Management Test – TMD – Pauline Vandenbroucke – 2021/2022
MODULE 2
Module 2 - 1. SWOT analysis
Self-awareness or reflection is an important aspect for personal development and effectiveness and can easily
be triggered. Just answer the questions below for a starter:
- Why did I get out of bed this morning?
- What motivates me to do well as a student?
- What matters most in my life?
When you start your studies in International Business Management, this is hopefully from a certain personal
motivation and an image of the profession and the studies that you have. Moreover, you are jumping in with
your own background: your family, your interests, your activities outside of study, your experiences in education
so far and your own talents.
In this way, you have a number of strengths at your disposal. Strengths you will be able to make use of in your
studies and which you will hopefully further develop. On the other hand, there might be a number
of weaknesses, which are not necessarily cause for concern but should be watched and improved upon.
Hopefully you have chosen these studies from your strengths and talents because these will teach you how to
compensate your weaker areas. The weak spot is often that the latter can make you lose your motivation or fail
an exam for example.
In order to have a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, along with possible opportunities and
threats, we introduce the SWOT analysis here. This useful exercise challenges you to critically evaluate yourself
and look at internal (S & W) and external (O & T) factors that could influence career success. This tool is also
widely used in business, have a look at the example for Netflix in the video below (📹 3:16) MOVIE
Module 2 - 1.1 Your personal SWOT
For this module, you are expected to complete a
personal SWOT analysis to understand your strengths
and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats you
face, with regards to your studies. Also, a SWOT can
help you better understand how to play to your
strengths and manage your weaknesses, as well as
uncover opportunities for growth and eliminate threats
that could keep you from moving forward.
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,Module 2 - 1.2 Strengths and weaknesses
To help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, you will find some questions on your past study experiences
and your own expectations in the documents below. Answer them honestly, and use the answers for your
SWOT analysis. The results from the personality tests from module 1 can also be integrated here.
Module 2 - 1.3 Threats and opportunities
Study results are determined by different factors: personal capabilities, gifts and talents, dedication and amount
of study time, motivation and study method. Some elements will provide opportunities, other factors will more
likely be threats - as they tend to distract you or make it more difficult to study sufficiently and effectively.
Identify the factors that you think will influence your study success at Artevelde and add them to your SWOT.
Also think about how they can determine your success.
Module 2 - 1.4 Your motivation and strengths
Do you know which sources you tap into in order to be motivated during your studies? Do you know which
elements in your environment could make you lose your motivation? Everyone is motivated by different
circumstances, situations and input. What you need to be motivated is determined by your talents. Your
strengths are at the basis of talents you could develop. The test below will help you to identify your strengths.
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,Module 2 - 2. Your study skills
The verb 'to study' is actually a kind of collective for a number of very varied
activities such as: reading texts, preparing for workshops, attending
workshops, going to lectures, writing papers, taking tests and participating
in exams. Most students discover how to deal with studying in an efficient
way during their higher ed studies. It is often a trial and error process. Some
students add years to their study period because of time management
issues or lack of study method with regard to the course books. Try to
determine for yourself in which areas you'll need remedial help from your
study coach or from others and add this to your SWOT mindmap. Take some extra personal notes (see next
pages) for discussion during the workshop in the following areas:
- Study ability
- Commitment
- Self Regulation
Module 2 - 2.1 Study ability
Information processing
Meaningful learning implies that you don't just study all pages by heart but really understand the topic and
ability to see links with other topics. Higher education will not allow you to study everything by heart because
of the fact that you will have too much information to cram every word into your head. It would also be
enormously time consuming. If you think your 'cramming' techniques are too limited, Module 7: Business
student of today will help you find some alternative ways of processing study materials.
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, Finding main ideas
This is an important skill when you have to select precisely what to study in your course books. If you can do
this well your information processing will go more smoothly too. If you have to give yourself a low grade in this
area, you will need to practise your skill of identifying and selecting the main topics in a text. This is also an
essential skill when you mark your texts for study (using colour markers e.g.) otherwise your indications will only
confuse you when the time comes to memorise the materials : you will lose yourself in details or will not like to
use the 'coloured' syllabus again.
You can practise this skill in some of your language courses when you are taught how to summarize. (For a
summary of a text, you also need to identify the main ideas first)
Test strategy
Taking successful tests or exams depends on your preparation strategies but also on your test strategies (how
you behave during the actual test).
You have to know how to work with the different test forms e.g. oral exam, multiple choice exam, written open
questions, case presentation... It is important to get information from your teacher well in advance.
Some courses work with a 'trial exam' or 'mock test', take advantage of these moments to learn more about the
way in which to answer questions (literal reproduction of definitions or not, giving your own examples or not,
limited amount of lines you can write or not....) and the scoring criteria. For difficult exam types like multiple
choice it is essential to work according to a procedure. More information on this will be provided in Module 6.
Module 2 - 2.2 Commitment
Self assurance
It is necessary to remain calm and focused when confronted with an assignment or test. If you rate yourself high
in this area, this would mean that you have faith in your own abilities. If you rate yourself low, it means that you
are often tense during your studies. There are some techniques that can help you relax and avoid brooding over
problems so that you can focus on the task instead of on feeling worried. Negative thoughts divert your
attention from the study task.
Fear of failure is a frequent phenomenon with today's students. If you think this might really cause you to freeze
up during exams or will cause you to postpone all study work until too late, you should contact your study coach.
Artevelde University of Applied Sciences provides a number of extra-curricular training sessions that could help
you in this area. Your study coach will inform you about them.
Motivation
Can you get down to specific study tasks that are not always extremely exciting : reading course materials,
preparing for lessons, finishing non compulsory tasks before deadline, memorising info even though the topic
is of less interest to you personally....
The degree in which you can force yourself to work when it's not 100% your cup of tea, measures your
motivation. If you think your motivation (internal / external) is low, try to find out why exactly.
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