Author: by Simon Mildenhall, c/o StudentEdge

How to ace your first year in tertiary education

You have just finished Year 12. You did the best you could in your exams and are enjoying the summer break without a care in the world. Before you know it, it’s February (or wait, is it March already?!) and your first semester of University is just around the corner.

What’s the best times for classes? How do I get there? What do I need for class?

All these questions race past your mind and answers seem very hard to come by with this kind of thing.

Well, we got your back. Here are 5 tips to crush uni life.

1. Registering your timetable 

Getting your classes locked in and scheduled is better done sooner rather than later. Most lectures and tutorials only have a certain amount of capacity so getting your preferred spot is best achieved by getting in early.

Now it might seem tempting to select all your classes for 8am. Rise and grind, am I right?

Halfway through the semester, you will find yourself skipping classes, arriving late, and not having your readings done.

By scheduling your classes slightly later in the day, you give yourself a chance to properly wake up, finish off your readings and arrive promptly to class. You will thank us later when you can sleep in.

2. Taking notes and organising your work

This is a simple thing to get right if you get yourself set up for success before the semester starts.

It is really easy to slide into the semester and by the time exam week rolls around, you have no notes and your assignments were all completed on Notepad documents saved on your desktop.

The trick here is to make use of a central cloud sharing software such as Google Drive or OneDrive and organise your units into folders and keep your notes all in one place.

Having a separate folder for each week and keeping notes here lets you skip back when its time to study for exams and all your content is where it’s supposed to be.

This comes into its own when you get put into groups for assignments and you need a shared folder to work on documents together, you’ll be ahead of the game by offering this easy solution.

The only thing you’ll need to worry about is if someone has a hatred for the platform you’re using.

3. Getting involved in your Guild

The Guild is a great place to utilise as there is always plenty of support and resources you can access.

From advice on your degree to finding somewhere on campus, they are always there to support your student life.

Most Universities have Guild clubs for all kinds of awesome activities that you can become involved in!

From watching your favourite movies with other students to enriching your degree with networking and workshop opportunities, there is a club for everyone. If you are feeling anxious or unsure about how to best start your degree, the Guild is the best place to have your voice heard and get some good answers specific to your university.

4. Getting to Uni on time

This is always a struggle, especially when taking public transport. The train is late, the bus is also late and your class is all the way on the other side of campus that starts in 3 minutes.

The secret to this is really quite simple and you probably could have guessed it: leave earlier.

This might mean getting to bed earlier the night before but having the time up your sleeve means you can relax, grab a beverage or snack, and process how you are going to best approach your class(es).

This even gives you a chance to check out some spots on campus while doing some preparation and might give you some talking points with your classmates!

5. Have fun!

Your first year at University is meant to be an exciting experience to meet new people, explore your career options and hobbies and start on developing the skills you need to become employable.

There are plenty of opportunities to change/pivot your degree if you don’t enjoy the units in your first year so if you find your chosen degree is for you, there are always other pathways to take.

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