Adapting to Third Year

For most students, the third year of their studies is where everything comes to a head. You’re doing your most important, heavily weighted work, often including a dissertation or at any rate substantial final project, as well as exams. The modules you’re working on are more important to your final result than in previous years, and a higher standard of scholarship is expected of you. You need to demonstrate how you’ve developed as a student since you first started two years ago.

It’s a heavy burden to shoulder, and on top of that you’ve got additional opportunities coming your way that might make it harder to find the time you need to devote to your studies: work experience, relationships or deeper involvement in clubs, societies and the governance of the student union all sap away at your time and are far interesting and attractive than shutting yourself away in the library.

Today we’re taking a look at how you can adapt to the third, and balance all of these calls on your time without being swamped!

At Home

It might be worth taking another look at halls of residence. Depending on where you go to university, there are different rules for who lives in halls of residence – student accommodation in Huddersfield is different to Oxford or Cambridge for example – but normally only first years qualify for a place. Except, of course if you’re a hall warden, or RA.

If you’ve found living in private rented accommodation chaotic, challenging to study in, moving back into halls in exchange for a few small responsibilities will save you money and give you more privacy to work some of the most vital academic projects of your career.

Timetabling

You can help organise yourself by drawing on your university experience to date. You know how long it takes you to do a certain amount of studying – to read a text for you classes, write an essay of a given length and so on. You also know how much you can get done the morning after a night out and when your busiest social times are likely to be.

This allows for some tight timetabling; you can bock out time for yourself to work in, confident that you will achieve what you need to in that time. As long you make an honest attempt to work at usual standard and level of concentration, this leaves you free time to relax and dilute the stress of your third year studies with some fun and relaxation!