Balance: The Secret Of Student Success

Studying at university is a skill in itself – you’re going to become an expert in your field of study, whether it’s maths, philosophy, politics, medicine or any other of the many courses availably, but in order to do that you to become an expert student. This is true wherever you study, whether you’re living in the historic halls of residence at Oxford or Cambridge once inhabited by Rosalind Franklin or Oscar Wilde, or in the more modern student accommodation Huddersfield has to offer.

The key to student success is balance: if you’re spending every hour not in lectures in the library, you’re as susceptible to burnout as any lawyer or doctor, and if you never go near a textbook you’re not going to be feeling too proud when graduation day comes.

Today we’re looking at how you can create balance in your student life and succeed at your studies without cutting yourself off from all the fun that student life can provide!

Using Your Time

The first thing you need to do is start to get an idea of how long it takes you to get a piece of work done. Think of it like a time and motion study in a workplace: you need to find out how long it takes you, putting in your best effort, to write 500 word essay, a thousand word essay, to read a chapter of a dense textbook, or prepare a presentation for a seminar.

When you know how long it takes you to accomplish the tasks of university life, you can plan your days more efficiently. When you decide to spend a couple of hours in the library you know if that means finishing an essay and submitting it, or just breaking ground on the plan that will take a week to see through to its conclusion.

Time Tabling

This means you can plan out your week with the confidence you’re giving enough time to your studies to keep up to the mark while leaving yourself time to recharge, whatever that means for you. You might need time alone with a book read for pleasure to feel ready to dive back in again. You might need a night out at the most chaotic club the town has to offer. You might need to spend some quality time rehearsing your next play with the with student theatre society. Whatever you need, you can give it the time necessary to you achieve the balance you need for success in your student life.