How easy do you find uni?

wishiwasarichgirl

i'm one of the annoying b*tches who found it [STRIKE]pretty easy[/STRIKE]
no, not easy, but i enjoyed it immensely, did'nt work too hard, got a 2:1 and a good job afterwards. i don't think you should try to compare yourself to anyone else or "compete" with them. don't feel pressurised to slack off OR work your a*** off just cos everyone else is

everyone has different abilities, i was lucky, i could read things a couple of times and remenber/understand them wherease some of my friends had to write out endless notes before they "got" it

by this stage you probably know your own abilities, work to the best of them but don't sacrifice everything for your studies, at the end of the day a lot of employers want to see evidence of interests and abilities other than purely academic. my course was small (36 in my year) the few who got a "first" were the last to get a job!

HTH and makes sense - i've had a couple of glasses of wine

pboae

lisa_75 wrote:

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.

Unless you are doing a subject with absolute marks (i.e. maths exams where answers are either right or wrong), then the difference between a 2:i and a 1st is rarely about working harder, and usually about working smarter. Whereas the difference between a 2:2 and 2:i is about studying harder and learning more.

By that I mean, to get up to a first they will be looking for something specific, what that is depends on your subject. It may be a greater degree of personal interpretation, greater understanding of the wider problem, etc. But it's something you won't get just by reading more and studying harder.

I don't think I am explaining this very well :-( If you take a piece of work you got a good 2:i grade for, can you look at it and see what you needed to do to get a 1st? I've often found that Uni markers aren't very good at being clear about that in their feedback. If you don't know what it is you are missing, go and speak to a tutor and find out. Or ask for some sample or ideal papers so you can read them yourself.

Your friend probably means well, but as she neither marks your work nor lives your life, she's not in any position to know how much 'harder' you have to work to increase your grades. Some people thrive on that sort of outside pressure, others just find it an additional hassle they could do without. Don't be afraid to tell her to back off (politely of course!) if you've had enough.

studentphil

I look at it like this, to get a pass is an achievement and many people do not even get that.

To get a first you need to be reading very widely and reading journals and using them in a critical way. If you are on a Joint honours then getting a first is very hard as you have to master two ways of thinking and yet you only have half as many credits in each topic as a single honours student to develop those skills.

flossy_splodge

Hi lisa_75. One piece of information I'd like to share is get all the input you can. I have two daughters both extremely bright (both in Mensa). One asked lots of questions, got anyone to read her work (including me when around, for what it was worth) and sifted through the advice for things that helped. She got a 1st in her first degree, an excellent masters and is now funded to do her PhD. She STILL asks for help, opinion, input etc and WORKS HARD. The other daughter doesn't believe in herself, is easily put off her own needs by others coming to her for advice, a night out, to talk etc etc. get the picture? She would NOT take advice, input, support etc. Her lousy boyfriend broke up with her for no good reason 2 weeks before finals. She came out with a high 2.2 and is utterly devastated as she knows if she had been focussed and looked after her OWN needs first she too could easily have got a first. So I feel the lesson is: don't be proud, look after your own needs if it matters to you what you come out with and then just do your best. But that means being a bit selfish. It's only for a relatively short period of time and will benefit all who care about you as YOU will be happy with the result. A 2.1 is wonderful. Be pleased you are heading for that and don't worry what others say about their own endeavours, just look to your own. Very best of luck. x:D

byb3

To be completely honest, I have done pretty much the bare minimum and I still have an expected 2:1 (59.1% average).

In a typical semester I attended about 30% of the lectures, mainly because most were pointless attending or because they started at 9am (yeah blast me I was a total lazy sod).

However when it came to exam time I worked my socks off! I would do huge all night stints and work constantly for a week, usually just practising the past exam papers. However I would always give myself enough sleep for the exam ahead. It is possibly the worst idea to stay up all night working and then goto the exam because by the time you are in the exam you totally forget everything out of fatigue.

However old age (22) is upon me and I have learned the mistakes of my old ways and am in the process of correcting them. If I work dilligently this year I should comfortably make a 2:1.

I wouldn't worry too much, some people are lucky, some people revise better than others, some people remember better. All in all I'm sure you'll be fine, as it sounds like you care which is what matters.

[Deleted User]

I didn't realise till my 3rd year that my mind didn't work in the same way as when i was 16. Back then, i was like a sponge, i learnt EVERYTHING immediatly. Brain faded through alcohol & student living...

Eventually I read a book of my dad's called Mind maps. Turns out my brain went from photographic learning to map learning. I was great at routes, i'd never get lost.. once I'd learnt to organise my learning in this way. The technique was called Mind maps.. kinda like spider maps. In exams I could mentally picture the diagrams and route through them to write essays.

Things finally stuck in my head and my average marks went up. I got a 2:2 in genetics (it was really hard!) because of mediocre 1st and 2nd year marks, but my 3rd year scores were good once I'd learnt the method. I crused through my MSc with the same method.

Sadly, universities don't teach you how to revise.

missk_ensington

I've just finished my first year and although I don't find it hard writing the essays and I don't find it hard understanding the course, I find it hard fitting it all in. I'm doing English Lit and I sometimes feel suffocated with the book load- for example I have to read Middlemarch (700 pages!), A Christmas Carol, Frankenstein and Jane Eyre as well as study 30 pages from a Literaty Theory textbook and study in depth 5 Romantic poems for my first week back on 9th October. By the second week I have to have read a further two works (Great Expectations and Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew along with a further 30 pages of Literary theory and 5 more Romantic poems!) And so it goes, its pretty much a novel a week, many of these being 300-700 pages long and some are quite hard going.

This isn't taking to account actually thinking about what you've read and preparing a seminar response to the questions raised in it!
It is hard but don't feel disheartened, some people have better memories than others. I'm lucky to have a good memory for quotes, they just stick in my head but other have to write them down and repeat thenm 10000 times until them remember them.

Sometimes I think academia is a measure of your memory span rather than ability!

cupid_s

I found my course really easy and didn't get lower than 72% in anything I did. But I did spend an average of 60 hours a week doing uni work throughout the semester. And for 6 weeks before my exams I'd work at least 100 hours a week on my uni work. Maybe this is why I found everything so easy!

Midas

cupid_stunt wrote:

I found my course really easy and didn't get lower than 72% in anything I did. But I did spend an average of 60 hours a week doing uni work throughout the semester. And for 6 weeks before my exams I'd work at least 100 hours a week on my uni work. Maybe this is why I found everything so easy!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

StudentLife

Firstly well done you for being on a 2:1 :T If you carry on the good work, then you'll have a fantastic degree.

Secondly, i sympathise with your situation. Different courses, at the same uni are often assessed in very different ways. For example, my degree was marked pretty much continuously from the 2nd year, on a vast number of different skills, so it was pretty hard work. However, a friend on a different course was only ever assessed on essays once a year (no exams or anything) so all she had to do was about 3 or 4 weeks solid work a year, then spend the rest of her time boozing. :mad:

Lastly, a bit of advice - perhaps the difference between a 2:1 and a first for you is not in the amount of work u put in, but perhaps the style of your essays. Take 2 or 3 or your recent essays along to your tutor and ask him/her how you could improve on them. I was told at uni that people who did this managed to structure their essays better and often managed to move up a degree classification.

Good luck with your studies!!