Not sure how to study at uni - help please!

Hi everyone. My first week of lectures started last week so I'm still fairly new to everything. I had 3 lectures - 2 of which were recaps of A level material and so were no problem - but 1 was completely new content for everyone.

I'll have to describe what it was about so people get the full picture :P I'm studying Zoology, and this first lecture was about bees and how we've exploited them for our own needs (eg. honey etc). But then they started to go on about killer bees, hive structures, a specific mite that lives on the bee and causes problems etc. On top of that we've been given loads of recommended reading (as in, several articles that are 100+ pages each).

My problem is that I don't know what is really all that relevant for the course. Obviously I know to succeed at Uni you should get a decent knowledge of the materials taught in lectures and then back that up with your own research into areas that interest you. But it was the sheer amount of work that will be needed to achieve this just for that one lecture that is making my problem. I don't want to follow that plan above, get to an exam and find that I should've actually read more into a different area, giving me a bad mark.

I know I should ask my lecturer about the specific details of this, but I'm just wondering if this is a general problem people had when they first started Uni and how you managed to work through it. I'd rather not bother my lecturer with stupid mundane things!

Thanks, I hope I managed to put over my problem in the right way :s-smilie:

Reply 1

Lexi99

At first, its best to take a note of everything but as time goes by you start to figure out for yourself what is relevant and what isnt. Does your lecturer have lecture notes they put up on some kind of interactive student thingy where you can take them from? That way you dont have to panic in lectures trying to write everything down and if youve missed something that in 6 weeks time is really important you can go back to it

Reply 2

christinalouise25

What we have at UCLan is an elearn site, where all of our lecture notes are along with recommended reading. I havent done all the recommended reading, but as we were given an assignment in our first week i looked at the title, then at the reading list and picked just a few books that i thought would be relevant. So where m assignment is to do with defining health, i didn't go and get and the book on health care ethics that was listed. Instead i took out books such as health studies an introduction.

Reply 3

Varciani

Lexi99

Yeah they post the Powerpoint slides and any additional reading (like the articles I mentioned) on the internet. I've saved all of these onto a USB and my hard drive so I won't lose them, but they're all on there anyway.

I've got all the notes I took in the lecture with me and I'm going to copy them out again neater etc, but with all this information in just one lecture (there's 13 more yet this term!) I really don't want to get into bad habits and miss potentially important information just because I'm new!

Reply 4

Varciani

christinalouise25

Yeah, I've got a recommended book list to look through as well. We've not been given an assignment yet, so I don't even have a proper reason to focus on one area!

Reply 5

christinalouise25

Varciani

Yeah, I've got a recommended book list to look through as well. We've not been given an assignment yet, so I don't even have a proper reason to focus on one area!

All i did in the few introductory lectures before the assignment was read the notes the lecturer had posted online, they were normally available from the day before the lecture, and then re-read my notes. If he had specifically mentioned a certain book during the lecture then i would go and get that one out, but when you first start, depending on the uni of course, they don't normally mind if you don't do all the recommended reading.

Reply 6

Varciani

christinalouise25

Yeah I think I'll just do that for now. I'll email the lecturer and ask him if there's any particular area he feels we should look into further and then do that. I'll probably get better at it as time goes by. Thanks for the help!

Reply 7

Lexi99

Varciani

Well as long as you have access to all the info, when it comes to assignments or exams im sure your lecturers will guide you to what to include, and the rest you just have to decide for yourself depending on what suits your arguement

Reply 8

Blueflare

There's usually a distinction between essential reading and recommended reading.
You're expected to read the essential/main reading, but the recommended reading is sort of optional. You read what interests you, or what you think you need to read to better understand something. You don't have to read every single article and book chapter they put on the list, they're choices.