How to get the most out of your University/ College experience.

If you were as "lucky" as I am, you've had no obligations over the summer period. I put lucky in inverted comma's simply because I would have loved to be working, or travelling, or anything to keep myself occupied in between social outings. Anyway, I have had a carefree summer and its becoming that time of year again where I have to prepare myself for university, essays, seminars and all of that fun stuff.

This post is aimed at freshers, refreshers, anyone who is studying at University when September comes. I remember, before I started Uni I read alot of YouGo promoted websites to prepare myself but they never gave the full story so I wanted to write my tips on how to have the best University experience.

Play to your strengths

This is the main thing most prep sites won't encourage. You'll always be told to make the most effort but they don't play to the fact that people learn in different ways. By University, i'm sure you'll know your preferred learning style.

By now you have confirmation of your place at university, or if you are going back, your module choices are pretty much all ready to go. Try to make sure you recognize your academic strengths, if you retain knowledge well from power points, use them, if it's books, read a lot. For example, I learn well from monitored learning, so i'll use flashcards to check i'm getting the right dates and facts where I need them. 

It's always a priority of mine to be organised and never fall behind, but it's become more of a big deal this for this year because not only does my average for this year count towards my degree (In the UK, your first year doesn't go toward your degree outcome, you just have to pass. I'd like to point out I did average well this past year, I just want to make sure I keep it up this year) I also have decided to take up an extra class, so I need to make sure I'm on top of everything.

You'll avoid stress by being one step ahead, and you do that by being organised!

When you hit your second year you get more freedom in what you study, so this year I have decided to trade in modules with exams to mostly essays and book reports. It's good to remember to stick to what you know - i'm good at essays so I opt for them, you may breeze exams, try and get mostly exams if that's the case.

Don't neglect your social life for the sake of a first.

This is by no means me saying your social life is more important than your studies, I just think letting off steam prevents unnecessary stress, plus, University may well be your last opportunity to act like a socialite and get away with it! University gives you freedom to do what you want, drink as much as you want and make memories that, lets be honest, can be a little cringey. Have fun, but make sure you don't let your social life gain prominence over your studies either.

To be honest, if you keep yourself ahead of the game and organised there shouldn't be any problem with you spending a lot of time hanging out with mates.

Invest in a good organiser.

I have recently bought personal organiser and now I wouldn't be without it. 

This is the one I use, it cost me around £20 but I know you can get it for about £4.99 online here.

You retain information better when writing it down rather than typing it into a phone or just trying to remember it off the top of your head. And no, that isn't just something people say, it really is true. You can read up on that more here. You can pick up an academic organiser relatively cheaply, if you want to spend more money i'd recommend buying a filofax, it's better quality than most and you can get refils quick inexpensively, it's a worthwhile investment! Like I said, you can get academic organisers for cheap, this one costs about £2.99 from Ryman.

And the final one...

Missing a few lectures isn't the end of the world.

That's what Blackboard is for.

I hope this helps! And I hope you're year goes well!

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Seize the Beautiful xo