How to maintain your matric marks and be an A student in your first year of university
It is quite difficult for many people to make the transition from high school to university, which leads to high failure rates during the 1st year of university at South African universities. To help students figure out a way to stay on top of their marks, we asked Wits Bachelor of Accounting Science (BAccSci) student Nhlakanipho Kubheka who managed to get an A average in his first year of university to share some tips on how to maintain your matric level performance in university.
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| Nhlaka in his matric year |
Maintaining your senior year results as you enter university
It feels like it was just yesterday when I came here, unlike the other
freshmen, I wasn't as excited about coming to varsity. Being in one of the
country’s best institutions the pressure was on. I was told it was going to be
one hell of a year in terms of difficulty and all the adjustments/changes that
I had to adapt to. I mean there was varsity itself, the ever busy city life
(I’m from a very small town so the difference was significant), being away from
home and family, and then there’s growth from the very first day you set foot
onto the varsity premises, who am I kidding? That growth actually starts from
the moment you part ways with your folks. When they leave you in that place it
almost feels like you are being abandoned. Coincidently just as that dark
thought started to consume my mind, my dad told me, “We are not abandoning you
here son, don’t you ever feel that way…” It was like he knew what I was thinking.
I wish I could say that I didn’t feel abandoned, but that would be a blatant
lie.
So there I was from a small town miles away, afraid and all alone thinking
about how I was going to get through the year. How was I to ensure my results
were satisfactory at the end of the year, basically how was I to enhance my
studying methods from high school, as I had been advised.
I tried timetables but it just so happened I lacked the discipline to
follow them and therefore I wasn’t successful with them. I tried pre-reading
and post-reading course material, and I found out that didn't work out for me
(wasn’t that determined during first year, of which am not ashamed to admit). I
knew studying with people was a no go for me because I am most efficient when I
am working alone than in a group. I tried various ways of studying only to come
to the realization that they were all not for me. Fortunately though, exams
were still quite distant so I had ample time to find the recipe that best
worked for my system. At the point I was still driven by the fear of failure
and uncertainty. It never actually crossed my mind to keep with my original
studying technique from high school (I mean I was told it wasn’t going to work
at varsity). After trying out a few methods I gave up my quest and that is when
it hit me, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…’ I have been using one studying
technique throughout high school and it earned me distinctions and the
prestigious DUX award at my senior year of high school. So why don’t I just do
what I did and see if I will continue to get what I’ve always got I thought. From
that day onwards I just studied how I studied in high school and unsurprisingly
it worked out just fine. So fine actually that I managed to pull a few
distinctions at the end (5 of the 7 courses I did; the 2 I missed because I
hated the courses absurdly, one was a C the other was a B so it wasn’t bad at
all). So what do you have to do to maintain your grades during the so called
’huge’ transition from high school to varsity? Well it is simple really:
1. Rid yourself of any fears you have before you commence with the year for
they will most likely not manifest themselves into actual events.
2. Make sure you understand the type of person you are, this I strongly
recommend for adaptation which will also make the studying easier.
3. Take it easy, it is not as bad as you think, first round (year) is
basically like your senior year at high school.
4. If you had a specific way of studying in high school that worked out well
for you, then don’t change the technique unless if it is necessary.
5. Exams are just hyped up class tests that are longer, keep cool and relax,
if you studied smartly enough (not necessarily studied hard enough) then you’ll
pull through.
6. Always be realistic, the last thing you want to do is lie to yourself about
any academic related topic, be it studying technique, course material or even
your persona.
7. Just be you regardless of what they may think of you because at the end of
the day the qualification/progress card/certificate will be yours and yours
alone.
Yes I am through
with round one, my results were satisfying enough for me. An A aggregate for my
senior year results, an A aggregate for my first year results… I survived the
transition and now on with the second bout. I will apply the same 7 rules
throughout the year and we shall see what happens this time…
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