M257-TMA04 is done, bar going through it for a ’sanity check’ in a week or so – I tend to miss obvious problems if a read through an assignment too soon after completing it. This raises an interesting problem: once Unit 10 is out of the way, that’s M257 done & dusted – but the exam isn’t until June. So just how do I keep the information learnt since October in my head for another 5 months, without the constant kick that TMAs give you to learn things?

The idea was to get M257 finished before M359 began, and I’ve managed that. But it’s a bit of a double-edged sword – if I now bury myself in SQL, I’ll have forgotten all things Java by the time the exam comes around. So here’s the plan: just for once, I’ll be doing the optional, non-assessed Case Study units for M257, as just working through them should help keep things fresh in my head. I’ve also obtained all the M257 & M254 past papers that I can, and I’ll aim to do one of them a month until the exam – should also help me to identify the areas of the course that I skipped over a bit too quickly (I’ve been very lax on note-taking this time out, which may well come back to haunt me). Put all that together, and there should be enough Java work to keep me on course for a decent exam score without getting too much in the way of work on M359.

That’s the theory, anyway. I’ll tell you in August if it worked…