Get a degree with minimum effort (How to study effectively?)

Member Name: AdvocatusDiaboli

Product:	How to study effectively?
Date:	07/11/01 (233 review reads)
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As I explained in my opinion on jobs at University I firmly believe that to make the most of your time at Uni you should avoid any sort of work at all costs. That includes Uni work. None of the below really constitutes cheating so don't worry it's just a lazy approach.

~ First year ~

Usually none of your first year marks count towards your final mark, armed with this knowledge it is safe to avoid all lectures and the majority of tutorials. My advice is to turn up at the start of all lectures (maybe not 9am ones) just in case they take attendance, if there is no sign of an attendance sheet then take a copy of the lecture notes (if available) or copy them off the computer. After this you are free to enjoy your day (I'd suggest the pub, the bookies, or the Casino - depending upon the time of day). Tutorials are harder to avoid but my advice is to miss the first one of any module and hopefully after that your name will not appear on the register, after that you are free to attend when you want but I would suggest attending occasionally just in case you are asked any questions at the end of term.

EXAMS

First year exams are so basic you should be able to pass them just from reading through your limited lecture notes. If you can manage to fail a couple it opens up the best scenario of all - repeating the year. If you decide against repeating the year it is vital that you get to know people from the year above you if the easy life is to continue. If you decide to repeat then you already know people in your year that will be helpful later on.

~ Second Year ~

Second year marks usually count so you can't afford to do badly. That said it is time to make your mind up whether you are an academic and want a first or a 2:1 or whether you are a player and want to enjoy life whilst still blagging your way into a good job, I recommend the latter.

First off you will have to select optional modules, the key t
o success here is to select mathematical modules that are mainly exams or non-maths modules that are mainly coursework. Attendance can be handled in much the same way as the first year with one crucial exception, get photocopies of all the module notes you need from your friends in the year above. I managed to attend only 2 hours a week in my second year by doing this. The same applies for all pieces of coursework, find someone who got a first or a 2:1 for a piece of work and dumb it down to a 2:1 or 2:2 depending on how ambitious you are. This can be done by writing the mirror image of a sentence now and again, if your friend has suggested that X=Y then you may suggest that X does not = Y just once or twice, should lose just a couple of marks while making sure your coursework is never compared to your friends.

EXAMS

Apart from your photocopied notes you should also try and find the sort of student who actually goes through practice exam questions, a mate of mine actually used to go and wait outside exams he was planning on taking the next year and try and pick up any notes that were left behind as students entered the exams, we then photocopied them and in some instances sold them. The advantage of making sure that you have mathematical type exams is that if you are good at maths they are very easy to revise for.

~ Before your Final year ~

Think about the options you are going to pick for your final year, use the same criteria as year 2. On top of this find some friends who are doing courses that are specific to your module (eg in Business, if you take a law module then get to know someone doing the full time law course). Do not start getting worried about your dissertation, certainly don't work on it during the summer holiday - go to Vegas or something.

~ Final year ~

Don't panic, it won't be much harder than your previous years, unfortunately you may not be able to get away with attendances around
the 20% area, I had to move my attendances up to about 50% and in the final term probably around 75%. However I never worked outside my lectures and tutorials apart from my 2 weeks on a dissertation.

Firstly collate all your information using the methods suggested for year 2. Coursework methods need to be changed, as it will become a lot easier to spot a fraud, this is where you play the 'ace up your sleeve' by getting help from specialists. Your coursework will seem easy to them and they will be able to do a piece of work worth a high 2:2 or a low 2:1 in no time.

DISSERTATION

Pick a topic you enjoy and the words will flow, also instead of trying to prove a hypothesis just write an investigation, it may limit you to a 2:2 but cheer up its not like you have spent 18 months working on it. If you have access to the right info then you should be able to complete a dissertation in less than 2 weeks if you work through the night.

EXAMS

The pressure is on but you may actually find that you are not as nervous as you might expect because you have been attending a lot more than you have in previous years, once again a 2:2 will do so just make sure you know the basics. This can usually be accomplished in a day or two of revision. I condensed most modules to one side of A4 then just read it over and over, do this right before the exam then go str8 into the exam hall and write everything you can on spare paper before the exam starts. Refer to it throughout the paper.


So there you go, a degree can be quite easy. You don't have to work hard and none of the above is cheating, it is just lateral thinking.

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