Not coping

[AndyW]

Guys, I have to confess, I can't survive Uni.
At the moment I have been studying but whenever I read something in just washes over my head and I don't absorb anything. I've been reading and writing notes but sometimes, because I am sleepy in the lectures, they arent coherent and I don't really understand what I'm writing. The textbooks are sometimes so dense that I can't actually derive any simple explanation from them. I feel behind and unable to consolidate what I learn. What's worse, what I can learn, I forget after a week or two and then when I try to combine this with new information I feel like my brain can't hold all of it and I have to sacrifice something in my memory.
I seem to just memorise things and haven't difficult piecing concepts together, something that I used to do with more ease than most.

To be honest, this isn't normal.

Now, I don't know what subjects your doing - perhaps you're talking about a subject that literally requires rote memorization (of say - the different areas of the mouth), and in that case, yes - I'd say listen to the other posters.

But if your talking about normal science or health subjects, I think what you say is worrying.
You don't seem to understand how to digest information, I mean, it's not a matter of 'memorizing' things - it's about understanding the underlying logic (which allows you to deduce the answer for yourself) - But shouldn't you know this already? I mean, first year uni subjects are not intellectually demanding - they're basically a faster version of VCE subjects - and presumable you did managed with VCE?
Also you seem to think uni is about 'learning the system', or acquiring 'tricks' - It's not, please don't waste your effort with these things. You simply listen to the lecture, you listen to the idea's being presented, that is all - yes, when you have to do a problem set or an assignments, you have to look back at the lectures to refresh your memory, but the answers should logically flow without much extra effort. You shouldn't have to be studying hard at this point in time.

[xZero]

I disagree. This year is probably the hardest I've ever studied in my entire life and the time I spent on revision and hw is probably more than the time I've spent studying throughout year 12. And yes all my units are intellecturally challenging (or maybe it's just me)


Though I agree with the 'tricks' part, it's all about the conceptual understanding.

[Toothpaste]

Guys, I have to confess, I can't survive Uni.
At the moment I have been studying but whenever I read something in just washes over my head and I don't absorb anything. I've been reading and writing notes but sometimes, because I am sleepy in the lectures, they arent coherent and I don't really understand what I'm writing. The textbooks are sometimes so dense that I can't actually derive any simple explanation from them. I feel behind and unable to consolidate what I learn. What's worse, what I can learn, I forget after a week or two and then when I try to combine this with new information I feel like my brain can't hold all of it and I have to sacrifice something in my memory.
I seem to just memorise things and haven't difficult piecing concepts together, something that I used to do with more ease than most.

To be honest, this isn't normal.

Now, I don't know what subjects your doing - perhaps you're talking about a subject that literally requires rote memorization (of say - the different areas of the mouth), and in that case, yes - I'd say listen to the other posters.

But if your talking about normal science or health subjects, I think what you say is worrying.
You don't seem to understand how to digest information, I mean, it's not a matter of 'memorizing' things - it's about understanding the underlying logic (which allows you to deduce the answer for yourself) - But shouldn't you know this already? I mean, first year uni subjects are not intellectually demanding - they're basically a faster version of VCE subjects - and presumable you did managed with VCE?
Also you seem to think uni is about 'learning the system', or acquiring 'tricks' - It's not, please don't waste your effort with these things. You simply listen to the lecture, you listen to the idea's being presented, that is all - yes, when you have to do a problem set or an assignments, you have to look back at the lectures to refresh your memory, but the answers should logically flow without much extra effort. You shouldn't have to be studying hard at this point in time.

Slightly condescending there don't you think? If you had read the previous replies to this thread, iffets12345 is doing dentistry.

No, they shouldn't 'know this already' and you shouldn't ignore the variety of ways different students process information. One person may attend lectures, figure out a few questions they're able to ask their tutor and fully understand the concepts from there; but there are others who may still attend these lectures, absorb nothing, and take a longer time to figure out what's trying to be delivered to them in class. I personally do not learn in lectures, so my solution is to not attend them - full stop. It leaves me to learn things my own way with a little guidance from the unit outlines provided. Someone else might find these lectures helpful, and skipping them could be detrimental in their organisation of what to study next.

Also, health subjects - I don't know what you're talking about but there's a shit load of rote. Even more repetitive memorising is needed at the higher year levels.

You shouldn't have to be studying hard at this point in time

As much as I like to put down 1st years as 'having it easy' - this is in reality, clearly not the case. Most students are entering uni with zero experience of uni at all. They throw mock lectures and study skills sessions at you, but it's a shame most of these are inefficient in drumming in abilities to cruise through your course. Some people may have to study a lot harder than others to get up to date with the coursework.

[rustic_metal]

I disagree with Andy; it's very common. A hell of a lot of people struggle all the way through uni doing more work than a lot of the people who are successful. I think that most of it is mental; a lot of people *think* they're drowning at uni because they're thinking about it the wrong way, but are actually trucking along all right. Especially in first semester. A SWOTVAC or two usually gives them a bit of perspective.

[iffets12345]

Guys, I have to confess, I can't survive Uni.
At the moment I have been studying but whenever I read something in just washes over my head and I don't absorb anything. I've been reading and writing notes but sometimes, because I am sleepy in the lectures, they arent coherent and I don't really understand what I'm writing. The textbooks are sometimes so dense that I can't actually derive any simple explanation from them. I feel behind and unable to consolidate what I learn. What's worse, what I can learn, I forget after a week or two and then when I try to combine this with new information I feel like my brain can't hold all of it and I have to sacrifice something in my memory.
I seem to just memorise things and haven't difficult piecing concepts together, something that I used to do with more ease than most.

To be honest, this isn't normal.

Now, I don't know what subjects your doing - perhaps you're talking about a subject that literally requires rote memorization (of say - the different areas of the mouth), and in that case, yes - I'd say listen to the other posters.

But if your talking about normal science or health subjects, I think what you say is worrying.
You don't seem to understand how to digest information, I mean, it's not a matter of 'memorizing' things - it's about understanding the underlying logic (which allows you to deduce the answer for yourself) - But shouldn't you know this already? I mean, first year uni subjects are not intellectually demanding - they're basically a faster version of VCE subjects - and presumable you did managed with VCE?
Also you seem to think uni is about 'learning the system', or acquiring 'tricks' - It's not, please don't waste your effort with these things. You simply listen to the lecture, you listen to the idea's being presented, that is all - yes, when you have to do a problem set or an assignments, you have to look back at the lectures to refresh your memory, but the answers should logically flow without much extra effort. You shouldn't have to be studying hard at this point in time.

Hmm, I didn't mean that I wanted a learning trick to uni, but that I haven't adjusted to the different learning style of University compared to VCE/high school. I want to learn how to get into this different style of learning, that's all. And I did highlight that I want to understand concepts, I don't believe in memorising either. I've emphasized that I want to get past this problem and get back into understanding concepts.

I don't think that the lectures are too difficult, I just have some difficulty processing information nowadays. I think you've kind of misunderstood what I have said...

[Russ]

I convinced myself in first year that it was too hard and I'd never pass my subjects...turned out I actually did pretty well. Don't freak out over your first semester, everyone else is also having these problems but they're just not telling you about it (also having not done Biology and going into a health science course is a huge reality check).

The different style of learning is basically that there's no more teacher explanations. I don't know if you already posted it, but what's your study timetable like? What are you actually doing to (try) to study?

For my Biology subjects, I turn up to lectures and annotate my lecture notes then go home and write them out into an A4 book. Then whenever a test is looming I start going through the book and reading them out loud to myself and explaining the concepts as if I was teaching a class.

Q. This is really hard and I don't know whether I'll be able to pass. Everyone else seems so much better than me.
A. You got the marks to get in here, you'll get the marks to pass. Every first year has these confidence freak outs at some point during the year. Passing at uni is not hard and you can always build better marks later.

[shinny]

And I did highlight that I want to understand concepts, I don't believe in memorising either. I've emphasized that I want to get past this problem and get back into understanding concepts.

The problem is that uni isn't broken down into several convenient concepts like VCE subjects are though. There's just many times when you'll have to just rote learn lists of random information. That's just how it is so you'll need to find some way that helps you memorise things. For me that's simply writing notes but others find other ways (flash card etc). I'm generally a logical learner but there's been days (i.e. the day before the exam) when I'd just sit down with my notes and write and say it out several times over to remember.

The other thing is to be aware that what's in your textbook is often too in depth. If you're intending to do well in exams, focus more on the lectures rather than textbooks as lecturers tend to invariably test something which is in their lecture. They're not going to test random facts which you were never taught obviously. For 1st and 2nd year, I made my notes based entirely off lecture notes and only seeked textbooks for clarification.

[iffets12345]

And I did highlight that I want to understand concepts, I don't believe in memorising either. I've emphasized that I want to get past this problem and get back into understanding concepts.

The problem is that uni isn't broken down into several convenient concepts like VCE subjects are though. There's just many times when you'll have to just rote learn lists of random information. That's just how it is so you'll need to find some way that helps you memorise things. For me that's simply writing notes but others find other ways (flash card etc). I'm generally a logical learner but there's been days (i.e. the day before the exam) when I'd just sit down with my notes and write and say it out several times over to remember.

The other thing is to be aware that what's in your textbook is often too in depth. If you're intending to do well in exams, focus more on the lectures rather than textbooks as lecturers tend to invariably test something which is in their lecture. They're not going to test random facts which you were never taught obviously. For 1st and 2nd year, I made my notes based entirely off lecture notes and only seeked textbooks for clarification.

Thanks, I agree about the textbooks being too indepth. Sometimes my lecturer is a bit incoherent in some lectures so I need to rely on them for clarification like you said. Only just learning how to filter out all the verbose and technical words in teh textbook to get the point I need.
Hmm, and I guess it's nice to know some things need to be rote-learned because I do find memorising much more convenient. However, I should still try to be able to envisage all the separate components I learn in bio into one big picture right, like all the nervous systems and how they are related or different to one another.



Russ, to study I tend to rewrite the lecture notes. sometimes, if I do understand it then things are okay, but if the lecture notes and books aren't speaking to me it becomes a mindless, and useless exercise, but I reasoned doing it is better than doing nothing? Right now I re-read my old notes and sometimes, I see that I could've made it clearer. Today I thought about rewriting lecture notes and improving them, which SOUNDs useless but if I am being critical of my work then it must point to some understanding I am gaining each time I do it. I also figured that I learnt well in VCe by answering questions and doing lots of essays and improving on them each time. Since university doesn't really give out questions or tests, and Iam basically having a 10 week period of learning with no consolidation, I reasoned rewriting my notes and making flash cards in this way is a substituted form of my question-and-answer learning process.

what do u think Or am I just tooo confusing ==

[iNerd]

(also having not done Biology and going into a health science course is a huge reality check).

You're a constant scare to my decision to take Psych over Biology.....

[Russ]

I'd lie to you, but I'm not that nice.

@iffets, if you're rewriting notes and revising them then that's all you need to do. Are you able to understand the concepts presented? If not then that's a whole other kettle of fish and you'll want to go find student services and see if they run extra lectures and that sort of thing

[iffets12345]

I'd lie to you, but I'm not that nice.

@iffets, if you're rewriting notes and revising them then that's all you need to do. Are you able to understand the concepts presented? If not then that's a whole other kettle of fish and you'll want to go find student services and see if they run extra lectures and that sort of thing

hey thanks for that russ. I think I do but my brains just lagging. I know that its definately not hard stuff, just I have problems getting it and retaining the information,

[kyzoo]

Mmm I'm finding that I have similar problems adjusting to uni life. Y12 was reallly simple to me - just study\play computer games\MSN and do nothing else. Uni life is so much more complicated as now I need to fit in so much more - social life/gf/exercise/making friends. For a while I dealt with this by doing no study at all - I did no work at all for the whole of last week and didnt even go home for half of it. I never understood lectures and always fell asleep in them. For a while I felt like I was going to be one of those kids who got 99+ then failed in uni since I never knew what was going on in my tutes/lectures/pracs whereas other people did.

But now I made this plan to hardcore study for the next 2 weeks and cut down on going out so that I will catch up just before Easter Break, then I can do whatever in Easter Break. I'll see how it goes

[iffets12345]

Mmm I'm finding that I have similar problems adjusting to uni life. Y12 was reallly simple to me - just study\play computer games\MSN and do nothing else. Uni life is so much more complicated as now I need to fit in so much more - social life/gf/exercise/making friends. For a while I dealt with this by doing no study at all - I did no work at all for the whole of last week and didnt even go home for half of it. I never understood lectures and always fell asleep in them. For a while I felt like I was going to be one of those kids who got 99+ then failed in uni since I never knew what was going on in my tutes/lectures/pracs whereas other people did.

But now I made this plan to hardcore study for the next 2 weeks and cut down on going out so that I will catch up just before Easter Break, then I can do whatever in Easter Break. I'll see how it goes

DUUDE THAT IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT BECAUSE U HAD A SOCIAL LIFE LOL! Even if I eradicate my social life my brain has problems. And I agree about the fear of being one of those 99 kids who fail the rest of their life....

DONT EVER IGNORE YOUR GIRLFRIEND or I'll hunt you:)

[WhoTookMyUsername]

Guys, I have to confess, I can't survive Uni.
At the moment I have been studying but whenever I read something in just washes over my head and I don't absorb anything. I've been reading and writing notes but sometimes, because I am sleepy in the lectures, they arent coherent and I don't really understand what I'm writing. The textbooks are sometimes so dense that I can't actually derive any simple explanation from them. I feel behind and unable to consolidate what I learn. What's worse, what I can learn, I forget after a week or two and then when I try to combine this with new information I feel like my brain can't hold all of it and I have to sacrifice something in my memory.
I seem to just memorise things and haven't difficult piecing concepts together, something that I used to do with more ease than most.

To be honest, this isn't normal.

Now, I don't know what subjects your doing - perhaps you're talking about a subject that literally requires rote memorization (of say - the different areas of the mouth), and in that case, yes - I'd say listen to the other posters.

But if your talking about normal science or health subjects, I think what you say is worrying.
You don't seem to understand how to digest information, I mean, it's not a matter of 'memorizing' things - it's about understanding the underlying logic (which allows you to deduce the answer for yourself) - But shouldn't you know this already? I mean, first year uni subjects are not intellectually demanding - they're basically a faster version of VCE subjects - and presumable you did managed with VCE?
Also you seem to think uni is about 'learning the system', or acquiring 'tricks' - It's not, please don't waste your effort with these things. You simply listen to the lecture, you listen to the idea's being presented, that is all - yes, when you have to do a problem set or an assignments, you have to look back at the lectures to refresh your memory, but the answers should logically flow without much extra effort. You shouldn't have to be studying hard at this point in time.

Don't be harsh on him, everyone has an opinion and i think its great he is coming forward with a frank and honest assessment, his not spiting anyone or trolling or anything, he's just giving his honest opinion

THough of course i haven't done Uni and couldn't say the first thing apart from - work hard and try your best

[taiga]

Guys, I have to confess, I can't survive Uni.
At the moment I have been studying but whenever I read something in just washes over my head and I don't absorb anything. I've been reading and writing notes but sometimes, because I am sleepy in the lectures, they arent coherent and I don't really understand what I'm writing. The textbooks are sometimes so dense that I can't actually derive any simple explanation from them. I feel behind and unable to consolidate what I learn. What's worse, what I can learn, I forget after a week or two and then when I try to combine this with new information I feel like my brain can't hold all of it and I have to sacrifice something in my memory.
I seem to just memorise things and haven't difficult piecing concepts together, something that I used to do with more ease than most.

To be honest, this isn't normal.

Now, I don't know what subjects your doing - perhaps you're talking about a subject that literally requires rote memorization (of say - the different areas of the mouth), and in that case, yes - I'd say listen to the other posters.

But if your talking about normal science or health subjects, I think what you say is worrying.
You don't seem to understand how to digest information, I mean, it's not a matter of 'memorizing' things - it's about understanding the underlying logic (which allows you to deduce the answer for yourself) - But shouldn't you know this already? I mean, first year uni subjects are not intellectually demanding - they're basically a faster version of VCE subjects - and presumable you did managed with VCE?
Also you seem to think uni is about 'learning the system', or acquiring 'tricks' - It's not, please don't waste your effort with these things. You simply listen to the lecture, you listen to the idea's being presented, that is all - yes, when you have to do a problem set or an assignments, you have to look back at the lectures to refresh your memory, but the answers should logically flow without much extra effort. You shouldn't have to be studying hard at this point in time.

Don't be harsh on him, everyone has an opinion and i think its great he is coming forward with a frank and honest assessment, his not spiting anyone or trolling or anything, he's just giving his honest opinion

THough of course i haven't done Uni and couldn't say the first thing apart from - work hard and try your best

I agree, whilst not in the nicest tone, he is telling it like he sees it, and does offer his own advice.