Getting Started
| Get to know people | Establish good study habits | Get the things you need |
- Knowing your Instructors is important in an academic sense. You need to know what they value academically. What do they expect of you? What do they want you to learn?
- Read your class syllabus carefully.
- Talk to other students
- Talk to your instructors. The best time to talk to your teachers is in class. That’s one of the reasons why it’s
important to speak up at appropriate times. You can also talk to your instructors out of class; most of them have
office hours, which are usually listed on the class syllabus and/or their office door. - Find out how to contact your instructors and classmates. They may not be on campus every day, so you need
a phone number or an e-mail address. - Use e-mail — it is often the best way to contact your instructor.
- Take note of the aims and objectives. Read through the syllabus and write important due dates and exam
dates on your semester calendar. When you do an assignment make sure you know what the instructor wants.
Don’t assume anything! Find previous students of the instructor; they can often help you to understand what your teacher wants. - Get to know fellow students; friends will keep you sane and happy, and friends will help you study.
- accept invitations to do things with other students.
- really get involved—volunteer to do something.
- ask other students to do things with you (go to the movies, have a coffee or a drink, share a meal…)
- relax and smile.
- talk to the people in your classes — before and after, and in the breaks.
- suggest forming a study group.
- make sense of the subject and understand it better.
- remember what you’ve been studying.
- develop your own ideas.
- do better in assignments.
- Sharing ideas is a very good way to study—just be careful you don’t all hand in the same assignment!
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Some tips for answering these questions:
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Some good ways to make friends are:
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Some good ways to make friends to help you study are:
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It’s helpful to talk with other students in your classes. Talking over your lectures, reading, assignments and tutorials with others helps you to:
It’s a good idea to set up good study routines as soon as possible. You will probably break these routines as the year goes along— that’s part of the fun of being a student — but an underlying pattern of good study is essential. Managing your time wisely is crucial.
Time management is very important. If you don’t use your time wisely, you can easily fall behind in your studies, get stressed out about your work, and be poorly prepared when it’s time for exams.
Managing your notes is also important. You need a good system and you need to be well organized. You will probably want to collate your lectures notes and handouts together with the notes you take from readings on similar topics. You may want to keep a 3-ring binder for carrying around with you, and transfer your notes into a more stable filing system at home.
If you have time, typing your notes and printing a copy is a good idea. You can save the notes on your computer or on a pen drive and reformat into practice tests later for studying.
Managing your health and fitness is also important. Get into a routine of sleeping, eating and getting exercise.
Books It is a good idea to rent or buy the textbook(s) for your courses.
School Supplies Don’t stint on school supplies. Well-made notebooks, good quality paper and good pens will make your life better and your study more effective.
Computer Although UAHT has good computer labs, it is very helpful to have your own computer at home. You should think carefully about what sort of computer to get to suit your study needs. Your instructors or previous students in your major may have some suggestions about what computer and software will fit your needs.
Dictionary All students are strongly encouraged to buy or know where they can access a good English dictionary.