I have spent pretty much my whole life so far in education. I completed school and attended college for 4 years doing various courses.
In 2014, I signed up to a university course and I am now half way through so I thought I would share my study tips.
NOTES
Take lots of notes.
Your future self will seriously thank you later!
You can note take in
lots of different formats. Choose a style that suits you best. You can mind map, draw pictures, create
your own shorthand code etc. Last year one of my lectures gave us the idea of using
our phones/tablets to take pictures of notes from the boards or book covers we
might want to refer to later. Following on from this, our class created a
Facebook group page where we could all share pictures & notes. It's a great
way of feeling supported and quickly getting help when you're stuck at home,
ready to give up.
DEADLINES
As soon as you know your deadline, write it down. This is where I
use my diary & sticky labels. You can then work out how many weeks you have to complete
the task and use your time wisely – easier said than done, I know!
My first
day at uni was very overwhelming. We were handed 3 different project briefs, a
course handbook which was about 200 loose pages thick and
lots of other pieces of information. By putting this all into a folder, with
dividers, it helped to prevent me loosing pages and I knew where everything
was. This takes away a little bit of stress for me personally.
When you
eventually begin writing assignments or creating projects, it is vital to save
your work in numerous places. I will save my work to my laptop, a memory stick
and to my One Drive/Cloud storage.
Create a
routine and stick to it – again easier said than done, I know. Use your time
wisely but sensibly. Sometimes spending the whole day working can lead to you
becoming unmotivated so try to do a couple of hours work daily then treat
yourself to some time out watching Netflix or hanging out with friends. For me,
it always feels better to know I've done some work rather than putting it all
off to cram in one day, last minute. Little and often is so much more
beneficial.
Once I got my
first assignment back, I read the feedback and took the criticism really hard.
I was really disappointed with myself when really I didn't need to be. It was
my first assignment, my first time writing at degree/university level and I'd
passed! I just didn't enjoy the examiners picking faults in me. After that I
ignored all feedback and just looked to see what grade I achieved. Going into
my second year I am definitely going to start reading my feedback because it
can be so helpful for improving my next assignments. It might be hard at first
but try to see the positive in the criticism and use it to your advantage.
HYDRATE
More often
than not, I find myself switching off during lectures and trying my hardest to
stay awake. This is why I always have my water bottle with me in class. I love
my BRITA filter water bottle as it means I can fill it up from anywhere but
still drink fresh water.
I was absolutely dreading
returning to uni but this year as I know what to expect, I'm going to give it my
all. It will (probably) be my last year in education too. I'm also hoping, if I
stick to these tips, I’ll still get the time to blog alongside studying!
I hope these tips have
been helpful! I'd love to hear any of your tips in the comments below!
Emma
-x-
It is very helpful tips to write my essay online with the help of pro writers. Thanks a lot for sharing this advices!
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