Student and tutor module reviews

This is a fast paced module with lots of information. This is my second degree and this module was the heaviest workload I have done so far (but not overly so if you stick to the study planner). But I loved it!

It doesn't matter if you hate one of the sciences because you never spend too long on one subject, and it helps you to discover which of the sciences you like, you hate, you are good at or not.

There are lots of tutorials for each subject and tutorials just for the maths. I would get ahead where you can because if you fall behind, you may struggle to catch up.

The only downside for me was the exam, I am not good with exams and honestly thought the exam was particularly hard, even compared to the previous year's exam!

I would highly recommend doing the maths course on OpenLearn, I would have struggled if I hadn't done it.

Course starting: October 2022

Review posted: September 2023

The module was okay as a whole, however I found it did not prepare me for stage 2 study and I found it very broad. The materials were good as on overall and I did find my tutor good for how limited they can provide us with information

Course starting: October 2021

Review posted: March 2023

Wow what can I say..... after completing Science and health (SDK100) which I thoroughly enjoyed, I found S112 to be quite full on. It takes a few weeks to get used to the structure and pace of this module. There's a lot of concepts from all the different scientific disciplines and this is probably what throws most students off - being a biology and chemistry gal myself I found disciplines like geology and quantum physics very tedious to get through. However, if you stay on top of things and are well organised you do get through it and I managed to just about scrape a distinction for my efforts.
If this module is required for your course, then stick to it but be prepared to give it your all. You will have to come out of your comfort zone for some topics but you will come away from them having learnt new ways of working and solving problems which is in itself an essential life skill.

Paramjit Kalsi

Course starting: October 2021

Review posted: September 2022

The module materials flow well and it uses very simple home experiments to back this up. The assessments are regular assignments (which sometimes draw on the experiments) but the bulk of marks (circa 60%) is weighted towards the exam at the end. It covers a broad range of topics well and if you weren't sure which scientific path you wanted to peruse this would give you a real good flavour of all the key areas. I did this along with S112 and worked full time with no major issues on my time (although it was lockdown!). I think S111 and S112 are really meant to be done one after the other, with one building on the other, doing them at the same time made it clear there was repetition and if you were confident in study and wanted to just do S112 and then chose another module I don't think you would miss too much by not doing S111.

(for context this was my second degree having done a finance degree about 10 years before)

Course starting: October 2020

Review posted: August 2021

This module is excellent for the broad science foundation you will learn. It assumes people are starting from scratch and gets them up to university standard.

There is a great deal of ground to cover though, so the pace is pretty relentless. It is so easy to fall behind on this module, so I highly recommend you work out a study timetable beforehand and look at the recommended preparatory work.

Also, there is a lot of maths. Nothing too advanced, but quite a few fellow students hadn't appreciated how maths-centric it would be. If you don't feel confident, have a look at the free OpenLearn modules to build up your skills. If you can get a cheap used copy of Maths for Science, it does come in handy. You will have access to the relevant sections in electronic form though.

Finally, all course materials are online. You do not receive any printed copies. This means you will be spending a lot of time reading off a computer screen. If you find this tricky, look into web extensions (Chrome has several) or software that helps change the colour of the page. You won't believe what a difference it makes.

Course starting: October 2019

Review posted: January 2021

I really enjoyed this module. It expanded my general knowledge in all areas of science and I would like to do more courses like this. There is a lot of information and it is quite challenging, but very rewarding and interesting. It gives a necessary base knowledge that any science student should have. The final exam was something I was anxious about, but it was not too difficult. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare for it, but the knowledge I gained just by engaging with the materials throughout the module was enough to get a good grade. Because English isn't my first language I struggled a bit at the beginnning of the module, but just reading the materials and doing all of the associated activities helped me improve more than I ever thought possible in 10 months. At the end of the module I felt a lot more confident to tackle the rest of the Health Sciences degree.

Course starting: October 2018

Review posted: June 2020

This is a lovely module with great tutor support, can't fault any part of this module.

Course starting: October 2018

Review posted: March 2020

Very broad module providing an ample grounding to A level-like standard in biology, chemistry, physics and geology.

This module will not only allow you to study what subject you're most interested in but also coax you into equally engaging with other subjects.
The ability to choose what to study in the final few weeks was really enjoyable.

Brilliant support from my tutor and enjoyable assignments. The exam structure allows for skills and understanding to be tested as well as just knowledge.

Milo Mee

Course starting: October 2018

Review posted: September 2019

This module followed on well from Questions in science (S111). There was a good range of topics with the opportunity to choose a topic you were more interested in at the end. I found quantum physics challenging but surprisingly fascinating.
I did the first presentation of S112 which I think had issues that hopefully were ironed out for the next presentation.
Group work was frustrating as not everyone makes an effort to contribute in time, although its all clearly stated on the planner when you need to do things by, and no group work is too taxing. The day schools were good and a chance to see other students.
This is a good broad module, especially if you are not sure which branch of science you prefer. I dreaded the exam but it was fine and a good opportunity to do a low stakes exam before level 2.

Course starting: October 2017

Review posted: May 2019