#myditblog

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How I intend to prepare for my examinations.

I have not sat a written exam in over 16 years and I have to say it is somewhat overwhelming at times. But I know that from being in college since September I have learned a lot when it comes to preparing for exams. By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Unfortunately, I have learned this the hard way by not preparing for exams and failing! But in other exams I prepared, studied and took notes and got some great results.

My preparation for the upcoming exams will involve attempting past papers for Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Maths. I have printed off all past papers and have tried to complete the Electrical Engineering paper as best as I could. After my first attempt I looked back over the notes on Webcourses, drew out diagrams, labelled them and wrote notes regarding each question. I re-read my notes three to four times and had another attempt at the past paper and felt that I had far exceeded my expectations. This method works well for me and I will continue doing this for all the past exam papers and repeat it until I feel confident about the exam paper. 

As I continue this process I will also time myself for each paper so that I now I can answer all the questions in the timeframe given for the examinations. There is also another few actions I will take leading up to the exams which will include getting a dictionary, making sure I have pens, pencils, eraser, high lighter, ruler and a calculator.

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CAO Personal Statement

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The things I should consider when making important decisions. 2/12/18

I think when making decisions I have to think of the outcome and how that decision is going to affect me and the people that are important to me. A lot of the time my decisions have been centred around myself without consideration for anyone else. Very selfish decisions. I have to think is this decision a good decision or not, what are the consequences of my decision, where will it lead me? Will it lead me down the right path or the wrong path? That’s where gut feelings and instincts come into play because they are telling loud and clear which decision to make but I can be so caught up in my mind and in my ego that I either forget or don’t trust my gut feelings.

Right now in my life I have to make an important decision, I have to make sacrifices to achieve the goal I have at hand, I’ll have to dedicate at least fifteen hours of my life a week to get the results I want and this wont happen in a few weeks, this might take months, maybe even a year or more. But this is my goal that I’m doing for me and for the people that I love. It’s going to take perseverance, willingness, persistence and dedication. But this is my goal and my vision and I’m making the decision to take this action and steer my life down the right path. 

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What’s the best way for me to deal with conflict in the future? 2/12/18

In the past I would have nearly always dealt with conflict with anger, dishonesty which sometimes caused the conflict in the first place. I think moving forward with my life and when it comes to dealing with conflict there are a number of factors that I have to consider. First of all I have to put myself in the other persons shoes and see where it is they are coming from. I need to think before I speak and enter that present moment with awareness, because if I am fully present and aware the likelihood is that I wont make the situation any worse. Being assertive is very important too. But being assertive in a calm, peaceful and understanding way is even more important because I can get my point across without being aggressive towards that other person. 

Dealing with conflict within myself is not as tricky as I thought it was before. For me, dealing with my own internal conflict is achieved by meditating daily, accepting the present moment as it is. Good or bad. Staying present and not clinging onto thoughts of past failures and mistakes but looking at them as a lesson from life and simply accepting them. The reason why I mentioned thoughts is because it’s thoughts along with feelings that cause conflict within and without. So by staying present in this moment there is no conflict within myself.

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What I have learned about myself in group work. 18/11/18

What I have learned about myself from a career point of view is that I like to be in charge when working in groups. I like to give the orders and delegate the work load out between my colleagues. This is mainly because of my role working as a project manager and bearing in mind the deadlines that I had to work towards. I was able to motivate people to certain degree but if they did not do what I asked them I could get quite bossy which, at times caused conflict amongst us. I found that sometimes my colleagues did not like being told what to do, especially if that person was older than me. I found that I had approach different personalities in different ways in order to get the best out of them but if I was having a bad day that would also have an impact on how I approached people.

From an academic point of view I have learned that in groups I like to like help people that may be struggling with certain parts of a project or point them in the right direction. I like to be upbeat and somewhat positive in group work and to try make the process light hearted and fun. I can be quite passive and I’m happy to let people take the lead and take charge but if we are working on a project that I have good knowledge around I’ll be the first to take the lead and drive the project to the desired destination. I’m good at getting the project up and running but I’ve found that once I get it going, I will, at times, take a back seat because it is a group project after all and it shouldn’t be left to one person to man the ship. I enjoy working within groups and like brainstorming and thinking creatively. 

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What I have learned from Gardner’s Theory of Intelligence.

After reading and researching Gardner’s theory I have found that we have numerous types of intelligences and that each individual has a certain set of intelligences that apply to them. For instance a person who acquires Spatial Intelligence might find themselves working as a Graphic Designer, Architect or as an Artist. Whereas people who have Kinaesthetic Intelligence might find themselves working as a Builder, Sculptor or as a Carpenter like myself. After I took Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Assessment I discovered that I am a hybrid of Musical,  Spatial and Kinaesthetic Intelligences. That means that I remember things very well when they are associated with music or rhythm which come from Musical intelligence. I also remember things well visually, like the layout rooms, blueprint drawings for a building site and also through colour and design, this is Spatial Intelligence. I also fall into the category of Kinaesthetic Intelligence. For me personally this makes sense as I have worked as a carpenter for many years and I would consider my to be very skilled in working with my hands.

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What I need to change to become a better student.

There are a number of things I need to change to become a better student. I need to engage more in classes, ask questions and answer questions too as I have a tendency not to ask a question if I don’t understand something right away. Usually I will study what I don’t understand at a later date. Another part of student life that I need to work on is allocating time to study. I do study but not enough so I need to allow time every evening to study my subjects further and read the over notes I take during classes and also the notes up on web courses prior to attending classes. 

Preparing for tests is another thing that I need to work on. For me personally I have to put that extra bit of effort in because I find it difficult to retain information so revision is essential for me to do well in exams. Drinking plenty of water and staying well rested are also essential for me to stay focused. I usually get enough sleep but I’m lacking the correct amount of water I should be drinking per day. The last part of student life that I need to take advantage of is the learning centre for maths and also to use library for study because studying at home can be quite difficult at times due to distractions.

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My Time Management

My time management has been very efficient when it comes to work. I was working as a project manager for a shopfitting company. While working in the office planning, preparation and execution where very important working within this role. Calculating the quantities of materials needed to manufacture shopfittings and also the quantities of shopfittings needed for the construction site were paramount for the job to run as smoothly as possible. Planning ahead for health and safety issues that may arise and working out a work schedule were essential.

When working on construction sites at any given time there could be anything from 10 to 30 people who I would have to liaise with and also delegate work to on a daily basis. Daily tasks for all employees of the company were written up the previous night for the next day along with the average time to complete the task which was judged by previous tasks. I would type these tasks out in a sequence from very urgent to less urgent. Also when taking these tasks into account, consideration regarding how many employees would be needed for each task would be considered based on previous timelines to complete tasks.

Outside of my work life my time management has not been great! Mainly because I would be worn out by the end of my work day. This is something that I’m trying to improve on and make more of an effort with.