And thankfully it’s a distinction! I wasn’t expecting the result until Friday, but after reading a post on Open University Etc that mentioned MT262 results, I took a deep breath and loaded up my MT262 course record page:
I was actually anticipating a much lower mark, as I assumed that doing well on the TMAs had made me complacent – very pleasant surprise to see that my exam score isn’t that far below my average for the TMAs!
I did the MT262 exam this afternoon, so today my official C++ studies have drawn to a close. I will miss the course, even with its emphasis on formal design, but I have to say I’m really looking forward to getting back to Java with M257.
The exam itself was quite straightforward, at least compared to the 2006 and 2007 past papers. I only had to consult the handbook once (for a question about writing/reading from files -always a weak spot with me, even in Java!), and thankfully I wasn’t required to sketch any GUI diagrams! Though I did bring a pencil and ruler just in case.
I finished the 2007 past paper for MT262 yesterday, and was pretty pleased overall with my performance. I even remembered to use the modulus technique for cycling through values (I’m probably a bit over-zealous now in looking for opportunities to use it, if anything). So it turns out that I won’t need a “%” tattoo after all!
Alright, not really a marathon – more like a couple of long leisurely walks. But I have spent some time away from MT262 over the last week, due to preparing for a job interview and generally being tired out by work, so I’ve set aside a big chunk of time this weekend for getting back to C++ revision.
Seven days until the MT262 exam, that is, after which I will officially be down to just the one, lonely little course (again!). I’m actually looking forward to getting the exam over and done with, since it feels like MT262 has been hanging around for ages now! I finished TMA04 quite a bit earlier than I expected to, and while it’s been nice to have extra free time during the summer, I can’t help but feel like it’s time wasted. The more OU courses I do, the more bereft I feel in the gaps between them!
The first bit of advice I would give to anyone taking an OU course involving an exam is: if you can afford it, go to the OUSA online store and buy all of the available past papers for your course. I’ve taken two Level 2 exams so far, and I owe a large chunk of my grade for each of those to the time I spent tackling the past papers. I think there are two big advantages to including past papers in your revision plan:
TMA Machine 