Tips on how to succeed in university (1 Viewer)

[michaeljennings]

Anyone want to offer up some non generic advice?

ozko is giving some pretty good advice i wish someone had given me in first sem

 

[-may-cat-]

Anyone want to offer up some non generic advice?

If you talk to people like this at uni they will probably hate you and you will feel bad.

 

[Aysce]

Just don't go into university expecting to get the best marks on the basis of remembering everything.

Enter with the mindset that what you are taught will act as tools to solve problems (i.e. assessments and exams). University assessments and exams are not conducive to plain old memory dumps.

So basically try to understand the content and the relationship between the components?

Though I'm a little worried I lack a bit on the "Thinking outside the box" side at the moment. Hopefully it'll develop soon enough (miraculously)

 

[OzKo]

So basically try to understand the content and the relationship between the components?

Though I'm a little worried I lack a bit on the "Thinking outside the box" side at the moment. Hopefully it'll develop soon enough (miraculously)

Understand how the content works and get an idea to how the theory behind that can be applied to real-world problems.

 

[moll.]

Actually understand the courses and what the lecturers want from you. I worked my arse off for some courses and still did poorly just because I didn't get the course or understand what the lecturers wanted. Others I didn't do shit all semester because as soon as I flicked through the lecture notes I intuitively understood the topic and I did heaps well in them.

Also, for assessments, stick to and constantly refer back to the marking guideline or the the original question/topic. I don't mean that you have to keep quoting it, but if you keep it in mind and lay your assignment out so that it's easy for the marker to understand what section of the assignment falls under what marking category then you will make their job easier and you will do better. I've seriously gotten distinctions for assignments I though I would fail because I just did not understand what the lecturer wanted, yet I've walked away with those marks because I followed the marking criteria, even with my piss-poor answers.

 

[twenty12]

Whatever you do, do not leave your preparation of study notes till late. Try to attend every lecture, because most likely you won't be bothered catching up (well in my case).

 

[Chazure]

try keep the initial excitement and buzz you will feel in the initial weeks of uni throughout the whole semester.

don't forget that you are now long past compulsory schooling and you have chosen to do this.

hopefully you have chosen something your passionate in, but don't hold back on trying new things that seem interesting.

get involved with societies, talk to people and actually go to class.

good luck!

 

[Survivor39]

Great advice from everybody already. It's been suggested to me that for every hour of lecture/tutorial/lab, you should study 1 h at home. So 24 units of credit per semester = 24 h of uni per week (for science and engineering) = 24 h of studying per week at home (time spent on doing assigments doesn't count). Obviously you don't have to follow this and it's a rough guide. So many of you have already mentioned you should study consistently throughout the semester - this is so true.

I really look at uni study as having two components:
1) the assignments and 2) the final exams. The weighing of these two components are generally 50-50 or close to that, so you need to do well in both to do well overall (e.g. HD).

- Assignments - Always take assignments very seriously! If you do well in them you will feel less pressure in the final exam!

- Final exams - The more you study at the beginning of the semester the less you have to study near the exam! To do well in this part you need to be consistent! Remember you will generally have more assignments due (annoyingly) toward the end of the semester (so less time for studying final exams). This means you should start doing assignments early. I remember having 7 assignments due in Week 13 and I think it's physically/emotionally near impossible to finish if you decide to start in week 12!

 

[LolaBell]

Just don't go into university expecting to get the best marks on the basis of remembering everything.

Enter with the mindset that what you are taught will act as tools to solve problems (i.e. assessments and exams). University assessments and exams are not conducive to plain old memory dumps.

How do you learn stuff this way?