Let’s start from the very beginning – university tips

Do you remember the first day of Uni? You get your campus card, with the worst photograph ever on it…even worse than your passport photo. It’s usually been taken after the ‘Big Night Out’ when all freshers are hungover and looking a bit worse for wear. Yes, that photo will stay with you for the whole three or more years you’ll spend at Uni. Unless you accidently ‘misplace’ it like some people I know, just so you get a second chance.

You start the new chapter of your life with fresh thoughts and feelings, almost like that New Year feeling when you’ve made all those pointless resolutions. And from that moment, all the fun, blood, sweat and tears (literally) begin. Every assignment comes rolling in at once and the deadlines come along sooner. I found my three years at Uni studying Writing Fashion & Culture BA (Hons) at Southampton Solent University flew by so fast, before I knew it I was up on a stage accepting my 2:1 award wearing my cap and gown.

Here are my top tips for getting the grade you want at Uni

First of all you’ll probably roll your eyes at some of my tips because you’ll hear your lecturers telling you the same. But believe me, like your parents are always right, so are they.

“I wanna 2:1″, “I wanna 1st.” First you have to work for it. You can scrape along at Uni for the first two years, but by the third it all catches up with you. I’m afraid, to get the grade you want you have to quite simply work for it. Which links to my next tip…

The key to being successful with your assignments is organisation. As soon as you get your assignment, start working on it. Sounds straightforward? Yes it does, but preaching this tip is a lot different to doing it. If you keep on top of your work load and do a little bit each day, the little bits add up to pages and when the deadline is looming you’ll feel a lot less stressed (and feel quite smug when your mates are doing all nighter’s and you’re at the union.)

Be friends with your lecturers/tutors. Ok, you don’t need to start hanging out with them down the local, but talking to your tutors instead of running out the door at the end of a lecture is rather useful. You have a chance to ask questions that you were to afraid to ask in a lecture room and clarify or get ideas for your assignment.

Keep a note book and record everything you do regarding the assignment. Write down the book, author, publisher or the website, why you looked at it and when. This saves you hours of time because you’ll have it at your finger tips when it comes to writing the bibliography or the appendices.

Work experience- I will write a whole section on this later because it’s VERY important.

Research outside the ‘box’- To push your marks towards a 1st, extend your research and findings to another level. Always consider the future and where the subject area will end up.

Always attend the one to one tutorials with your lecturer, they’ll note down your attendance and effort which they could take into consideration when they mark the assignment.

Pick something you enjoy-Ok I feel you’re rolling your eyes again but picking a subject, especially for the dissertation, is something you need to spend a long time thinking about. Spending nine months on one subject feels like ages, and you’ll probably end up hating it.

Your computer is your best friend. Nurture it, love it and look after it. Back up your work every time you save something. Adding two minutes to your work load each time to save is extremely valuable. Take this advice from someone who is a saving addict. My laptop decided to pack up two months before the hand in of my dissertation. I cried, I threw it across the room (which probably didn’t help) and my dissertation disc went walk about.

(They’ll be more tips on here when I think of them)

If you are a graduate, please add any tips you think will be beneficial to this post.