Dealing with unforeseen difficulties eats into time and resources, such as the time it takes to change direction or find a solution, the loss of the goodwill of participants that you might have lined up for surveys, case studies or experiments, and the cost of hiring venues, equipment, sources or creating materials. For any project, it is wise to do a risk assessment to work out, realistically, what risks there are of things going wrong and how to minimise these. Do this early on and update it as you go along.

Key risks to consider
1	Not meeting the criteria, so the work can’t achieve a pass or the marks you want
2	Not meeting the deadline: often work is capped at the minimum pass mark if late, or not
accepted at all
3	Wrong level of challenge: the assignment chosen was too advanced or too basic for the level
of study
4	Lack of academic integrity: the work is not considered to be all your own
5	Not thinking through the challenge: setbacks come as a greater shock and are harder to manage.
Mitigating against the risks
•	Identify the risks likely to apply to you: Read through the following reasons for why these risks arise (pages 49–51). Decide	which are likely to be relevant to you.
•	Identify how you will manage those risks: Then consider how you will manage the risks that
you identify.
Risk 1: Not meeting the criteria

Likely to be true of me?
■	Not reading the criteria at all
■	Not really understanding the criteria but
not asking for clarification right at the start
■	Deciding the project is so good or
interesting that it won’t really matter if the criteria aren’t met
■	Not using the criteria in a rigorous way
■	Not planning sufficiently how to meet the
criteria
■	Lacking underlying skills so I can’t deliver
well against the criteria
■	Not checking the criteria at regular
intervals to make sure the assignment is
on target to meet them.

I’ll manage this potential risk by ...
■	Ensuring I understand the brief and the criteria. See pages 79–82.
■	Putting time aside early on, to think
through exactly what is meant by the brief, clarifying any uncertain areas with my tutor/supervisor
■	Planning specific times into my diary for
checking that I am sticking to the brief and marking criteria
■	Checking whether there are underlying
skills that I need to develop (see pages 20–1) and putting time aside
to do so.