MUST READ!! 13 tips for every fresher

1.       Familiarize  yourself with the campus during
Orientation Week.
 I would strongly recommend familiarising
yourself with the location of all your lectures and
tutorials, as well as places to eat lunch, libraries,
book shops and other important places. There is
nothing worse than working into the wrong lecture
hall or being lost and turning up late for your lecture
because you couldn't find the room. There is plenty
of time during orientation week to explore the
campus and familiarise yourself with the places you
need to.

2.       Get your textbooks as early as you can
Check around for a second hand bookstore and  try
and get there as early as you can to see if they sell
any textbooks related to your courses. Textbooks can
be expensive, however if you don't go to your
 secondhand bookstore early, there may
not be anymore copies of the textbooks you want. I
would know. I went in the week before lectures and
tutorials started and had no luck finding any of my
textbooks at the secondhand store.

3.       Drag Yourself to Class
Yes, some profs post all of their notes online
(although most of my profs only included outlines,
you actually had to go to class to get the full notes)
and yes, you can get notes from your friends/
classmates. But reading the notes is not the same as
actually going to class. Many profs will give subtle
hints about what they will test in exams during class.
For example, if a prof repeats something several
times, you can bet it is important, and will likely
show up on the exam. Similarly, you can often pick
up on a prof's body language, as to what they
consider important. Those types of things you can't
get from notes. Other profs will do more examples of
problems in class than will appear in the posted
notes

4.       Take effective notes in lectures
If you try to write down every word the lecturer
says, you'll be too busy writing to listen. Take brief
notes using your own abbreviations, but not so
brief that you don't understand them later.
Most of the time we were adding to the notes
the lecturer had given us. I would have the lecture
notes in front of me and if the lecturer stressed
that something was important, I'd write it in more
detail.

5.       See your tutor as an advocate - there may be

other lecturers or pupils in the institution you have
to negotiate with. Tutors are there for your benefit.
If there are any matters, whether family, social
or health, that may influence your ability to
perform well, you should let your tutor know
immediately. Never hide personal problems
because all departments take into consideration
how extracurricular matters may influence your
academic performance.
My advice would be to keep relationships more
professional than personal because ultimately your
tutors have a say in your academic grading and
wellbeing, and when things go wrong it's always
easier to challenge someone you've had a
professional relationship with rather than an over-
friendly one.

6.       Find Someone Worse Off Than You Are
I teach prep sessions … I tell my students that they
should find a friend who's in the same class as they
are and who is horribly horrible screwed for the test
and say "hey, let's study together". The friend who is
screwed will probably have lots and lots of questions.
And your success (or not) in explaining them will be
a good indication of how well you understand the
material.

7.       Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Make use of all the services that your university
offers. Most universities have centres that help
students with time management, study skills, writing
skills, etc. Make use of these resources!

8.       Do not leave assignments until the last
minute
Procrastination, unfortunately, is not a university
student's best friend. It is unlikely that working on an
assignment the night before the due date will result
in your best work. It will become hard as time goes
on, trying to balance assessment, a social life and
other commitments, however it is in your best
interest to try and avoid working on an assignment in
the last minute. I strongly recommend creating a
plan of your assignment as soon as you get it.

9.       Make friends and have fun
This last piece of advice is a little cheesy, but
probably the most important. It is most likely that
the course you are doing will at least last a few years
and without at least a few friends, I can promise you
university life will be dull. There is no better feeling
than knowing people who are going through the
same stress as you are. Making friends who are in
your course will open up amazing group study
opportunities which will significantly aid your
performance in your courses.

10.   How to avoid getting into debt
Some people like to build up the idea of
budgeting and managing money as something that
is difficult - it is not. You need to work out how
much money you're going to have coming in and to
project what your outgoings will be. Often, those
two figures aren't going to balance so you've got
two options: you either increase your income or
decrease your expenditure. There are always
inventive ways of doing things a bit more cheaply.

11.   You will not have as much sex as you might be
hoping for
Freshers' Week, as everyone knows, is a roiling
hotbed of constant, regrettable sexual activity.
Except, of course, that it's not. This isn't San
Francisco in 1969 – it's Leeds in 2013, and it's
probably raining.
You may well get lucky, but university isn't wall-to-
wall sex parties. The usual advice applies: girl or boy,
on a night out, make sure you have at least one
condom, because STIs are real and morning-after
pills pricy. And try not to be too horrible to your new
friend the day after – chances are you'll be sharing
halls, lectures and nightclub queues with them for
the next three years.

12.   Sleep
Make sure you get the hours you need, and set a
consistent time to wake up every day to maintain a
routine. It will keep your energy up so you can get
more out of your studying and classes. This can be
really challenging in rez, where a lot of people stay
up past 2 most nights, but you've got to do what's
best for your health and school.

13.   Don't Live on Junk Food
Try to eat healthy, even if you are living in rez. It can
be tough, but it will help you to stay healthy and give
you energy for all your studies. Also try to get some
exercise in - schedule it in like anything else. That
will also help keep you healthy and energized.