Millions of students start college all across the world every year. They do this to further their education to land their dream job in the future when they complete their studies. While the majority of students enrolling in colleges will be in their first year, they will make a few mistakes along the way due to a lack of experience.
With so many mistakes students can make during their college studies, professional academic writers from essay writing service pointed out five of the ones the majority of students make. Below are their thoughts:
#1. Skipping classes
Skipping classes is a problem that colleges have to deal with when it comes to their students because most of them would rather enjoy themselves. While other students might have legitimate reasons to skip a class like illness, some will skip a class if they feel it’s boring or not interesting and focus more on their part-time job.
No matter the reason, it does affect a student’s performance and they can end up missing up to 10 lectures per semester. Missing too many lectures means missing out on very important information which might be helpful come examination time. Parents need to encourage their students and tell them about the importance of attending classes all the time.
Many colleges tell their students that 85% of the time, they are supposed to do their reading and expand their knowledge further rather than be spoon-fed all the information. 25% of their time should be spent in lectures and asking their tutors to clarify anything they don’t understand.
There is no denying that classes are very important when it comes to a student’s progression and skipping them is a waste of their parents’ tuition fees. Some colleges will suspend students who skip classes because they feel it will lower their pass percentage rate.
When a college has a very poor pass percentage rate it can make them less attractive to future students which are bad for business. No college wants to have a poor pass percentage rate because it ruins their reputation.
#2. Having a huge workload
Many students sometimes feel like taking on many modules or courses at the same time is a good idea. While many colleges allow students to take on more than one module, the workload can be too much for other students to handle.
A student should not bite off more than they can chew and parents, as well as tutors, should always encourage students to take courses they can handle based on their ability. There is no point asking a student to take on 5 courses per year while they can only handle 3.
#3. Using social media too much
We live in a social media world with platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Tik-Tok taking over people’s lives. Being caught up in the social media world can be very distracting for a student especially with the devices at our disposal like smartphones, tablets, laptops and more.
They will spend more hours socializing online than their studies which harms their chances of passing their course. This can lead to problems such as sleep deprivation, especially if one is up at all hours of the night watching their favorite series or just seeing what’s happening in the online world.
A student needs to set themselves a time limit on the number of hours each day they spend on social media to focus on their studies. This is called a social media blackout where they will put their phone away and focus on other activities that will help them pass their module.
They can take up activities like reading modules or class notes to improve in areas they are weak at. It is small acts like this that can make the biggest difference in a student’s college life.
#4. Waiting until the last minute
There is an expression which says “last minute is always dangerous” and this applies to a student’s college life. Many students believe that time is a luxury they have plenty of which is a massive mistake.
They put off doing assignments or course work until the last possible minute which is not a good idea because it brings panic and stress. A student might pull off an all-nighter trying to get an assignment done or studying for a test which can lead to a low mark. To avoid this massive mistake, a student needs to carefully plan themselves.
Time management in college is very important to achieve great grades. As a student, you should always look to study well in advance for any test and research for your assignment well in advance as well.
#5. Not asking for help when needed
Students in their first year are often too shy or scared to ask for help from their tutors even if they need it. Many students feel like the tutor won’t have time to see them and rather face the problem all their own without guidance. This mentality is bad because a student ends up failing their test, assignment or course overall because they didn’t ask.
All it takes is just a few minutes to be stirred in the right direction by a tutor to clear up a topic that wasn’t understood. To deal with this, a student needs to realize that tutors are there to help and their door is always open. They are in this profession to help students and not bring them down.