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University TIPS

Hey guys! So I'm going into the second year of university and I figured that I'll give you guys a few tips if you're starting university soon.

I know that not everyone learns/studies the same way but these are the things that I was the most useful for my learning. So feel free to use my techniques too and if they don't work, you'll soon find something that's helpful for yourself. Also, don't feel overwhelmed with univeristy, it's not that much different from high school but university does allow you to have more freedom, as opposed to being at school for the whole day, five days a week.

LECTURES:

Sit in the first few rows. This is genuinely so helpful because no one ever talks or go on their phones when they're sitting so close to the lecturer. So every time you sit near the front, you're pretty much guaranteed to not have any distractions. (Even if you sit with distracting friends, they'll talk way less if you get them to sit near the front with you.) Yes, you might originally think that people will say/think, "wow, what a nerd," but no, no one ever thinks that. And if it helps your learning, who cares what other people think?
Hand write your notes. When writing notes, hand write them. My lecturers told us that hand writing the notes helps you remember and think about them more, opposed to writing them down on a laptop/tablet because you're just busy copying the notes and not actually thinking about it and reading it. (Because you tend to just scan over the notes and write everything word for word when you type it up, whereas if you hand write it, you read it and think about it so you can compress it to the main idea.)
Try avoid sitting near students with laptops. I haven't tried to purposely avoid students that use laptops because I never think about it until it's too late. It's just so distracting since the majority of people type hard and fast so all you can hear is the typing. But not only that, some people (not saying they all do this) go on random websites and read articles or watch videos or just you know, doing anything that's not related to the course, it catches your eye and gets distracting when you're trying to look at the course slides on the projectors but you see pictures/videos on the tiny laptop screen.
Don't go on your phone. Not only is this distracting other people, it distracts yourself too. Whenever you use your phone, of course your concentration is going to go to your phone and not the lecturer. Whenever I used my phone, I realize that I missed like two minutes of what the lecturer said. And who knows, you might have missed out on some important information.

STUDYING:

Answer/understand the learning objectives from each lecture/topic. I'm not sure if every course does this, but in the beginning of every lecture, they have a slide showing the learning objectives/intentions (whatever they call it) where it's bullet points of what they want you to take away from the lecture. The majority (if not all) of the exam questions will be based on these learning objectives so you mainly just need to know the learning objectives and you should have a good enough understanding for the exams.
Make flash cards. This is a good way to remember/familiarize yourself with the new terms that you learn and need to know. I used Quizlet to make my flash cards so I could do them on the computer or iPad which was super helpful, you just keep adding to it whenever there are more terms to learn.

EXAMS:

Bring extra stationary. Bring extra pens, pencils, an eraser and highlighter. Even if you don't think you need a pencil and eraser, you should bring it just incase and also, bring a couple of pens because it would suck if the ones that you brought run out of ink. Better safe than sorry.
Pick your seat wisely. It's up to you where you sit. It depends on whether you think you'll be sitting the exam for the entire time or whether you'll be done and leave early. If you think that you will be staying for the entire time, Sit at far sides by the walls so other students won't distract you.

SOCIAL/CLUBS:

Join clubs that you're actually passionate about. Don't join clubs that you probably won't participate in because what's the point in paying for the club membership if you don't go to their events. And keep in mind that most of the events are on the weekend so also make sure that your schedule would work. I joined two clubs (both cost around $10) but I didn't go to their events or used the member card to get discounts. Like ever. So it was a waste of my $20. This year, I'll be joining clubs that are free membership or genuinely interesting.

Overall, just have fun with uni and enjoy being a young adult.

Good luck with your studies and comment below saying what degree you're studying. :) And share your uni tips too!

Love

Elaine