Your first assessments have been written and submitted and you are waiting for the email that says they have been marked. And while that time in between probably brings a lot of anxiety, there are lots of places to go regardless of the result.
Bathurst Residential Study Coordinators Emerson and Mary say that there are plenty of options if you do get the result you want, but more importantly if you don’t get the results you were after.
“It depends how you feel about it. If you’re happy, that’s amazing; if you’re not happy about it, really read through it and see what you are not happy about,” Emerson said.
“You can book appointments with the Academic Skills team to go through your feedback and they can assess it. If you are still not happy after that, you can email your course coordinator to get them to re-mark it or have another look and get them to explain it further. That is always a good option, to ask where you went wrong and clarify it, otherwise how do you know?
“It is really important as well that no matter what mark you get to critically reflect on it. Ask yourself how can I improve on it? Clarify with your tutor or course coordinator where you went wrong and how you can improve. Use the services available to you to help you get there.”
Shoving your results deep into your computer or into the pile of things to do later may be tempting, but it is important to look and to learn from them.
“Don’t just ignore it,’ Mary said.
“If you get a disappointing mark, don’t just forget about it because it upsets you to look at. Make sure you actually do something about it because if you want to improve in the future, you need to approach it: critically reflect, seek help and you get better marks in the future.”
Your mindset is also important when reviewing your past assessments. Getting bad results can make you feel bad, especially if you are aiming for a particular mark.
Aiming for higher rather than dwelling on the past is the way to go when approaching your future work.
“I feel like you should always adopt a growth mindset when it comes to uni. There is always a place to go higher and push yourself to get the best marks that you can,” Mary said.
“And if you think about it, if you get a bad mark, the only real way you can go is up. Everyone gets bad marks once or twice in their lives. The bad marks are learning experiences. Don’t think of it as a huge obstacle for you, it can be a point of improvement.
“The first assessments are the best ones to get a bad mark on, because you can use them for the rest of the semester and use that feedback.”
