\n
<\/p>\n
Getting Off to a Good Start Guide<\/strong> <\/p>\n The first couple of weeks of uni are a bit of a whirlwind, especially if you engage fully with Orientation<\/a>. There is a party-like atmosphere with an emphasis on fun, involvement and connection with others. It is a nice way to start especially if you are used to school or work years that start with little fanfare.<\/p>\n But very quickly it is down to business.<\/p>\n Where possible, you want to get started early and quickly with your readings, lecture notes, checking out your assignments, scheduling your week etc. Any existing student or staff member can tell you that the academic year goes by really quickly and it is easy to fall behind. Getting some early momentum is very beneficial.<\/p>\n So, what does that involve?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I mentioned this in the previous section of the guide, but colleagues of mine have created an amazing online topic called \u2018Finding Your Way At Flinders<\/a>\u201d which is there to help you:<\/p>\n I very strongly recommend you take some time to work through the content in this FLO topic<\/a>. By the end of that topic, you\u2019ll not only be feeling a lot more confident in FLO (the online learning systems where you will find your topics), but you\u2019ll have a greater sense of what life as a student is going to be like. Students who have accurate and realistic expectations of what being a student will be like and strategise their days and weeks to meet these expectations have a better study experience<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Regardless of your topic or study load (full or part-time), I encourage students to think about their studies like a job. When you have a job, you are required (by your employer) to be at a certain place at a certain time, doing what it is they need you to do. This means not allocating that time to other activities. For example, if your boss expected you to be at work from 9am to 5pm each day, but instead you spent that time with friends, you would quickly find you no longer have a job.<\/p>\n If you are doing a full-time degree (usually 36 units), then expect, as a default, that you\u2019ll need to spend at least 36 hours per week focused on your studies (1 hour per unit). This is roughly the equivalent of a full-time job, namely Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. If you are studying part-time, you can adjust this pro-rata. For example, a \u00bd load would be ~ 20 hours, \u00bc load 10 hours and so on.<\/p>\n Where many students fall into a trap is that they aren\u2019t required to be on-campus for that full 36 hours, because their lectures\/ tutorials\/ labs might only take up half that time (e.g. 18 hours) or be available online. The problem is, they then allocate that remaining 18 hours to other things: socialising, work, Netflix, sleeping in, etc. Doing this can quickly lead to you falling behind on readings, assignments, reports and exam preparation, because a lot of the work that is done at uni is done in-between lectures, tutorials and labs.<\/p>\n Jaimee (who is part of the orientation team) recommended that you put assignment due dates in your day-to-day calendar at the beginning of your topic, and then block out at least 2 days (more likely 1 week) prior. This way you are allocating time for future you to have enough time to get assignments done.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \ud83d\udfe2 Early in the year, grab a diary and set up a schedule that includes your actual contact hours (time when you need to be at university or attending online lectures), as well as additional study time to meet the required amount (i.e. 36 hours total for a full-time degree, 18 for a \u00bd time etc etc). Then and only then, can you start allocating the remaining time to other aspects of your life. Don’t worry though – a full-time study load still gives you time for other stuff. This is a great graphic that a previous colleague made to help students think about how to allocate their time.<\/span><\/p>\n In the early days if it feels like there is not enough work to fill the allocated time, resist the temptation to load your schedule with other things. Focus first on mapping out the year ahead and getting familiar with when everything is due. You can also get ahead on readings. As the year progresses, you’ll get a better idea of how much time is needed to cover your workload, at which point, if you have spare time, you can start exploring extra-curricular activities such as clubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most students, whether they are coming straight from high school, or returning to education after a hiatus, find university-level study to be more challenging and difficult than what they have done previously. This is the result of a few things:<\/p>\n On the surface this might sound a little intimidating, but it is actually a good thing. University will push you to be the best version of yourself that you can be and that means working hard. Working hard however doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t also work smart.<\/p>\n Working smart means familiarising yourself with study strategies that have been shown to be effective in helping people learn. Thankfully, cognitive science (a field dedicated to understanding how we think and how our brains work) and learning scientists<\/a> have helped us understand the best ways to learn.<\/p>\n For example, did you know that just reading, taking notes and highlighting is not the most effective way to learn content? Instead, it is good to regularly test yourself on your ability to free recall the information you are learning. You can build this into your study day. For example, start each study session by trying to remember as much as you can of what you studied the day before.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udfe2 Soooooooooo…..teach yourself evidence-based study strategies by familiarising yourself with our resource \u2018Evidence-Based study, writing and exam preparation tips<\/a>\u2019. This is a document in which I have been collecting evidence-based effective study and writing strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n It covers quite a bit.<\/p>\n As a starter, here are a few small changes you can make immediately that can help improve your learning.<\/p>\n 1\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0 Recall Yesterday’s Learning<\/strong> 2\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0 Set a 2-Hour Study Plan Today<\/strong> 3\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0 Prepare for Your Next Lecture<\/strong> 4\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0 Revamp Your Note-Taking<\/strong> 5\ufe0f\u20e3\u00a0 Transform Your Study Space Today<\/strong> <\/p>\n I found that the quality of writing expected from me at University was much higher than that expected of me at high school. I was lucky however that my mum was an ex-English teacher who was able to help me improve my writing (I\u2019m having flashbacks of a lot of red pen!).<\/p>\n You might not have people in your life that can help you improve your writing. You might be the first person in your family to go to uni. However the Uni has got you covered there also.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udfe2 Familiarise yourself with the services offered by the Student Learning Support Service<\/a> and Library<\/a> and use where appropriate.<\/p>\n The Student Learning Support Service<\/a> (SLSS) provides a range of resources to help students with the academic side of university.<\/p>\n Utilising these resources can help you:<\/p>\n Links to all these resources, services, workshops and modules can be found at:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Similarly, the Library<\/a> offers a range of direct services to students that can help with their assignments and navigating the information environment at a university.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Procrastination is putting off something that needs to be done until later. We all do it, so don\u2019t freak out if you find yourself doing it.<\/p>\n There are a few basic principles that can help you understand why you procrastinate and how to tackle it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Humans manage anxiety and discomfort with avoidance\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Study can be hard. As a result, it can feel challenging or difficult at times. Our first reaction, when confronted by something that makes us feel<\/strong> uncomfortable is to avoid it. This makes sense but isn\u2019t the most useful response when trying to get a degree.<\/p>\n Tackling procrastination includes pushing yourself beyond that initial discomfort and realising that the discomfort lessens and sometimes disappears once you are engaged and working on the task you\u2019ve been avoiding.<\/p>\n It is often when a student sits down to start an assignment or start learning for exams, that they get a bit overwhelmed by the size or the difficulty of the task ahead of them. This is the point when they tell themselves \u2018I can start this later\u2019 or think of something else \u2018really important\u2019 that they need to do.<\/p>\n A key component to overcoming procrastination is repeatedly identifying and resisting those desires to avoid the task and instead breaking the task into little manageable pieces and getting started on them as soon as possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is an ongoing conflict between our future self and our current self\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Your future self would really like you to have a degree, so you can head out into the world, make money and do something worthwhile\/make a contribution. Your current self however is more interested in feeling as good as they can in the moment (which often means doing something other than study).<\/p>\n Tackling procrastination means connecting more closely to the needs of your future self rather than your current self. This applies in other areas of life like nutrition or exercise. Some discomfort or inconvenience in the present moment is critical to ensure better health and wellbeing in the future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We use our emotional states as an indicator of our willingness and ability to work<\/em><\/p>\n We tend to get trapped into thinking that we can only do good work when we are feeling inspired, motivated, creative and happy. So, we wait until we are \u2018feeling right\u2019 before starting our work.<\/p>\n The problem is that when we are working on something that is really important to us (e.g. a degree), the emotions attached to that will not always be positive. In fact, the more important something is to you, the more likely you\u2019ll feel nervous or apprehensive or doubtful as you approach it. They\u2019re actually signs that it is important to you.<\/p>\n Tackling procrastination means learning that, in fact, feelings of motivation, inspiration and creativity emerge from hard work and meeting our goals, not the other way around.<\/p>\n We tend to make a similar mistake when it comes to ability. We take our nervousness or apprehension or confusion as a sign that we don\u2019t have the necessary skills, but often it is simply the case that learning something new is always accompanied by those feelings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We all have unhelpful beliefs about getting work done<\/em><\/p>\n We all develop unhelpful or irrational beliefs about getting work done.<\/p>\n Common ones include \u2018it must be perfect\u2019, \u2018this assignment is stupid so I am not going to try\u2019, \u2018I work much better under pressure\u2019, and \u2018I\u2019m a morning person, so now it is the afternoon I may as well do something else\u2019. Many of these beliefs contribute to our ongoing procrastination by providing a form of justification for our avoidance.<\/p>\n Tackling procrastination means identifying what beliefs you hold about getting work done and asking yourself whether some of them might be unhelpful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \ud83d\udfe2 If you struggle with procrastination, consider getting hold of our \u2018Put Off Procrastinating<\/a>\u2019 workbook. It guides you through the process of understand how your beliefs might be shaping your avoidance. You might also find our procrastination mailing list useful<\/a> as I send out regular reflections and advice on how to tackle procrastination.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When things go wrong with your studies, it can feel like you are on your own. But you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n The Flinders University Student Association (FUSA) has \u2018Student Advocacy Officers<\/a>\u2019 who can help you navigate your way through a whole range of study-related issues:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udfe2 Visit the FUSA website<\/a>, have a look around, and sign-up to receive their email updates. Alternatively, follow them on one of their social media channels – Facebook<\/a> or Instagram<\/a>. To find the stuff specifically on academic advocacy click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Section reflection<\/strong> \ud83e\udd14<\/p>\n When you’ve studied in the past, what has been helpful? What study techniques have you found have worked best? What study practices have you learned don’t work?<\/p>\n Feel free to sound out in the comments below. Use your FAN and password to login to comment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Getting Off to a Good Start Guide<\/strong> <\/p>\n Our Getting Off To A Good Start Guide is a collection of tips and advice for new or returning students who want to start the year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":5424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14237,81,71,42],"tags":[756,19863,19864,18215,5469,5306,32,7337,73,19862],"class_list":["post-4748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-series","category-flinders-services-and-programs","category-recommended-reading","category-well-being-at-flinders","tag-academic-success","tag-effective-study-habits","tag-evidence-based-learning-strategies","tag-flinders-university","tag-new-students","tag-orientation","tag-procrastination","tag-study-tips","tag-time-management","tag-university-preparation"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2728 Explore the sections:
\ud83d\udd17 Introduction<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Know Your Way Around<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Start Your Studies Well<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Looking After Yourself<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Your Support System<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Further Reading<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Final Words<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2023\/02\/1-3.jpg\")
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\n
\nAction<\/em>: Set a timer for 5\u201310 minutes. Without looking at your notes, write down everything you remember from the last lecture or reading session.
\nNext Step<\/em>: Compare your recall with your notes. Highlight what you missed and review those sections to strengthen your understanding.<\/p>\n
\nAction<\/em>: Divide the next 2 hours into four 25-minute Pomodoro sessions with 5-minute breaks.
\nNext Step<\/em>: Choose one task per session (e.g., review lecture notes, summarize a reading, or create a diagram). Use the first Pomodoro to tackle your hardest task.<\/p>\n
\nAction<\/em>: Open your course material for an upcoming lecture. Spend 15 minutes skimming pre-readings or watching provided videos.
\nNext Step<\/em>: Write down one question or area you want to understand better during the lecture.<\/p>\n
\nAction<\/em>: Grab your notes from your last class and rewrite a key section in your own words or as a diagram.
\nNext Step<\/em>: Highlight three connections between this content and what you\u2019ve already learned. Summarize these in one sentence.<\/p>\n
\nAction<\/em>: Spend 10 minutes tidying up your study area. Remove distractions (e.g., phones, clutter) and add a motivational object (e.g., a favorite quote or a plant).
\nNext Step<\/em>: Arrange your materials (books, laptop, stationery) in one spot so they\u2019re ready for your next study session.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2023\/02\/6-3.jpg\")
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2023\/02\/Screenshot_27-11-2024_84711_students.flinders.edu_.au_.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2023\/02\/3-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2023\/02\/2-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\u2728 Explore the sections:
\ud83d\udd17 Introduction<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Know Your Way Around<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Start Your Studies Well<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Looking After Yourself<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Your Support System<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Further Reading<\/a> |
\ud83d\udd17 Final Words<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/71\/2023\/02\/3-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"