Top 3 Questions about Support & Success

1. What’s the best way to start a study group?

Get to know people in your tutorials and classes and shout out.  Program and degree specific social media (FB, etc) may be other good places to find people.

2. What tips do you have for getting good grades beyond just studying hard?

In no particular order:

• Love what you are studying – for real!
• Go to classes & tutorials – you’d think this is common sense… but it’s amazing how often it’s not.
• Get to know your lecturers & tutors -- build a relationship, ask questions, show interest.  I will pay off, we promise.
• ASK questions – it’s the simplest thing but somehow we feel like we can’t in lectures – where most lecturers would LOVE people to ask questions.
• Know how your degree works – sit in the driver’s seat of your education and know what options are available to you.
• Spend time on campus.  No, really, there’s a lot of research suggesting that students who integrate different parts of their lives into their life on campus (learning, friends, clubs/activities, sport, fitness, hobbies, even work) tend to do better.  Plus it’s fun!
• Experiment with different styles of study to find out what kind of learner you are
• Ask for help if you need it, as early as possible!

Fun Fact:  Research in North America indicates that the most employable graduates aren’t necessarily those with the highest grades, but rather those that sit just below them – the students who COULD have had the best grades if they weren’t too busy doing other things like getting involved and building additional employable life experiences.  Kudos to those who can do both!

3. How many hours should you spend studying on each course?

As a general rule, multiply your weekly contact hours for a given course by about two.  So if you have a 2 hour lecture and a 2 hour tute each week (4 contact hours) you should be spending about 7-10 hours outside of that on study.  Yup… study is kinda your full-time job!