Assignment help and preparing for exams

Descriptive transcript

Hi guys! Welcome back to another UTS Student Hacks episode. Today we'll be talking about assignment help and preparing for exams.

I'm Roxanne, I'm in my fourth year of Medical Science and International Studies, majoring in Japan. And here we also have...

Kelly! I'm also in my fourth year of Law and Business, majoring in Accounting.

Before we get right into it, get some water, fruit and snacks to help accompany you through this podcast.

Exams are approaching. Have you checked out how many exams you have?

Yeah, I have. So, luckily I only have two this semester and they're both online, so I have a window to prepare myself and prep for it. How about you?

For me, I have one exam on the website, but because I do International Studies, our exams are mainly in STUVAC, but I haven't received any details. So technically, I have two exams.

If you didn't know, final exam timetables are out. If you notice that there's a time that isn't quite suitable for you, you can apply for special consideration. There's a link right now on the closed captions.

Yes, if you just look down below. This link takes you to a step-by-step guide of how to apply for special consideration.

Alternatively, you can simply google "special consideration UTS exam" and it should be the first thing that comes up.

So, Kelly, when's the actual time for STUVAC?

So, final STUVAC is for the main session, so for the main calendar, it's from the 24th to the 28th of May, where for the final assessment period, it's from the 29th of May to the 19th of June.

If you're not in the main calendar, don't worry, those dates are also on the academic UTS calendar. You can simply google "UTS academic calendar" and it gives you all the dates when the semester starts, when the semester ends, STUVAC, and all the other important dates.

So, for example, for the Graduate School of Health, your final STUVAC will be from the 7th to the 11th of June and your final assessment period will be from the 12th to the 26th of June. It'll be different for other calendars, so be sure to take a look at that website.

Leading up to exams, what UTS resources have you been using or that you used during your first year?

Looking back at first year, I was more stressed than I should have been, and yeah, because it's a university exam, never done one, don't know what to expect, is it going to be very difficult? So, in my first year, I made the effort to seek out resources that UTS had. I personally attended a lot of U:PASS revision sessions that they usually hold during first year. The subjects that U:PASS covers are typically first year subjects, so that's why I went in first year. If they had it now, I would also go as well.

Same here, I would do the same.

Yeah, because they have an amazing range of resources that you could do and that they give you, and so it's like an invaluable resource because they're run by students who've previously done well, so they know more tips and tricks that can help you get through that particular subject that might be notoriously hard.

What about you, Roxanne?

Since I'm in my fourth year now, looking back in my first year, I definitely was stressed. When exams, like finding out the exam dates, it was very stressful realising like, oh, there's only one month left before the final exam and I didn't know what exams were like, but back then, I remember searching up practice exams. Sometimes on UTS Library, they would have exams from previous years for the subject and that definitely helped, especially seeing the format of what it might be like. But it's been quite a while now, so I'm not so sure what it'll be like since all my exams currently are online and back then it was in person, so I'm not so sure. But I definitely utilised a lot of U:PASS sessions as well, like meeting students in the class and then they're also taking the same subject. It was much easier to ask questions to the teacher since they used to be a student as well—well, they are a student who did the subject—so it's much less scary to ask something that personally you would feel like, oh, this is not a big question, like I should understand, but because, you know, it's more inviting.

Less daunting.

Yeah, less daunting, especially. So, I definitely liked the sessions that U:PASS had to offer and I attended a lot of them and then I met a lot of people along the way.

Yeah, so if you're curious about whether or not your subject is covered by U:PASS and whether it has any revision sessions, there'll be more info released closer to the date, so keep an eye out for your emails and any announcements from U:PASS.

Did you use any other resources to help you prepare for the final exams?

Recently, I joined UTS MedSoc and what they did was they had a drive with previous student notes—students who were very kind to share their notes on subjects that are typically a bit harder to understand—so that was really helpful. Also, attending study sessions that the society held. Same thing where if you don't have a group in the subject, if you go to the study session, you're more likely to study as well as with other peers who also do the subject or other students who did the subject before, and they could just be like, "Oh, you don't understand this? Let me explain it to you." Depending on what you study, join the society that's part of your faculty, and if they hold any study sessions, join.

Yeah, join. Other than that, you can always ask people in your class—literally just type in the chat, "Hey, I want to start a study group session, does anyone want to join?"—and you might find someone who's just as keen as you to do well in the subject. You can go over notes, go over concepts and create your own little study group, because that's how I formed my study group in first year and second year, and they're my study group to this day. We always make notes, prepare for exams and help each other understand concepts that are difficult.

Another important topic regarding final exams is getting your laptop ready. Are any of your exams online, Kelly?

Yeah, so all my exams for the semester are online, just like last year, so they give me a window to finish my exam. I have one accounting exam where it's a little special, where it will be AI-invigilated, so they will use ProctorU software to make sure I'm not doing anything dodgy during my exam—anything sus. You need to make sure your laptop is equipped to run ProctorU as well as the exam at the same time, so ensuring that you've installed ProctorU correctly and making sure it actually works. There's actually a practice exam that you can do to see whether or not ProctorU is working, and this practice exam is literally just a bunch of random questions not related to your degree or the subject—it literally is like a tutorial to make sure you understand and that ProctorU is actually working.

For my other exam, which is not AI-invigilated, if it's an open book exam you can access your files on your computer, things like that, making sure that they're in an organised manner where you can easily access them and find the information that you're looking for.

What about you, Roxanne?

My exams this semester are both online, so usually what I recommend is to actually keep up to date with announcements on Canvas. The tutor, the demonstrator, the coordinator—the coordinator always sends updates on announcements like where the exams would be. Especially for an online exam that isn't on ProctorU, I would definitely recommend checking it a week ahead to understand, "Oh, it's on this website and this is the format of things."

And if you know that your environment at home isn't the most suitable for an exam, consider contacting your subject coordinator. They can help you possibly come up with an alternative.

Another thing, besides just preparing solely for exams, is making sure that your mental and physical health are kept up as well, because this is a stressful time for everyone. Final exams is the final stretch of the semester; we've gone through a rollercoaster ride. It's really important to have a little check-in—mental health check-in, physical check-in—take some time to relax.

And it's very important also leading up to exams—you don't want to burn out on the day of, or have your health worsen since you've been making so much preparation towards it. Check in with yourself, or maybe have a friend also check in with you, and you can check in with your friend. Also, you can check our previous episodes where we talk about mental health check-ins.

Yeah, so take a look at our other podcasting episodes from the previous semester or the semester prior to that one about tips on studying as well as making sure that your mental health is good.

Good. Yes, good.

Lack of a better word, but good. But remember, it's okay to not be okay—your feelings are very valid.

And you can also... Yeah, so if you have any other questions, feel free to drop by the Student Learning Hub in Building 2, Level 4. If you have any questions, they can help direct you to the right resources—services, resources, things like that.

Thanks for listening. If you want to check out any of our other previous episodes, they are on our website and other sites like Spotify.

As always, a special shout out to UTS Startups for allowing us to use the podcasting space. Don't forget to join us next time.

Until then, see ya and good luck.