15 Tips For Academic Success
Going to a school like the University of Edinburgh can be quite intimidating. It’s becoming real and you might be starting to worry about whether you’ll be able to do well academically. Don’t worry: if you made it so far, it means you are talented and amazing and have all the attributes you need to thrive here. Nonetheless, it might take some time to adjust to university-level education. To help you with the transition, I gathered some tips on how to succeed.
1. Meet With Your Personal Tutor
The first few weeks at university are unique experience: there is so much to see, so many people to meet and so much partying to do. It’s all very hectic and confusing, and dealing with all the academic stuff is the last thing on everyone’s mind.
But don’t underestimate the importance of meeting your academic advisor. They can help you with stuff like course selection, degree change, fees payments and a lot more.
No one likes mornings. Not even your lecturer, trust me.
But lectures are there for a reason. They familiarise you with the topics so even if you fall behind with readings and assignments, you will know where to start.
Basically, get a planner. As soon as the course handbooks are out, take note of the key dates for each course. Once you know what needs to be done and by when, keeping up with work will be a piece of cake.
4. Planned Procrastination
When you’re making a study plan, be realistic: chances are you will not be able to to be actively focused for 14 hours a day, every day. Of course, it depends on the person: some of you work better with scheduled breaks, while I rely on “planned procrastination”.
I know that I regularly end up wasting time on my phone, but my concentration span varies a lot from one day to the next so I can’t really plan my breaks. So, when I make my study plan for the weekend, I include a couple extra hours that I can devote to some healthy procrastination.
First year is busy: you’re meeting new people, trying to figure your way around uni, discovering the city, partying. It’s easy to fall behind on readings.
That’s all part of the “uni experience”, but don’t forget that you are studying a Social Science, and that means you will be expected to read extensively. There is just not enough time to do that the night before an essay or the week before finals. Try to keep up, it’s worth it.
6. Understand The Marking Criteria
One of the scariest things at uni is thinking you know how to do something and then discovering that it not what they are looking for at university. Entering higher education means having to up your game to new standards, but there is no need to panic: first year is all about gaining confidence in this new learning environment.
The first step towards doing well in an assignment is to really understand what the markers are looking for. Your courses will provide a guide to the criteria they use: dedicate some time to understand what they mean and how that would look in terms of an essay, a policy brief or other forms of assessment.
7. Know your Strengths and Weaknesses
For instance, in my first semester at uni I discovered I am bad at exams. Like, really terrible. It takes me three time the level of effort to write a decent exam than to write a decent essay.
First year is meant for you to learn what kind of a learner you are, and improving from there. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever get to the point in which I enjoy writing an exam the same way I enjoy writing an essay. However, knowing my weaknesses means I can focus my energies and time to improve them.
8. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask Questions
If you are struggling with a topic or if you are unclear about the assignments, don’t hesitate to ask your tutors for help. It is in everyone’s interest for you to succeed and it’s their job to help you finding the resources you need to move forward.
9. Get To Know Your Lecturers And Tutors
Lecturers are often perceived as some sorts of mystic and at times scary creatures. But they are actually super approachable and willing to meet up with their students.
Whether you are particularly interested in a certain topic or you need clarification on a lecture, make use of lecturers office hours. When will you, once you leave university, have the chance to chat with great academics that are often leading experts in their field? Exactly.
As I mentioned above, is in the interest of the university for you to thrive here. Because of that, numerous forms of academic support are in place to help you through the rough patches. Among these, the Personal Tutor system, the Disability Office, Proofreading service for non-native English speakers and various forms of Peer support and Peer assisted learning.
Even if you don’t like to think about your mistakes, feedback on you previous work is one of the most effective way to improve in future.
When you get feedback on a piece of work, don’t just check the grade but go through the comments and take note of any pattern you might identify.
Showing respect towards the work academics put in the lectures and tutorials is a great way of contributing to a positive and happy academic community. And also don’t forget that those people are the ones who will mark your papers. It’s in your interest to keep them happy.
13. Keep A Healthy Lifestyle
Sleep and eat well, and you are much more likely to survive the rounds of flu that takes over uni when midterms or finals come around. You are also much more likely to perform better. I myself have a tendency to procrastinate too much and then go for two weeks with no sleep and too many caffeinated drinks. And in my experience, that is never a good idea.
Doing a thousand readings and being sleep deprived will never, ever be better than doing 10 readings well, sleeping enough, and get to the exams well rested.
When academic deadlines are approaching you might end up not leaving your rooms for weeks, alternating between studying and procrastinating (while worrying about the fact that you are not studying).
Don’t forget that it’s ok to have fun once in a while. Taking your mind off work for a few hours can actually result in increased productivity.
15. Keep Things In Perspective
In the end, Freshers year is all about finding your balance. Sure, we all want to do well and be successful. But five years from now, we will not remember the one assignment we got a 71% on or that one class we just could not seem to understand. We will remember the people we met, the things we learnt and the opportunities we took.
So don’t obsess too much about the grades and remember what bought you here in the first place:
