Messed up my first year - how can I do better?

I haven't achieved the best grades this year although I passed can someone offer me some tips on how I can improve my grades.

Reply 1

absolutelysprout

plenty of people improve between year 10 and 11. keep regularly revising, making notes as you go along and doing lots of exam practice. revision methods that use active recall are best.

Reply 2

Jeana99

Original post by absolutelysprout

plenty of people improve between year 10 and 11. keep regularly revising, making notes as you go along and doing lots of exam practice. revision methods that use active recall are best.

Looks like I posted in the wrong forum.
I was talking about undergraduate level completed first year of my degree going into second this September.

Reply 3

absolutelysprout

yes, you posted in GCSEs; i'll move this to uni life for you

Reply 4

University of Portsmouth Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by Jenny09

I haven't achieved the best grades this year although I passed can someone offer me some tips on how I can improve my grades.

Hey,

It happens, sometimes we don't get the grades we expected or wanted in Uni but the best way to improve is by self evaluating yourself. Identify the areas you struggled in then work on them more especially during the holidays so that when you go back you feel more confident in them.
Another useful way to improve is to read the feedback you get from your tutors and lecturers and work on it to improve.

Hope this helps,
Doreen-maria- Official Student Rep 😀

Reply 5

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Jenny09

I haven't achieved the best grades this year although I passed can someone offer me some tips on how I can improve my grades.

Hi @Jenny09

You could speak to your tutors to get feedback. They should be able to tell you what areas you need to improve on. And then you can focus on those areas. Also, I found that looking at past answers with high marks really helped me, although the topics were different, it helped me get an idea of how the structure should be. Good luck!

Zaira :smile:

Reply 6

mike23mike

There are lots of books available from your library about study skills. You may need to find an approach to studying that suits you. One of the best study skills is to study your lecture notes the day you attend the lecture; not a few weeks later. 'Study' does not mean passively reading them in a cafe or whilst watching TV. It means actually trying to read your lecture notes in a way that you could explain the topic to someone who missed the class. If you can do that then you have really understood the topic.

Of course, if you messed up because you were partying too hard and not focusing on your studies then it's easy to party less. If you have fallen in with the wrong crowd you know you need to distance yourself from them. If you have drink or drug issues then there are counsellors at uni you can turn to for help - and keep your pastoral tutor in the loop.