19 Mar 2019

You’ve put in the hard yards to trudge on through your high school exams, got the killer ATAR you were aiming for and now you’re sat lookin’ pretty in your dream degree. 

But things start to change when you go to uni. You’re pushed into a new learning environment and it can be pretty tricky to get a grasp of what is going on now that you're out of high school. Take some advice from a fourth year student though, this is a time to work smarter, not harder. 

Here are some tips and tricks to make sure the work you are doing pays off when you’re at uni.

1. Do your notes straight after lectures/tutorials

Ideally, you'll actually be making notes during your lecture but sometimes slides are skipped over so quickly that you don't even have a chance to start writing a sentence, let alone get all the actual information. Your next best bet is to do it straight after the lecture when the key points are still fresh but you don't have the pressure of a time limit. Going through the slides will jog your memory and come exam time, the notes are going to make a lot more sense than copying the lecturer word for word anyway.

2. Pay attention to points of discussion in your tutorials

90% of the time, the questions your tutors hint at in your classes will be in your exams. They might be reworked but the concept will be the same and by actually paying attention (instead of napping) and noting the areas your tutors didn't seem to shut up about, you can make strategic notes that'll guide your last minute cramming session and save yourself precious hours when it comes to trying to re-learn all the content the night before the exam.

3. Take advantage of student support programs

If you're already on campus for half a day, you might as well make the msot of your time there and commit to going to a student support program rather than trying to do the hard slog of study when you get home. There's a tonne of support programs out there, like peer tutoring and study groups for pretty much every subject. These are usually headed by students who scored top marks in their subject, so you know you're in good hands and it's a lot easier to force yourself to study when you're in a group. 

Basically, it's free tutoring so take full advantage of it when you can.

4. Create a study schedule

You can get by the first couple weeks without a study schedule and just cruising through your classes. But, as the end of semester creeps up and your exams start to look more and more real, you'll wish you'd taken a bit of time to get your life together.

Every Monday (or whatever day works for you), sit down and look at what you have to do; all the readings, assignments and exams you have upcoming. Delegate tasks to each day and commit to them. Don't just give yourself a massive list at the start of the week and no structure to get through it; you won't get it done. 

5. Suss out study guides and templates

University websites have a tonne of resources that help you study properly for the subject you’re doing. It can be tricky to actually find them plus there's usually one for each subject or faculty which means you'll have a tonne of docs to read but it's worth it. It's basically the holy grail when it comes to finding out how your exam will be structured, what kind of referencing style you need and how to get extra help if you're flunking a class.

Going through ten (or more) weeks of uni, only to get to the end and realise you've completely bombed a class is pretty damn disappointing. Not only does it mean you're about to rack up an extra bit of HECS debt and more time on your degree but you'll also have to live with the thought that the past semester spent going to the lecturers and tutorials hasn't paid off. 

It's okay to be a bit cut up about it. But then you need to take a deep breath, re-enrol in the class for next semester and have a good look at where you went wrong. Follow these tips, check out our study guide and do some of the damn readings. Next time you'll come out on top.