OH and one more thing that killed me was not going to class. Scheduled lectures are there for a reason... GO TO THEM!
For a couple of my courses..esp first year bio 1m03 I barely went to class. And in the end when you get your marks, deep down you know that IF and ONLY IF you went to the lectures your mark would've been a few points higher IF anything..

How I hate those IFs! Honestly, this is coming from experience and just do your best cuz in the end of the day even if you end up getting a 6... atleast you wont blame yourself. Plus, getting notes off someone if WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY different than actually going to the lecture. And unless you're dying or severely sick, it's not always good to depend on people

SO YEA.. MAKE SURE YOU GO TO YOUR LECTURES!

Paying attention and actually being mentally present in lecture is not the same as going to class and sleeping through it, so FIX YOUR SLEEPING HABITS. Actually do your homework and readings promptly so that you don't have to stay up late finishing them and beginning a cycle of messed up circadian sleep patterns which result in pathetically low marks. //says the girl posting at 2:37am

Originally Posted by ooburii

Paying attention and actually being mentally present in lecture is not the same as going to class and sleeping through it, so FIX YOUR SLEEPING HABITS. Actually do your homework and readings promptly so that you don't have to stay up late finishing them and beginning a cycle of messed up circadian sleep patterns which result in pathetically low marks. //says the girl posting at 2:37am

agreed, it doesn't matter how good your study habits are if you keep sleeping through that stupid 8:30 class, my new ideology: school is about sacrifice, and one of those is going to sleep at 10:30-11 and waking up at 7:30 no matter how boring that is. You have friday, and saturday to stay up all night and party/chill/smoke weed if you feel like it lol, and it's not like you were going to do anything important/productive at that time anyways.

Read your course requirements at the beginning of every course, and read them well. I made the mistake of not reading the chem outline very thoroughly at the beginning of this semester, ended up missing more than one lab and didn't make them up at the end of the semester... if this has happened to anyone, or if anyone remembers what happens when you miss more than one lab for chem, you could very well imagine how I almost shit my pants seeing my grade report last week.

Not fun.

Make friends with people who have at least somewhat good study habits. This is not only to have "study buddies" but also to make sure you don't forget due dates and small assignments/quizzes that you may have overlooked. I'm not quite sure for social sciences/humanities, but I know for sciences there were a bunch of online quizzes/assignments that I would have missed if my friends didn't bring them up during conversation. These small things, even though you think they may not be worth much individually, can be easy mark boosters for your final mark.

Hide your cell phone/anything that distracts you when you need to study. Like, hide it from your field of view. I found that whenever I needed to study and my phone/laptop was in front of me, even though I would start off studying fairly well, I would still check my phone/emails/facebook every 10 minutes because I could. It might take only a few minutes to go through all of it, but it breaks your concentration. As soon as I put my laptop away and hid my cell from my field of view, I could easily study for at least an hour straight and I retained information so much better afterwards.

I don't know about your study habits, but another big thing would to be take time for yourself and your friends. Yes, school is insanely stressful at times, but if you don't take a break to hangout with your friends or even just by yourself every once in a while, you will actually go insane from the workload.

this is actully good thread i spent some time reading it

hope it all goes well next year

if you think you're ready for an exam, keep studying!

Originally Posted by Nina91

if you think you're ready for an exam, keep studying!

LOL, over-studying is bad :o

1) Sleep is extremely important. I must have pulled ten all-nighters in my first year before I finally realized that fact. When you're staring at an exam paper with questions you know you know but just can't quite remember, you'll kick yourself.
2) Don't buy textbooks before the first day of class. If possible (e.g., unless you've heard that the textbook is completely necessary from students who have taken the course, you have work to do directly from the book, or the book seems to be selling out quickly), don't buy it for the first week. In most cases they're necessary, but there are courses where you'll realize quickly that the textbook is "just for [unnecessary] further clarification" and that you wasted 100+ dollars. Cough, EARTH SC 2EI3.
3) Know what you came to school for. The social aspect of university is great, but it's too easy to put off work because all your friends are going out. Before you know it, you're behind on your work and can't catch up. I was guilty of this for my first year, and part of my second.
4) If you're in a group project, be a useful group member. First year (and onward) is full of group projects, so don't be the pain in the ass who e-mails the entire group at 2:00am the morning before the project is due and asks how to do something or asks if someone else can finish it. I didn't do this, but I can't recall a single group project where this didn't happen from at least one of the members. Pissin' me off.
5) There is a way to toy with the Les Prince elevator (and all others, I guess) so that it skips every floor on the way to yours. Only fools ride the elevator in silent anger while people get on at the second floor to get off at the third.
6) Have a 20 on you at all times.
7) Find your classrooms/tutorial rooms in advance.

Originally Posted by alh24

1) Sleep is extremely important. I must have pulled ten all-nighters in my first year before I finally realized that fact. When you're staring at an exam paper with questions you know you know but just can't quite remember, you'll kick yourself.

Happened too many times. If you really need to do it, then at least try power naps, they help more than a bit

6) Have a 20 on you at all times.

Agree

7) Find your classrooms/tutorial rooms in advance.

Also applies to prof's offices. When you're stressed during exam time, or the day before the midterm you don't want to spend half an hour trying to find an office in some obscure corner of the Health Science Centre.

That time travel is not possible ...

80% of the things they teach you in your foundation year of social work school is kinda useless, and that "anti oppressive practice" doesn't exist in the field.

Originally Posted by alh24

1) Sleep is extremely important. I must have pulled ten all-nighters in my first year before I finally realized that fact. When you're staring at an exam paper with questions you know you know but just can't quite remember, you'll kick yourself.

You have no idea how many times that happened to me this year. Cost me my Classics exam. I stayed up all night studying, got no sleep for the exam, and I could remember seeing everything on my review, but I could not remember the details. Listen to this point especially!

Procrastination is your enemy.

Don't take breaks when studying when you know for a fact that they always extend to well over the 15 minutes you alloted (*coughcoughonehourbr eaksallthetimecoughco ugh*). You'll rue it later.

Study. Do the practice questions. ATTEND TUTORIALS! Even if the TA is horrible (Maths AA3, or so I felt), at least something will go and possibly stick inside your head.

EDIT: Oh, especially if you're getting 10% participation marks by attending tutorials...please don't not show up. It always surprises me how people can attend only two or three classes when they KNOW they're getting 10% marks from attendance.

Study ahead of midterms. Don't leave it for the couple days before exams, even if you are that smart to pull it off. That 70 could easily turn into a 90 if you prepare for it properly.

VISIT YOUR PROFESSORS IN THEIR OFFICES. Before I came to uni, I was told that professors don't care about their students, that their job is only to deliver the lecture. THIS IS NOT TRUE. If you're worried about your grades, need clarification on the material, whatever it is, GO TO THEM. I never did this enough, and I regret it, because when I finally started going to the Physics prof, it was near the end of term.

Oh, also, don't leave things for the last day. If you have doubts, clear them before the exam sessions start (esp. for the finals). For my physics exam, I'd told the professor multiple times I'd be coming to clear my doubts. When I finally got ready the fine, cold morning before my exam, I waited for the bus for 20 minutes before I realized it was Good Friday, and hence NO ONE WOULD BE IN. -.- Not the best thing to discover the day before your exam, trust me.

If you take the bus, get out all your laziness before you get home so you don't waste any more time. What I mean is, relax so that you feel like you've had a break and can get straight to work.

Many times I would not only spend my entire commute watching a movie on my phone but then waste more time when I got home. In the end, it'd be really late before I started my work and I lost quite a bit of sleep because of it.

Edit: Considering I just finished my first year it's pretty sad how many of these posts would've helped me. Maybe I should have read it before the year ended...