Student Tips for Success at University from a Counsellor - part 2
So just over a fortnight ago I began a 'back to school' season of sorts with a blog post with tips for students who are adjusting to living away from home for the first time, which can be found here. Really enjoyed carrying this on in a multimedia way using instagram to show those tips and post some new ones I'm going to write about here. It's developed from the coping with homesickness and anxiety from the original post and these tips today are going to be looking at student tips for success in a more academic sense.
5: “First year doesn’t count”; it’s up to you to make it count.
There is some truth, depending on your course and university. that the grades you achieve during your first year don’t count towards your final degree. However, it’s worth checking out the impact they can have. For example, at my university individuals who had performed well were more likely to get into oversubscribed modules when it came to course choices.
Even if there is zero impact on your final grade, it means the pressure is off and you can breathe and you can use this opportunity to develop good study habits now that you can use when it does matter.
6: Learn how to learn
There is no hiding that there is a lot more freedom to being at university compared to school or college. It’s easy to rehash the watch words of ‘it’s not going to be drip fed to you anymore’. But it is now up to you to think how you will need to apply yourself to make a successful student. There is an expectation that, for every hour spent in lectures and seminars, you will be spending another hour or even two in self directed learning.
Are you the lucky person for whom simply (re)reading things will suffice? Are you someone who benefits from writing things down, in which case writing up a ‘neat copy’ of lecture notes or summaries of them and readings might be useful? Also think about how you approach readings to get the benefit of them. It’s easy to let reading become merely a tick box exercise that you do to say its done. Before you start reading look at the title and headings of the piece, or the article abstract, and think about what you want to find out or learn. Write some questions yourself based on the headings and then read through the piece. Return to your questions and see if you could now answer them.
7: Develop good habits outside of studying
Yes you’re setting the schedule now and embracing that freedom is great to get a good experience from your university years, but making sure you’re looking after yourself means you’ll benefit from them so much more. It might not be the stereotypical student experience, but getting a good amount of sleep, eating well, and some decent exercise means you’re much more likely to perform well in your ability to study. Making a success at university is about looking after yourself to make sure your are in the best place to be successful. Learn a few good recipes and learn how to cook them. Get back from the SU bar at a good time for a full nights rest. If you’re so inclined and you have access to a gym on site try a class or two. Yes it’s all the boring advice you’ve left at home, but sadly it works.
This ends my series of 'tips for student success', but I think the most important advice is simply - enjoy it. It's hard work being there, but making your time enjoyable alongside the hard work makes both the academic and social sides of university worthwhile.
