Thankfully, I passed my TM256 Cyber Security exam, the results coming out last week, but the exam did drop my overall mark. It seems that many others were in the same boat. I can’t say it was a surprise.
In my last post, One exam finishes and another module opens, I talked about how challenging it was to answer everything within the three hour time limit for the TM256 exam.
You get some feedback on your exam performance and where you fared in comparison with other students taking the module.
It differs from the feedback you get on your TMAs, where your tutor comments on your answers to individual questions. The Open University tells you the grade range (in percentage terms) in which you scored and the number of students who scored in each grade range overall.
It’s something. Still, I would like to know more about where I lost the marks. Anyway, I passed, and I am happy with my overall mark.
My next Open University module, TM352 Web, Mobile and Cloud Technologies, is well underway. I have been in contact with my tutor, who seems very helpful, and attended some of the tutorials. Interestingly, half occur during the day, half in the evenings. Very few on weekends.
The TMA, which is due the end of next month, devotes a quarter of the marks to the practical component, building the frontend of a web app, and the rest to report writing.
Only the first block of module materials has been released so far. Most weeks include practical activities to help prepare you for the TMA. It is interesting stuff so far. Although, as I said in my last post, going over HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before you start the module wouldn’t hurt.
I am finding a lot less problems with the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) in TM352 than in previous modules. That’s not to say that others haven’t had their issues. One advantage of not being ahead of everyone else (far behind in some cases) is that most of the problems have usually been resolved by the time I get round to an activity.
Since I have passed TM256, there is nothing stopping me starting TM359 Systems Penetration Testing next year. As you would expect when studying more than one module, some of the TMA deadlines will be very close together. Fortunately, I am only studying two modules and then only at the same time for about four months.
Been coming back to this Blog a few times to calm my nerves for upcoming modules , TMAs and exams . It seems we are on a similar degree albeit about 1 year apart (ish). im just about to do my TM256 exam and im worried sick ill fail !
After reading this I’ve found some calm but how well did you do in the exam ?
Hi Mike, thanks for being a frequent visitor to my blog. It’s great to know that my musings may be of some use to you and other students on this course. I think it is fair to say that, while I passed with room to spare, my exam result lagged well behind my coursework marks. This unfortunately had the knock on effect of bringing down my overall module mark. Hence, a big motivator behind my module choices has been avoiding exams. M250 was a compulsory choice on my degree pathway but my interest in cyber security was enough to override my fear of exams. I also put as much effort as humanly possible into my coursework to offset the likely hit from my exam marks. Nevertheless, I hope the TM256 exam went better than you expect and best of luck that your result goes the way you want.