Study tips: timetabling, resources and exams

University can be rather stressful if you are not informed and organized with your timetabling, resources and exams.

Planning and being informed is essential to getting a good timetable that is compatible with your life. This involves knowing the date in which you are allowed to enrol in each tutorial, as if you are not there the second it is released you are likely to get a timetable that has tutorials all over the week. Whereas if you plan it in advance, and decide how all the tutorials can fit into two or three days, you will have more free time for work, study or leisure.

Shot courtesy of Flickr: front entrance to UOW library

Knowing which resources are available to you and how to access them is also necessary to successfully completing university. For hard copies of books the UOW library is the primary source, with librarians always present and available for assistance. However, a lot of resources are now available and accessed online (depending on which degree your doing), via the library website.

“I was really surprised and frustrated by the library database at first. If you change your search terms by one word, it will alter the results completely. You really need to know how to work the database to get relevant results”, says 2^nd year History and Politics UOW student Jeremy Foreshaw.

There is an excellent online tutorial for how to use the library database, called Startsmart. This is compulsory for all new UOW students, and it is recommended that you read it carefully rather than just rushing through. The skills you learn in this are fundamental to using databases and finding sources throughout your entire degree.

When preparing for exams, it is vital that students really listen to the lecturer’s tips and hints, as in a lot of exams it is not all the content from the semester in it, but rather specific lectures or chapters. Being informed and organized is an essential ingredient to success.

Startsmart clip

Links:

Startsmart: http://www.uow.edu.au/student/services/fye/resources/startsmart/UOW070056.html
Library home page: http://www.library.uow.edu.au/index.html
Library Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/UOWLibrary