Portfolio Assessment: FY026 Module - Preparing for University Success

This portfolio, created for the FY026 module 'Preparing for Success at University', showcases a student's learning journey and skill development. It includes a 500-word summary explaining the rationale behind the selection of materials, which comprise a minimum of twelve documents. These documents cover a range of topics, including personal SWOT analysis, paraphrasing techniques, analytical skills, situational analysis, personal development plans, decision-making, CV preparation, research skills, employability skills, presentation of work, reflective learning, and the correct use of tenses. Each document highlights the student's understanding and application of these concepts, demonstrating their growth in areas crucial for academic success and future employability. The portfolio reflects on how these skills were acquired and how they contribute to achieving academic goals such as scoring higher marks in examination. The student uses this portfolio to show how they can effectively use the acquired skills to deal with future academic challenges.

Portfolio

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.................................................................................................................................................4
Personal SWOT analysis...........................................................................................................................4
Paraphrasing............................................................................................................................................4
Analytical skills.........................................................................................................................................4
Situational analysis..................................................................................................................................5
Personal Development Plan....................................................................................................................5
Decision-making......................................................................................................................................5
CV............................................................................................................................................................6
Research skills..........................................................................................................................................6
Employability skills..................................................................................................................................6
Presentation of work...............................................................................................................................7
Reflective learning...................................................................................................................................7
Tense.......................................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
For obtaining success at the university level it is quite important that an understanding is
made on the different types of topics which are taught in the college by the lecturers (Abel,
2018). In this portfolio, analysis will be made on the various topics which a student has to learn
while completing studies.
SUMMARY
While studying in the university all the students have to work on different types of
projects that are assigned by the tutor (Clulow and et.al., 2018). Portfolio making is also one of
them which guides individuals to enhance their knowledge about different types of academic
topics. While formulating different types of documents it is very important for students to make
sure that they perform critical analysis of each and every element as it can help to enhance the
knowledge about them. This portfolio is based upon brief analysis of twelve different types of
documents which will be discussed in it. These are personal SWOT analysis, paraphrasing,
analytical skills, situational analysis, judgement power, decision making, home town, mind
mapping, research skills, reflective learning, presentation of work and tense.
All of them will be beneficial for the enhancement of knowledge and skills to reach the
academic goals such as scoring higher marks in examination. All of them are selected for
different purposes. Personal SWOT analysis is selected to make sure that all the individuals
analyse their own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It will be beneficial to be
prepare to deal with all the difficulties which may take place in future. With the help of it,
effective decisions to respond threats and weaknesses could be taken. Paraphrasing is also a
document which will also be discussed in the portfolio. It is selected for the purpose of making
sure that id a person is paraphrasing some content then it should give credit to the actual writer.
It will be beneficial to portray a positive image in the mind of tutor.
Next document is related to analytical skills which is selected to make sure that these
abilities are enhanced so that all the difficult tasks which will be faced while studying could be
performed successfully. Situational analysis is selected as it can help to analyse all the situations
properly and make efforts to deal with adverse impacts of them. Personal development plan has
been selected because it helps in achievement of goals and objectives. Decision making are
chosen for portfolio because with the help of this skill ability to make effective decisions could
be enhanced. CV is selected because its preparation helps the students to become employable in
the future and get a good job. Research skills are selected because detailed analysis of it will help
to write detailed information about all the topics which will be allocated in future for assignment.
Employability skills help the students as by having them they can get a good job in the
future. Presentation of work is selected because with the help of it a well-structured project,

report or assignment could be presented. Reflective learning is selected as it can help to find the
best suitable way to share personal experience with others so that they can have the same
feelings of the event. The last topic which is selected is tense and reason for its selected is that
higher knowledge of it can help to write reports properly.
MAIN BODY
Personal SWOT analysis
Personal SWOT analysis helps a lot in understanding more about oneself. While studying
in college, my teacher told me about this and therefore I made this analysis about myself and
found out the areas of my strengths, the points where I am weak, the opportunities which can be
used and the threats which I face in the future. Thus, I am confident that I can use this effectively
to make sure that I am able to focus on the specific areas for improvement and take the desired
route for obtaining success.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is an effective technique which is used for using the information and
interpreting it in own words. It develops greater understanding power and leads to the framing of
right judgments while doing the work. Thus creative skills can be developed using it. As the
course which I am studying in the university involves a lot of academic projects therefore I have
to do this a lot. As I have learnt this technique this helps me in doing the required analysis. Also,
plagiarism in work can be avoided if you apply it correctly using the right methods.
Analytical skills
Analytical skills are necessary for performing the analysis in the required fields. In the
university, our teachers have taught us about these skills (Hayter, 2016). They have also told us
the methods we can adopt to use them effectively so that we can obtain desired results. I have
noticed that by using these skills we can get good marks in our field of study. Therefore, this can
lead towards improvement of our grades while in college and thus this will enhance our overall
skills also in the future. Therefore, this quality has to be there in a student who is studying in the
college as this will help him/her a lot in higher education.

Situational analysis
Situational analysis is helpful in getting to know more details about the situation and
analyzing it so that a right action can be taken (Situation Analysis, 2020). This is an important
managerial quality. I have studied it in the college and thus I am confident that this quality will
help me a lot in taking the right decisions in the future. While making academic assignments I
use it a lot to take a decision about the approach which I am required to adopt. Even if a decision
goes wrong it will help us a lot by understanding what went wrong, what are the possible
improvements which we can make for the future and what is the right course of action which can
be taken so that the goals and targets which are set for the short-run and long-run can be
achieved.
Personal Development Plan
A Personal Development Plan helps the individuals a lot by ensuring that they can set
different types of goals as well as objectives to be achieved in the future time period. While
studying in College I learnt about this plan as our lecturer told us about it. I learnt how to use it
in the right manner so that I can set short-term and long-term goals and objectives for the future
time period and achieve them without problems and issues. This has helped me a lot in bringing
much-desired improvements to my personality and thus I feel a lot more confident.
Decision-making
Decision-making helps a lot in taking the right decision required for obtaining success in
the future time period. This is a quality which is a must for the managers assuming different
functional roles in an organization such as Production, HR, Finance, Marketing etc. In our
college, lecturers focus a lot this ability as this helps a lot in studies as well as practical life.
Therefore, using this ability in the right manner the desired results can be obtained by a student
without facing any kind of issues and problems in the future. I think that higher marks can also
be obtained by taking the right decisions.

CV
CV refers to Curriculum Vitae. It is used by the individuals to present an overview for
seeking a particular job. While studying in the university, our teachers told us about preparation
of CV and how it helps in getting a job. We were told to prepare our CVs so that we can learn
how to prepare it. This has helped me a lot as I know the way it is prepared and in this manner I
successfully got a good job by preparing an impressive CV. Therefore it can be used by the
individuals in the right manner.
Research skills
Research skills are very important for a student who is studying in college. In our
university, our teacher told us about the importance of these skills for a student. Initially, my
research skills were quite weak. However, after specifically working in this area along with my
teacher I have now gained the required confidence. I use these skills effectively now while
completing my academic projects. In some of the assignments I have to perform a detailed and
specific research. Thus by gaining this ability, I have made sure that it will help me in the future
to get a good grade in my assignments.
Employability skills
Employability skills are those skills which help the individuals to be employable in future
period of time when they graduate out of the university after finishing their studies. Therefore
these skills can be used in the right manner by the students to get a good job. While studying in
the university we were told by our teachers about these skills and the importance of having them.
Over time, I have enhanced these skills and I think that they were crucial as I got a decent job
due to them. Thus I would suggest students to develop them as they will benefit them a lot.

Presentation of work
Presentation of work is an important aspect which can be learnt at the university level
(Saadat and Saadat, 2016). While it is important to do good work, it is equally important to be
able to present it in front of so many people who are sitting in front of you. I was initially very
nervous to give a presentation in front of an entire class. But with the support obtained from my
teacher I focused a lot on improving my presentation skills effectively and efficiently. This
helped me a lot in eradicating my nervousness and taking the right course of action by making a
right presentation of my work and presenting it in the front of the entire class. This helped me in
gaining the self-confidence and I learnt the importance of communication skills which are crucial
for obtaining success in the future in practical life.
Reflective learning
Reflective learning is a concept which is used very commonly in academic practice
(Testa and et.al., 2017). This was taught to us in the college by our lecturer. This helps a lot as a
student can easily understand what the teacher is teaching how it is to be applied practically with
the use of right techniques. Thus, this concept will help me a lot as I can interpret what the
lecturer is teaching in the class and I can analyze and interpret it in my own words. Therefore,
this will lead to enhancement of skills and thus the chances of getting a good job after
completing university education will increase. Therefore, I think that it is important for all the
students to pay utmost attention to the teacher when he/she is teaching about reflective learning
and learn the necessary techniques for performing analysis and interpretation in own words.
Tense
Tenses are used in English Grammar. They are quite useful because they help in proper
framing of the sentence. They are taught to the students at the school itself. However some of the
students remain weak at using them even after entering college. Thus, in our college our English
Teacher focused a lot on tenses. He made us revise them and pointed out our mistakes while
using them. I also made mistakes while using them and realized the importance of using them

properly. Therefore, I started working on tenses along with my English Teacher. After making
the efforts in the right direction I have made sure that I am able to use it correctly and also
reduced my mistakes to a certain extent. Thus this will naturally help me a lot in getting good
grades in my exams at the university level. Therefore, I need to make sure that I apply them in
the right manner in the future also.
CONCLUSION
From the above portfolio, it can be concluded that there are many skills which a student
learns while studying in the college. If he pays attention to what the teacher is saying then he can
surely get good marks in the exams at the university level.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Abel, T. S., 2018. Ethically ambiguous: Addressing the implications of university engineering
faculty who teach without obtaining professional licensure, and an argument for professional
licensure in engineering Academia. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and
Practice. 144(2). p.02517007.
Clulow, J. and et.al., 2018. Differential success in obtaining gametes between male and female
Australian temperate frogs by hormonal induction: a review. General and comparative
endocrinology. 265. pp.141-148.
Hayter, C. S., 2016. A trajectory of early-stage spinoff success: the role of knowledge
intermediaries within an entrepreneurial university ecosystem. Small Business Economics. 47(3).
pp.633-656.
Okeigwe, I. and et.al., 2017. Physician-scientists in obstetrics and gynecology: predictors of
success in obtaining independent research funding. American journal of obstetrics and
gynecology. 217(1). pp.84-e1.
Saadat, V. and Saadat, Z., 2016. Organizational learning as a key role of organizational
success. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 230. pp.219-225.
Testa, G. and et.al., 2017. Living donor uterus transplantation: a single center's observations and
lessons learned from early setbacks to technical success. American Journal of
Transplantation. 17(11). pp.2901-2910.
Online
Situation Analysis. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.marketing91.com/situation-analysis/>