway, although other routes e.g. chemistry seem to be changing courses as well. So will make another decision in the direction I want to go in after or during W200 - law or science......
Mind mapping update
I have recently changed the type of software I use for mind mapping - a product called Xmind, which is downloadable free from the net (courtesy of Stefan who interested me to it).. I do find it a lot faster and easier to use then iMindmap, although iMindmap produces a lot more colorful mind maps compared to Xmind, it takes ages to create a mind map on it........ so for now Xmind is my mind mapping software of choice -
Have now created mind maps for chapters from book 2 and placed them in the S104 Book 2 page - located up to the top right side of this page.
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