How easy do you find uni?

lisa_75

I find uni really difficult and stressful. I spend quite a few hours studying (around 20 a week) and am always stressed out and worried! I am on course for a 2:1 and I think this pretty much reflects the effort I put in.

However, I have friends who find it a breeze. They do essays the night before and still manage to get 58%, when I have spend 6 weeks on the same essay and only got 65%!

How easy do you find uni? I am about to enter my third year and am dreading the pressure. Do you find it “easy”?

joanster

I havent been at uni long, but from what i remember of a-levels there were always people that said they didnt do any work/revision. :rolleyes:

I never believed them!

lellie

I haven't done too much work over the past 2 years and averaged a 2.1 without any real effort, however I find uni hard on a more personal level.. I don't find the work difficult, but it still stresses me out.

ollyshaw

lisa_75, it depends on the course. If you are doing a hard course you get the rewards in the jobs market.

Also you need to work out how many hours each precent is worth. For example in my masters I did what I thought was a good job, usually getting 70%. Some of my mates wanted to have perfection. They spent an extra 40% time for an extra 5% mark. Not worth it in my view!

Olly

joeyjoejoe_2

i think it all depends on what type of person you are and as to what course your on. People studying outer mongolian dance with statistics who have no exams and 3 hours a week are generally more likely to find uni easier than say myself studying mechanical engineering with a 35hour week. No offence to those studying mongolian dance

lisa_75

ollyshaw wrote:

lisa_75, it depends on the course. If you are doing a hard course you get the rewards in the jobs market.

Also you need to work out how many hours each precent is worth. For example in my masters I did what I thought was a good job, usually getting 70%. Some of my mates wanted to have perfection. They spent an extra 40% time for an extra 5% mark. Not worth it in my view!

Olly

I do understand. My friend is pressuring me to "put the extra effort in" in order to get a first. I really don’t think I have it in me as I work hard enough as it is (also have a family and house to run so have that to consider). She just makes me feel like I don’t do enough. For me the extra stress of that 5% I need to get a first would be too much.

Dead_Eye_Jones

some people, like me, make a big effort to make things look easy. People like to put forward that image for whatever reason. Rest assured I worked hard behind the scenes, I might have said I was going home to watch a few vids and put my feet up, but in reality I was working all evening! I was just good at hiding all my stresses, I didnt want to appear weak etc. Sadly that attitude at work isnt so good cos people think I dont work as hard as I really do !

So your friends might look like they are having an easy time, but in reality they are either gifted, secretly working very hard, or fooling themselves.

Keep organised and on top of your work and you will be able to cope, yep it is hard work but nothing you wont be able to handle. Really, if I can do it - anyone can!

Good luck

Cheeky_2

I definitely agree that it depends on the course. I really did find it very easy, I'm supremely lazy but am lucky that I'm pretty good at writing essays and could thrash something out the night before. I got a 2:1 throughout Uni, I found it easy to get to that level but to get a First which only two people on my course achieved I would have had to put in a lot of work so then wouldn't have found it easy

I did a Business degree, from GCSE level I seemed to have an aptitude for it without any real effort. However, I'm the first to admit that if I was doing a Biology/Chemistry degree things would have been very very different!

I know it's hard but try not to worry what other people are doing, it's none of their business how much / how little work you do. Good luck, I hope your 3rd year isn't too stressful for you

studentphil

I find university fairly hard but I think it is more my emotional state that acts as a barrier to me doing better. I have got from 80's to 40's for marks and the 40's have been on modules I have worked really hard at, so do not ask me how to do well as I have no idea. Most people seem to do better in their third year than their second year if that helps.

anewman

I managed a first at just under 70%. However, if I had other commitments such as a family and/or a job I would definitely not have done so well. I found the final year project particularly stressful when it came to writing it all up on time.

The best guidance I could give (based on my knowledge) for any final year project is to always make the meetings with the supervisor and to make changes as they suggest, as often it will be them who mark it. If you can't be bothered to turn up to meetings and don't make changes they suggest and things are left wrong, they won't be too impressed.

I am just about to start a masters but I'm concerned it will be more difficult because a small part of the assessment is a presentation and I have never done one plus I am a shy/anxious type of person and crap at interviews (currently unemployed). Also some of the teaching is going away and reading articles, then coming back and discussing the issues raised by the article. I feel I will also be particularly poor at this. Another concern is the minimum pass mark is 50% rather than 40%. I guess I'll only know how things go when things start to happen and I get marks back - however.

Also, as much as I am better at written work, there will probably be some people who would much rather be assessed wholly verbally doing presentations as opposed to written work.

melancholly

lisa_75 wrote:

However, I have friends who find it a breeze. They do essays the night before and still manage to get 58%, when I have spend 6 weeks on the same essay and only got 65%!

It may be only a 7% difference, but it's up from a 2:2 standard at 58% to a solid 2:1 at 65%. That's quite a jump in quality!!
You're clearly getting pretty good marks so I wouldn't worry too much..... most people find at least some of their course pretty challenging and if they say they don't, then 99% of the time they're bluffing!