Study Skills

In order to succeed at university, you need to be ready. You should know:

• what we are asking you to do (and why). This is the section on 'tasks'
• the learning objectives of university study
• what the main differences are between high school and university
• how we assess your work
• the relationship between being successful at high school and being successful at university
• what transition issues other students face
• what learning style is best
• the 'right' approach to being a student
• coping strategies
• how we define a successful (or a struggling) student
• some places to get extra information
• how to get support when you need it

Good at High School, Good at University?

Were you good at high school? Well done. That is great.

Unfortunately, someone who was successful in high school may not always be successful in university (and someone who did not do so well in high school may do very well at university).

The skills that made you successful at high school are ones that helped you in the classroom and in the examination. Hard work is always a good thing, but at high school you needed to rely on a lot of memorisation and the ability to produce the 'correct' answer. You were highly directed by your teachers and effectively told:

"Learn this. This is the correct answer. Be able to reproduce this under examination conditions. Do these drills. Complete every exercise in this workbook. Here is an example of a perfect answer."

If you were willing to do all the work, learn all the model answers, and remember and reproduce everything you learnt, you were successful.

The more successful you were, the more likely you are to want to do everything the same way at university.

What you really need is to recognise that teaching and learning styles and expectations are different. Having an open mind and the willingness to adapt are valuable attributes.

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Differences between High School and University

Click on the picture or the link below

 

University of Adelaide Differences between high school and university

The main differences between university and high school are in terms of:

• responsibility 
• independence
• support 
• complexity 

Do you know what an 'ideal university student' is considered to be?

Do you know the differences between a successful student and a struggling student?

 

Fewer classes, more work

At university, you will have fewer classes than you had at high school, but you will be expected to do relatively more homework and independent study. You will need to study for more hours outside of class for every hour in class. This will include preparation for the class, assigned reading and note-taking around the subject, and regular review of your notes. In class, the tutor will assume that you have done this work and, unlike high school, will not check that you have done it. 

You need to be organized and to keep to a rigorous schedule of independent self study.

You are responsible for organising your time and your studies

Balancing Interests and Academic Work

The university promotes the value and importance of non-academic work, but it also expects you to understand that your studies must come first.

You have more opportunities to do interesting things in sports, clubs and organizations, but there may be conflicts with your academic studies; for example, some societies aim to produce a show or to organize a major activity near the end of semester one, but this is also the time when you have to finish important assignments and prepare for examinations.

Many societies and organizations have strict entrance requirements and students who want to join often spend a very long time preparing for interviews.

You will need to make decision and to prioritize. At high school, your timetable was set and established. Some students find this lack of a routine and greater responsibility to be unsettling. 

You are responsible for making decisions about what you should do and accepting responsibility if things do not work out as you expected.

New friends, different timetables

At university, your schedule and your chosen lifestyle will be different to that of other students including the people in your dorm room. There will be times when your friends have classes but you do not, and you will have classes with different students in different buildings.

Coping with other people

There will be times when the other people in your dorm room want to party and you do not.  You will need to be sensitive in your dorm room arrangements to what everyone needs to be able to succeed (there are rules about noise levels, for example). You also need to be open to meeting a lot of new people and learning how to work with them. 

You are responsible for getting on well with other people - you may need to be flexible.

 

Autonomy

Overall, you are more autonomous. You will have to make your own decisions about how to balance your time and this may not always be easy to do. For example, you may not know how much time you need for your studies or for your personal interests, and your priorities and situation may change over time so you will need to be adaptable and flexible.

 

More Independence, Less Personal Attention

You may get a lot less individual attention from your tutors than you got from your teachers at high school (though that depends, of course, on your high school experience).

Lecturers and tutors will not check that you have completed homework – it is assumed that you know to do this. Also, they will not remind you that you have to do work, or chase after you if you have not submitted work on time. In CELE, tutors sometimes do this because we realize that year one is a transition year, but after year one, you will need to be even more independent. 

Being Pro-Active

If you need extra assistance, lecturers expect you to initiate contact. After year one, all tutors have office hours like your content tutors when students can make an appointment to talk to the tutor about academic issues.

In year one, you can book a one-to-one advising session with a CAS advisor, and you can ask questions to your EAP tutor in class, or by email. If you miss a class, however, you should get notes from classmates rather than ask the tutor to explain the content to you individually. This is an example of responsibility, but it is also being 'proactive' - taking action to prevent a possible problem (rather than reacting to a problem that has developed). 

Realistic Feedback Expectations

Many students expect individual feedback for all work they submit. However, there is a limit to how much feedback a tutor can give, and we expect you to compare your work with examples that are given or discussed in class, and to make your own decisions about how much your work needs to improve or could be better.

There will be individual feedback, but not on everything. 

Asking questions

In seminars, asking intelligent questions is welcome. It is also reasonable to indicate when you do not understand something - in fact, most tutors will encourage and expect this – but you will look foolish if you do not understand something because you did not do the correct preparation for the class.

Some tutors will encourage you to ask them to 'go over that again' or to 'explain that once more' - but there is a limit. At some point the tutor may reply with, "Well, I have explained that already, several times already" and it would waste class time to go over something repeatedly. You might have to accept this and do some additional independent study.  

 

Complexity

Apart from the complexity that is involved in looking after yourself, getting on with other people, making informed decisions and organising your time, the academic tasks that you will be expected to do should become more complex.

Tutors create learning objectives that match different levels of the 'knowledge hierarchy which is explained below.

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The perfect university student needs to be

• self-directed,
• autonomous,
• independent, and
• intentional.

To find out what to do, to do it without being told, to do it independently, and do it with a specific purpose in mind, even if that purpose is simply intellectual curiosity.

The perfect university student should recognize that he or she is responsible for their development and that they will need to

• adopt proactive study habits and skills and time-management,
• avoid procrastination and negative perfectionism, and
• recognize that no learning can take place without mistakes.

Ideal students should develop analytical, evaluative, descriptive, problem-solving, critical communication skills, both oral and written.

They should be able to employ both qualitative and quantitative data, and be able to interpret and synthesize material from a variety of appropriate sources.

They will need to be able to develop an awareness of the value of different methodological or theoretical approaches.

Not everyone finds the transition easy. Some have academic issues, some personal issues, some both. EVERYONE has issues some time.

Homesickness

Many students experience strong homesickness when they first start university. According to Fairfield University (2017), this is common among 70% of students in the first week, but falls to 40% by the fourth week. Call home, tell your family. They are probably missing you, too.

Disorientation

University is a new environment, and suddenly, you are the youngest and newest people here. It is a big adjustment. As a new student, you might feel very disorientated - you might not know where things are, you might forget where rooms are or what you are studying at a particular time, or when the gym is open or which restaurant has the best noodles, and it may take some time to settle into your routine.

Friends can help. Think of it as an adventure and just laugh if you make a mistake - everyone does.

Protective Family?

Family background and previous experience can be important factors. It can be more difficult for students who come from highly protective families. By contrast, some students have already lived away from home, travelled independently, or lived in a dormitory often wonder why people are so worked up over it. Of course, this is not true of all people. 

The extent to which people can cope with new environments and experience is partly influenced by past experiences and partly by personality.

Friends help; seniors help.

If you find it really difficult, talk to your DCL advisor. Do not suffer in silence. 

Data source:

Fairfield University (2017) Parent/Guardian Webinar Series: Homesickness, Transition and Fitting In [video] available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZepnrMyqLUY (accessed 26th June, 2021)

Students who were successful at high school are sometimes unwilling to adapt and change.

They want to be given

• 'model answers'
• 'practice tests' 
• extensive feedback on coursework and practice tests 
• lists of vocabulary to learn

They want to be told exactly

• what to do
• how to do it 
• when to do it 
• what will be in the examination

These were the things that helped them to succeed at high school. When these things are not available, or not available to the extent that they want, they feel

• confused,
• let down,
• unsupported and
• angry.

Timetabling

In high school, your time was regulated.

You had a timetable for the week and the semester and you knew exactly what to expect in terms of homework and testing.

Freedom

You did not have much freedom to choose anything - your school, your teachers or your family had almost total control over your time. Many high school students were not even allowed to date.

At university, you have much more freedom to choose (though not unlimited). You are expected to organize your own time, turn up to classes (though this is still monitored), arrange your own work schedule, choose your priorities, do all the necessary work (preparation, coursework, review and revision) and work with other students.

First Experiences

On top of that, for many students this is the first time for you to

• manage your own budget
• live in a dormitory
• do your own laundry
• choose what you want to eat and when you want to eat
• go to bed at whatever time you like
• experiment with alcohol
• experiment with hair style, clothes, and other lifestyle choices
• make new friends and even start dating

It is a time for experimentation, a time of (relative) freedom from the rules and regulations of your family home and your high school.

Liberation?

Some students find this opportunity to experiment and this new freedom to be liberating, exciting and fun, and find the challenges easy to overcome.

They 'rise to the challenge', adapt and thrive. Other students take longer, or find it more difficult, or cannot cope and may need help.

The journey is different for everyone. Get help and advice when you need it.

 

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Expectation versus reality

Watch the video below

University of Adelaide: Expectation versus reality

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Discussing the transition

Senior students practicing discussion on the topic of the transition from high school to university in Hong Kong

Hong Kong PolyU Discussing the Transition

Life as a first year student at the University of Nottingham UK

Here is a video produced by Ella May Houghton who talks about her first year at the University of Nottingham in the UK - she speaks very quickly and naturally, and in order to fully understand it, you need to recognize that, for students in England, a degree course is only three years in most cases (medicine, architecture, engineering and foreign language degrees are different), and that university dorms in the UK are usually single rooms with a shared kitchen (not like here at UNNC).
Also, societies are very different in the UK - there are no entrance tests - if you want to join, you can, although there may be a fee. 

In the video, Ella  emphasises several important points:

1. Support is available but you have to go and find it yourself. Your tutors will NOT follow you around and ask why you did not submit some work,
2. Even if you make a lot of friends, you can still feel lonely and homesick at times,
3. Emotional situations such as breaking up with a boyfriend can really hurt you and set you back,
4. there are so many opportunities to do interesting and valuable things - make the most of it. 

Ella kindly made this video available on a Creative Commons licence so we can share it with you. There is a part in the middle when the sound changes - stay with it, it comes back to normal very quickly. 

I would like to express our thanks to Ella and to state categorically that we do not hold or claim to hold any copyright to this video.

1st year at UNUK

Cuesta College (2003) in Macallister and Wirth (n.d.) Wirth, K.R. and Perkins D (n.d.) Learning to Learn [pdf] available at: http://www.macalester.edu/geology/wirth/CourseMaterials.html  (Downloaded 21st December, 2016)

Graduate Factory (no date) High School vs university. Available here 

Western University (no date) Differences between high school and university. Available here
 

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The tasks you are asked to do, or the questions you are asked to answer, are all based on testing your ability to think, read, and understand ideas, concepts and skills and then apply themto the issue.

Whenever you are given a task, you should start to think about what the tutor really expects you to do. Think around the task, question the underlying assumptions of the task. Think critically about the task.

Traditionally, academic thinking has suggested that there are six different levels of skill that you will have to demonstrate in academic writing. In many tasks, you will need to be able to demonstrate a combination of them.

 

Image: Bloom's Taxonomy Levels of Learning: The Complete Post

This pyramid is based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, revised by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)¹ .

 

The taxonomy changed over time: 

This more detailed image is based on the older version:

 

Image: John Manuel Kennedy Traverso (copyright: GFDL and Creative Commons CC-BY 2.5). Available at: File:Blooms rose.svg - Wikimedia Commons

 

¹Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D.R., et al (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman

²Question from: Interactive Mathematics (2018) Application Available at: https://www.intmath.com/differential-equations/6-rc-circuits.php (accessed 5/24/2019)

 

Remember: instruction words and example

The bottom layer of the pyramid is knowing facts and is indicated by questions such as

• 'When did Germany become a united country?',  
• 'Is carbon monoflouride (CFx) an ionic or covalent bond?'  
• 'Who created the study of Discourse Analysis?'  
• 'What is a number?'

Words that are often used in knowledge questions are: who, define, what, name, where, list, and when.

However, these are unusual questions for a university context as students are really supposed to be able to find out such answers themselves, so if a tutor asks such a question, it might suggest that the question requires more than a simple answer.

So let's look at the above questions in a more critical manner: 

• The question about Germany is more complex than it seems. Firstly, there is a difference between German unification and German re-unification and, secondly, there is a difference between the official legal declaration of unification (at the Treaty of Versailles, 1871) and what had  been happening 'on the ground' before this. The question is therefore probably also asking if the student understands the difference between 'de facto' (in fact) and 'de jure' (in law).
• The question about covalent or ionic bonding is not a simple one: the bond in CFx is considered to have features of both ionic and covalent bonds.
• Even the question 'what is a number'? can be answered in two different ways; for example numbers can be real, whole, integer, rational, irrational, complex and imaginary; but numbers can also be nominal, ordinal, or cardinal.
• The question 'who invented Discourse Analysis?'  expects you to realize that there is no single answer. Discourse Analysis is not one topic and is based on trends and writers from many different fields. 

 

Understanding: instruction words and examples

Understanding questions often require students to think about 'what if' situations. Some examples of comprehension /analysis questions include:

• What would happen if you concatenated a string variable and a numerical variable in JavaScipt?
• Outline the effect of a 5% increase in bank loan rates on the Chinese housing market.
• If sea levels rose by 5 cms annually for the next ten years, explain the impact on farming in Zhejiang?
• Compare the marketing strategies of Starbucks, Costa and one other national or international coffee store.

Words often used in comprehension questions include describe, why, in your own words, outline, explain, discuss, and compare.

 

Application: instruction words and examples

Usage (or application) questions ask you to demonstrate your ability to use information skills or techniques to solve problems. Some examples of application / usage questions include:

• Put your knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript to use to create an app for a small restaurant owner.
• Use an appropriate non-parametric statistical technique to determine whether there is an association between gender and university major in China.
• Demonstrate the value of colour theory in explaining the attractiveness of traditional Japanese design.
• Use differential equations to model the spread of 5G in China.
• Employ a cost-benefit model to argue for or against the development of a swimming pool for UNNC.

Words often used in application questions include use, apply, manipulate, put to use, employ, demonstrate, and interpret.

For example:

• The task to create an app for a small restaurant question might really be testing your ability to validate the data entries, or to understand what variables would be important to a small restaurant owner (and how you would find out).
• The question about a cost benefit analysis of a new swimming pool is also asking you to make reasonable assumptions about the potential benefit of a swimming poot, and to allocate arbitrary monetary profits on this.
• The question about an 'appropriate' non-parametric statistical approach expect you to explain wthy you chose Chi-square (for example) rather than Pearson correlation.
• The question about the spread of 5G is not simply to demonstrate your understanding of the use of differential equations: what factors might lead to differences in the rate of spread of 5G in different parts of the country?
• The question about the swimming pool for UNNC might really be trying to determine how you decide what a 'benefit' is and what a 'cost' is. For example, do you think that 'benefit' is only for current students and do you think cost is only the construction cost? Have you considered the potential recruitment value for staff members as a benefit, and have you considered the environmental cost of the constructions? Moreover, how did you justify the parameters you are using? What criteria have you used?

 

Analyze: instruction words and example

Analysis is similar in may ways to 'comprehension', the difference is that in 'comprehension', you put facts together to demonstrate that you can use the facts; by contrast, in 'analysis', you break something down into component parts, look for trends, simplify  data, or explain processes.

Some examples of analysis questions include:

• Why does Starbucks have a dominant position in the coffee market?
• What conclusions can be drawn from the success of mobile payment systems in China?
• Analyze Western media coverage of the 'Belt and Road' initiative. 
• Look at the data in the following table. Is there a relationship between type of economy, public levels of happiness, and the number of doctors per 1000 people? 

Words often used in analysis questions include look at. analyze, why, take apart, categorize, find trends, diagram, draw conclusions, simplify, distinguish, and survey.

If you look more closely at the example questions, you can see that there may be complications:

• The question about Starbucks might be really questionning whether Starbuck's position is sustainable: has the company made any mistakes, is it under threat? Should other companies copy its business model?
• The question about the success of mobile payments might really be asking about the role of government intervention, or of monopolies, or of 'big data'.
• The question about the Belt and Road Initiative is very sensitive. Are criticisms of this initiative in Western media justified? Is it a form of racism?
• The question that asks you to look at the table may either imply that there is a relationship and expects you to find it, or that there is no relationship where you might expect one and asks you to question your assumptions.

 

Evaluation: instruction words and examples

Evaluation requires you to make a judgment about something. This might be the value of an idea, a candidate, a work of art, or a solution to a problem. This is essential for decision-making and problem-solving, and it is important to show the criteria that are being used. Like synthesis questions, evaluation questions do not have single right answers but there is a correct approach or way of dealing with the answer. Words often used in evaluation questions include compare, judge, rate, assess, evaluate, criticize and 'To what extent'.

Some examples of evaluation questions include …

• Evaluate driverless cars. Are they really safe?
• What is the best way to assess English ability? Is it the Gaokao exam?
• Critically evaluate the idea that UNNC should become 'plastic free'?
• UNNC has a rigorous program of pesticide spraying. Is this necessary? What is the ecological impact of this? Compare this with the approach used in Australian universities.
• Compare 4G and 5G? Why do we need 5G? Who will benefit most?

For example:

• 'Are driverless cars really safe?' implies that they are not or might not be under certain circumstances. You might be expected to examine the ethical case for what constitutes an acceptable level of risk for some product that is known to be unsafe, or to consider steps that could (and should) be taken to ensure greater safety.
• 'Is the Gaokao exam the best way to assess English ability?' implies that there are other ways and that in some cases or for some people, the Gaokao may not be the best way to assess English ability. You would therefore have to examine different types of college entrance examinations and either criticize the Gaokao and suggest practical alternatives or justify it while accepting that some criticism may be valid. 
• 'Critically evaluate the idea that UNNC should become plastic free' suggests that there are advantages and disadvantages to the idea. You would be expected to examine both viewpoints and have your own opinion (not to simply repeat the arguments for and against). 
• 'Is the program of pesticide spraying necessary'? implies that it might not be. So why does it take place?
• 'Who will benefit most?' implies that different groups of people will benefit more than others. You are not expected to simply list the benefits of 5G but would have to look at reasons why certain demographic groups might not benefit as much or as quickly as others and what the role of the telecommunications companies, and state and national government is in this.

 

Creation: instruction words and examples

Creation questions require creative and original responses to problems. There will not be a 'correct' answer, but there will be correct ways of answering. There is a variety of possible responses to these questions.

Some examples of creation questions include …

• Construct a mobile app for a small restaurant owner.
• Design an all-weather outdoor pitch that can be used for a range of sport.
• In teams, using only only paper, construct a tower two metres tall that can support any four hardback library books.
• Create an innovative way to solve the problem of library seat 'hogging' 
• Redesign the classrooms to make them more a more relaxed environment for studying.

Words often used in creation questions include contruct, create, propose, change, review, revise, produce, design, and plan.

For example:

• The task to construct an app for a small restaurant owner is very vague. Is this for marketing? Is this for purchasing? Is this for accountancy? Or all of them? Is the question related to 'haptics' (how easy it is to use the app) or not? What is a 'small' restuarant? How would the owner use the app? There are a lot of underlying questions (and assumptions) that need to be examined before the question can be answered.
• The task to design an all-weather outdoor pitch involves issues of how frequently it would be used, whether the nature of the usage would damage the surface, whether it would be used at night and need floodlights, and, if a natural pitch was proposed, what the most resilient combination of grasses would be.
• This is a common engineering task given to students. There are some variables that are unclear: what type of paper, and how small can the books be, for example. However, the main point of this activity might be to see how well you cooperate and work together, and how you respond to setbacks. The tutor might be trying to find out what you learn from the process.
• The task to create a solution for library seat 'hogging' includes the word 'innovative'. This implies that you need to research what solutions have been tried elsewhere and why they don't work. You also need to create, or decide on, a definition of 'hogging'.
• The task to redesign the classroom 'to make them more relaxing' presumes (a) that they are not relaxing enough now and (b) that they should be more relaxing. You would be expected to take this into consideration in the design of your response. 

 

 

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The ideal student should develop

• interpersonal skills and
• team skills, and
• a deep understanding of themselves but also 
• respect for the complex identities of others, their histories, and their cultures.

They should

• engage in mutually beneficial reciprocal relationships,
• be  respectful and honest with other people and themselves
• take responsibility for social and individual justice
• abide by the University’s Code of Conduct and related policies.

They should learn to

1. Cope with change by
   1. developing personal flexibility and
   2. developing the ability and to manage the effects of change;
   3. being reflective and responsive to their own feelings and emotions and to those of others.
       
2. Cope with stress by dealing with stress, anxiety, disappointment, frustration and expectations in positive ways.
   ​​​​​​​
3. Cope with study-life balance by 
   1. maintaining a reasonable balance between academic and non-academic life,
   2. taking care of their health, diet, sleep, fitness, and their mental state and
   3. being able to recognize when they need some private time.  

Successful students

1. Accept personal responsibility for the outcomes and quality of their lives
2. Accept personal responsibility for the outcomes and quality of their lives
3. Plan and take effective actions to pursue their goals and dreams
4. Build mutually supportive relationships that assist them in pursuing their goals and dreams
5. Gain heightened self-awareness, and develop empowering beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that keep them on course
6. Become life-long learners, finding valuable lessons in nearly every experience they have
7. Develop emotional maturity: optimism, happiness, and peace of mind
8. Believe in themselves and feel capable
9. Have a set of varied friends of different backgrounds and nationalities, but who all share a similar mindset

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Study Skills includes a range of different skills, some of which are traditional study skills such as time management and note-taking and others are more specific to CELE.

In this Study Skill section, we will look at:

• Time Management
• Procrastination
• Perfectionism
• Note-Taking
• Transition (n.b. this is in the University Study section)

Time Management

You will be more independent at university and one of the main challenges will be managing your time. You will need to be flexible and organized, set your own priorities and take responsibility for coursework deadlines.

Time management is the way you plan your work. Planning involves

• knowing what you have to do;
• distinguishing between what you have to do and what you would like to do
• knowing when they all have to be finished
• knowing how long you have for each one
• adding some flexibility into your plans
• making lists or schedules 
• using suitable apps
• doing the important things first
• self-reflection (are you really managing your time well?)

Find out more here

 

Procrastination

Some people get the work done and finishes as soon as they are given it, others wait until the very last minute. 

Procrastination is delaying too much. There are a lot of reasons why people do this - but it is not a good approach.

Find out more here

 

Perfectionism

There are two forms of perfectionism.

Adaptive perfectionism is good because it encouraged you to do well.

Maladptive perfectionism is not good and can both create real problems for you and be a reflection that you already have these problems.

Find out more here

 

Note-Taking

Note-taking is an essential academic skill  because most of your learning at university will come from reading and you will not be able to remember

• what you read
• where you found it
• why it was important

Note-taking involves

• keeping the information that is important,
• reducing it to what you need,
• organizing it so that you can see the relationships between ideas,
• commenting on it so that you can direct your study

Find out more here

Transition to University

Transition is not easy for everyone and there are major differences between high school and university in terms of 

• responsibility
• independence
• the amount of attention and support you receive
• study and examination styles

Some students adapt quickly and other struggle to adapt. Everyone takes time to adapt fully and everyone might need a little support and help sometimes.

Would you recognize the signs of struggling to adapt?

Do you know what a university considers an ideal student to be?

Find out more here

Please note that this pdf is also available in the Writing Lab@UNNC Y1 section of the Moodle page, here

A university student should behave in a principled, intellectually honest manner by acknowledging and respecting the work of authors that they use in their own work.

They should avoid all forms of academic misconduct such as 

• cheating in exams
• submitting coursework that they did not do
• submitting the same coursework for different assignments
• copying from friends
• allowing friends to copy their work
• making their work available for anyone to copy
• plagiarising
• making up data
• offering money or other gifts for preferential treatment
• impersonating another student

 

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The following video explains the importance, and value of time management and of planning and preparation. It was produced for native speakers, but it is clear and easy to follow. Click on the image or on the link below.

 

Click here

 

The video was produced by the University of British Columbia and was issued with a Creative Commons licence which means that we can share it with you. We would like to thank UBC for this video and to state that we do not hold, nor claim to hold, any copyright to this video.

Efficient time management refers to managing your time in a way that allows you to complete all the tasks, activities and priorities that you have without a last-minute panic and without too much stress.

This requires you to:

Good time management is the first step towards success in all aspects of your life - even if you want to just relax and do nothing, the best way to enjoy that is to know that everything else you need to do has already been done.

Although you may have less time in class than you did in high school, this does not mean you have less work. In fact, the amount of work you do increases significantly at university. You should expect to study a minimum of 40 hours a week and in some cases (or for some majors) for much longer. In addition, you will be juggling personal, social, sporting and university clubs activities and trying to get enough sleep.

The main difference (in terms of time management) between high school and university is that you get less guidance and direction in how to make the best use of that time. 

You have to decide how to use your time.

What is important to you, and how do you balance multiple priorities?

Some things are urgent, some things are not so urgent; some things are important, some things are not so important. Using these four ideas, you can create a priority matrix.

However, you still need to plan your time and there are also personal skills that you need to develop:

• you need to be able to say 'no' 
• you need to avoid distractions
• you need to have the right attitude

The following information is from the Oxford University in the UK

Oxford University (2015) Time Management Top Tips [pdf] available at: https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/Time%20Management%20-%20Top%20Tips.pdf (downloaded 28 June 2021).

We are grateful to Oxford University for making this pdf available and we would like to make it explicitly clear that we do not claim any copyright to this material and this is here only as a courtesy to our students.

Make sure you know all your examination dates, the coursework deadlines, your lectures and seminars, and think about how much time you have to complete everything.

Use the university academic calendar and information about your course from Moodle to make a sketch of your commitments - the things you have to do.

Transfer lists to schedules for the day, the week, the semester.Use colour codes to indicate which things are essential in each day.

Add personal commitments and club and society commitments.

Add personal care activities.

Make a distinction between the things that must be done and the things you would like to do.

Tick them off once you complete them.

Reward yourself with something positive (take a walk, get a coffee) when you have completed something important.

Use apps to help you plan your

• semester
• week
• day

Try different apps to organize your schedule, or block distractions.

Consider using the Pomodoro method of concentrating for specific lengths of time (25 minutes) then taking a short break then continuing until you have done a  full hour of concentrated work, then taking a longer break.

There are many apps that might help you. Here is an image of some of the apps that are available for android:

Remember that they are not all as good as they look and they are all commercial - they want you to buy the "Premium" version or to click on links to other products - please take care!

Most things take longer than you think they will, you will have new commitments as the semester progresses, and you may have to deal with unexpected events such as your computer 'bricking' (turning unresponsive and being as useful as a brick).

Complete the most important tasks rather than the easiest ones. You will feel better about what you have done if you have completed something important. It does not matter how many small unimportant things you've done if you know you still have the important one 'hanging over your head'. You are avoiding it - it's a form of procrastination:

"Look at me. I'm SOO busy."

"Yeah, but have you finished the essay?"

How do you know?

If you are

• not sleeping
• angry at your friends for disturbing you
• angry at the university because you can't find the 'right' place to study
• surprised that the examinations are in three weeks and you haven't even thought about how to prepare for them
• angry at yourself because you stupidly agreed to take your friend shopping on Saturday when you had promised yourself that you'd finish your essay
• not eating
• drinking too much coffee to stay awake
• drinking too much alcohol to fall asleep
• not doing any exercise
• refusing to call your family 
• suddenly surprised that you have another piece of coursework to do that you didn't even know about

... you are NOT managing your time well!

Good time management:

You can manage your time efficiently if you:

However, please note that some people can become stressed worrying about time management itself and take up too much time creating time management 'plans' rather than actually doing the work that they have to do.

This is a form of procrastination (putting things off). 

 

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Time Management (UBC)

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Procrastination is choosing to delay doing something even when you know that your situation will be worse after the delay. Procrastination is considerably more common among students than in the general population and it is often leads to academic misconduct.

Patrzek et al (2015) argue that there is a strong relationship between procrastination and academic misconduct and students are tempted to cheat as a means of coping with the negative consequences of procrastination.  To put it simply, some students leave it too late to complete and assignment and fear that they may get a low grade on their work because their work is not good enough, so they cheat (or try to).

The following video talks about procrastination. It is animated but the speaker talks quite quickly. It is relatively easy to follow, and short.

 

Seven Reasons for Procrastination

..

Why do we procrastinate?

 

 

Immediate gratification

 

 

We are lazy

 

 

When you know (or have convinced yourself) that you are going to fail

 

 

It has always worked for me before!

 

 

Change is frightening

 

 

Low expectations =  easy life

 

 

I need control

 

 

I don't want this level of responsibility!

 

 

Solutions

What can you do about it? The solutions lie in a combination of the following:

1. Self-Awareness
   
   Understanding why you want to put off a  task, what makes you respond to tasks in certain ways and whether you really want to change.
    
2. Time-Management and Discipline 
   
   Understanding how much time you need, making plans, prioritizing, setting learning goals, breaking the task into manageable units, and, above all,  STICKING TO YOUR PLAN.
    
3. Orientation
   
   Having positive feelings about the tasks. For example, it can be valuable to feel that starting, doing and completing the task is good, necessary, valuable, positive, and helpful.
    
4. Motivation
   
   Intrinsic motivation is more valuable than extrinsic motivation in the long term. It can help to feel that starting, doing and completing a task is valuable to you as a person, or as a student and not just in order to pass the course, or please the tutor, or classmates or parents.
    
5. Organization
   
   Being ready to study effectively involves personal organization: avoiding distraction, making sure that everything you need is available and that you, yourself, are in the right mood. People can study better if they are in a quiet clean environment, and feel fresh and well-rested. Choose a place where you can study without being disturbed, use apps that control your on-line time (especially if you are studying using a computer) and use the Pomodoro Technique of approximately 30 minutes without a break.
    
6. Getting help from others / working together
   
   When we make a commitment to other people, we are more likely to keep it than if we make a commitment to ourselves. We are used to being self-critical because we did not live up to our internal perfectionism, but we feel guilty when we think we are letting other people down or that they have a low opinion of us because we have not fulfilled a promise (note, however, that this may conflict with the idea of intrinsic motivation).

If procrastination is seriously affecting your work, however, you may need professional help: make an appointment with the University Counselling Service HERE.

University Counselling service

Queens University

Click on the picture below or the link

 

Queens University

Edutopia

Edutopia has an interesting page on Procrastination. It is aimed at teachers but it has links to important research findings, for example:

1. Students are more likely to procrastinate when the task is meaningful and they want to do it well (but don't know how to). This is better known as 'indecision' or 'indecisiveness'
2. Students self-sabotage. If they are frightened of failure, or of criticism for poor work, they will put off completing the work so that they can blame the deadline rather than their own ability.
3. Some students like to add some drama to their life. If they have less and less time to finish something, they get more and more worked up about it - and this, actually, is more exciting. It is a thrill-seeking behaviour.

The original information, if you are interested is here: 

 

Edutopia

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Perfectionism is when someone constantly wants to be, and tries to be, perfect, and has high expectations of their own performance. It's a good thing to try to do something as well as you can, and to try to improve your abilities, knowledge and skill. However, for some perfectionists, this may also be accompanied with being very self-critical and concerned about what other people think of them.

Perfectionism can be positive or negative

This video, from Lancaster University, might help you recognise any signs of perfectionism:

 

 

Lancaster University: Are you a perfectionist?

Good or Bad?

The positive form can provide the driving energy which leads to great achievement: attention to detail, commitment and the persistence all result from perfectionism. Exceptionally talented people such as high-achieving athletes, scientists, and artists often show signs of perfectionism.

The positive form includes a preference for order and organisation and a deliberate and conscientious orientation to tasks and performance. People with the positive form of perfectionism are slightly less likely to procrastinate than the majority of people.

However, the negative form of perfectionism can be damaging. It can take the form of procrastination in which people postpone or fail to complete tasks. In general, people with the negative form of perfectionism set standards that are too high and when they cannot meet their own expectations, are stressed.

This can lead to mental illness.

Benign (good) or pernicious illness (bad)

Motivated by a sense of inferiority?

Three types:

1. Self-oriented perfectionism - the need to be perfect
2. Other-oriented perfectionism - the need for other people to be perfect
3. Socially-prescribed perfectionism - the sense that other people expect me to be perfect

Impacts

• Damaging levels of shame
• Lack of self-worth
• Mental and physical disorders: anxiety, anorexia

Role of university, competition for jobs, social media measures of popularity ('likes')

Solutions

Focus on process not on outcome, on learning and growth rather than grades or scores.

 

 

Dr Tom Curran from LSE’s Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science researches perfectionism, its damaging effects, and why society is making it more prevalent. See the video below:

Is perfectionism an illness?

Pyschology Today: Perfectionism

Psychology Today has a website on perfectionism. Click on the picture below or the link

Psychology Today: Perfectionism

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IWA tutor comments

You can see the comments that were made on your RWAC IWA by following the instructions in the pdf below.

Tutor comments

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here is a pdf version of the Mentimeter activity slides used this week.

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Here are the slides used in the RWAC Review week 11

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IWA virtual advising session

Here is a virtual advising session following a checklist approach to the IWA - watch the video and make sure you have all the necessary parts for your IWA.

 

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You can prepare for your exams by knowing

• what the exam questions will be about
• what we (tutors) are looking for in your exam
• how to answer the exam questions 
• how to use your time wisely in the exams
• what the exam questions will be about
• how to revise / review efficiently

You can imprive your revision by

• working with a partner to support each other
• working with a partner to practice together

You can also (try to be)

• be 'stoked' (psychologically ready for the exam..."Bring it on!!")
• be ready (know where to go, when, and what you can or cannot take with you)

By contrast, you can mess yourself up by

• not knowing anything about the exam
• being too tired to do your best
• not preparing for the exam at all
• believing that your lucky rabbit's foot will mean that you'll do OK anyway

Introduction

These videos look back on all the academic writing workshops offered by Writing Lab during Semester 1 22-23.

We would like to thank the students who attended these workshops and we hope to see you again next semester.

Please watch the two videos and then do the guided reflection questions below.

Video 1

Video 2

Guided Reflection

Now do the guided reflection questions. Click on the link below

 

Guided Reflection

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