Assignment Feedback: A Case Study, an Ethics Review & a Questionnaire Report

The end of last semester was packed with assignments, especially with two being due in only a couple days apart.  I am pleased with how they all turned out, especially the case study as I had never previously done one before and it made a change from doing a report.  All three pieces of feedback will help in my upcoming poster & report assignments and will aid in the development of my analytical and writing skills.

Case Study:

I chose the topic of ‘Learning in the Classroom’ for my case study evaluation and used Piagetian theory to develop a lesson plan whilst explaining the impact and effectiveness of the theory in real-life educational settings.  I received 78/100 which equates to a high first; it is extremely rewarding to receive this grade as I put a lot of effort into this assignment.

A strength of my work was how I demonstrated “detailed/excellent knowledge and understanding” throughout the case study.  This is further shown by my use of “a wide and appropriate range of sources” to support my points.  Furthermore, I conducted “independent research that extended well beyond the lecture contents”.

There was a small number of typos/grammatical slips that I made in the case study but “these did not hinder understanding”.  Next time I will let someone else proof reads my work to spot any mistakes that I have missed and will ensure that I write ‘&’ as ‘and’.

Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:

Case Study Evaluation: Learning in Classroom Feedback

Ethics Review:

The title I chose to write about was “Discuss whether animal research typically performed by psychologists is unethical”.  This was the most interesting topic to me because, as a Psychology student, I have to conduct psychological experiments throughout my degree and ethics will always be something I have to consider when doing so.  I received 72/100 which is a first.

My work showed “pleasing levels of analysis and evaluation” with an “analytical strand that permeates the discussion, which permits a balanced presentation of differing viewpoints”.  I also demonstrated engagement within the topic, as well as a very good general understanding of the issues whilst including an “excellent range of independently researched sources in the essay” which were put to “effective use”.

To improve, I could signpost more to further structure my essay and include a couple more citations in-text to illustrate my point more.

Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:

Ethics Review on Animal Research Feedback

Questionnaire Report:

The title of my report was “A comparison of The Psychological Sense of School Membership in University Students between Males and Females” based upon a questionnaire experiment.  I received a high 2:1 and got 68/100.

A strength of my assignment is how I illustrated a “good understanding of the topic area and results, with some evidence of critical thinking”.  Furthermore, my method section was “very well written, clear and could be easily replicated” and an overall good results section with the “statistics presented and interpreted correctly”.

However, my conclusion needed to be more comprehensive and an evaluation of the literature presented in my introduction would have been beneficial.  Despite my hypothesis being “clear and logical”, it could have been more explicit on what research I was basing it on.

Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:

Questionnaire Report Feedback

Dear 2016…

If you asked me at the start of the year if the things that have happened to me would happen, I’d say no.  2016, you have been one of the most important years of my life; I turned 18 – a major milestone where I am now deemed an adult, my sister got married, I finished my A-Levels and got accepted into University.  I wanted to share with you my most memorable moments of the year and each month and thought to make a giant story time 2016 blog post.

Dear January, looking back you seem a total blur.   January wasn’t really a standout month; all I can really remember was that I was preparing for my mock exams which is never fun and would probably have been struggling to remember to write the date as 2016 which happens every year!

Dear February, mocks. That week was chaos due to the organisation.  My media exam was a past paper that we had already recently completed, despite the 2015 paper being unaccessible to students for the sole purpose of schools using it as their mock exam.  But even after remembering all the answers, I still got an D (awkward) so I obviously needed some more practise.  My psychology exam went great, I was only 2 marks off an A so that was promising.  But textiles we didn’t have a written exam so it was business as usual.

February was also the continual of people applying to UCAS; my Sixth Form required each student to fill out a UCAS application even if they didn’t send it off and apply so mine had all the necessary details filled out.  But honestly?  I never even wanted to go to University.  For my whole life, I’ve totally been against the idea of a further 3 years in education, mostly because I hadn’t found a subject that I was truly excited about – until I met psychology.

Prior to A-Level, I had never studied psychology and barely even knew what it entailed.  After my first lesson of psychology I knew I had found something special; all we did was learn what conformity was and everything started to fall into place.  Things started making sense, I was finding answers for questions I didn’t even know needed to be asked and ultimately I was seeing myself applying the new knowledge I was gaining to everyday situations.  And that’s when I knew this is what I wanted to do, I was still adamant about not going to University but I knew if I had to go, I would study psychology .

Dear March, you March were a major turning point of 2016 and to say my university application process was rushed is an understatement.  It was the weekend before the UCAS deadline and after a conversation about my future with my Mum I came to the conclusion that my only option was to go to uni.  Psychology apprenticeships wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole unless you had been in some sort of higher education so that was a no-go.

The following Monday I approached the teacher who was in charge of UCAS applications and told him I wanted to apply.  All he said to me was “I knew you’d end up applying”.  This was sort of a shock to me; the only conversation we ever had were those when he questioned me if I was going to apply or not.  This teacher, who had never met me personally, knew I’d go to uni.  How?  I suppose it was my academic achievements, even though they were mediocre, or perhaps what my teachers had said about me, but ultimately I suppose it was my potential and he was certain that I’d end up at uni even before I was.

Altogether, it took me less 24 hours to write my personal statement, something which my friends and classmates had been doing for weeks/months.  I was proud of how mine turned out and was glad that it wasn’t something I was stressed about.  Personally, I don’t understand why it took everyone so long to write theirs, maybe it meant more to them than me at the time (which looking back it did).  I applied for 2017 entry at 4/5 universities and 2016 entry for my hometown uni as I was still unsure about going to university.  However, once the acceptance emails started rolling in I started getting excited which led to me changing my insurance and firm choice uni entries to 2016.

9th April: My niece’s 1st birthday

Dear April, The 27th – the day I turned 18; the day when I’d have my first legal drink and from which I would be classed as an adult, crazy huh?  I spent my 18th birthday how every girl wants to spend their first day as an adult; going on a university open day!  Okay, it’s not so doom and gloom because that was the day I knew Leeds Trinity University was my firm choice, guess you could call it fate right?  Looking back, that was also the start of me becoming a more assured and mature person, the person I am today.  I stopped being passive in my life and started taking full control of everything – my decisions, my relationships and my career.

Dear May, AS-Level retakes. I retook 3 exams, media, psychology and geography.  I somehow got an E in my media exam at AS and along with the B in my coursework I was getting a C overall and knew I could do better.  The same happened with geography, I got an A in one exam and a D in the other, but with the D exam carrying more weight, I got a D overall. I was 3 marks off a C and knew that if I could get a C then I’d just have to get C’s overall in my A-Levels to get into university.  Psychology was the same, I got C’s in both exams, the exact mark too, so I retook the easiest exam instead of both and hoped to get a B.

 

2 days after my last AS exam I was on a plane to Marbella for my sisters wedding.  This was my first time being a bridesmaid and experiencing a hen-do which nicely aligned with my 18th birthday and my transition into adulthood.

This was also a time where I let some friends out of my life.  I wanted and still do want to surround myself with great people and knew that I was better off without people who acted like they were better than everyone else.  I finally found out who my true friends were and wasn’t going to waste anymore time with people who treated me poorly.

Dear June, you are easily narrowed down to one week, where my two of my exams were separated by 24 hours.  My textiles exam was also during this time, where I was working up until the final hour of my 15 hour exam.  I’ve done textiles for over 5 years and it was one of my favourite subjects but once starting it at A-Level, my love for the subject faded.  Creating pieces for my deadlines became tedious, I wasn’t doing it because I loved it, I was doing it because I had to.

 

But 2016 was my turn around, the start of A2 brought new inspiration for me, my love for the subject was rekindled and I wasn’t stuck in a rut anymore.  When showing my textiles teacher my final piece, she said it was the best
work I’d ever done and she was proud.  That meant a lot; at A-Level I never was her favourite, most of my classmates where going on to creative courses like fashion, but I was going on to do psychology so to finally get some major recognition was great.

Dear July, you were the final month of waiting, with my future lying in a little envelope, all depending on how well I performed on my exams the month previous.  The 18th, 8:56am – just a few minutes to go until I found out if I was going to Leeds Trinity, UCS or through clearing.  While on FaceTime with my friend Kam, I checked UCAS at exactly 9am and instantly started crying; I got into my firm choice uni and was absolutely overwhelmed with every possible positive emotion.  Even writing this now I get teary eyed; but I was actually going to uni, something I never imagined myself doing, something I was completely against and now could not even think of how different my life would be if I wasn’t at university.

A couple hours later I went to my Sixth Form and collected my results, looking down at that envelope I felt proud, regardless of what grades I got because I was going to Leeds Trinity.  I opened the letter to find I got B in Media which I was surprised at since I went from a E to an A in my AS retake, a C in Psychology & Textiles and a B in AS Geography where I went from a D to an A in my exam which my geography teachers were very proud of me for.

Towards the end of the month, I also passed my driving theory exam and even got a nose piercing which was something I was meant to get for my birthday.  July was a month for achievement and will be a month I will never forget.

Dear August, you were filled with my last month of freedom before I was off to start my new adult life at university.  There was plenty of shopping trips to buy everything I needed which for someone who loves shopping, was extremely fun.

Dear September, you were a month of change.  I spent the last week before uni meeting up with friends I wouldn’t see for a long time (Georgia) and having as much fun as possible. The 17th – the day before I moved; it was also the day my twin brother went to uni in Southampton.  You’d think this day would be heartfelt but it wasn’t, after a little goodbye he was off and everything felt normal.  I mean after all, he spends 23 out of 24 hours in his bedroom with the remaining one hour being to collect food before returning to his room.

Off to Leeds!

The 18th – move in day, everything was packed and in the car, just a 3 hour trip to Leeds was left.  Once we arrived and unpacked everything (I wanted to do that first because once that was done I knew I could relax) I went into our kitchen/lounge and introduced myself. After an hour or so we were bonding; conversation was flowing, we were sharing stories about ourselves and it went so much better than I ever could have hoped for as I could see them slowly becoming my family.  Speaking of family, I’d be lying if I didn’t shed a tear or two when my parents and niece left. 

 

Freshers week was so much fun, getting to spend so much time with all these new people was great.  I’ve even enjoyed going to lectures and learning so much more about psychology.

Dear October,  university reading week stands out to me the most because I had a sickness bug, was bedridden and still completed two assignments (which were due 24 hours apart); one, a poster on the medical and social models of disability and the other an observational report.  I received a first and a 2:1 on them respectively which I was very pleased about!

Dear November, the 5th – firework night, you were one amazing night.  We all went out to see the fireworks (minus Chloe T) and had such a great laugh.  I definitely consumed too many sugared donuts that night but I regret nothing!

I also got to go to London for 2 days to Support Chloe at the Kids Count Awards and got to meet the Leeds MP!  It was really nice to take a break away from university for a little bit and an exciting trip to the capital was the perfect way to do it.

Disappointment Tree

Dear December, even though you have only just passed, you were one of my favourite months of the year.  I got to spend my first Christmas with my flat 3 family; we decorated the whole flat, put up a (tiny) Christmas Tree, and exchanged Secret Santa presents during our flat Christmas party. 

 

December also meant more assignments for me.  I had 3 but they were more spread out this time so it wasn’t as bad.  I’m still waiting to receive my feedback but I’ll keep you posted.

Overall, 2016 has been a great year full of change, fun, laughter and love.  I’ve made so many new amazing friends who I can’t wait to spend the new year with.  Now, at the start of 2017, if you asked me whether I’m glad if the things that I’ve mentioned have happened to me, then I’d say:

Yes, thank you and farewell 2016,

Love Eleanor xo

P.S – Hello from 2017!  Throughout writing this blog post I thought it looked wrong so I started adding two spaces after each sentence like I do in my essays and it finally looked normal.  That’s how much of an impact university has had on me!

Observational Report Reflection

I am pleased with the result of my report (65/100, 2:1) however I would have liked a higher grade to keep up the high standard of work since I just received a 78/100 on my poster assignment yesterday. I don’t agree 100% with the feedback given, only because it’s slightly contradictory.

Firstly, the point of ‘where was the study conducted’ was actually answered in my report as I said my observation was conducted on a pelican crossing. Next time, I’ll be more specific like I was in my method section and specify the location of the pelican crossing.

After including my rationale in the introduction like we were reminded to do in lectures, I was then told in my feedback that it would be ‘more appropriate to make this sort of point in the discussion’. This contradicted what I was previously told and then in the marking criteria for the assignment, I was given 4/8 for my introduction with the general comment ‘Rationale provided and it is largely clear how the study follows on from previous work’ which further contradicts he feedback I was given.

However, I do agree with the points of including the hypothesis in my abstract and making some studies in my introduction more detailed as I did only talk about the results for a couple studies; but this was only due to hitting the word limit.

My referencing was once again strong due to me acting upon the feedback given to me in my diagnostic literature review. My observational report was ‘nice overall’ with a ‘few lapses of clarity’. This feedback provided will help me in my upcoming assignment of a questionnaire report.

Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:

Observing gender differences in crossing behaviour – crossing during the red man phase

Being a Southerner in a Northern City

After moving up to Leeds for university, I’ve come to the realisation that I’m quite sheltered when it comes to travelling in the UK; I’ve travelled across the world and have lived in Australia for 2 years but the furthest north I have ever travelled in the UK is Norfolk which is quite shocking even to me! Another shock is how as an A-Level Geography student, I didn’t realise that Leeds is actually further north than Manchester and Liverpool! Two of my flatmates, who live in Stockport and Warrington, were not too pleased about my mistake. The biggest shock however, is the major differences in language and social norms.

I live in the east midlands and during fresher’s week, I soon found out that I had to pick a side: north or south. After short deliberation I chose south, not thinking that it was a big deal, but now after living with them for over 10 weeks I am constantly reminded of my decision and am now referred to as the southerner.

There isn’t a day that goes by where my flatmates and I don’t argue about how we say certain things. A very touchy subject in our flat is the name of the thing that you dry clothes on – some of the northerners call it a maiden and the rest/the southerners call it an airer. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to agree on an answer even after 3 years when we all graduate. Pronunciation is another issue as I, among the other southerners, pronounce words in what the northerners call a ‘posh’ accent; scone as sc-own, bath as barth, and so on. When in reality, all we do is use the long form of the vowel ‘a’. However, they are adamant that scone should be pronounced as sc-on (apart from Annabel).

Food and drink is major running theme in our cultural differences. Firstly, northerners drink tea a LOT (quite a generalisation I know) and they also believe that tea fixes most problems. Since being in Leeds I’ve also started to picked up northern mannerisms; my best (Mancunian) friend introduced me to a new word – scran. I’ve learnt that scran can refer to food or the act of eating. I’ve even started saying it back home and my family have no idea what I’m saying. She’s also forcing me to try a northern delicacy of gravy on ‘chippy chips’ because gravy on regular oven chips isn’t good enough for her.

One reoccurring argument is what we call the 3 meals of the day; the obvious answer would be breakfast, lunch and dinner, right? Well after being up in the north, I’ve found that it’s also referred to as breakfast, dinner and tea which is very confusing come meal time! We also argue over what would call a bread roll – that’s one name we all agree on. However, there’s a range of other names such as bread buns, barmcakes and baps.

One social norm that is extremely different in the north from the south is how we approach strangers. Down in the south, you don’t ever dare make conversation with a stranger let alone make eye contact with one but my northern friends smile at strangers all the time. I’m also very used to the weather down in the south – overcast 80% of the time with rain the other 20%, all while having a moderate temperature and last year, we didn’t experience any snow. I’ve never been so cold or seen as much rain as I have up here in Leeds; it’s snowed three times over the past two & a half months and it’s only just December!

So here’s the moral of the blog: if you want cheap alcohol – go to the north, if you want daily arguments on pronunciation- go to the north, if you want to be picked on for being a southerner – go to the north and finally, always I mean ALWAYS, carry an umbrella around everywhere you go; I learnt that the hard way.

A First in my Poster Assignment

After 4 long weeks, I received the results from one of my most recent assignments –  a poster on the medical and social models of disability in education. The process of completing this assignment didn’t quite go according to plan but thankfully I got a first! So let’s split this blog post in two: the writing process and a reflection on the feedback given.

The Process

I wrote this assignment during my very hectic reading week (although hectic would be an understatement). You’d expect reading week to be somewhat care-free and relaxing but no, mine played out a little differently.

On the day I planned to start my poster, I caught a sickness bug which I thought I had got away with after both my family and my flatmates had it the week previous. This left me bed stricken and unable to start my poster, leaving me a whole day behind schedule. Even though I didn’t feel 100% better the next day, I still decided to start as I knew the deadline was looming.

At 12pm (12 hours before the deadline) I realised that I had missed a vital aspect of my poster, applying the medical and social models to education. I had spent a total of 27+ hours writing it and then had to stay up until 3am to finish rewriting it which I can only blame myself for. Next time, I’ll hopefully not be sick!

Reflecting on my given feedback

The topic was something we had previously covered in lectures and had really interested me in how something like disability could be viewed from two completely different views/models. I am very pleased with my grade of 78/100 which is a great improvement from my first assignment in which I achieved a 2:1 (65/100).

I acted upon the feedback I was given last time which resulted in my referencing being perfect due to me putting a comma after ‘et al.’ and checking that all journal names were italicised.

A major strength of my poster was how ‘every aspect of the poster had been addressed with care and considerable attention to detail’. The range and depth of information in my poster was ‘excellent’ and also went into a ‘reasonable level of detail while keeping arguments reasonably concise’.

The written style was also a real strength of my poster with the presentation and layout being very clear and attractive. Something to improve on is ‘providing a link between the introduction and the main sections’.

My poster is a very pleasing first assignment that I should ‘aim to build on’ during my degree and provides me with a good basis to further improve. Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:

Medical and social models of disability in education – are either helpful?

Reflecting on Feedback: My First Assignment

On Friday, I received the results for my first assignment: Review recent research literature on bullying (including bullying roles) among school children. I found the topic very engaging since I haven’t previously learnt about bullying from a psychological point of view. I am very pleased with my grade of 65/100, which is equivalent to a 2:1, mainly due to it being my first assignment at university level.

I completely agree with the feedback given to me as looking back, the structure of the first few paragraphs could have been written more clearly but this was mostly due to me being unsure of how to start writing a literature review. To advance my work, I would create a plan including references to improve the organisation and flow of the assignment.

There is a lot of room for improvement especially since I made a few basic mistakes such as forgetting to italicise all journal names, not putting a comma after ‘et al.’ and ensuring there are quotation marks for all direct quotes. These mistakes could simply be overcome by proof-reading my work more throughout the writing process and getting someone else to read it and acknowledge any errors that I may have made.

My main strength in this assignment was my “critical awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of some of the studies and how this may fit with future research needs”; this, along with my “well written and concise conclusion”, helps reinforce my understanding of the topic and gives me the confidence and framework I’ll need for my future assignments.

Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:

Diagnostic Literature Review Feedback

42 days as a University Student

It’s been 6 weeks now since I started university and it feels like it was just yesterday that I crammed all my belongings into a car and travelled 138 miles from Northampton to Leeds. When I went to an open day back in April – my 18th Birthday to be precise – at Leeds Trinity University (LTU) and had a one-on-one talk with the Head of my course, I knew that it was the perfect place for me. The idea of going to a big university in the middle of the city was off-putting to me so the fact that Trinity was in a little village called Horsforth, only six miles away from the centre of Leeds, was comforting to me. Leeds Trinity is an extremely small university, with only 3,505 students as of 2014/15; this was warming to know that I wouldn’t be just another number, I would get the chance to be known individually by staff and students.

Moving into a flat halfway across the country was extremely daunting to me, especially with eight complete strangers. After chatting with my soon-to-be flatmates for a few days prior to moving in, I still felt somewhat worried that they wouldn’t like me or I wouldn’t like them. But in retrospect I had nothing to stress over, we all got on immediately and we’re now a big Flat 3 Family. We even have a few arguments now and again over silly things like who left the kitchen cupboard open or how many times is it acceptable to listen to the same Ariana Grande song?

Intro/Freshers week was an exciting time to get to know fellow students and familiarise myself with the campus. However, finding my way around seemed to be harder than expected. My friend/flatmate, who’s on the same course as me, has to sometimes use the accessible routes around campus and upon going to a lecture on my own, I soon found out that I had no idea where the stairs were! Luckily I had a map and a rough idea of where I was going otherwise I would have been late to my first ever seminar. Some of my lectures aren’t just with people from my course but those from the whole of Psychology. This mix of class size, varying from 30 to 200, was refreshing and allowed me to meet so many new people but also to ask questions at a more intimate level when needed to. The first couple of intro lectures that we had were a great opportunity to get to meet the people on my course, the lecturers who I’ll be seeing over the next three years and to get a basic understanding of my course – Psychology and Child Development. We also had a range of talks on the amenities that the university has to offer such as the Library, IT facilities and the Careers & Employability services. The second day of intro lectures weren’t as easy as we were soon given an assignment which looking back, was actually beneficial as it eased us into university life and established how we found this new level of work.

There was a wide range of freshers events put on for us including bowling, free jumping, laser tag, a comedy night and a hypnotist show with guest star Hypnodog! However, my favourites would be the Hawaiian party at the student union bar and the free pizza at the chaplaincy.

The Hawaiian party was held on the first night of freshers week but I left early with two of my flatmates who have now ended up becoming my best friends. I took some mementos as a reminder of my first night here at LTU: a beach ball, a lei and a paper pineapple, one lives in my room and the other is hanging from the kitchen ceiling as a flat mascot!

The next five weeks at university have flown by and are starting to merge into one but I have nonetheless learnt many new & interesting things and have started to get a few assignments to showcase this new knowledge. The biggest thing that I’ve learnt so far has been about myself – I now know that I can survive independently as an adult. Ok, yes, I have rang my Mum several times asking blindingly obvious questions such as ‘Does my light wash count as whites or colours?’, ‘Will I die if I eat food that went out of date yesterday?’ and my personal favourite: ‘Why does my sugar smell like vomit?!’. I was quickly reassured that my her sugar also resembled the wonderful smell of sick.

These past 42 days of university life have already been filled with some amazing memories that I will never forget and I know that I’ll continue to make many more with my new life-long friends in the remaining three years (92 weeks to be exact) of my university education.

My Personal Statement

For my first post, I have decided to share my Personal Statement since it was the determinant that allowed me to study Psychology at degree level. University was never an option for me; prior to studying A-Level Psychology, I hadn’t found anything that truly interested me and I was completely against the idea of studying something for a further 3 years just for the sake of getting a degree.  But here I am, sitting in my flat minutes after my first official lecture, writing my first blog post.

Child development is a vital aspect in everyday life and the reasons behind the way children act and behave fascinates me; such as how they are raised, the everyday experiences they encounter and how the environment impacts on their daily lives and their development.

Before taking Psychology as an A Level, I had a vague understanding of the subject. The variety in my course has allowed me to find a specific area of Psychology that I wish to study most- developmental. Since I started the course I have been able to develop my comprehension of the scientific field and confidently explain actions, behaviors and childhood events that I previously was unfamiliar with.

The development of my desire to learn has stemmed from the birth of my niece and cousin. I have witnessed first-hand their behaviors, cognition and social interactions evolve through developmental psychology.

Currently, I participate in Vertical Tutoring, in which I provide support to younger years with their homework and form time activities. I also tutor a Year 12 student in Psychology which has improved my communication through clearly articulating the content of the course. By taking Media as an A Level, it has helped widen my understanding of how the media affects and influences society. In both Media & Psychology, I have studied transferable theories that link, such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Piaget’s Developmental Theory. The understanding from both subjects has deepened my knowledge and given me another perspective on the theories. A Level Textiles has enabled me to improve my time management skills through ensuring that I meet my deadlines promptly and to a high standard. One career path I’m interested in is Play/Art Therapy and the combination of my degree and Textiles A Level would help me to achieve this.

I have volunteered at my local youth club for the past 3 years and this has reinforced my interest in child psychology through working with younger students. I have achieved the highest award for volunteering from vInspired, the v100, acknowledging my commitment and time given to helping my community. Supervising various sized groups of 8-17 year olds with minimal/no adult supervision, has furthered my leadership and communication skills by giving me the ability to adjust my language to suit the appropriate age group as well as my independence. Volunteering has exposed me to children of varying backgrounds, cultures, ages and has given me the opportunity to watch the children grow and progress through the different stages of childhood.  I increasingly see myself applying theories I have learnt through my A Level course to the children I see whilst volunteering. This experience I have gained is extremely rewarding knowing that I am making a difference in my community by simply giving up my time and expertise. My volunteer experience has helped me understand that patience, empathy and compassion is essential when working with young people, especially those with challenging backgrounds and personal difficulties.

Working as a Sales Advisor at Fabric Warehouse has helped enhance my interpersonal skills such as problem solving and trustworthiness. I have to use my own initiative to overcome issues with customers and this has made me more confident when it comes to making decisions on my own. Having the responsibility to help lock up the store has led to trusting relationships between my colleagues and I. Throughout my job I have worked with a diverse range of customers and always ensured that I have met their needs to the best of my ability. Balancing my job, volunteering and studies has enabled me to improve my organization and time management skills which are vital when taking a degree.

Studying a psychology degree will allow me to gain a more in depth and specialized knowledge of the development of children, challenging me intellectually and enabling me to develop the vital skills needed to pursue a successful career in Psychology.