My geeks…. this mental health Friday is brought to you by the awesome @blessingmanifesting

Hey guys, I’ve gotten a number of questions asking for advice about university/college and since I’ve got a close friend getting ready to enter university as well, I thought I might write up a post with some of my own university advice, tips, and tricks! Lecture Advice:

Don’t enrol in 8am classes if you have a choice - unless you’re a morning person then go for it, but otherwise you might end up skipping your lectures for an extra hour of sleep.

Don’t skip your lectures - the more lectures you skip then the easier it is to fall behind and get into the habit of not going. It’s really important to attend your lectures and develop a personal relationship with your lecturers.

Don’t skip your lecture to catch up - if you’re falling behind then you really should dedicate a day to get all caught up because if you keep skipping your lectures to catch up, then you’re going to be behind all semester long.

Get to know your lecturers and tutors - getting to know them more personally by getting involved in your tutorials and asking questions when you’re not sure about something. If they can see that you’ve been actively trying to participate then they’ll be a lot happier to help you out when you need it. Don’t be afraid to send them an email or meet with them during their office hours.

Attend all your tutorials/workshops - I often found that my final exams were based off of the questions and answers from my workshops. So make sure to take careful notes and try to answer all the questions in your workshops, if so studying for your final exams should be a breeze!

Make friends with the people in your lectures - I made friends with people studying my degree because we had a lot of classes together and we always shared notes from our lectures and studied together for all our quizzes and final exams!

Create a shared Google Document to share notes - my friends and I had a shared google document that everyone could access and each week we uploaded our notes from class to share with each other. This ensured that we never missed important information because someone would always catch it.

Attend PASS if you need help - some universities offer PASS (peer assisted study sessions) sessions where students come together to revise content and they’re often led by an undergrad student who successfully completed the course the previous year.

Essay/Assignment Advice:

Find your resources / literature before writing your essays - if you find relevant information and quotes first, then it makes knowing what to write about a lot easier. If you need help finding scholarly articles try Google Scholar!

Try to credit your sources as you go - I found it a lot easier referencing my sources in my reference list as I used them, rather than dedicating half an hour to an hour after I had finished my essay to go back, find all my sources, and then reference them properly.

Referencing Tool - my university has a really helpful referencing tool that tells you how to reference properly using the different referencing styles if you need help!

Find the motivation to stop procrastinating - If you’re struggling to find the motivation to do your work I’ve made a separate post about how to stop procrastinating!

Can’t access certain journal articles? - this website has been my savior for the past four years! It allows me to access articles that I would otherwise have to pay for, for free!

Don’t leave your assessments until the last minute - if your essay is due at midnight try to finish it much earlier so that you’re in the right frame of mind to edit and submit it! I always tried to finish my assignments a couple days in advance so that I had a lot of time to edit them.

Write down your assignment due dates somewhere you can see - I once forgot to submit a 5% quiz because I completely forgot all about it. Since then I wrote down every single assignment due date on my wall calendar and in my assignment tracker from @thearialligraphyproject​ and I never forgot again!

Personal Advice:

Don’t pull allnighters - try to get as much sleep as possible because you’re pretty much always going to be tired, so pulling allnighters and then skipping your lectures the next day is never a good idea.

Join clubs - try to find a club that interests you or is relevant to your degree! They’re a great place to meet people, make new friends, and to get you out of the house or your dorm room! I joined the Japan Club and met lots of Japanese people to practice Japanese with and made friends with a lot of domestic students as well!

Go to uni events - try going to as many events as you possibly can without falling behind in your work! It’s important to socialise and get out of your room in order to destress. I ended up doing activities I never thought I would have; trips to theme parks, rock climbing, ice skating, etc. and they were all free!

Don’t study at university unless YOU want to - you shouldn’t go to university unless you’re studying something for yourself because it is a lot of work and effort, so if you’re going just to make your parents happier you won’t be happy so make sure you’re going for the right reasons! If you find that you don’t enjoy your degree then you should look at what else your uni has to offer, you might find another degree that suits you better!

Take your ID with you everywhere - there were so many free food events and activities at my campus and all you had to do was show your ID! So make sure you always have it on you!

Go see the free counselor - most universities have a free counselor or therapist on campus that you can talk to if you’re struggling or just want someone to talk to, so if you feel like you need it schedule an appointment!

Not sure what to do after your degree? - go see the career adviser! When I wasn’t sure what to do when my degree ended I went to see the career adviser on my campus and she gave me a list of suggestions and steps to take that really helped me out!

Do your chores - make your bed, clean your room, go grocery shopping, cook your meals, take out the trash! You need to remember to look after yourself mentally and physically while you’re studying. It always helped me when my environment was clean and organised too.

“Did I ever tell you how attracted I am to your mind set?”

“Did I ever tell you how attracted I am to your mind set?”