I personally think it is important to have an understanding of your own academic skills – in other words know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Throughout my education I have always tried to improve on areas that I am less stable in. It is sometimes hard to work this way as we all want enjoy studying things that we excel in and therefore it can be a battle with yourself to work on the things you are less able in. I have always been fairly able in both English and Mathematics but my downfall was the sciences. By being able to pin point this as an area of improvement I was able to slowly but surely become better at the subject.

I think that everyone believes they have a sound understanding of what their skills and abilities are but as the online learning units highlight it is not just about subjects, there is much more to it. By working my way through these modules I have learnt a great deal about myself and the way I learn. I was able to illuminate skills that I excel in such as organisation but also highlight areas of improvement such as effectively using technology. Furthermore by reading sections of ‘The Study Skills Book’ by McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. on topic areas as punctuation and sentence structure I have been able to refresh my memory on these easily forgettable areas.

I have found working through the online modules and reading ‘The Study Skills Book’ incredibly useful in helping me have an understanding of my academic abilities and will no doubt refer back to these throughout the course.