Friday 26 July 2013

Results out

Just a quick post to inform readers that my results are out

I got grade 3 for music with 61% OCAS (TMA's not bad since I only submitted 5 out of 6 ( and there is no substitution ) and 65% for the EMA (Extended Module Assessment) so reasonable there is as yet no feedback for the EMA but it's forthcoming

As for Fluids I failed with 37% for the exam and 71% for the continuous assessment I've been offered a resit but it will be capped most I can get is grade 4 .
Still as I would like the opportunity to hone my exam technique and reconsolidate the material  it will be worth doing. Also it's another excuse to keep up with partial differenctial equations and mathematical methods.

My course schedule for this year is

SM358 Quatum mechanics exam in October
M381 logic and number theory starting in October
Physics project on entanglement Feb 2014

Also for music
I will enrol for grade 4 theory exam in November with a theory exam every 6 months or so till I get to grade 8 start piano lessons in September and hopefully do grade 1 piano exams in March 2014

I decided it would be far to much for me to take on board AA308 the third level course in philosophy this year round. It's allegedly in it's last presentation this year with a replacement in Oct2014 but going on previous form I can't see this happening so hopefully it will be available in October   I really hope so as from a preliminary survey I don't really like the prospectus for the new course without being to harsh it fits into "waffle philosophy".That is  philosophy good for discussion at dinner parties but hardly cutting edge philosophy that one would expect for a third level course in the subject. On the other hand AA308 whilst not perfect does cover philosophy of the mind at a level comparable to that of other 3rd year undergraduate brick level courses.

I am seriously begining to think the only way in which to get  a rigorous training in philosophy is to bite the bullet and do the external London BA in philosophy even though I wont be able to start for another two years.  Watch this space.



8 comments:

  1. Commiserations on the maths result Chris. I have given up on the O.U. I don't need the academic credit and you can't beat free so it will be Coursera for me in the future.

    - Charles

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  2. Yeah I must admit to being slightly disillusioned by the whole OU thing. The past two years just haven't been all that inspiring and I feel quite oftern I'm just going through the motions. Also fees are getting more and more expensive.

    I'll consider my options after next year when I've finished the Logic and the quantum entanglement project.

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  3. Hi Chris, I'm also a current OU Maths student - found your blog quite interesting as it looks like we have similar academic interests (though I've more or less abandoned the physics since I graduated in 2010!). I've just signed up for this on Coursera. Thought it might be of interest:

    https://www.coursera.org/course/mathphil

    Best wishes,
    Gav

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  4. yeah it looks interesting unfortunately as I'm going to have a really busy couple of months as I need to finish quantum mechanics and revise for the resit of Fluids I doubt whether I'm going to have enough time to do it. It would be a nice complement to the Logic courses I intend to do come October

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  5. Ha well one look at the course and I was converted so I have signed up for it. As it claims that it will only take 2-3 hours per week didn't think it was going to impact on the studies. I have also signed up for Introducing Logic which should help with M381 and also Complex analysis which starts towards end of October as I want a quick revision of the concepts of M337. Those reading this and planning to do M337 next year (Danial and Duncan I'm thinking of you) might like to do this as a preview of what to expect.

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  6. Excellent. Yeah the workload for the Mathematical Philosophy course is pretty light, other courses on there have weekly assignments, midterms and a final exam.

    A similar website to Coursera is edX, that also has a couple of courses you might like, at the risk of taking on too much. There's a course on Quantum Computing starting soon, and a Philosophy course starting in a few months I believe.

    https://www.edx.org/course-list/allschools/allsubjects/allcourses

    Good luck with the Music Theory. I did ABRSM grade 5 about 12 years ago, got some theory workbooks coming today to revise it all, starting Saxophone lessons soon with a bit of luck. Sent off for the workbooks for the Trinity Guildhall board though, their books look nicer to work through than the Music Theory in Practice series from the AB.

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  7. Yeah cheers I may postpone Music theory geade 4 or 5 till March now as I'll be revising for both quantum physics and to see if I pass my resit for Fluids till mid October. I've got a few of the Trinity books grades 1, 2 and 5 and they are nicer to work through but they have no answers !!

    I guess it's best to do both

    I'll see about EdX but I really can't take on anything more until my October exams are over and thats only in about 2 months time

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  8. When I did ABRSM theory, their workbooks had no answers in either, I think the ABRSM have since released model answers for up to grade 5. You can get model answers for the past exam papers though. The more practice the better, the syllabuses don't look *that* different, a couple of different topics here and there but Grade 5 on either board is a pre-req for ABRSM grade 6 practical when you get there. I get the feeling the ABRSM theory exams are a little bit harder than Trinity's, from looking at a few papers.

    I know the feeling with the workload - I fell too far behind with M208 to catch up, but am now in danger of not completing before transitional fees stop, so I've now had to take on 90 credits this year to get back on track, so am doing 208 and MT365, trying to get a head start on 208 though, particularly the Analysis stuff. Looks like itll be a busy one for both of us! These 'MOOC' websites are so good though. I'm also trying to learn to program using various online resources.

    A few more hours in the day would be lovely, sometimes.

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