Revision is the theme of the month for August, at least on TM256 Cyber Security. I am hoping the exam in September goes without a hitch.
That was not quite the case last year, where I understand there was a missing link to an article in one of the questions. It is also fair to say that the TMAs have not been without errors.
However, following all of this, the module team will no doubt be heavily scrutinising the exam paper. So, it is not something I am worrying about too much.
A very useful series of tutorials this month helped my preparation. They did touch upon the final digital forensics block but largely focused on the exam.
The tutors shared plenty of tips for the exam. For example, once the exam period starts at 10am, you can download the exam paper as a PDF file. Printing a paper copy to have in front of you is helpful, even if you have multiple screens.
Also, you must write your answers in Word file and then upload this before the end of the exam period. As you know the structure of the exam paper beforehand, creating the structure of your answer document in advance helps save time.
So, the exam paper will be in three parts. The first part is a series of five short answer questions, each worth three marks for a total of 15 marks. The previous paper suggests there will be one question on each of the five blocks in the module.
The second part is a long answer question, worth 25 marks, on the digital forensic block. In the final part, you choose two out of four long answer questions. Each is worth 30 marks, for a total of 60 marks.
Generally, only a handful of people will attend tutorials live but, presumably, many more will watch the recordings. I welcome more recorded tutorials. Not all are. For privacy, the names of attendees can be anonymised on the recording.
The trouble with this being only the second presentation of TM256 is that past papers are a bit thin on the ground. The paper from last year (without answers) can be downloaded for free from the Open University Student Shop and a full specimen exam paper (with answers) is provided on the module website.
Next month will be a busy month, with the module website for my first Level 3 module, TM352 Web, Mobile and Cloud Technologies, opening the day before the TM256 exam. Will I be tempted to take an early peek at TM352 or wait until the exam is over?