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2nd year academic prep

What to do to prepare academically for 2nd year before term starts?

I study econ (got a 2:1 in first year) what can I do to prepare for 2nd year before my lectures and classes start?

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

What to do to prepare academically for 2nd year before term starts?

I study econ (got a 2:1 in first year) what can I do to prepare for 2nd year before my lectures and classes start?

congrats on your grade.

Tips:

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Take your unit outlines and go through all the information with a fine toothcomb

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Do the recommended reading, especially for your assignments and exams

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Learn to write academically, if you don't know how to

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Practice questions from the textbooks

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Go through your lecture notes with a fine toothcomb, especially if you have an assignment based on a specific lecture

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Look through the relevant wikipedia articles' references for further reading - especially for assignments

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Look through the relevant references in your textbooks for further reading - especially for assignments

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Prepare for seminars and do the work assigned to you

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Go to the library and read the relevant chapters (or sections of chapters) for the specific lecture that you have attended

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For study groups, and invite people who have gotten higher grades than you to study alongside them (make sure you can add value to the group too)

One of the reasons you have likely not got a 1st class is because you did not include critical thinking in your answers. Generally a 2:1 is getting the right answer, but nothing more is added. Critical thinking would boost you up to a 1st class if you have good English, no errors, referenced correctly, etc.

As you have not started uni yet, it's difficult to do much of the above (unless you got hand-me-down notes and unit outlines from the years above you).

Reply 2

University of Kent

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

What to do to prepare academically for 2nd year before term starts?

I study econ (got a 2:1 in first year) what can I do to prepare for 2nd year before my lectures and classes start?

Hi there

I would say keeping an eye out for any preparation material released by your lecturers. You can get a head start by completing the seminar preparation or having a look at lecture slides in advance. This could help you absorb more information during your seminar, it would also allow you to ask the right questions to address your queries.

Another thing you could look at doing is familiarising with the structure of the module. This will help you to see the bigger picture of the module and allow you link topics together further down your studies.

If you have time, doing the recommended reading would be useful. One thing I found helpful was asking around for friends who have achieved firsts during their first year. If they are happy to share their essays, I would look through and analyse what they did well. You can then incorporate their writing style and structure into your essays. If this is not possible, I would recommend searching for essays online. Or even going over coursework feedback in first year would be really useful.

Hope this helps.
Chloe
-University of Kent Student Rep

Reply 3

University of Huddersfield

Official Rep

Anon,

If you are already back at uni, you could see if there are support/library services, where you can talk to a member of staff who could help you further improve your writing. This might be useful if you know you will have written assignments which are worth a lot of credits this year. You might feel like you are a good writer already, but feedback is always useful. It might be, being more succinct, or using a wider range of academic sources e.g. journals or how you structure your argument. This might be better than looking at essays online (the standard might not be as good as you think) or other people's essays, as you do need to be careful not to fall into academic misconduct.

If there is anything from first year, which are core ideas or principles that you are unsure of, don't fully understand or have forgotten to the point that if someone was to ask you what something was you would be unsure, then do go over that! The second year should build on from what you learnt in the first year.

Hope that helps,

Oluwatosin – 3rd year student – University of Huddersfield