8 Tips for Completing Your Assessments

TIP 1: Focus on the topic that is being assessed.

When it comes to writing assessments, its best to make a list of points you wish to talk about in your text. It’s these bullet points that help you focus on the topic at hand. Every assessment differs and focuses on different topics, and it helps to plan around your points. Once you have all the points you need to talk about, try and extend them further this allows for your response to demonstrate the depth of understanding you have on the topic. By doing this that you are showing your trainer that you have explored each point in detail and have truly focused on the assessment.

TIP 2: Quality, not quantity.

Exploring points is always a good idea, however, have you ever heard of the saying ‘Quality, not Quantity?’ It’s true, your trainer is able to tell when you are dragging out your points by adding unnecessary details. Stick to the point you need to discuss, explore it in detail, but only if exploration is needed, if the point doesn’t need to be taken deeper, then there is no use in waffling on. Remember to keep your writing concise and as close to what you have been asked to discuss.

TIP 3: Take the time to read the assessment Instructions in full before tackling any particular component of an assessment task.  

This will help for two reasons – when reading and reviewing the course materials (course content) you will pick up on key concepts that relate to the tasks, and secondly, assessment tasks are often linked to, or flow on from, one another which means reading about all the tasks up front will help you plan ahead.

TIP 4: Set yourself up for success by attempting the formative learning activities.  

The formative activities such as pre assessment task, quizzes and multiple choice questions are a key part of your training. Each question and activity is specifically linked to the course content. They’re designed to help build your understanding of the course concepts and will give you an advantage when attempting the assessment tasks.

TIP 5: Talk to your trainer, talk to your student peers, talk to our Student Services team.

Your trainer’s role is to support you to achieve competency in your assessments. If there’s any aspect of the assessment you’re not sure about ask as early as possible for clarification and support. You fellow student peers can also be a great source of information. You'll also be fully supported by our team.

TIP 6: Work back from your deadlines.

Assessment tasks may require the input of colleagues and/or clients who are time poor. This might include scheduling meetings, visiting clients and requiring others to provide you with feedback. Schedule these activities as early possible to avoid stressful situations around a looming deadline.

TIP 7: Plan, Draft, Read and Edit

The most important thing you can do is to plan, draft, read and edit your assessment. Plan all your points in detail, make sure you have them in the correct order and that they flow effectively. Then draft, write as many drafts as you need, it’s with a draft that you are able to make the changes you need to make your assessment the best possible. Next up is reading, read and read your assessments numerous times and also, read it out loud. When reading out loud, you will be able to pick up on grammar and punctuation mistakes and you will get a real feel of how the trainer will read your assessment. And lastly, edit your assessment as much as you wish, when you edit, you will find that some points may be unnecessary, or that there are some more you wish to add.

TIP 8: Role play assessments, do we really have to do a role play?

‍Yes, while a role play assessment may be daunting at first, they are a great way to demonstrate what you have learnt in a visual context. By taking on the role of another person you have the opportunity to practice empathy and perspective taking as well as many other important skills such as developing your communication and language skills.

• To start the process, gather the people together who will be participating in your role play, introduce the problem, and encourage an open discussion to uncover all of the relevant information. This will help people to start thinking about the problem before the role play begins.
• Next, set up the scenario in enough detail for it to feel ‘real’. Make sure that everyone is clear about the problem that you're trying to work through during each role play, and that they know what you wish to achieve by the end of the end of each role play.
• Once you've set the scene, identify the various fictional characters involved in each scenario.
• Once you've identified these roles, allocate them to the people involved in your role play; they should use their imagination to put themselves inside the minds of the people that they're representing. This involves trying to understand their perspectives, goals, motivations, and feelings when they play their part in your role play.
• Practice your role play prior to recording it. Each person can assume their role, and act out the scenario, trying different approaches and responses where appropriate.
• Record your role play.
• Ensure that relevant assessment paperwork that requires completion matches the content of your role play.