By Emily O'Hara
Credit: Alexis Brown
I’m not going to sugar coat it for you - the third and final year of university is hell, and I’m saying that as someone who picked writing as a degree, which is arguably one of the least taxing undergrad courses you could select.
Let me ask if this sounds familiar as your year one and two: endless parties, waking up at noon on a Tuesday, going home every other week to get your laundry done and studying through May for your exams and hand-ins come June. This is how my first two years were, anyway - in short, a blast. I hope you made the most of it because by the second week of your third year all the parties and sleep-ins will be a distant memory.
Let me ask if this sounds familiar as your year one and two: endless parties, waking up at noon on a Tuesday, going home every other week to get your laundry done and studying through May for your exams and hand-ins come June. This is how my first two years were, anyway - in short, a blast. I hope you made the most of it because by the second week of your third year all the parties and sleep-ins will be a distant memory.
In my particular degree, the first two years didn’t count all that much toward my final grade, so I knew going in that I’d have to swap Jägerbombs for jotter pads and work out how to stop going to bed at 4am. So, here’s a quick guide on how to go from a party student who only turns up to lectures once a week to a solid 2:1 in the space of the next year.
First things first, preparation really is key. Find out as soon as possible which modules you will be taking, and which lecturers you will have for each module. Send each lecturer an email and ask if they can tell you which big projects are coming this side of term and check how you can best prepare. I started brainstorming and writing my third-year projects in the summer so that I didn’t then have ten assignments at once when classes started. By getting one or two things done early, you can then get the next couple of assignments done early, and you can keep the cycle up reasonably well throughout the year.
Another key thing to work on in the first term is changing your lifestyle a bit. This means missing a party once or twice a week, retraining your sleep pattern so you can get up earlier to do studying and maybe going to fewer social and family events. These sacrifices will all be necessary, and when this really sucks, do remember that it’s temporary, and there will be plenty of time to resume doing all these things that you love once you graduate. If you’ve got stuck in a terrible sleeping pattern, try going to bed half an hour earlier and waking up half an hour earlier each night - it works like a charm.
This takes us up to Christmas. Now, nobody likes working at Christmas. I advise giving yourself one week, ten days off around the 25th, and study through the rest of that time. In my first and second years I did all my uni work that was due in January about three days before term restarted, and consequently the work I handed in was dreadful. If you get a few bits done just after the end of term and carry on around new year, you’ll feel in a much better place by the time you arrive back at uni.
First things first, preparation really is key. Find out as soon as possible which modules you will be taking, and which lecturers you will have for each module. Send each lecturer an email and ask if they can tell you which big projects are coming this side of term and check how you can best prepare. I started brainstorming and writing my third-year projects in the summer so that I didn’t then have ten assignments at once when classes started. By getting one or two things done early, you can then get the next couple of assignments done early, and you can keep the cycle up reasonably well throughout the year.
Another key thing to work on in the first term is changing your lifestyle a bit. This means missing a party once or twice a week, retraining your sleep pattern so you can get up earlier to do studying and maybe going to fewer social and family events. These sacrifices will all be necessary, and when this really sucks, do remember that it’s temporary, and there will be plenty of time to resume doing all these things that you love once you graduate. If you’ve got stuck in a terrible sleeping pattern, try going to bed half an hour earlier and waking up half an hour earlier each night - it works like a charm.
This takes us up to Christmas. Now, nobody likes working at Christmas. I advise giving yourself one week, ten days off around the 25th, and study through the rest of that time. In my first and second years I did all my uni work that was due in January about three days before term restarted, and consequently the work I handed in was dreadful. If you get a few bits done just after the end of term and carry on around new year, you’ll feel in a much better place by the time you arrive back at uni.
Credit: Eugene Zhyvchik
The absolute first thing you should do in January is find out which exams and hand ins are on what dates, and make a list of them in chronological order. This way, you can prioritise your studying - there’s no point working on a hand-in which is due in six weeks’ time when there’s an exam you have to sit in nine days.
Working from the chronological exam list - which you should probably save on three different devices and staple to your forehead - create a studying timetable and stick to it. Even half an hour each day rather than a frazzled eight-hour, caffeine fuelled all-nighter prior to an exam would be highly beneficial. Always study in short bursts as your brain just won’t concentrate for much longer than 45 minutes on one topic.
Stick to this while also trying to cling on to your sanity, and you should be just fine. Remember, it’s temporary!
Working from the chronological exam list - which you should probably save on three different devices and staple to your forehead - create a studying timetable and stick to it. Even half an hour each day rather than a frazzled eight-hour, caffeine fuelled all-nighter prior to an exam would be highly beneficial. Always study in short bursts as your brain just won’t concentrate for much longer than 45 minutes on one topic.
Stick to this while also trying to cling on to your sanity, and you should be just fine. Remember, it’s temporary!
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