5 reasons why students FAIL!!!

OK, maybe fail is a bit strong, but through my university life I saw too many people under-achieve because of  things that could have been avoided. 

While I'm not going to provide you with a magic formula to help you succeed, by avoiding falling into the traps of too many other students you can at least try not to be an under-achiever. Here, with some amount of sarcasm, are my five observations from my time spent at University.

Make sure it's not your picture next to THAT definition.

1) "But, I don't understand how I missed that. I attended all the lectures!" - Sometimes turning up to lectures is not enough. You also have to stay awake during them, bring a pen and paper, not spend all your time playing Angry Birds on your phone, and make an effort to follow up the lectures by actually reading the pieces that have been recommended to you by the lecturer. 

Staying awake is always a way to ensure you are listening

2) "But I don't understand why I haven't learnt anything. I bought all the textbooks!" - Gosh, and don't they look pretty, in perfect mint condition on your bookshelf? What you actually need to do now you own (or have borrowed) those magical, mystical objects of knowledge is to open them at the page which contains the information you have to learn, and start reading. And take notes. And read it again. And try and remember it. That is actual learning.

3) "But I don't understand how I was late handing in that essay. I had the same amount of time as everyone else!" - Yes, you did. But they probably set aside some time in their schedule to actually do some reading, and some writing. They probably remembered about their meetings with their tutors to discuss said essay, and kept an eye on the calendar to make sure they were doing enough to meet the deadline date. See our tips on meeting deadlines if you want more help.

Don't let yourself get overwhelmed by deadlines.

4) "But I don't understand why those questions came up on that exam. I'm sure we didn't cover that in the lecture." - Apart from the fact you're falling asleep or not paying attention in the associated lectures, you can have a good stab at predicting what is going to come up in an exam. Check over the themes you covered in the module and the reading you were given, including seminars as well as lectures. Eliminate what has been tested in other ways for example in essays, or mid-terms. Whatever is left is fair game for the exam, I would say. It's not a completely foolproof method, but it worked for me. Mostly.

Face Palm - the classic reaction

5) "But I don't understand how I didn't know how and when we were going to be assessed. How do you know these things?" - What I do, dear colleagues, is when we are given the module handbook at the beginning of the term, is to read it, take notes of important assessments with associated dates, and write them down somewhere. I keep the module handbook somewhere safe, and try not to lose it. Please don't come to me toward the end of the term and ask to 'borrow' mine as refusal will offend.

So, there you go. Distractions are everywhere at university, and are there to be enjoyed, but take your eye off the academic ball at your peril. Competition for graduate positions is more fierce than ever before. Don't set yourself up for mediocrity. Mediocre might not cut it once you're released into the big, bad world.

Good luck.

Meeting deadlines

During your time at university, deadlines are something that you will come up against in every single module. You can't avoid them, but they don't have to become your undoing. Winning the war against deadlines is a series of small battles, and those battles start in the very first week. Follow our battle plan for success.

• In the front of your diary or folder (or whatever new-fangled gadget you have this week), make a table where you can enter all your prospective deadlines as and when you get them. Read your module handbooks carefully, within the first week. Any mention of an assignment, exam or test, get the details (module name, type of assessment, value of assessment, and due date) into the table. When you have all the details of every assessment on every module, re-write the table in date order and DO NOT lose it. Refer to it regularly.
• Prioritise your assessments. Obviously it would be nice to just tackle them all in date order, but this is not always possible. Some assignments can be started earlier than others, especially if the lectures for that topic have already been given and you have done some reading. You should also prioritise assessments of greater value over ones of lesser value, but don't let any of them slip - you will score zero for a late assignment, no matter how hard you've worked on it. You should also prioritise assessed work over other things like playing an extra game of Dungeons and Dragons, or whatever it is you crazy kids do for kicks.
• Nearer the end of term, do good old-fashioned time-tabling. Get your diary, write in all your outstanding assignments and exams and allocate time-slots each day to focusing on one assignment or exam revision. Scheduling your study will help you identify possible revision conflicts, and help you work out on what date you should have started any revision by.
• If you run into problems and things start to slip, then see your tutor as soon as possible. They are there to help you after all, and goodness only knows this course is costing you enough. They can help you get re-focused. If you run into personal problems which have impacted on your studying, you can apply for mitigating circumstances. This is informing the university that, because of something extra-ordinary that has happened to you (such as illness, bereavement or family emergencies) you deserve this to be taken into account for the assessment. Speak to your department office to do this, but beware - you may only get one chance at applying, so make it good. Bear in mind also that you will likely have to submit evidence to back up your claims.

So good luck in your battles and I hope you win the war.