5 Tips to Achieving Success in Your Courses
This is a topic I am super passionate about because I know it can be tough to get used to university as it is very different from high school and I want to share with you the things that helped me to make the transition easier. If you have already been in university for a while, you might also find these tips helpful so let's get started:
Tip #1: Stay on top of your coursework!
Now a lot of people will just say "stay on top of your coursework" but what does that really mean in university? It can mean doing homework that was assigned by your professor before the next class, but what if you're not assigned homework? In university, you're expected to be more independent than you were in high school and there isn't always homework (especially in upper year courses).
What I found helped me a lot was reviewing my class notes after each class. If you have time right after the class, you could review the notes then, but since you might not always have time right then, it's important to try to make time for that later. If you only have 15 minutes to review, you could skim through the notes to ensure you understand everything and identify any parts of the notes you need to spend a little more time on to have a better understanding of the topic.
If the content is something you've never been exposed to before, or something challenging, then I've found that completely reviewing the class notes from that day later that day really helps to ensure a complete understanding of what was taught. This could take an hour or even longer if you weren't really sure what went on in class (and that's ok as long as you make time later that day to go over it). This “review” time is also a great time to organize your notes and listen to parts of the audio recording for that class to fill in any details you may have missed while in class.
Tip #2: Try your best not to procrastinate!
Now this one can be tricky at times but if you follow tip #1 then it automatically gets you into a great routine where you are regularly doing coursework and reviewing. This way, when an exam is coming up, you already have some understanding of the content and it becomes a lot easier to study (compared to cramming in a few days and stressing yourself out like crazy because you have no idea what is going on!). Procrastinating is not fun and makes everything a lot more stressful than it needs to be! Try your best to keep up with your reviewing and homework but don't be upset with yourself if you couldn't finish all of your tasks in one day. You can always move the uncompleted tasks to the next day and work on them then.
It is also important to keep in mind that the tasks that stress us out are the ones we are more likely to put off for a later date! Recognize when you find yourself doing that and try to make yourself tackle these big and stressful tasks right away. This will reduce your stress in the long-run!
Tip #3: Do your work in 25 minute intervals!
If we take one student who just sits in the same spot for 12 hours and tries to study that whole time vs another student who studies in 25 minute intervals with short breaks in between, research has found that the student that studies in intervals will be able to retain more of the information and get more work done! You are most productive for 25 minutes at a time and if you were to keep trying to work on something challenging, your brain would start performing less and less and you might even start to feel restless in your chair.
To get used to this 25 minute interval studying/reviewing you can set a timer and work for those 25 minutes, then take a short break. It's best to get up and walk around. Maybe you go talk to your roommate or you make a meal for yourself and eat it :). When you come back, you'll be refreshed and ready to work again!
The cool thing about this method is that over time, as you get better at it, you'll start to
notice that you can focus for longer periods of time! So maybe that 25 minutes turns into 30 minutes and then turns into 35 minutes, etc.
Tip #4: Keep your work space your WORK space!
This one can be tricky if you pretty much stay in one room during the day but you can still designate one space to be your work space. For example, if you are working in your bedroom, the desk can be your workspace. Ideally, it is best to work at your desk and take breaks somewhere else. This way, your brain will start to associate your desk with work and will be ready to work when you want to work.
If you are living somewhere with more space than a bedroom, you could make an office room your workspace for example, and leave your bedroom as the space for taking breaks and sleeping.
Tip #5: Do something besides work at least twice a week!
Finding time for some physical activity in your week is so important and has many benefits for both your physical health and mental health. It's also a great stress reliever because we all know university can sometimes be stressful! I find that it works best if you stick to a certain day and time for your activities. That way they become habits and you get used to going to them.
Making time for friends and relaxing is also important because you need to refresh sometimes and you deserve it! I would usually plan something fun for Friday or Saturday and that way I had something to look forward to in the week. Then, when the weekend came, I felt like I had worked hard and deserved a break!
It is also a good idea to reward yourself in some way each day after you have done the work you needed to do. For example, when your work is done, that's a great time to watch your favourite show on Netflix, play video games, or chat with your friends!
To read more on study tips, please see these resources:
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