Hopefully you have settled in to Cathal Brugha. It’s halfway through the semester and by now your college workload has gotten real, continuous assessments are looming and you’ve realised that your daily step count for stairs climbed has never been so high.
Assignments are dropping like wildfire at this stage, some of you are well used to this but for others you are still trying to get used to it.
Remember – a deadline is a deadline and a due date is due date! Depending on your programme, handing in assignments late can have serious consequences. If you are have issues around deadlines, the most important thing is to reach out to your lecturer. Everyone should be well aware now, that you need 35% threshold in each component to pass a module overall. If you get below 35% in a component such as labs and do well in the other components you still fail the module and will have to repeat the module the following year. So I mean it when I say pay attention to deadlines! You can drop into the Cathal Brugha Street Student Advisor, Trish for any advice that you need!
For all those who have to do any sort of written work – whether it is reports, essays or assignments, there’s a website that you can check for plagiarism in your work! If you just google ‘plagiarism checker’ and paste you’re work it’ll let you know what percentage of plagiarism is on your work. This is required when you send your work on web courses it gives a higher percentage and you start freaking out. No need to freak out, on web courses it cross checks the work of your classmates, so the title, date due etc. would be the same which then gives you a higher percentage of plagiarism. Remember originality counts, write what you know and understand.
If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Everyone starts to stress near exam season, we know this because it’s that time of year when everyone is in the library. When you’re trying to study, it’s a good idea to look at past exam papers online. YES exam papers still do exist! But not in the form of Red or Yellow compiled books. You can access them by them on the DIT Library page on campus or off campus. When accessing them in college there’s no need for a pin and off campus there’s a username (student) and password (ThunderRoad) which is worth noting! Some lecturers tend to give you hints on what’s coming up, especially towards the end of the semester, so be sharp!! When looking at exam papers look for the common things, the things that repeat, so you won’t be THE REPEATER! So get your head down now and get down to business.
PC1 forms for those unforeseen things that happen – it don’t mean that you won’t have to sit the exam or submit the assessment, but it can ensure that it will be treated as a first sitting. All information is available Exam Office through the blue door in Cathal Brugha Street.
For all those stressballs out there Mindfulness Meditation to channel good energy through breathing. We often forget to breathe through the busy lifestyle we’ve created for ourselves.
A problem shared is a problem halved – remember DIT have an excellent counselling service that is free to all full time DIT students, they have appointments and also daily walk-in services.
Remember to try and have a healthy lifestyle, maintain a good balanced diet, plenty of sleep and don’t try not to stress too much. A little stress is healthy as we are human but always give it your best shot.
And remember to always HYDRATE and be alert. A few steps upstairs to the library is surely a good workout. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. May the odd be ever in your favour.
Good Luck Guys & lets kick THESE EXAMS ASS!
and remember HELP is always available.
