Saturday 29 September 2012

Phew

"Phew #1" because my M336 TMA returned today. Which means that the young man I referred to, who my tutor thinks was probably her son, did not think it would be amusing to burn, rip up, or otherwise dispose of my assignment instead of give it to my tutor.

"Phew #2" because I did indeed get somewhere in the 80s as my tutor told me she thought I had at the tutorial. Actually, I got 81, which is apparently this year, my go-to score for uncompleted assignments based on un-studied units.

Curiously, I just realised that my total score for both courses is also exactly the same, but due to the different weightings, I assume they'll end up with slightly different overall results.

I set out my revision schedule last weekend, which basically alternates two days of topology and one day of groups and geometry, until the topology exam, and then every day groups and geometry until the groups and geometry exam. Conveniently, the day I set this gave me exactly the same number of days studying each. Not-so-conveniently, I was a bit rubbish and didn't stick to it, and today which is a groups and geometry day, I will actually start with two hours of topology, simply because I like it more. Then after getting five hours of work done, I will try to do three or four hours of what I should be doing.

The week gap between the exams is really quite a gift in this respect, because I would otherwise not get enough groups and geometry revision done, since basically topology rocks and that doesn't.

I think I am doing enough topology revision due to the fact that I am coming up with answers to stuff at weird times, like walking the dog. For example, in the last assignment we had a set in R2 which we had to use Heine-Borel-Lebesque to show was compact. In particular, my explanation of why the set was closed sucked immensely, and went on for about 1/3 of a page. Which I kind of thought was about 1/3 of a page minus two or three lines longer than it should have been. I emailed my tutor to ask if there was a neat trick for the annulus part of the set. But before he could reply, it came to me while playing ball with B'elanna a couple of hours later. So I emailed him again and asked what he thought of this way. Well, he replied the next morning and said that it was exactly the way he would have suggested. Woohoo! Go me!

Anyway, that's enough procrastinating. I've read all the news today, squinted at Facebook for anything new and interesting to pop up, sorted out some housework, and even written here. Probably it's time to actually do something. Once again, I have managed to do nothing of use in the a.m. despite being up since 8. I wonder is that better or worse than the same when I get up at 6?

Neil H

Sunday 23 September 2012

Last tutorials for M338 and M336

Yesterday I had a tutorial for both of my courses in Leeds.
That bloody city! It has taken me years, literally, to chart a course to Leeds Met for my tutorials, without getting stuck on one-way roads taking me in the wrong direction, getting lost, or any other mishaps that only ever happen to me in Leeds. Once I even gave up trying to get there, rang my wife (or girlfriend as she was), ranted, and drove back home!
But finally, now, I've worked it out. I intentionally make a mistake somewhere along the way so I end up missing the university, then when I find myself driving up a long dual carriageway past The Library pub, I turn back on myself and follow the road back down, and veer to the left. That way, I always make it to the multi-storey across the road from the university. Easy.
Yesterday, the multi-storey was closed. And all the other parking anywhere nearby is pay and display, which is not that useful when you only bring your card to pay at the machine in the multi-storey. As well, the road that not getting into the carpark sent me down ushered me back toward the motorway, which is really not what I needed. I pulled a U-ey.
In the end I was parked in a random (but legitimate looking) break in the double yellow lines way up past The Library, near to a travelling fairground that was just setting up.
The fifteen minute hike back to the university was boring and hot, but I made it, albeit late.
Nevermind. So my M338 tutor had organised to have the whole day there, from 10:30 to sometime in the afternoon. But my M336 tutorial was at 13:30, so I could only stay until the break we had at about quarter past one. I love topology, more than groups and geometry, and I would have happily stayed there longer. But I had, for various reasons, never made it to an M336 tutorial, and thought it would also be nice to actually see my tutor, what with this being the last one.
It was a tiring day, but definitely worth it I think. For two main reasons 1) we worked on one of the past papers for topology, and having not looked at any of them yet, I was pleasantly surprised by it (then again, with a topology tutor who actually researches the subject in his day job doing the questions on the board, it's always going to go well), and 2) my groups and geometry tutor said she received my assignment. She couldn't remember exactly, but thought I got 80-something. It's certainly lower than the rest of my marks, but enough to average over 90 before even the substitution rule. She thinks the person who I handed my assignment to was probably her son after all. So, for once, I am worry free on the TMA front. Though I still want to receive it back, to be sure.

Neil H

Thursday 20 September 2012

Still alive

Hi fellow OU-ers

Sorry for not posting in ages. Just a quick one, now that I am done with all the TMAs, to say that I am still alive.

I managed to get myself very very behind schedule, to the point where I found myself less than two weeks to the M338 TMA04 deadline having only finished C1. Not good. But I was determined to actually study the books rather than skim read them, so I had a really heavy couple of weeks of topology. I almost managed to stick to my catch-up schedule but slipped a little bit, and it was 9pm on the Monday, just a few days before the deadline by the time I got to C5.

Nevertheless, I stuck to my guns of actually studying it, so did an all-nighter to work through C5, finishing it at about 2pm on the Tuesday. Unfortunately I had work to do the rest of that day, so I didn't start the TMA until Wednesday morning. At least I got some sleep though, which I wouldn't have done if I was working on the TMA. I worked all day Wednesday, almost all night, and finally got through it some time Thursday.

This week of minimal sleep really took its toll on me, and I spent all day Friday regularly dropping off while trying to watch films on DVD. I expected to get nothing done, which was why I scheduled myself a day-long date with the sofa and DVD player (Kim was away for the weekend, so it was prime opportunity to vegetate). Even on Saturday, I was pretty useless, but I managed to pull myself together enough to paint the hallway, kitchen and stairs with primer (subsequent to us having got half of the house replastered not long ago).

I was worried for a long time that it never got to my tutor because for the first time I opted to use stamps rather than go to the Post Office. I went there earlier in the day with an A5 envelope stuffed with more sheets of A4 than I expected the TMA to take up, and got them to weigh it and measure it and sell me the stamps so all I had to do was drop it in the post box. In the hopes it would get there quicker, and be less likely to get stuck inside the postbox somewhere that the postman doesn't find it when collecting (apparently some of us do worry about this kind of thing), I dropped it in the letterbox on the main Post Office in town.

Every day I was checking the post, after enough time had gone for it to be marked, and every day I got more worried that it never arrived, or it arrived too late and never got marked. I was relieved somewhat when my tutor emailed everyone to say it was taking him a long time to mark them all, and that they would be finished as soon as possible. Then it turned up the next day. Relief. And I got 97%! I am more chuffed with this than I was with the 100% for TMA03, because that one was easy by comparison with this epic undertaking. Off the top of my head, I can't remember where the marks were dropped. It was good to see that some of the answers that I was really pleased with myself for coming up with, actually turned out to be right.

The comment from my tutor said that in some places I had gone about things in a different way than was expected, but that my answers were definitely correct. He pondered whether I had tried these different ways 'for fun', to avoid going about it the 'standard' way. I would love this to have been the case, that I was that confident that I thought I'd play around a bit, and in fact, on one particular answer perhaps it was, but generally I think these were just the ways that came to me first.

As for M336, well the jury's still out on that one. Unfortunately, due to my catch up session for M338, that course got put on the back burner for a bit, and so I found myself in much the same situation after the M338 TMA was sent. Luckily the final book for groups was a kind of revision book, so there wasn't quite as much catching up to do. However, I had to skim read some of it over the final few days and there's no doubt that this affected my TMA-ability.

Again, I was just a couple of days before the deadline by the time I started the TMA, so I had the joy of a couple of all-nighters again.

This can't be good for me. And I had to do another one for work on Sunday night just gone as well.

Anyway, with M336, it became evident to me on the day that it should be posted, that I was only going to have half of it done in time for the Post Office, so I opted to drive it to my tutor's house the next day on the deadline. She lives in Harrogate so it was about an hour away. Although I had been there once before, I did not realise how lovely a place Harrogate is until last week. In fact, we are hoping to go and spend an afternoon/evening there soon based on the impression we got of it.

Well, by about 10.00am on the deadline, I had done all but two questions of it, totalling 8 points I think it was. I could not leave it any longer, because I needed Kim to navigate for me and she needed to be at work at 1.30pm, so I had to leave those two out. I was not overly confident with the rest of what I had done, but at the same time, could not really see where anything had gone wrong.

Now my latest worry is that the assignment actually got to her. We found her house well enough, but she wasn't there. Instead I handed it to a young man that answered the door, who told me that it was indeed her house. I have no reason to distrust him to hand it to her when she got back, but I am a worrier, so until I get it back marked, I doubt I will be at ease.

Well that's about where I am now. Currently I'm revising my TMAs, by means of an A1 flip sheet and black permanent markers. I don't know why I am doing it this way, but the child in me loves writing with big black pens on large sheets of paper. I have gone through the first three of M336, and am currently on the second one of M338. I will go back to that now, but only for a short while more, because I have a lot of work to get done by Monday and unless I make a start, I'll be looking at another all-nighter on Saturday.

Happy studying everyone!
Neil H