Tips to Survive University
If you’re new to the university, you are probably wondering what you have to do, to survive. I am making it sound more dramatic than it should be, but let it add to the effect. When I first joined UCSI, I had a senior who was in her last semester of Mechanical Engineering as well. She bestowed on me the knowledge that had been given to her by her seniors. Of course, now I am taking that responsibility that was given to me by no one, to share the advice that was shared with me. It actually did help me navigate my way through university easier than other people would have. So I want to help you, as this is my last semester, and hopefully, you can have an easier time as well.
The first thing she said was, “Make sure you go to all your classes.” This can be interpreted in two ways. The first is to physically attend all your classes for your course. This should be the norm, as we all know that UCSI has an 80% attendance rule. If not, you will be barred from taking your final exam. So, it should be ingrained in your brain. The next thing is to mentally attend your classes. Here, it means paying attention and listening to your lecturer. When the lecturer is teaching, pay attention and nod your head as a kind of feedback to your lecturer. Give feedback in class, which makes lectures keep a special eye out for you during exams, assignments, or anything along that line. Trust me, it works. My group of friends were notorious for sitting in front and giving feedback to lecturers while they were teaching, and they ended up liking us a lot. Some lecturers are even close friends with us after that, which shows that listening does help! That’s the main tip that was given to me, and I humbly bestow it upon you.
Besides, study smart, not hard. You can study for hours and hours, but I know people who study the night before their exam and still do better than those that study for hours a day. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. Remember the first tip? When you listen in class, you subconsciously keep it in your head. That’s why it’s important to attend class and pay attention. This tip really helped me, as I’m not one to study very hard (because I’m lazy). I have heard from a friend that the best time allocation when studying is to take a 30 minute break for every hour of studying. That means if you end up studying for 2 hours, make sure that you have at least an hour of break time. This helps your brain reset and allows you to give full attention to the next few hours of studying you do.
Next, make sure you organize your time efficiently. Everyone needs a little time to blow off some steam. But it needs to be done in moderation and balance. You need to know how to allocate your time wisely and how to balance between playtime and studying time, which is why time organization is very important. To learn more about it, you could attend some events in the SEP Facebook Group that talk about time management. I have attended a few and they helped me a lot as they gave some really good time management tips! As for myself, I try to schedule all my studying time in the mornings or afternoons. This is because my brain works best when the sun is up. I like to think of it as how Superman recharges his powers from the sun. Most of my friends are night birds; they work more effectively at night. I guess the moon gives them that drive that they need.
So those are the tips that were given to me by my senior. It certainly helped me. Hopefully, it will help you too! I have used this for my whole 5 years of university, and so far it’s keeping me on track to achieve first class honors! I would never have expected it to lead to that, but I am super grateful that it has. Make sure you implement these tips to your schedule and I’m sure you will reap its benefits as well as I have.