SIWES Logbook Mistakes That Cost You Marks (And How to Fix Them in 2026)

By Bill Achusim · Apr 7, 2026

Every year, Nigerian students lose serious marks on SIWES — not because they didn't work hard at their IT placement, but because their logbook was poorly written. The work is real. The documentation is sloppy. Here are the mistakes we see again and again, and exactly how to fix each one.

Why the logbook matters more than students think

Three different people use your SIWES logbook:

1. Your industry-based supervisor — to confirm what you actually did.
2. Your institution-based supervisor — who often won't visit and will judge you mostly through the book.
3. The ITF assessor — for the National Industrial Skills Development Programme grading.

If those three can't read your logbook and immediately understand what you did each week, you lose marks. Sometimes a lot of marks.

Mistake 1: Writing entries the night before supervision

The classic. Two months of empty pages, then a frantic Sunday filling in invented "tasks." It's obvious. Supervisors notice when:

• The handwriting is identical on every entry
• The pen is identical for 12 weeks straight
• The dates fall on weekends and public holidays
• The tasks have no logical progression

Fix: Write entries the same day or the next morning. Treat the logbook as part of the workday, not a final exam.

Mistake 2: Vague, recycled task descriptions

"Worked on company website." "Assisted senior developer." "Did data entry." These tell the assessor nothing. They could describe any student in any company.

Fix: Use the what / how / outcome format for every entry:

• What: "Built a login page for the customer portal."
• How: "Used React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Connected it to the existing Node.js API."
• Outcome: "Page deployed to staging. Passed code review with one minor change."

Three lines. Specific. Verifiable. Way more marks.

Mistake 3: No technical depth

You're doing real engineering work but the logbook reads like an essay. Assessors are technical. They want to see tools, versions, problems, and decisions.

Fix: Mention specific tools (e.g. React 18, PostgreSQL, Power BI, Wireshark, Burp Suite). Mention real problems you ran into and how you solved them. A logbook that includes "I got a CORS error and fixed it by configuring the API headers" is worth ten that say "I learned about web development."

Mistake 4: Skipping diagrams and screenshots

Walls of text bore everyone, including ITF assessors. A simple architecture sketch, a screenshot of your dashboard, or a flowchart instantly proves you understood the work.

Fix: Include at least one diagram, screenshot, or annotated photo per week. Keep them in a dedicated section if your logbook format doesn't allow images inline.

Mistake 5: Inconsistent dates

Entries dated weekends. Entries dated public holidays. Entries dated after your supervisor signed off. This single mistake has cost more SIWES students marks than any other.

Fix: Before submission, scan every date. Five working days a week. Skip public holidays unless you genuinely worked. Match your dates to the company's actual working calendar.

Mistake 6: Getting the supervisor sign-off wrong

Common errors:

• Signature in pencil
• No company stamp
• One signature for the entire 24 weeks
• Different signatures for the same supervisor on different pages

Fix: Get a signature and a company stamp weekly, not at the end. If your supervisor is too busy, set a recurring 10-minute Friday meeting just for sign-off.

Mistake 7: Treating the logbook as separate from your CV

You finish SIWES, you submit the book, you forget about it. Then four months later you're in a job interview struggling to remember what you did.

Fix: As you write each week, copy the strongest 3–5 bullets into a running "SIWES experience" document. By the end of placement, you have ready-made CV bullets, LinkedIn content, and interview stories — all backed by a signed, stamped logbook.

Mistake 8: Ignoring the report

The logbook is not the SIWES report. You still need a separate technical report at the end. Many students copy logbook entries straight into the report. Assessors notice.

Fix: Write the report as a single narrative with chapters: introduction to the company, technologies used, specific projects, what you learned, recommendations. Use the logbook as your evidence base, not your draft.

A weekly logbook template that works

For every working day:

• Date (real, weekday, no public holiday)
• Task / project name
• What I did (1–2 lines)
• Tools and technologies used
• Challenges and how I solved them
• What I learned

For every week:

• 1 paragraph weekly summary
• 1 diagram, screenshot, or annotated photo
• Supervisor signature and company stamp

Stick to this and you cover everything ITF and your school actually grade on.

Where Tech Faculty NG fits

We support SIWES students every year — placement, training, and mentorship — across our partner network. Over 5,000+ students and graduates have gone through our programs. Our students are coached on logbook quality from week one, not week 23.

The bottom line

The SIWES logbook is a documentation skill, not a writing skill. Treat it as part of the work, write entries the same day, be specific, get weekly sign-offs, and use it as the foundation for your CV. The students who do this consistently score well — and walk out of SIWES with real evidence of real work.

Doing SIWES this year? Learn about our SIWES placement and Learn & Pay tracks at /siwes — real placements, real mentorship, real outcomes.