A man of Distinction!

Forgot to say what the result was: Distinction!

So you see, all that self-doubt was wrong, all that hard work paid off.

The problem now is what to do next. I had enrolled for M359, a top level course in Relational Database Design and Use (or whatever the correct title is), but then pulled out. I needed some time to myself, to catch up on family life, to catch up on a few good books (and if you are into travel books then I highly recommend William Dalrymple as a writer. I read his first book "In Xanadu" when it was first published - 1989 I think, and only got around to reading another of his books this year - "White Mughals". I was so enchanted and thrilled by this book that I then read "City of Djinns" and already have "From the Holy Mountain" lined up to read. Of course its wrong to think of Dalrymple as a 'travel writer' - though thats the bookshop section he usually ends up in - what he writes is more about people, culture, history, and place..and has the most fantastic eye and ear for wit, detail, smell, and colour).

I digress. What I was meaning to say is that I enrolled and then un-enrolled from M359 and decided to wait for the result of M254. I figured that if I got a Grade 2 then I would postpone further study for the year - just to take a well-earned break. But I also figured that if I gained a Distinction then I might plough ahead to jump into M359 and get it out of the way before the end of next year. I'll then be one step nearer my Diploma in Computing and another step nearer my BSc.

So watch this space!

M254 - Exams

Well, some while since the last posting! In fact, just after my previous ramblings I sat a 3 -Hour exam for the M254 course (October 11th 2006) and have been waiting until December 15th for the results to be posted. So today is December 14th but the results are now available. I was very confident that I had passed the course but not too sure how well I had fared in the exam. I really needed to achive at least 85% in the exam to get the Distinction that I really wanted, but had figured that a Grade 2 was the more likely outcome. Course work had been fine - a couple of 98% and a couple of 89% gave me a comfortable 94% overall on the marked course work. But the exam - well thats another matter altogether, no notes allowed, no reference sheets, no nothing, just a head full of half-remembered facts. I'm alright recalling concepts, knowing how things work, how things fit together (so to speak), but details and isolated facts present a problem sometimes. And that, I was sure, would be my Achilles Heel in the 3 hour chamber of hell.
I managed to complete all the questions in the given time and actually had 15 minutes spare in which to ponder and prevaricate over some answers I had given. One small flash of inspiration during that period help make a better answer for one of the questions. And that was it.
Finished, complete, consigned to history.