Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Coping with online assessment 175 
your preparation for your assignments, which, in turn, will reduce 
anxiety. Ten, as mentioned earlier, with reduced worry about 
your assessments, you will get higher marks. 
PREPARING YOUR ASSESSMENT 
ENVIRONMENT 
If you were to take an exam on campus, you would have no con-
trol over the environment. Te room is set up by the university 
authorities; even your seat is allocated to you. Tere is no choice 
as to where you sit. However, when you are doing any kind of 
assessment as an online distance study student, you have several 
options for where you will do the work. You can take exams in 
bed in the middle of the night if you wish, though I would not 
advise it. 
You will want to be comfortable when writing an assignment. Tis 
means considering your study room and making sure that it will 
work well for you to help you gain those higher marks. In Chap-
ter 2, you will have read about preparing your room for online 
study. However, when it comes to working on assignments, there 
are some other factors you need to consider. 
Concentrating on the task at hand and getting the maximum 
possible marks is the principal requirement. Tis means taking a 
look at your study room and removing any distractions. Set aside 
books, notes, or other materials that do not relate to the assign-
ment at hand. Tey may be needed for a future assignment, but if 
they are around you, they will distract you, reducing the potential 
for your marks. 
With your electronic fles, get everything you will need for the 
assignment into one folder or directory. Tis will stop you from 
being distracted by other work on other areas of study that you 
stumble across as you travel around your computer fles. Re-
member, your computer fling system is part of your study en-
vironment. So, getting that into the appropriate organised state 

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