The self-review
Two pages about the same ordinary quarter: the self-review a manager could carry into calibration, and the honest version.
Due: 2 April 2027 · Weight: 15%
Set in the week 4 stand-up, Thursday 18 March. Due on the last day before the break.
The brief#
Write the self-review for an ordinary quarter, the way it would need to be written to survive calibration. Then tell the truth about it.
Pick a quarter of real work from anywhere: a group project, a part-time job, a club committee. It must be ordinary. A quarter in which you genuinely did something remarkable is not allowed, because that is not the case this course is about.
What to write#
Page one: the self-review. It has a header and a list, nothing else.
- The header names the rubric you are writing against, in one line: the one you brought to week 1, or this course’s marking criteria if you had none.
- The list is three to five accomplishment statements, each 60 words or fewer, each in the register of the trick sections of this course. Each statement ends with the rubric line it files under, in square brackets. Each number in a statement carries a tag: (C) if a manager could check it, (E) if it is your estimate. An untagged number is marked as an estimate you did not admit to.
It should read as though a manager could carry it into a calibration meeting and argue from it for three minutes. If it is honest too, good; that is not what page one is marked on.
Page two: the honest version. The same quarter, under 300 words, in second person, as you would tell a friend who asked what you actually did. No number you could not defend to that friend, and every number you keep still tagged. It will be shorter than page one. The marker reads the gap.
What you submit#
One PDF of exactly two pages, named SLOP3385-<uid>-self-review.pdf, in the
Assessment 1 thread of the course forum. The policies page says what counts
as submitted and how to get an extension. Draft it however you like, with
whatever you like. The mark is for what the two pages say about the same
quarter.
Marker’s checklist#
- Does the header name a rubric, and is it a real one?
- Can each of the three to five statements be filed under its bracketed line by a stranger, without asking you?
- Is every number on page one tagged, and would the (C) ones survive a phone call?
- Is page two under 300 words and in second person?
- Is page two honest about at least one thing page one dressed up?
- Is page two shorter, and could you say by how much?
The spec
The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.
- one page in corporate register and one page in plain English, about the same work
- page one names the rubric it uses and tags every accomplishment with a line of it
- every number on page one is tagged C for checkable or E for estimated
- page two is under 300 words, in second person, with no untagged number
How it is marked
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Every claim on page one maps to a named rubric line | 40% |
| Every number is tagged checkable or estimated, and the checkable ones could be checked | 30% |
| Page two is honest, in second person, and shorter | 30% |
What each grade looks like
| Grade | Marks | What the marker sees |
|---|---|---|
| HD | 80–100 | Every sentence on page one files under a named rubric line without help, every number carries a C or an E, and the C ones could be checked by a stranger. Page two is shorter, plain, and admits what page one inflated. |
| D | 70–79 | Page one maps cleanly with one or two lines a marker has to think about. Numbers are tagged and mostly plausible. Page two is honest but still borrows page one's register in places. |
| CR | 60–69 | Most claims map. Some numbers are untagged, or an estimate is stretched past what anyone would defend. Page two is shorter but reads as a summary of page one rather than the truth about it. |
| P | 50–59 | The two pages exist and describe the same quarter, but the rubric mapping is partial, the numbers are unmarked, or page two is not honest, not shorter, or not in second person. |
| N | 0–49 | A single page, a remarkable quarter instead of an ordinary one, numbers with no tag at all, or a page two that is page one with the adjectives removed. |