UNI STUDYING: How do you do it?

[Hopelesshopefull]

Hey everyone ,
I've kinda lurked around on this forums as a guest quite a bit , but finally have decided to make an account.
As the title says I'm kinda struggling with uni studies quite a bit, so I was hoping for some advice on strategies that some of ye have employed to do well in your uni studies. For context , I'm first year biomed student aiming to get in to post grad med , so me GPA is a gigantic priority.
But the reason for this post is mainly cause its been 7 weeks of uni (or whatever number of weeks it has been , if I've gotten it wrong) and I don't seem to have yet got a game plan for studying. I'm just confused as hell. Also ,  I just got a mid sem mark back and I was super disappointed but it has kinda pushed me to reassess things, hence the post and asking for help. So please do tell me of thy ways.

Thanks (and soz for super rambly post) 

[Bruzzix]

I'm not studying biomed, but I'm studying science so hopefully some of my advice may help you.
For me, I find that studying is important, but what is just as important is having a healthy lifestyle conducive to successful study.
What do I mean by this?

Sleep
It may sound clichéd, but going to bed at a reasonable time makes a massive difference to how you perform at uni. I have an alarm set at 9:30 each night to remind me that I need to get off of screens and do something relaxing like reading before I go to bed at 10. Aim to get up early at about 7 each morning and you will feel more motivated as your brain has had adequate rest and you won't get that feeling when you wake up at 12 and realise half the day is already gone. Keep it consistent on the weekdays and try not to stay up too late on the weekends.

Food
It can be so easy sometimes to just skip lunch or breakfast because you don't feel bothered, don't have enough time or money etc. Don't give in to it; make sure you're eating at least 3 decent meals a day so your mind and body has the energy to study and you're not distracted by nagging hunger. Include plenty of fruit. Some people like caffeine, others don't - I find that some days I just need that extra push so I drink a coffee but caffeinating yourself everyday can be counterproductive.

Free time
Uni is stressful for all of us. We have exams coming up, assignments due, papers to write, lectures to catch up on etc. Don't get so caught up in your studies that you leave no time for yourself. Have other interests outside of uni and dedicate an amount of time each day to just doing stuff that you find fun. It can be anything, as long as you enjoy it. For me it's watching YouTube. If you don't commit to leisure, you will burnout and drift through a state of sadness and lack of productivity. There's threads here about this if you want to learn more. Essentially, just keep that work-fun balance.

Your environment
If your room is a mess it can drain your motivation, at least for me it does. Try and keep your room as clean as possible and limit potential distractions. Coming home to a clean room after a long day is always so much nicer than coming home to a clutter. It can be difficult to study at home because of how easy it is to just ditch the books, get up and watch some tv. So either force yourself to return to study or go to your local library or uni to get it done.The next time you consider giving in to a distraction, just ask yourself, 'do you really want to waste your time doing x when studying is so much more important? What will be the consequences of not studying now?'. My uni has excellent facilities dedicated to studying and I find myself focusing on what's important a lot more often when I'm at them.


In terms of study methods, there are two that I find to be very efficient and beneficial in learning.

Firstly, answering questions is an excellent method. You think you know all there is to know about a topic and then suddenly a question throws you off. Once answered, you learn to see the theory/concept from a new perspective or you discover an important nuance. As an added bonus, this prepares you very well for assessment.

Secondly, teaching; this is by far the most effective method. You know that one friend that is always struggling? Help them out by explaining the key ideas in your own words. If they ask a question and you have no answer, note it down and research it until you have one. If teaching friends isn't an option, teach your pencil. Yes this really works. As ridiculous as it may seem, this is going to force you to organise the information in your head into a presentable standard - a standard required for assessment. It also reveals gaps in your knowledge. "x does this because y, and y does this because... ummm..." - There's your gap, now go gather more information so you can really nail your explanation! You will really understand whatever it is you're explaining on a deep level if you follow this advice. I wish I knew this in year 12.

As for actually learning the content, I don't know if there is a best method per se. What works for me doesn't always work for others. I learn best by watching videos, others learn best by reading for example. It really depends on you. I'm sure you would have figured out by now what you prefer but you could still experiment with other learning methods.

You said that you don't have a game plan yet. I'd recommend getting in a routine. It mitigates stress and saves time as you know what you're going to do, and when you're going to do it, as opposed to everything being messy, chaotic and unorganised. Routine ensures you have enough time to do all that you need to, and if you stick to it, pretty much guarantees you will accomplish those things. Set one up that is compatible with your current lifestyle and one that isn't so strict that you won't follow it long term.

These are the main points that came to my head, sorry I didn't have any tips specifically biomed related. Hopefully you can make up for that mid sem mark by smashing your next assessment! Good luck!

[Hopelesshopefull]

^Thank you for the reply. Definitely agree with everything you've said, will work on it .Thank you once again 

[Orson]

The next time you consider giving in to a distraction, just ask yourself, 'do you really want to waste your time doing x when studying is so much more important? What will be the consequences of not studying now?'.

Cheers for this.

[odeaa]

I go through all the lecture slide pdfs and make a huge list of all the lecture objectives (at the start of each one), and then go through and fill in all the information from the slides (I usually end up using khan academy or wikipedia instead though, I dont really like most of my lecturers atm)

Then just go through questions, I know there are a fair few on moodle for biomed 1st year

The most important thing about doing the questions is that if you get something wrong or you havent learnt it, that you actually go back and include it in your notes. If it was in a past exam or your lecturers have deliberately chosen a question, it is definately important and needs to be covered

Good luck, and remember that test is only 15% (assuming youre talking about 1011) so theres plenty of time to make up for it and get that HD

[Hopelesshopefull]

I go through all the lecture slide pdfs and make a huge list of all the lecture objectives (at the start of each one), and then go through and fill in all the information from the slides (I usually end up using khan academy or wikipedia instead though, I dont really like most of my lecturers atm)

Then just go through questions, I know there are a fair few on moodle for biomed 1st year

The most important thing about doing the questions is that if you get something wrong or you havent learnt it, that you actually go back and include it in your notes. If it was in a past exam or your lecturers have deliberately chosen a question, it is definately important and needs to be covered

Good luck, and remember that test is only 15% (assuming youre talking about 1011) so theres plenty of time to make up for it and get that HD

Thanks , thats actually really smart the way your using the objective. I don't even know why i didn't think of it , cause I used to do that in vce with the study designs.
But you know with that test I kinda felt like I studied so much but like the end result didnt reflect it. Like in vce , study=  results(kinda)  but in uni its like study + some voodoo fairy dust  --> results , like idek anymore.
But def gonna take all this advice on board and change me ways. thanks 

[MagicGecko]

For my theory based subjects I tend to have a kind of 'excessive' approach to them.

Mainly, I found that scribbling down notes during a lecture or tutorial doesn't work for me as I normally miss critical info while writing.
So during the lecture or tutorial I simply just listen and focus which actually helped me understand concepts better. After the class if I already have access to the lecture/tutorial material I would go over it again to clarify my knowledge, if not then I would scribble down everything I remember onto my notebook.
Then when I get home, if there is a recording, I would watch it and then write down notes I didn't already have.
It's also important to do all this on the same day as the day you learnt it.

Anyway, I don't expect you follow this, I mean it is a rather time-consuming approach (even I have trouble sticking to it), but it does work. So I hope you integrate a little of it in your studies and good luck

[Yacoubb]

Hey everyone ,
I've kinda lurked around on this forums as a guest quite a bit , but finally have decided to make an account.
As the title says I'm kinda struggling with uni studies quite a bit, so I was hoping for some advice on strategies that some of ye have employed to do well in your uni studies. For context , I'm first year biomed student aiming to get in to post grad med , so me GPA is a gigantic priority.
But the reason for this post is mainly cause its been 7 weeks of uni (or whatever number of weeks it has been , if I've gotten it wrong) and I don't seem to have yet got a game plan for studying. I'm just confused as hell. Also ,  I just got a mid sem mark back and I was super disappointed but it has kinda pushed me to reassess things, hence the post and asking for help. So please do tell me of thy ways.

Thanks (and soz for super rambly post) 

Hey
Don't worry it takes a bit to actually assimilate into university. The most important thing is that you reflect on this semester and your study skills to improve upon them next semester, and continuously do this as you go through university as it is essentially about continuing what works and stopping what doesn't.

I found that the best thing to do was to stay up-to-date. Coming from VCE this seems like a piece of cake, when you could even very well be ahead. At uni, staying up to date (at least for me) warrants a reward because it is SO easy to fall behind. As long as you keep up to date, and constantly go through your lecture content to understand it all, you will do well.

Also, start preparing early. I know this is the case in Science (and possibly even Biomed) - most subjects are purely about memory. Because of this, you need to remember a lot of content and you can only do this through constant revision and early prep.

Furthermore, regarding GPA, just remember that any H1 is a 7 contribution to your GPA. So regardless of whether you get 80%, 81%, 99% or 100%, getting a H1 (i.e. anything 80+) equates to a 7. Not sure if you knew this, but this always consoled me because it meant that I could focus on goals like getting over 80 (which for me were more reasonable than say high 90s) as opposed to stressing about extremely high scores.

[Hopelesshopefull]

For my theory based subjects I tend to have a kind of 'excessive' approach to them.

Mainly, I found that scribbling down notes during a lecture or tutorial doesn't work for me as I normally miss critical info while writing.
So during the lecture or tutorial I simply just listen and focus which actually helped me understand concepts better. After the class if I already have access to the lecture/tutorial material I would go over it again to clarify my knowledge, if not then I would scribble down everything I remember onto my notebook.
Then when I get home, if there is a recording, I would watch it and then write down notes I didn't already have.
It's also important to do all this on the same day as the day you learnt it.

Anyway, I don't expect you follow this, I mean it is a rather time-consuming approach (even I have trouble sticking to it), but it does work. So I hope you integrate a little of it in your studies and good luck

Thats an actually interesting method. I've actually tried that attempt to take everything in rather than write notes and it is certainly effective. Will definitely give this method a go. Thanks

Hey
Don't worry it takes a bit to actually assimilate into university. The most important thing is that you reflect on this semester and your study skills to improve upon them next semester, and continuously do this as you go through university as it is essentially about continuing what works and stopping what doesn't.

I found that the best thing to do was to stay up-to-date. Coming from VCE this seems like a piece of cake, when you could even very well be ahead. At uni, staying up to date (at least for me) warrants a reward because it is SO easy to fall behind. As long as you keep up to date, and constantly go through your lecture content to understand it all, you will do well.

Also, start preparing early. I know this is the case in Science (and possibly even Biomed) - most subjects are purely about memory. Because of this, you need to remember a lot of content and you can only do this through constant revision and early prep.

Furthermore, regarding GPA, just remember that any H1 is a 7 contribution to your GPA. So regardless of whether you get 80%, 81%, 99% or 100%, getting a H1 (i.e. anything 80+) equates to a 7. Not sure if you knew this, but this always consoled me because it meant that I could focus on goals like getting over 80 (which for me were more reasonable than say high 90s) as opposed to stressing about extremely high scores.

Thanks for the reassurance. I think your absolutely correct , the biggest battle in uni is really keeping up to date. And I've failed that completely, but hopefully theres enough time to pick up my game. Thank you