How to approach your assignments
Approaching your assignments
When you are ready to complete the assignment, we would recommend that you have enough time to complete it in one sitting. Your assignments are designed to continue your learning and so you can refer to your course book and other sources in order to complete your assignments. Please handwrite your assignment in black ink.
You will find an instruction at the beginning of the assignment which indicates whether or not the assignment should be taken under test conditions.
Reflection and feedback
Before you start your next assignment, we ask you to reflect on the feedback you received from your tutor on your previous assignment. Being able to reflect on your progress and take on board your tutor’s feedback is a key part of the Wolsey Hall course.
Assignment guidance
At the beginning of every assignment, we give you guidance on how to approach that particular assignment. We outline how to approach the assignment, how to submit it, what resources you will need and how long you should take. Please do bear in mind that the time parameters given (for instance, we may say that we expect you to take between 30 and 45 minutes on this assignment) are given as a rough guide and should not prevent you from taking longer if you need to do so.
Uploading your assignment and receiving feedback
You should upload your assignment to Canvas, ideally as a single file (this means scanning in all the pages and saving them as a single PDF).
Within 3–5 days, you will receive a notification to let you know that your assignment has been marked. When you look at your assignment feedback, make sure that you check the PDF (it may have been annotated by your tutor) as well as the general comments your tutor has given you (these may be written and/or an audio/video message).
Please do take time to reflect on your tutor’s feedback and take it on board in future assignments. This is a key part of the Wolsey Hall Oxford course as the feedback will be personal and tailored entirely to you. The feedback is designed to help you further both your knowledge and your skills in the subject.
Using a dictionary or thesaurus
We ask you to not use a dictionary or thesaurus to help you in your assignments. You should handwrite all assignments and only type if this has been agreed with your tutor and SPM. In this instance, please ensure the spell checker is turned off. Your tutor will be assessing your spelling and use of punctuation.
Word limits
Each assignment contains an instruction as to how long the assignment should be – an upper word limit; for example, ‘your assignment should be a maximum of 900 words’. We set word limits so that you are aware of how much is expected of you and so that you can develop all the skills required to be able to write to a word limit. Sometimes it is easier to write more than it is to write less! If you go over the word limit, we would suggest that you review what you have done and see whether you can make any revisions: could you have expressed yourself more concisely? Is everything you have said relevant to the question?
If you submit your assignment to your tutor and you are over the word limit, your tutor will not mark you down purely because you have gone over the limit. You may have a particular interest in that topic and we are pleased that you have explored it. Having said that, your tutor will review the skills shown in your assignment. If what you have written is not clearly focussed on the question, you may lose marks. Similarly, if you have not expressed yourself clearly or concisely, your tutor will highlight this to you in their feedback. These are all key skills in English and your tutor will provide feedback to help you develop those skills throughout the course. If your tutor suggests that you could have written more on a particular issue, but you were already at the word limit, they will also try to indicate to you the areas in which you could have said less or made your point more concisely.
Can I send in several assignments at the same time?
We ask that you do not submit multiple assignments at the same time. It is very important that you reflect on your tutor’s feedback before beginning each new assignment, so that you can incorporate their tips for improvement into each new piece of work.
Can I resubmit an assignment if I feel I didn’t do very well?
We encourage you to work carefully on each assignment and submit it when you are happy with your finished piece of work. Do ensure that you read the assignment guidance carefully and follow the instructions given. Once your tutor has marked an assignment and added your grade to Canvas, that module is complete. If there is something that you feel you could improve on, that’s positive and all part of learning. Rather than going back to a completed assignment, we suggest that you take on board that feedback and put it into practice in your future assignments.
What grade should I expect?
In Year 9, students typically achieve between 65-85% in their assignments, so 75%+ is above average for this stage of the course. It is recommended that students achieve at least 70% in their reading assignments to move on to the IGCSE English Literature course.