On course

Surprised to find I am on course with my studies - according to the study calendar. It's in the OU forums where I keep seeing questions asked about things that are not just in the next few units but in the next block (or sometimes the block after that)! A feeling of inadequacy can creep in and of being left behind. Just don't think about them, they are either massively well organised, have enough time on their hands or never do anything but OU work. Perhaps I should discover who the well organised ones are and find out their secrets.

Today has been mostly study of unit 7 of M255. It involves a lot of practical work altering classes, making frogs do things that they might not do unless genetically interfered with (perhaps given the hummingbirds ability to hover), overloading and overriding methods. It keeps me amused - apart from the displacement activity of nipping out to chop down a shrub that was allowing water to penetrate the house brickwork (water displacement removal activity?)

I make paper notes as I go along, marking headings and listing the Unit and Section I am on at the top of each page. This should make it easier to locate where I should look up information in the text if my notes aren't as helpful as I'd like when revising. I have tried mind-mapping/memory-mapping before but didn't find I very helpful, I used a commercial application, perhaps I should use coloured pens and paper. I don't find colour that useful being red/green colour blind although restricting to a small range of high contrast colours might help. But mainly my working habits consist of an A4 pad, a pen and the computer. At the end of each block I write a glossary of all the terminology and attempt to memorise it (not verbatim), although I think it would be an idea to do this at the start of each block and review it after (it will be reviewed naturally throughout study to a certain extent).

I'll get on with some more work later this evening and then have a bottle of Leffe when I've finished. It's a cheap trick but it's helpful to have a treat lined up!