System Integration

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TMA Explanation

TMA stands for ‘Tutor Marked Assignment’. 

 

The TMA is what you could call a ‘progress test’; it is a set of questions that test your knowledge of what you have studied so far.  More than likely it will be a series of questions that require a set of written questions, the length of the answers can vary from a few lines to a few thousand words.

 

The TMAs are set at various points in the course and usually form part of the overall mark you will get for the course.  As the Open University specializes in home study (distance learning) you can get help from the various resources that are available, e.g. the Internet, as the TMA is completed with no direct supervision, not that I have found this much of a help, you either know something or you don’t.  If you don’t know something it takes an extraordinary amount of time to complete the TMA by painstakingly researching the answers.

 

You can usually get an extension to the completion date for all but the final TMA; the final TMA must always be completed on time.  I have rarely asked for an extension as, seeing as my course is home studying, and I work full time, time is tight and the extension, or delay, just ripples through the rest of the course and it is hard to catch up.