University is packed with activities that make your stay worth the while but as with any journey, there will be hurdles to cross and challenges to tackle, especially in your first year. Knowing what type of challenges to expect will keep you prepared when they come.
In this article, TertFinder highlights four common challenges students in university experience and how to overcome them.
Homesickness
Homesickness is often the first challenge experienced by students in their first year in university. When an academic session is in full swing and the demands of university life start to kick in, the excitement and thrill of being in a new environment can die down pretty quickly, leaving students craving for one more night back in their beds at home.
This feeling is not uncommon as it is the ordinary response to detachment from an old environment and friends and family as well. Items and reminders from home or a scheduled phone call to friends and family are great ways to shake off homesickness. As more time is spent engaging in school activities and making new friends, a student will eventually feel much better.
Roommates
In most schools, you do not get to pick your roommates. Now, this can either be the best thing to happen to you or your worst nightmare. If you have no experience living with people outside your nuclear family, the experience of roommates might be tough at first. Generally, mutual respect, foundational rules, communication, and delegated responsibilities are the most important agendas to tick off with new roommates.
Always be considerate of their space and find common ground with them. In extreme cases where your roommate is difficult and you have exhausted your options, consider talking to the school authority for a change. Dealing with difficult roommates can pose a threat to your academic contributions if left to fester.
Adapting to University Life
For someone fresh out of secondary school, you will find that university is a different ball game. From lengthy lectures and extra reading to course work, projects, unending assessments, and even extracurricular activities, you can easily be overwhelmed. The solution? Time management. At the start of an academic session, a timetable is provided for students.
Planning activities around your lecture and personal study times is one great way to stay on track and adapt quickly to life in the university without burning out. Make sure to incorporate a lot of rest time and cultivate healthy eating habits as your performance is only as good as your mental and physical health dictates.
Effective Study
You might be reading but find that it is never sufficient after assessments. This is because, unlike secondary school, the approach to reading in university is distinct. Effective study demands that you define your study style and find out what reading times and conditions your brain can perform optimally in. This will also involve your avid dedication to note-taking during lectures and personal research afterward while creating a routine around reading.
You might discover that you read and understand better at night or in the early hours of the day. Effective study also requires cultivating a reading habit from your first lecture leading up to your assessments and then your final exam. When reading is done last minute, or because of an upcoming test, it is never effective and at most, the student remains an average student.
If you liked this article, check out Time Management and Maximising Productivity in the University – TertFinder.
