M500 Society The Open University
Mathematics Society

The M500 Society

34th Mathematics Revision Weekend

Aston University 12th - 14th September 2008

The 34th M500 Revision Weekend was held at Aston University, Birmingham, from Friday 12th September to Sunday 14th September 2008.

We presented the following maths-based OU courses:-

M208, M248, M249, M256, M336, M338, M343, M346, M359, M362, M820, M821, M823, MS221, MS324, MS325, MST209, MT262 and MT365.

The Weekend is designed to help with exam revision, and is open to all OU students. We offer full board and non-resident tariffs and there is a discount of £10 per person to current M500 Society members.

This webpage will be available for reference until the end of 2008.


Timetables Proposed timetables for tuition
Menus Aston's proposed standard menus for M500 residents.
Saturday evening lecture Presented by Professor Marcus du Sautoy
Jeremy Humphries Email the M500 Weekend Organizer
Science Revision Weekend A similar format to the M500 Revision Weekend covering Open University chemistry, physics and biology 'S' courses



Accommodation Requirements Full Board Non Resident Tuition Non Members
Weekend Information Entertainment Catering All Bookings Parking Payment

FULL BOARD PACKAGES

Accommodation
Friday night and Saturday night

Meals
Saturday - cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner
Sunday - cooked breakfast and lunch

Breaks
Tea, coffee, etc., Saturday and Sunday, morning and afternoon

Residences and charges

Lakeside
Standard charge - £226.00
Discounted charge to M500 members - £216.00
Additional charge for bed and breakfast on Thursday or Sunday night, if required - £43.00 per night

Aston Business School

Single
Standard charge - £268.00
Discounted charge to M500 members - £258.00
Additional charge for bed and breakfast on Thursday or Sunday night, if required - £64.00 per night

Twin/Double - there are only 6 twin rooms
Standard charge per person - £210.00
Discounted charge per person to M500 members - £200.00
Additional charge for bed and breakfast on Thursday or Sunday night, if required - £51.00 per person per night

NON-RESIDENT PACKAGE

Accommodation
None

Meals
Saturday and Sunday Lunch

Breaks
Tea, coffee, etc., Saturday and Sunday, morning and afternoon

Standard charge - £115.00
Discounted charge to M500 members - £105.00

TUITION

Classes are held in Aston Main Building. Approximate distances from the residences are Lakeside 500 yards, Aston Business School 100 yards.

There are five teaching sessions for each course, which are Friday 19.30 - 21.30, Saturday 9.30 - 12.30 and 14.00-17.30, and Sunday 9.30 - 12.30 and 14.00 - 17.00. Total teaching time, excluding the tea breaks, is about 13.5 hours.

If you are doing more than one course, you are free to go to any of your courses for any session. Most tutors will produce a timetable to help you decide which course to go to for any particular session.

ACCOMMODATION

Aston Business School is not arranged in flats; it’s like a hotel, with bedrooms on floors 3 and 4. All ABS rooms have en-suite facilities.

The medium-rise and high-rise Lakeside accommodation is in flats of six to ten bedrooms. All Lakeside bedrooms have en-suite shower and toilet.

Lakeside is near the city centre ring road, so traffic noise can be quite noticeable

ABS is away from the road (and nearer to the teaching block), so is quieter.

Aston require that all bedrooms in ABS be vacated after breakfast on Sunday, unless you are staying Sunday night. Residents in Lakeside may keep their rooms until 5pm on Sunday.

YOUR ACCOMMODATION REQUIREMENTS

Sexes in the Lakeside flats are mixed in general. We assume 'single sex' is less important now all the accommodation is en suite, and facilities are not shared. (In the old high rise accommodation, which we no longer use, each flat would share communal baths, showers and toilets.)

ABS is like a standard hotel, not divided into self contained flats in the way Lakeside is, so the concept of 'single sex flat' doesn't apply there.

We allocate low flats on a first come, first served basis. There are not many low flats, so please ask only if you really need one. All flats/bedrooms are served by both lifts and stairs.

There are a few specially equipped ground floor rooms in Lakeside which are suitable for wheelchair users.

We put 'quiet-requesting' people together by flats where possible, and we also ask everybody to be reasonably quiet. But, as we said, there may be traffic and other city noise, particularly in Lakeside. We can't stop the traffic, etc., but we have mostly inside rooms in Lakeside this year (2008), where the noise will probably not be noticeable. We allocate the inside rooms on a first come, first served basis.

Aston is a non smoking campus and you must not smoke in any of the buildings.

CATERING

Friday dinner is not included, but hot food will be on sale before classes on the Friday evening for those who want it.

ENTERTAINMENT

On the Saturday night we had a 'popular mathematics' lecture and a pub-type quiz.

The popular lecture on the Saturday night was given by Professor Marcus du Sautoy.

WEEKEND INFORMATION

Full details, instructions, maps, etc., were sent to all students shortly before the event.

The Aston University web site has information about travel, campus layout, maps and so on.

CAR PARKING

Due to a new student residences project, the university car parks will be unavailable on Friday afternoon. There are pay and display car parks close to the venue, but Aston University highly recommend the use of public transport.

ALL BOOKINGS

Receipts are issued on request; but there is no procedure to issue invoices in advance of payment (to sponsors, for example).

NON-MEMBERS

Non-members can apply to the Weekend at the discounted member rate (£10 off) if they also apply to join the M500 Society for year 2008. Membership will be backdated to the beginning of the year and end on 31st December 2008.

Note: Every year a few people erroneously claim to be members, and this causes us unnecessary work. If you claim to be a member, but are not, we reserve the right to charge you the full fee for the Weekend even if you later join. The membership year runs from January to December. If you receive the M500 Magazine by post every two months through 2008 then you are a member. If you don't then you probably aren't.

PAYMENTS

Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope if you want a receipt / acknowledgement.

Please make cheques payable to 'The M500 Society'.
Cheques must be in sterling and payable at a UK bank.

Please make sure you have funds to cover your cheque. A bounced cheque will incur charges and may cause you to lose your place.

If it's difficult for you to send a cheque - if you are overseas and don't have a UK bank account, for instance - then we can take
payment by BACS transfer.



Details of payment by BACS transfer
Email Jeremy Humphries if you have any questions.

Jeremy Humphries, M500 Weekend 2008, 36 Penmanor, Finstall, Bromsgrove, Worcs B60 3BZ

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