What changes when you start studying? There is quite a difference with secondary school, what do those differences look like? This article also discusses tips for optimal studying. What can students expect from lecture halls? Where and how is the best place to study?
Contents
- Choosing a study
- What changes when you start studying?
- Study better: use Mind Maps
- Study smart: find the best study workplace
Choosing a study
By choosing your studies you determine a large part of your personal future and possibly also new friends. It is an important choice that needs to be carefully considered. So a lot of attention will be paid to it in secondary school.
Take a study choice test
If prospective students are not yet sure of their choice, there are also many resources and study choice tests available on the internet.
What changes when you start studying?
Not only the spaces of the new ‘school’ change, but also the contact with the teacher and the ways in which you learn. Independent learning is even more expected, as is insightful thinking. How can students prepare for this?
As a student in the lecture hall
A class of 25 students is rare anymore. These types of numbers often only occur in practicals and seminars. The new students work in groups on projects. For the rest, they often sit in large rooms with fellow students. This can sometimes be 300 or more, and cinema halls are often used for this.
Contact with the teacher during your studies
Since there are often many more students in a ‘class’, there is less contact with the teacher. Yet many teachers like it when students ask questions during lectures and do not disappear into the crowd. Personal contact by asking questions during lectures or via email is often appreciated by lecturers. However, the opportunity to ask questions is limited: students often only have 1 lecture per week per subject.
Take notes during your studies
Many lectures are exam material. Since exam weeks take place after approximately 8 weeks of lectures, it is advisable to make notes of this. Almost every teacher works with PowerPoint presentations. The ‘slides’ of this can often be found on the faculty site/student portal. Notes of information that are not on the slides but that the teacher emphasizes during lectures are therefore important.
Study better: use Mind Maps
Students are presented with thick books, extra articles and readers that cannot be learned two days before an exam. Sometimes a different approach to studying is required, what tips are there to better organize information? Where can you go if things threaten to go wrong or when students are in a slump?
Using mind maps while learning
Many different people use mind maps. From the business world to people with ADHD (see General tips for better studying for people with ADHD and/or PDD-NOS). Mind maps are used from young to old and it is a fun way of organizing information. It uses creative abilities, visual learning techniques, multi-tasking and prevents the feeling of being flooded by information. It uses diagrams, figures, pictures, colors, arrows and abbreviations. Mind maps are very good for memory and it often works better than a standard extract. For a detailed explanation and (free) mind map programs for PC and MAC, see the heading ‘Mind maps’ in this article.
Study advisor for students
It happens that students can no longer see the forest for the trees or have problems in any area. At such a time it is wise to contact a study advisor or student psychologist. These people have a lot of experience with a wide variety of problems that students may experience. They can often provide adequate and quick help, so that students can enjoy studying and being a student again. Discussion forums on faculty sites are a useful way to see what is going on with other students who are taking the same courses. It also contains many questions, answers, mock tests and other things.
Study smart: find the best study workplace
There are often many study places in student cities. However, these are very busy during exam periods. If students want to be sure of a (computer) spot, it is wise to arrive at the libraries early. Students can often choose between a public library or, for example, the university library (UB). In addition, faculties of the various studies have their own libraries with learning places. If students do not have enough time to read all the complete literature, there are various ways to obtain summaries. For example, there are extract shops and summaries or mind maps often circulate among students.
Optimal studying with the best study place
Optimizing the working environment or study area is important. Everyone has a place where he/she performs best. Try to become aware of the most optimal study conditions and imitate them as much as possible in subsequent study moments.