Student and tutor module reviews

A truly great and satisfying module,
full of interesting new concepts. As you work through the module, you start to appreciate the beauty of mathematical structures. Pretty cool! The module material is well structured and complemented by outstanding tutors, so much that by the end of the module, I felt that I had developed a deep understanding of the material. Be prepared to put in a lot of effort though as the content is quite difficult and very extensive. I found the pace quite rapid, given that I have a full-time job. It was an eternal struggle to keep up with the pace. Try to keep ahead of the schedule as much as possible right from the start. The exam was tough, given that it was open book, but all in all, doable.

Alex Rohner

Course starting: October 2020

Review posted: August 2021

This was a good module, it made a natural progression from Essential mathematics 2 (MST125) and explained things clearly with plenty of worked examples and additional activities. My tutor was incredibly helpful both during and after my studies.

I studied this module alongside another 60 credit module full time and found the workload very manageable.

I studied M208 during the first lockdown, and I thought the OU dealt with this well.

Studying for a mathematics degree M208 was mandatory but I would recommend this module.

Course starting: October 2019

Review posted: February 2021

M208 was my favourite module with the OU. Even though the workload was heavy being a 60 credit module, I did enjoy learning about group theory, analysis and linear algebra. The tutors were absolutely fantastic and very supportive. The online forum was buzzing and students were encouraged to ask any questions no matter how trivial it seemed. Students who engaged with the module material and online forums did very well. I believe this is an important part of a distance learning module provided by organisations like the OU. M208 books are very self-contained with multiple examples to illustrate the concepts. Some students may find this module challenging being the first introduction to pure mathematics at degree level-thats just the nature of pure maths. The tutor-marked assignments are not too difficult to solve provided you give yourself enough time to complete them. I tried to be a little ahead of the study calendar which helped. I was lucky to have had face to face tutorials not too far from me which was a blessing. By the end of the module, the concepts made a lot more sense. I went on to do M337 and I actually realised how much I missed M208 and I'm now looking forward to M303 (which is a sort of continuation of M208). I highly recommend this module to anyone seriously interested in mathematics - the module is a necessary foundation to so many areas of mathematics.

Course starting: October 2018

Review posted: May 2020

This was a really exciting look into pure maths and a good introduction to group theory and vector spaces. The module materials and the DVDs/CDs were really helpful and the support received was more than adequate. Decent prior knowledge of some concepts from level 1 modules is required I think to get the most out of this course.

Course starting: October 2016

Review posted: June 2018