One things that’s struck me about the Science Short Courses is that, while they’re certainly enjoyable enough & I’m usually able to rack up a decent score (ah, scores – I remember them fondly), I can’t help but wonder how much I’m actually learning from them. Simple reason: the open-book nature of the assessment makes it easy to get a high score by simply working through the materials with the ECA alongside, completing the relevant sections as you complete the corresponding part of the course book. If I remember correctly, S197 actually encouraged this way of working, and I’ll admit it’s the method I use myself – but if you do it that way, you’re not giving the information you’ve read a chance to sink into your head.

It would be an interesting little experiment to come back to one of the SSCs a few months after it had ended, and see just how much of the ECA could be completed from memory. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a lot – which leaves the value of the Certificate in Contemporary Science a little suspect.

Not that I’ll let that stop me from claiming it, of course, and to be fair the SSCs are sold by the OU more as teasers for the “real” 30+ pointers and for people with an interest in the subjects covered than as a serious academic unit. But the experience, and the “fun” I had trying to prepare for M255’s exam a few weeks back, does highlight the value that examinations, and the need to actually know your subject to have a chance in them, brings to courses.