Starting university is a crucial time in every young person’s life. A rite of passage to higher education. For once, you have the choice to study what you’re truly passionate about. However, as fun as university life and your studies (sometimes) may be, eventually you’ll have to knuckle down for your assessments. Students are typically assessed in two ways: Exams and assignments. Exams are a stranger to none. However, depending on your academic journey post GCSES up till this point, you might be unfamiliar with assignments. Trying to figure out if a course is for you based on its assessment structure? Looking for tips for upcoming exams or coursework assignments? Well, look no further today and review our tips on preparing for exams vs assignments.
Preparing for assignments
Now your course might cater more towards an assignment based assessments. And while there is far less of you having to sit in a large silent hall desperately trying to remember all you’ve been taught, it can be just as stressful. However, we’re here to help. Below you can find a couple of tips to help you out of your assignment blues and hopefully we can have you feeling more prepared and make assessment season a tad bit more easier for you.
Tip Number 1: Plan, Plan and Plan!!!!
As tedious and tiresome as it may sound or be, planning your work prior to beginning an assignment is crucial. For example, when writing an essay ideally to avoid feeling more stressed, drafting a plan is the way to go. This includes writing an introduction, a number of paragraphs and conclusion bullet pointing every point you wish to cover in each section. By the time you’re ready to write up your first draft, I can ensure you’ll be thankful you did so.
Tip Number 2: Review your work over and over again.
Another tiresome tip but bare with me. Reviewing and editing your work is essential to academic success when it comes to your assignments. Being a creative writing student myself, I’m no stranger to editing yet it remains the most dreaded part of the assignment process. Whether you’re writing an essay, a script or crafting portfolios of poetry and fiction it’s inescapable if you desire the best grade.
The best advice I received when it came to writing was once I was done with my first initial edit was to put off reading my work for as long as possible. This sounds wild I know. The whole point was that when I finally went back to review my work I could have a much more objective viewpoint and be able to edit or even discard the much loved parts of my work I originally wrote that went over my word count, needed rewriting or just wasn’t needed.
Tip Number 3: Write about what interests you if you can.
We don’t always have control over what our assignments may be. However, if you happen to be on a degree that you’re passionate about then it’s likely something you studied in your module would’ve sparked your interest. For example, you may not like writing essays but if you’re asked to compare two texts and discovered a book along the way apart of your module’s reading list you’re fond of them write about it! You have to submit a fiction portfolio awfully long but like writing thriller? Write thriller!
The point is you won’t always enjoy the assessment process. However, completing assignments do feel much easier when motivated by something that interests you. This is why I encourage everyone to read all the texts on their modules and complete weekly assignments. You never know what you may like.
This Student Room thread provides you with even more tips on how to get through university assignments. And even better is the fact that they are all answers given by either past or present students so their techniques are tried and tested!
How to get ready for exams
Whilst coursework and portfolios might dominate some courses, most courses still have an element of exam work. The pressure of recalling information in a timed setting can feel overwhelming. The nature and volume of exams vary wildly from course to course. Given that the major focus of most of our pre-university education is exams, many new university students incorrectly believe that the skills from these exams are all they need to pass at university. With the right preparation, you can walk into that exam feeling prepared, calm and confident.
Tip Number 1: Revise Smart
It can be tempting to procrastinate and cram the night before an exam but this rarely leads to success. It’s also tempting for me to say that you should be reviewing from day 1 but from experience, that just won’t happen realistically most of the time. I try to find a good middle ground between exam preparation and when I start revising. I find for major end of semester exams, this is about 4-6 weeks of serious solid revision works best for me but depending on your intensity, this could be different. Preceding that serious revision time, I find that low stakes casual revision is fine.
Tip Number 2: Practice Practice Practice.
Past papers and sample questions are your best friends. They not only help you get familiar with the exam format but also highlight areas where you might need extra focus. Try answering questions under timed conditions to improve your speed and efficiency. The more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll feel when the real exam arrives. Many students think that this tip can be practiced in the same way as a level but that is false. Marks at A-Level/GCSE focus on learning exam technique whereas the marks at university are from critical engagement with the topic.
Tip Number 3: Look After Yourself
It’s easy to neglect self-care during exam season, but your brain works best when you’re well-rested and nourished. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, eating balanced meals, and staying hydrated. Short breaks during study sessions can also help prevent burnout and improve concentration. Personally, I love to cook, so cooking hearty meals was a sort of revision break for me. However, you should do whatever makes you feel good – spending time away from revision can often fuel your revision later on.
How to create portfolios
Portfolio based assessments are quite similar to assignments in the way they can be structured. However unlike essay style assignments, portfolios are used as a more visual example of the work you have been doing. Whether that be your design process and technique for fashion, or the production of your latest film from start to finish. These are only a couple of examples of where you can find portfolio assessments. But have no fear, because here’s a few tips on how to make sure your portfolio is top tier!
Tip 1: Keep your work NEAT and ORGANISED
Now I can’t stress this point enough. This will not only benefit your own peace of mind as you are formatting your final portfolio but also give you a better chance of achieving a higher final mark. Having a well ordered portfolio that flows fluidly is much more appealing to markers which can boost your grade up a number of points. But that’s after your submission, and I’d argue it’s much more important for your work to be organised long before you submit it for a number of reasons. One reason for doing this is because having a more structured system to your writing and notes can improve your mental health. More organisation means less stress on yourself when it comes to submission. It will also make the whole writing process a lot smoother if you already have your notes and materials arranged in a specific order.
Tip 2: Keep in contact with your lecturers
The best part about having assessments that aren’t based in a silent hall surrounded by your peers is that you can actually receive feedback on your work before your final submission. This is when those lecturer emails that you’re given at the start of a module come in really handy. It’s true when they say that your lecturers want to help you achieve the best you can so while you’re in their class why not ask them for guidance? Now each lecturer is going to be different. Some will be more than happy to look through your body of work and provide feedback while others may request to only be given parts as to not overwhelm them ontop of their already busy workload.
But one things for sure, if you’re looking to find out what your portfolio is missing or where it might be lacking in certain areas then there’s no better person to ask for feedback than the very one who set the assessment.
Tip 3: Constantly be updating it
You might think that those couple of short exercises you were given as ‘homework’ will be enough but in actual fact the work you do in seminars and lectures is just as important. Something I have learned from my time at university is that the work done in class can often prove useful when showing the progression of your work through the module. And by updating it as you progress through the module it means you won’t have to rush to get everything compiled a week before submission! It also means that your work would be fresh in your mind and when you critically analyse it/explain your reasoning behind it (most portfolio’s I have completed have required this so make sure to check the portfolio’s requirements) you have a clear mind of what you are talking about and not trying to think back to what you thought of the work you had produced weeks ago.
Speaking of taking notes, 1 thing all university students need is a reliable note taking process; and with so many options to choose from you might not know which one would be best suited for you. So why not read here our list on The Best Note Taking Apps For University.
