A fool-proof guide to passing your assessments

Thursday 05-01-2023 - 08:27

Your student officers are coming up with monthly articles for you. All designed to focus on a different theme with the best tips, tricks, and hacks to save you time, money and make your student experience even better.

This month's guide is from Stella, your Education Officer

It’s nearing that time of the year; you’re getting back into the swing of uni after your break and your assessments and exams are round the corner.

It can be difficult to know where to start sometimes, especially if this is your first assessment at university, but there’s loads of support out there and you don’t need to struggle.

We know you’re already doing the best you can, but to prevent any accidents happening (yes, you can accidentally fail an assessment or an exam), we’ve put together another useful guide.

We hope these tips will help you – good luck!

Get to know what initial support is available in advance

There’re loads of support available when it comes to assessments and exams. Things like workshops, one to one support, writing feedback and numeracy support are all there just for you.

Don’t shy away from taking advantage of these, it’s what they’re there for.

Even an initial chat with your tutor will help push you in the right direction – they want you to pass just as much as you do – so it can’t hurt to sit down with them for some one-to-one support.

Get in touch with the Study Skills Team to point you in the right direction.

Personal Learning Plans are also available for students with disabilities who need extra assistance.

Get clued up on Academic Misconduct

Mistakes are easily made, we’ve all made them, but there’s a possibility that mistakes in your assessments could lead to an academic misconduct meeting.

There’re penalties for misconduct, though so just make sure you’re clued up on what to avoid.

You’ve probably come across terms like ‘plagiarism’, ‘collusion’ and ‘data falsification’, but do you know what they actually mean?

Have a read up on all the definitions and guidance and you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Get familiar with Manchester Met’s rules and regulations

It’s also a good idea to get familiar with Manchester Met’s rules and regulations.

You’re more likely to succeed if you’ve done your homework and know what’s expected of you when it comes to your assessments.

Know the difference between studying together, and plagiarism

We all know that studying in groups or with your course-mates makes things seem a whole lot easier and takes some of the pressure off.

It’s important though to know the difference between studying with your mates or grouping together with people on your course and handing in work that isn’t yours.

Don’t give out direct samples of your work to other people, and the same goes for taking work from others, too.

If there’re any similarities between yours and someone else’s work, the systems at the University will flag this up and you will both (or all) end up in a disciplinary meeting and given an academic penalty.

The same rules apply for any work you’ve found (or paid for) online that isn’t your own.

Rather than be tempted to copy or just submit work you’ve accessed somewhere online, access the support that’s laid out in this article.

You don’t want to find yourself failing your assessments because you’ve been plagiarising or contract cheating (paying a company or an individual to complete their assessment or research for them).

These are serious actions that can lead to serious penalties, and for all the hard work you’ve put in this year, it’s just not worth the risk.

Learn how to reference and paraphrase properly

One final tip when it comes to handing in your own work is to know how to reference properly.

You don’t want to spend hours researching and writing to fall short at the final hurdle.

There’re loads of referencing and paraphrasing guidance available online and through the library – they even do workshops.

Have one final check, and then check again

We all know that feeling, you’ve spent hours and hours completing your assessment and you’re sick of the sight of it.

It’s tempting to finish your last sentence and just submit it so that it’s gone, and you don’t have to think about it again.

Is it really worth putting in all that work to not check it at the end? If you’ve put in all those hours, another few minutes won’t hurt.

Check over your work one last time (or even one more after that), and make sure that you’re happy with what you’re submitting.

If you spend that little bit more time to make sure you’re not submitting your draft, your references are correct, and your spelling and punctuation are on point – you’ve got nothing to worry about. You’ve got this.

Don't struggle alone

On top of academic support, there’s also loads of personal support available to you, both at the University and The Union.

You don’t need to struggle if you’re going through a rough time, especially during your assessments. There’re options available to you at the click of a button.

Whether it’s wellbeing issues, financial problems, disability and inclusion issues, or faith support you need – there’s always someone you can speak to.

These topics are also reasons why you can get an extension on your assessments too if you need it.

You can now get a 7-day extension by self-certifying without the need for evidence.

If you’ve got evidence, you can also get a 14-day extension on your work.

The Union’s Advice Centre are also available for any of the above topics, as well as further support in extension applications.