MA1PPP: Preparing for Placements Part 1

Module code: MA1PPP

Module provider: Mathematics and Statistics; School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences

Credits: 0

Level: 4

When you’ll be taught: Full year

Module convenor: Mrs Claire Newbold , email: c.newbold@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Peter Chamberlain, email: p.g.chamberlain@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 1: Dr Peter Inness, email: p.m.inness@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 2: Dr Xiaomin Chen, email: xiaomin.chen@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: No placement specified

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 11 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This non-credit bearing module aims to give you a head start by laying the foundations for successfully building your employability skills through a number of extra-curricular initiatives available to you as a first-year student. These skills will enhance your opportunity to secure a placement year and / or summer placement in the future. This module will familiarise you with the expectations and processes for a placement. It will equip you with a practical toolkit to prompt reflection on your skills and personal placement goals and begin researching and evaluating opportunities that align with these goals, ensuring you are ‘placement application ready’ in your second year. By exploring career options at this stage, with support from the Careers Consultant, aims to encourage career curiosity and an awareness of the options facing students after they graduate.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Identify opportunities to build employability skills through engaging with extra-curricular activities
2. Identify the benefits, requirements and expectations of gaining a placement 
3. Reflect on skills and placement goals conducting research to identify and evaluate placement opportunities that align with these goals
4. Identify skills, knowledge and experience gaps and create a personal action plan outlining the necessary skills and steps to be ‘placement application ready’ in second year. 

Module content

Content provided will include a range of online resources, briefings, tutorials, lectures and employer events including peer support, and will also include an element of self-guided personal study time in order to prepare effectively for placement applications and recruitment at the start of year 2.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Placement support modules will mainly include briefings and interactive workshops, with the opportunity to engage with employers, group work and peer support e.g. talks from returning placement students.

Online resources will be made available to all students e.g. cover letter recording.

Study hours

At least 10 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

There is no summative assessment on this module, but students are required to submit the formative assessments listed below.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Level 3 (i.e. foundation modules for Part 0) and Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

By the end of year 1 students will create an action plan either written / podcast / vlog or blog outlining a:

1. Short reflection of their aims for their placement or any alternative work experience they intend to take e.g. consideration for the role type / sectors or companies they intend to apply to
2. A reflection on any skills, experience and knowledge gaps they may need to address / build and develop before they apply for their intended placement or alternative work experience they are intending to take
3. Outline any interventions and or support they intend to engage with over the summer vacation, in order to help prepare them further for their placement or alternative work experience they are intending to take

Reassessment

Additional costs