Study Skills

At a British University, the system places less emphasis on short-term assignments and more on a long term perspective.

Much work is not set but assumed; you are expected to pace yourself, learn as you go along and read extensively, without always being told what to read.

Semesters count for only 30 weeks of each year, so you need to be well-organised to cover the ground satisfactorily: twenty-two weeks of the year are called `vacation´, but even there you need to use some of the time for academic work.

Organising yourself and your study.

Within your schedule be flexible about when you work and when you relax, but don’t cut down the weekly times, for either!
If you do not relax and enjoy yourself sufficiently, your studies will suffer. You will also miss out on many experiences which form an important part of life in Britain and of your development as an individual.
You should not undertake too many hours of paid or voluntary employment per week.

Note-Taking

Note-taking is for three things: organises information given;lists references for future use; spurs concentration
Note-taking is NOT to record every word.
When taking notes, do not ‘switch-off’ intellectually while someone else (the lecturer) works. You need a critical intelligence to anticipate the direction of the lecturer’s thoughts and to organise your notes in parallel.
When listening to a lecture/ doing a practical in the laboratory/in the field, identify the main arguments and the conclusion. These need to be underlined or highlighted.
Illustrative details can be just listed briefly in between.
Abbreviations or diagrams are an enormous help. (You will probably need to look at these again immediately afterwards. If you found the lecture confusing or you were not very alert, the notes may be hard to understand when your memory of the lecture has faded.)
Notes need to be a summary not a recording - a sentence or phrase from each paragraph or spoken equivalent is about right).
Too much writing gets in the way of listening!

In some departments, students are allowed to tape record lectures. This is not an efficient way of using your time. Instead, learn to use the lecture as suggested above as soon as possible.

The British and Study

Many international students report that some British students do not appear to take their work very seriously. Some home students claim to do no work at all. An international student´s confidence can be weakened if s/he believes that s/he is the only one who needs to work hard to succeed.

Any student who does not work hard will not succeed. Some students do fail to get a degree.
British student culture often does involve an unwillingness to appear to be too conscientious.
In most cultures, students can expect admiration from their colleagues if they work hard; in British culture, some (home) students feel that it is somehow “cool” to appear not to work too hard.
There are, of course, many home students who work extremely hard but you may only notice those whose words or lifestyle proclaim that they do not.
Do not be fooled: most people are probably working harder than they say.
Do not compare: you should still work as hard as you need to get a good degree.

Relaxation

Time away from studies is a necessity! If you do not build breaks, days off and leisure activities into your schedule, you may find yourself ill or exhausted.

Also, there is a great deal to learn away from your academic studies on this international campus. Make sure that you exercise your body and relax your mind from time to time to enable you to return to your studies refreshed and ready to work hard.

Further Help

Your lecturers, tutor/supervisor are there to help and so they are your first resource. You can also follow-up some of the above ideas from a range of books on the subject; the Library is a major resource.
Helping yourself can be done quite simply. Refer to these pages from time to time and check your progress against it.
Maths and Statistics Help
Writing Advisory Service