STEPS PROGRAM
UNIVERSITY TIPS
1.
Look at your Course
Schedule to the ASSESSMENTS. In that
section you will see an additional section that will tell you EXACTLY what you will be GRADED ON. MAKE NOTES.
Remember
what I said in Week 2? You are only assessed on your
assessments. No fluff, just do what you are asked to do. And do it
well.
2.
Never ASSUME you KNOW the subject. Even if
you are living and doing what you are learning about, it doesn't matter.
The RIGHT answers to the assessment are those found in
the TEXT. Not
what you know is right or what you are currently doing.
Although
it may seem it, you are not assessed on what you do or say outside of the
assessment. You can be the most organised person running a business and
already know what works and what doesn't. The bottom line is, do you want
a good grade and a good grade point average? Throw out what you know at
test time and just answer the questions as they are written in the study guides
or text for that course.
3.
Always adhere to WORD
LIMITS. A tip in case you didn't know, if there is ONLY a
minimum limit you are allowed 10% either way. That's it. It doesn't
mean you have creative license to rave on and do the best work you have ever
done. It means 200 words. That’s 190 - 210 words.
Lectures
are paid by the hour, do you really think they want to waste time reading your
2000 word essay when everyone else stuck to the limit? If you do this
they will read the first 200 words and mark you on what they have read.
Yep seriously. So don't bother going all out to impress it will
only cost you in the end.
4.
Those PSU Tuesday morning
lectures that you find so boring have ALL
the answers to the ASSESMENT in them. Start listening and taking notes.
Yes I think we are all guilty of finding
these boring – TIP, Sit to the FAR LEFT of the room if you don’t want to be
seen on the SCREEN. And really, take notes, the Lecturers look to see in your
Templates A and B (Assessments) that you have been listening
5.
A Program is STEPS, A Course is Maths (in STEPS). So when you are talking about what you want
to do later after STEPS you say which PROGRAM you want to do, the COURSES are what
make up that Program – Understand?
Programs are made up of any number of
Courses depending on which program you choose.
6.
GRADE POINT AVERAGE – It took me till WEEK 12 to
figure this out properly. When you are looking at what Program you want to
enter next term (or whenever you finish) in that program guide (Student
Handbook) it will give you a number (4.0 GPA) that is the grade you need to
enter that Program. This number is calculated on an AVERAGE SCORE across ALL
your COURSES for the PROGRAM you are doing.
EXAMPLE:
Say you were doing 4 courses in STEPS and you received a D or Distinction (6)
in one, a P or Pass (4) in another, a HD or High Distinction (7) in your third
and a P or Pass (4) in the forth. Add
those scores together and then divide by the number of courses and that is your
GPA (Grade Point Average). In this
example the GPA for STEPS would be (5). My
advice, do the best work you can. Most
Programs will only require a (4) unless you are going on to be a Doctor but
this score is on your permanent record, make it a good one.
PERSONAL TIPS
7.
Don't run around doing TOO
MANY things at ONCE . You
end up getting nowhere. Write a list (to do list) and number it in order
of priority. Then work your way down the list. Oh and Weekly Planners and Monthly Planners - you will find they
come in handy for the whole family. Great
Idea!
If
you get the whole family involved and you all contribute to the "To
Do" lists and the Weekly, Monthly Planners you will soon have a household
that runs like clockwork.
8.
Have FUN with your STUDY.
Don’t think if it as have to, think of it is WANT TO.
Remember, you are here because you WANT to
be here. Not the other way around. Learn all you can NOW.
9.
Start your LEARNING JOURNAL
now. It has helped me so much with my technical writing. If you write it in digital form, when you
want to put some of your skills into practice (because you WILL) you already
have an example of how you currently write.
10.
All through STEPS I used my
Kitchen Table to study. I answered all the questions correctly when I
did my PSU assessment but now I am finding that I really do need to find a
study place. This June holiday is my
time to clear out that spare room.
