Back from Christmas/New Years and already it feels like the holidays are miles away?
If you're halfway through your academic year, what sort of things could you be doing for second semester to improve on first semester?
If you haven't been getting much mileage out of your library, this would be a good time to find out what sort of mid-year programmes they run. Most academic libraries have introductory and study-skills courses at the beginning of every semester, and a lot of them also offer other courses and programmes throughout the year. The library is probably the single most useful tool you have at your disposal, so make sure you are milking it for all it's worth.
Start thinking ahead to the next academic year. It may seem very far away at present, but it never hurts to give a thought to the future - there may be things you need to take care of before the Summer break if you want next semester to run smoothly for you.
Take an audit of last semester's performance. How did you do, study wise? What sort of things could you be doing to improve for this semester? Today is the perfect time to start a few new habits - even if it's the second or third time you've tried to start them.
Now is the perfect time to start looking at how you intend to organise your research, readings and files. Finding information in the first place is great, being able to find it again later when you need to use it is better. Make sure you keep physical material (books, print-outs) somewhere central, and organise them in a way that's easy for you to navigate. Electronic resources should be filed in the simplest, most straight-forward way you can, and you should have one place where you keep notes for where everything is (I recommend a "library" in one of the bibliographic software programs, like Endnote or BiblioExpress). Filing all of last semester's material is a great way to work out what you want to do with this semester's stuff. Sure, it seems anal retentive, but you'll thank me for it when your big assignment is due.
Get some exercise. Sure, Winter is cold, and the colder it is the more you want to just sit somewhere warm and do very little. Bad idea. The better your overall fitness is, the better your ability to study will be. Go to a heated pool, take up yoga or brave the weather and go for a run. Whatever you do, make sure you do it at least once a week so it becomes part of a pattern. As your fitness improves, you'll find everything else gets just that much easier as well.
Showing posts with label continuing studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label continuing studies. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Getting Ready for a New Year - Southern Hemisphere
Ready for a new year's worth of study?
For those of you living in the Southern Hemisphere, still enjoying Summer Vacation, there are a few things you should be thinking about in the lead-up to semester one.
If you didn't use your library and it's services a lot last year, you might want to look at booking into an orientation session, or one of their various study courses. It doesn't matter if you are in First Year or Fourth Year, you can still attend these sessions and find out what the library has to offer. Trust me, it will make your life easier.
If you haven't already, you should start thinking about what subjects you intend to take this year. While you're at it, take a look at some of the subjects you could be taking next year. Why? Because there might be a couple you would really like to take, but they have prerequisite subjects. If there is a subject on your wish-list for next with prerequisites, you should enrol in those prerequisites for this year. You may find that you have to contact an academic advisor before you complete enrolment for this year. It's better to find out now than some-time during O-Week.
If you are returning to studies, you should take an audit of your study patterns from last year. What worked well for you, what didn't work at all? What did you mean to do (and would probably have performed better had you actually done it), but didn't do? Why didn't you do it, and what can you do to make sure you do it this year? For example, did you have grand plans for having all of your research done a week before the assignment was due, but found yourself still looking for quotes the morning of the due date? What happened? What can you do to improve that situation?
If this is your first year in a university or college, one of the best things you can do is find out about what mentor programmes are available. Mentors are usually students in their second or third year of studies who have already learnt most of the ropes, and are happy to help you know what to expect. Because they are students, not teaching staff, they know what it's like to be a student dealing with the system. Very useful.
Take an afternoon to sort out your files on your computer. It's always a great idea to have different folders for different semesters, and have everything from last-year put somewhere out of the way (but easy to find) before you start the next year. If you had a lot of PDFs and readings saved to your computer from last year, but you don't need them any more, this is a great time to free up some space. However, before you get rid of them, you should make some notes about them in a bibliographic softward program like Endnote or BiblioExpress (Endnote costs serious money, but you can probably get it for free through your university; BiblioExpress is freeware, and quite good, if not up to the same standard as Endnote). That way, if it turns out that you need to find that information again later, you have a fighting chance of remembering where it came from and tracking it down.
Take up a new sport. Walking, running, swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, OzTag... whatever you think you might be able to keep up on a weekly basis. If you're already involved in a sporting team or activity, that's fantastic, but if not you should really look at what sports are available in your university community (or just your community). Nothing helps you studies as much as improving your general over-all fitness, plus it will give you an outlet for any stress you might build up as a result of your studies. It's a great idea to take up this sport now, rather than after you start lectures, as it means you'll be able to consider it as a normal part of your week by the time you have to start scheduling your tutorials. Otherwise, there's a good chance you'll never quite get around to it.
For those of you living in the Southern Hemisphere, still enjoying Summer Vacation, there are a few things you should be thinking about in the lead-up to semester one.
If you didn't use your library and it's services a lot last year, you might want to look at booking into an orientation session, or one of their various study courses. It doesn't matter if you are in First Year or Fourth Year, you can still attend these sessions and find out what the library has to offer. Trust me, it will make your life easier.
If you haven't already, you should start thinking about what subjects you intend to take this year. While you're at it, take a look at some of the subjects you could be taking next year. Why? Because there might be a couple you would really like to take, but they have prerequisite subjects. If there is a subject on your wish-list for next with prerequisites, you should enrol in those prerequisites for this year. You may find that you have to contact an academic advisor before you complete enrolment for this year. It's better to find out now than some-time during O-Week.
If you are returning to studies, you should take an audit of your study patterns from last year. What worked well for you, what didn't work at all? What did you mean to do (and would probably have performed better had you actually done it), but didn't do? Why didn't you do it, and what can you do to make sure you do it this year? For example, did you have grand plans for having all of your research done a week before the assignment was due, but found yourself still looking for quotes the morning of the due date? What happened? What can you do to improve that situation?
If this is your first year in a university or college, one of the best things you can do is find out about what mentor programmes are available. Mentors are usually students in their second or third year of studies who have already learnt most of the ropes, and are happy to help you know what to expect. Because they are students, not teaching staff, they know what it's like to be a student dealing with the system. Very useful.
Take an afternoon to sort out your files on your computer. It's always a great idea to have different folders for different semesters, and have everything from last-year put somewhere out of the way (but easy to find) before you start the next year. If you had a lot of PDFs and readings saved to your computer from last year, but you don't need them any more, this is a great time to free up some space. However, before you get rid of them, you should make some notes about them in a bibliographic softward program like Endnote or BiblioExpress (Endnote costs serious money, but you can probably get it for free through your university; BiblioExpress is freeware, and quite good, if not up to the same standard as Endnote). That way, if it turns out that you need to find that information again later, you have a fighting chance of remembering where it came from and tracking it down.
Take up a new sport. Walking, running, swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, OzTag... whatever you think you might be able to keep up on a weekly basis. If you're already involved in a sporting team or activity, that's fantastic, but if not you should really look at what sports are available in your university community (or just your community). Nothing helps you studies as much as improving your general over-all fitness, plus it will give you an outlet for any stress you might build up as a result of your studies. It's a great idea to take up this sport now, rather than after you start lectures, as it means you'll be able to consider it as a normal part of your week by the time you have to start scheduling your tutorials. Otherwise, there's a good chance you'll never quite get around to it.
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