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Student at the Open University
Open University
Milton Keynes

Studying MST124 and MST125 in the same year

I'm planning to start the Bsc Computing & IT and a Second Subject degree with the OU in October. The second subject would be Mathematics and at level 1 this requires TU100 - My Digital Life, MST124 - Essential Maths 1 and MST125 - Essential Maths 2. I've had a go at the materials available for MST124 and MST125 available here: http://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/subpage/view.php?id=4480 in addition to a taster of unit 5 of MST125.

Is it viable to study MST124 and MST125 at the same time? I've noticed that MST125 begins with a revision unit for MST124 which I wouldn't be able to do but is this mandatory if you're studying both at once? The materials for Essential Maths 2 don't seem absurdly difficult otherwise, but this is a concern for me.

I haven't studied Maths formally beyond Standard Grades (roughly equivalent to English GCSEs) but have been studying using A Level textbooks and Khan Academy for a couple of months and will continue to do so until my degree starts. I've just left school so I plan to devote a fair amount of time to this preparation between June and October.

The main alternative would be to instead take Statistics as the second subject which requires M140 - Introducing Statistics instead of MST125. This module seems to be a lot less mathematically advanced than MST125 and I would then choose between continuing with Statistics or transferring to Computing & Maths depending on how I felt about M140.

If it's necessary then I don't mind my degree taking 4 years due to Essential Maths 1 & 2 being studied in succession but if I can take them both at the same time then I would rather do so. Maths Choices does say this is possible but makes it sound extremely difficult. I should be able to devote plenty of time to my studies however, as a full time student, so is this difficulty exaggerated?
People take them together all the time and succeed... Level 1 is sort of a taster to the degree anyway for you to find out what works best for you... The grading doesn't count towards the degree either in the first year.... I wouldn't spread them over two years


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Student at the Open University
Open University
Milton Keynes
Reply 2
Avatar for Urist
Urist
OP
9
Original post by Lambert87
People take them together all the time and succeed... Level 1 is sort of a taster to the degree anyway for you to find out what works best for you... The grading doesn't count towards the degree either in the first year.... I wouldn't spread them over two years


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If I help at all, please press the thumbs up :-)


Thanks for the advice. The OU's website tries to make them sound like a huge challenge to take together but people's actual experience with them seems to indicate otherwise. I'll be taking both together.
Hey there! A bit late, but....

The OU does like to blow things out of proportion regarding module difficulty, imo. I studied MST124, MST125, M140 and a language module simultaneously last year (my exam results should be in by mid-July!) and had absolutely no issue coping. Bear in mind, though, that I didn't have a full-time job or any other time-consuming responsibilities, and also that I knew a lot of the MST124/5 material beforehand. Having studied both Maths and Further Maths at A-Level not too long ago, I would say that MST124 covers the same stuff as A-Level maths, while MST125 covers some F. Maths material (more like 1st year of uni material). Both are very fun modules if you enjoy working with numbers and problem solving.

The first unit of MST125 is intended for revision only - for people not studying the two modules together - and you do get given a "joint timetable" if you decide to do both in one go. The second unit of MST125 actually only teaches you how to typeset mathematics (using MS Word or LaTeX), so actually you only start learning full-on maths in Unit 3, about one month into your modules.

M140 would be more up your alley if you're into bull****ting your way through a module.. haha! You are right - it is indeed much less mathematically demanding, but most of my fellow students agreed that the material is very dry, there is a lot of plain old reading to be done... Personally, I didn't like it very much. I was initially intrigued by it, as it presents statistics in a very practical way, but the monotonous text eventually started to bore me to death.

So... That's all I have to say off the top of my head, but if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you!
Reply 4
Avatar for Mg3999
Mg3999
1
It's worth looking at the HELM books (Helping Engineers Learn Mathematics) free on the internet. They will quickly show you what standard you have reached and may help you decide whether you are ready for a particular course.You may be able to use them to cram to reach the necessary standard to begun a taught course like MST 125. They are substantial. There are nearly 50 sets of 50 page books with lots of practice questions. You have nothing to lose by skimming a few. A consortium of UK universities produced them.
Original post by Mg3999
It's worth looking at the HELM books (Helping Engineers Learn Mathematics) free on the internet. They will quickly show you what standard you have reached and may help you decide whether you are ready for a particular course.You may be able to use them to cram to reach the necessary standard to begun a taught course like MST 125. They are substantial. There are nearly 50 sets of 50 page books with lots of practice questions. You have nothing to lose by skimming a few. A consortium of UK universities produced them.


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