10 Tips To Survive Your First Year In Tertiary

Many students will be first years as the Government has introduced a Target 20 000 initiative to help  the youth to get back at school. If you managed to get an admission and has registered, you are probably excited, this is the beginning of god times to come. You need to start tertiary with a clean academic slate, along with a lot of independence and a myriad of critical decisions as you begin the transition into adulthood. The decisions that you make and the actions you take during this first year of college will have a major impact on the rest of your college experience.

1. Go To All Orientations.

Do you really need to go on yet another campus tour? Yes. The faster you learn your way around campus and around all the red tape the more at ease you’ll feel and the better prepared you’ll be when issues arise.

2. Get Organized.

In high school, the teachers tended to lead you through all the homework and due dates. In tertiary, the professors post the assignments, often for the entire semester and expect you to be prepared. Buy an organizer, use an app, or get a big wall calendar whatever it takes for you to know when assignments are due.

3. Attend Your Classes.

Sleeping in and skipping that 8 am class will be tempting at times. Avoid the temptation. Besides learning the material by attending classes, you’ll also receive vital information from the professors about what to expect on tests, changes in due dates, etc.

4. Meet With Your Professors.

There are only upsides to getting to know your professors, especially if later in the semester you run into some snags. Professors schedule office hours for the sole purpose of meeting with students take advantage of that time.

5. Seek A Balance.

Tertiary life is a mixture of social and academic happenings. Don’t tip the balance too far in either direction. This should be your study  motto: to study hard so you could play hard.

6. Get Involved On Campus.

A big problem for a lot of new students is a combination of homesickness and a feeling of not quite belonging. Consider joining a select group and be careful not to go overboard of student organizations, clubs, sororities or fraternities, or sports teams. You’ll make new friends, learn new skills, and feel more connected to your school.

7. Strive For Good Grades.

Another obvious one here, while good grades could have come naturally to you in high school, you will have to earn them in tertiary and that means setting some goals for yourself and then making sure you work as hard as you can to achieve them.

8. Make Time For You.

Be sure you set aside some time and activities that help you relax and take the stress out of your day or week. Whether it’s enlisting yoga techniques, watching your favorite television shows, or writing in a journal, be good to yourself.

9. Don’t Procrastinate.

It may have been easy in high school to wait until the last minute to complete an assignment and still get a good grade, but that kind of stuff will not work for you in college. Give yourself deadlines and stick to them.

10. Don’t Cut Corners.

Tertiary is all about learning. If you procrastinate and cram, you may still do well on tests, but you’ll learn very little. Even worse, don’t cheat on term papers or tests.