How do i prepare myself for second year of university?

i am an international relations student; soon to be a second-year student. i always hear that the second year is harder and more difficult - with that in mind how do I meet expectations and achieve good grades in the second year? would I have to prepare myself over the summer? any tips.

i am an international relations student; soon to be a second-year student. i always hear that the second year is harder and more difficult - with that in mind how do I meet expectations and achieve good grades in the second year? would I have to prepare myself over the summer? any tips.

Hi hemdinho,

From personal experience, second year can be a jump in workload - not just from the course itself, but also from applications to companies for a placement year.

For me, I relied heavily on planning my week out on my Google Calendar to make sure that I always had time to attend lectures/seminars, apply to placements, attend societies, do coursework and also to have some time to switch off (which is super important, but so easily forgot about).

Ultimately, everything comes down to preparation - if you stay organised and give yourself enough time for everything you need to do you'll do great!

~ Mikael, UoP Student Rep

i am an international relations student; soon to be a second-year student. i always hear that the second year is harder and more difficult - with that in mind how do I meet expectations and achieve good grades in the second year? would I have to prepare myself over the summer? any tips.

i am an international relations student; soon to be a second-year student. i always hear that the second year is harder and more difficult - with that in mind how do I meet expectations and achieve good grades in the second year? would I have to prepare myself over the summer? any tips.

i am an international relations student; soon to be a second-year student. i always hear that the second year is harder and more difficult - with that in mind how do I meet expectations and achieve good grades in the second year? would I have to prepare myself over the summer? any tips.

Hi @hemdinho,

Personally I didn't do any prep work over the summer so I'd enjoy the rest if I were you! Personally I found the jump from first to second year quite noticeable, but this motivated me to work harder so I didn't fall behind. After about a month or so I settled into it easier, so don't let it intimidate you at first if you find it difficult to begin with. It also helped that I couldn't drink due to medication at the time, so I wasn't going on nights out or dealing with hangovers or anything that could affect me being motivated for work

To do well in second year make sure that your attendance is high and that you organise your notes well. I found that pre printing lecture slides and having a vague idea of what was going to happen in the lecture before the lecture happened helped me pick out what was worth taking notes off instead of copying slides. I also tried to do as much extra reading as I could, and take as many of my references from academic journals instead of textbooks. This made my understanding of topics better and gave me lots of different viewpoints on concepts and theories, which got me more marks for critical evaluation.

If you can and you have group work assessments, choose who you work with wisely. Don't pick people who won't carry their weight in the group as it might bring the group mark down. Obviously sometimes you can't choose your groups, but if you can then choose sensibly

I would also take every chance you can get to ask tutors for feedback on assessments before the assessment deadline. Make sure you start coursework with plenty of time until the deadline so you can ask a tutor to give some feedback on drafts. This made a massive difference for me and helped me move from what would have been a 2:1 to a high first in a lot of my assessments. Sometimes tutors may say no, but there's no harm in asking just in case!

Hope this helps!

Lucy

Hi @hemdinho

I am a student studying at UCLan and am about to go into my third year! Like most, I also didn't think about preparing too much for my second year and I did find there was a big jump from the first year to the second however this could have been highlighted due to adapting to online lessons because of the pandemic. My best advice for you would be to read some books in and around your subject - any academic writing is sure to help you with your essays in the second year! I think being organised with your timetable for the upcoming year and keeping a track of when everything is due will be a great help too, it will allow you to stay on top of time management which will elevate any extra stress. Having the knowledge that your second year is going to be harder than your first is already a good start though, it seems like you are starting to mentally prepare yourself which is great! Keep reading, staying organised and have some time to enjoy the rest of your summer so you are fully recharged when it comes back to uni life!

Hope this was helpful and good luck with your second year!

Hollie