hello.
I am worrying about the transition from highschool to university.
Just to hear some advice, should i study one subject each day? or all the courses little bit each day.
Someone i know in nursing, she fainted after exam...and her GPA isn't bad,, but not great either.
i was wondering if university is that intense....

it all depends on the individual.... some study constantly others start a few days leading up to midterms and exams. plus, its not like studying is the only thing you have to do, there are projects, papers, labs, and tutorials that need doing as well, and some of these take up a lot of time.

you'll find that there will be days that you will be doing nothing but one paper or project. and then there will be days where you have nothing to do and you'll have plenty of time to study.

personally, im slow, so what ends up happening is i wont be able to keep up with the studying, ill do all my projects and papers and lab reports and when the mid terms come around ill devote more time to studying specifically for that course.

actually.... if you pay attention in class and take notes properly you will find that you dont need to be reading the text and going over notes daily, you will be fine with just studying them a few days / day before and you will do fine on the midterm.

so its best to find your own flow and go with it. ..............

also, you may not notice it now, but days are short you will rarely find time to study ALL of your subjects in a day / each day.

The harder the course is, obviously the more time you devote studying for it. Unfortunately unlike high school, it is much more rare to be 100% prepared for all tests and exams before they come around, so you have to prioritize and try to learn the most and the most important material.

For the first couple weeks, most people don't study much. I am one of the few that do and I found when midterms roll around, I am much less stressed since I finish my projects early and study the material as it comes around. I have to cram a bit but nothing too bad

YOU SHOULD WORRY!! IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE!
STUDY EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME ALL THE TIME!!!

Lol, I'm kidding, obviously
Your transition into university depends on the difficulty level you faced in high school, your current study habits, and how well you're able to adjust into a new environment.
It sounds tough but it's really not that hard. Personally, I found the work load pretty easy to manage. First semester may be a little bit harder to adjust since everything will be new to you but by the time you're in second semester you'll definitely get the hang of things.

The best advice that everyone gives is
1) Learn to MANAGE YOUR TIME
It might be hard at first but try to plan time for study and breaks for doing things you like so you don't burn out.
2) Go to CLASS
Seriously, just do it. You'll be surprised how much information you actually retain even though you're half asleep in class. It will make studying much easier.

Also, if you're taking something like physics or math, don't rely on lectures to teach you everything. Do as many problems as you can. Don't be lazy. I learned this the hard way...
And it'll seem like time goes by faster. Midterms will creep up on you so try not to fall behind in the first month.

And eat some food before exam so you don't end up fainting. :p

When I started university, somebody I look up to told me "school is your job, treat it like full-time work, work a 40-hour week." I follow that advice. So if I attend classes for 4 hours a day, I try to spend another 4 hours during the day studying, doing readings, assignments, or reviewing. Just something school-related. I usually take Fridays and Saturdays off from this -- I'll attend classes on Friday, and put in a full day of schoolwork on Sundays. If I need more time, then I take it but I find that by taking school seriously from the beginning of the term and attending classes, the workload isn't nearly as bad around midterms and finals.

It's easy to slack at the beginning because it seems simple... don't fall into this trap. Put the time in from the beginning. If you tell yourself you'll put x amount of time into school on a given day, you'll be less likely to slack on your readings or leave assignments until the last second. When you can manage your time and stay on top of things, you'll see your best academic results and feel way less stress.

Just my $0.02

lol... studying

its different for everybody. you'll figure out what works for you.

Originally Posted by banana93

hello.
I am worrying about the transition from highschool to university.
Just to hear some advice, should i study one subject each day? or all the courses little bit each day.
Someone i know in nursing, she fainted after exam...and her GPA isn't bad,, but not great either.
i was wondering if university is that intense....

Most likely you won't be able to get by studying only one course each day, OR studying all the courses a little bit each day. It will have to be a combination. You can't come up with something so rigid before you even know when things will be due and what other commitments you will have throughout the year.

I don't understand why you're trying to correlate fainting after an exam with GPA. GPA has nothing to do with how susceptible you are to fainting, nor does it take into account other factors that actually do influence loss of consciousness. Maybe your friend wasn't eating properly, or was dehydrated, or hadn't slept, or was low on iron, or has low blood pressure, or has a medical condition (that you might not know about), or it was stuffy/hot in the room and she is sensitive to that sort of thing.

Originally Posted by starfish

Most likely you won't be able to get by studying only one course each day, OR studying all the courses a little bit each day. It will have to be a combination. You can't come up with something so rigid before you even know when things will be due and what other commitments you will have throughout the year.

I don't understand why you're trying to correlate fainting after an exam with GPA. GPA has nothing to do with how susceptible you are to fainting, nor does it take into account other factors that actually do influence loss of consciousness. Maybe your friend wasn't eating properly, or was dehydrated, or hadn't slept, or was low on iron, or has low blood pressure, or has a medical condition (that you might not know about), or it was stuffy/hot in the room and she is sensitive to that sort of thing.

No. I correlated fainting with exam because my ftiend(who fainted) told me that it was due to intense studying.
Yeah, there are many factors that may led her to faint..please don't take it too seriously.. you know people just say "i. got a nose bleed after studying intense". I'm just asking if generally people study to the point of fainting.
Thanks for advice.

Originally Posted by starfish

Most likely you won't be able to get by studying only one course each day, OR studying all the courses a little bit each day. It will have to be a combination. You can't come up with something so rigid before you even know when things will be due and what other commitments you will have throughout the year.

I don't understand why you're trying to correlate fainting after an exam with GPA. GPA has nothing to do with how susceptible you are to fainting, nor does it take into account other factors that actually do influence loss of consciousness. Maybe your friend wasn't eating properly, or was dehydrated, or hadn't slept, or was low on iron, or has low blood pressure, or has a medical condition (that you might not know about), or it was stuffy/hot in the room and she is sensitive to that sort of thing.

You could most certainly faint due to emotional distress. One's GPA could cause emotional distress.

But going back to the topic of this thread... you do not need to study 24/7 a day. You will already be very burnt out from your classes and labs (especially science labs if you have any). Just try your best while keeping your sanity and enjoy first year.

i think in first year youre fine if u go to class and then just study like a week before a midterm. a few days is all u need but in weekdays its better to start early since as people have said, youre gonna be lazy after class and labs or w.e

I always seem to get nosebleeds during exams in T-28 and T-29... probably because it's always so dry in there, especially in the winter.

I've never fainted after an exam, but last term I came home after one particularly intense exam and tossed my cookies on the lawn... if I'm particularly worried for an exam, I tend to live a very unhealthy lifestyle for the days prior to it, ie not enough sleep or food, too much coffee, stress, etc. I do not recommend this, as it is a tendency I cannot seem to avoid during those particularly tough ones.

So, yes, people do study with enough intensity to bring on physical problems but this can be avoided by:

a) Keeping on top of your work all semester and attending classes regularly. This will reduce your need to cram.
b) Start studying a week or two ahead of time and have a general idea of what you want to know and when you want to review it.
c) Keep eating, keep sleeping, I cannot stress that enough. Especially the night before an exam, get at least 6-7 hours. As for food, avoid the junk food trap we all fall into around exams and try to keep eating healthy. I suggest making something that will keep for a few days and keeping it in the fridge. My personal favourite is chili with tons of veggies in it, it's a balanced meal that I just have to reheat and it keeps me energized.
d) If you're not used to drinking coffee, don't overdo it. I do not drink coffee daily, so when I knock back a few espressos to stay awake, I'll stay awake but feel sick and it's not super productive.
e) Stay calm. Find some way to decompress after those long study days, be it meditation, working out, leisure reading, Friends reruns, Wii boxing, indoor frisbee with your roommate (don't ask).

First year is pretty easy, so just ease in, you'll find your rhythm.

Since everyone pretty much covered methodology I'll go a little bit more philosophical on your ass:

Let me start my response to this simply by saying that it took me two years to find a method that worked for me. Two. Miserable. Years. And I'm still working on it. It doesn't end. First year was incredibly easy, in retrospect, of course. Second year I tanked. I mean, miserably (at least in the eyes of someone who is used to 80s and 90s - which seems to be most of us). To get a 'streak' of Cs and even a D was soul crushing. But, alas, you learn and improve. My third year was much, MUCH better and I'm still looking to improve. That's really what it's all about. It's not about pure grades and GPAs (like some of the freaks here may lead you to believe) and the mind numbing monotony of endless hours with your head strapped to your textbook as it is about learning how to learn. Every time you take a hit - and believe me, you will - step back and re-evaluate what you did that led to it. Not in some cheesy way, but just really think about your current methods and whether they're actually helping you. If need be, disassemble and reconstruct how you study. Look at how you study, when and how often you study (and of course how many subjects at a time - I tend to stick to 2 per day when reviewing, sometimes more if I'm bogged down with mid-terms or finals), where you study, what you eat, when you sleep, how you sleep, who you are fucking (you'd be surprised...), who you study with (if anyone), what classes you're taking (do they actually interest you?), etc.

Most importantly, in my eyes - Don't plan to study - just fucking do it. You know those people. They might even be your friends. Don't be one of them.

There really isn't a perfect way to study, and the transition from high school to university is different for everyone. Ultimately, it blows, unless you suddenly go savant and ace every class (I've seen it happen, it's scary and I wonder if there isn't actually some kind of adult-onset autistic savantism going around). I was a 90s student through high school. Now I am an 80s, sometimes 70s, sometimes 90s student in university. Do I care? Of course. It's an ego thing for all of us. Does it matter? Of course, but not as much as you might think. You'd be surprised.

Finally, I'd say, for about half of us, undergrad is a pre-amble to the reality of academia rather than the end-all as we see it now, because a lot of us want graduate degrees and so on and so forth. So, in essence, try to look at everything you do between now and your last minute at McMaster as progress (good and bad), and as you yourself progress, you'll be surprised to find yourself not passing out after exams. Holy shit, you might even know a thing or two, and feel (somewhat) confident when you step into your first day at work, or first day working on your Master's thesis, or your first medical/law/vet/whatever school lecture.

And you might actually feel good.
Some of the time