7-ish tips for your first month studying (physics)

So you just started studying? While the proces of enrolment is a journey on its own, it is nothing compared to what lies ahead. You’ll just have to get at it, but this can be a very daunting task. Like slaying a dragon in its lair, getting a good start at uni will require you to come well-equipped. Luckily, I’ve curated a list filled with my best tips for your first month, so that you can get a blazing start towards your degree.

1. Don’t go juggling everything all at once

Way too often I see this happen; students trying to balance their studies and their social lives right from the get-go, only to fail their first courses. The problem lies not so much in the juggling itself, but in them throwing up more than they can handle. Of course it is important that you have a balanced life, but it’s better to start off with just a few things to balance, and add more as you get more comfortable.

For example, try focussing on only your studies for a week. Then, once you’ve experienced what a normal week would be like, you can try adding back some of your usual activities. Eventually, you’ll be able to add more and more until your schedule can hold everything you want to be doing with ease.

2. Don’t forget about the course details

Though this one’s a no-brainer, it is often overlooked in all of the excitement that comes with starting your degree. This leads to students losing track of the bigger picture, in turn hindering their understanding of the subject. This problem can be easily solved by just taking a quick glance at the course details, which will help steer you right back on track towards that sweet passing grade.

If you’re not sure where to find the course details, ask your councillor or a peer. If you still can’t find it, maybe keep reading the next tip.

3. Sit down and get comfortable with your institution’s digital workspace

When it comes to the term ‘overwhelming’, you’ll probably find a picture of university websites next to it in the dictionary. The first months will often see students struggling with seperating the useful sites from the useless ones. Though this is no problem at first, it will start demanding a lot of time better spent elsewhere once you really get going.

Before you do anything else, make sure you understand these 5 things:

• How your student-mail works
• Where you can find your homework and your timetable
• What apps your institution uses for communication
• Where you can look up information about the campus (buildings, amenities, lecture halls, etc.)
• What you can do on the website of your student association (turns out, a lot)

Once you understand these, make sure you can acces them easily. In our experience, these are the things we’ve spent 90% of our time using. Everything else you’ll come across as you start studying.

4. Look off the beaten path for a place to study

Quite often you will find yourself having to study while still on campus. Maybe you want to do some distraction-free learning, or maybe it’s because you wanted to meet up with some friends. Whatever your reason, it will be a huge help if you can just find a regular place to study at. Easier said than done. You’ll find most popular study-places have already been taken by groups that arrived earlier or made a reservation. To avoid this, look for the following places:

• Learning plazas or study rooms deep inside your department-buildings. Try exploring some of the buildings you frequent to find these hidden gems.
• Your campus library for a tried and true learning spot. If yours is too busy, you can always try finding a more local one.
• A coffee shop, especially if you need that extra caffeine-kick to get you going. Be warned though, for they can get quite noisy at times.
• Empty classrooms if you don’t mind asking around. You’ll be surprised how often you’ll be able to use one for your study-sessions. The spaces go unused anyway, so most universities don’t mind you studying there. Keep in mind that you’ll have to move once someone will actually use the place. 

5. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions

How impressive it may seem to be able to figure everything out on your own, in reality it just equates to inefficient studying. Keep in mind that you have the opportunity to study at an institution with highly-educated professors and hundreds of students that have already trotted the path you are about to embark on. It would be wise to ask them for help when you get stuck, saving you both time and sanity. Ask older peers for advice on subjects, or consult your advisor when you feel like you’re not keeping up for example.

This tip especially rings true during lectures. You will often see people not ask questions out of fear of being seen as slow or dim-witted, but in reality these questions would save them mental time and energy they can then invest into more demanding topics. On top of that, asking questions to people more knowledgable than you also helps detect flaws in your thinking so that you won’t have any misunderstandings further down the line.

6. Find like-minded people to study with

At first, studying in a group seemed problematic to me. Having to meet up and just sitting around sounded awkward to me. I’ve never been much of a team-worker, and so I never really got around to trying this strategy.

My advice: don’t be like me!

Studying in a group has many benefits you should be aware of, which is why you should prioritise finding a group of peers you feel comfortable with. (Being comfortable is essential to this strategy working).

Benefits include:

• Being able to ask each other questions (see tip #5)
• Motivating each other to study more (you can even introduce some competition)
• Having more fun studying
• Being able to share your skills with each other, reducing total workload

I’d suggest you find a group of around 3-5 people, because a smaller size makes sure you can meet up often. Don’t only include friends, but think about adding people who have similar goals in mind. Besides helping your group study more seriously, this will also make sure your group is more diverse so that you can share more knowledge.

7. Take some time to zoom out and see how you’re doing

Last but not least, you should always take some time to look back at how far you’ve come, and what you still need to accomplish. Studying should be a fun and insightful experience, so try to make sure you don’t lose your joy in all of the studying you’re doing.

I’d advise you take at least 1 hour a week for these kinds of reviews. Look back at what went well and what went wrong, so that you can have an overview of what needs improvement in the coming week. This helps create ease-of-mind, and will make sure you’re right on track towards passing that class.

My personal weekly review looks a bit like this:

• I take a piece of paper, and write down everything that stood out in my mind for that week.
• Then, I write a plus if I found it to be positive, and a minus if I found it to be negative.
• Then, I think up ways to enforce my plusses and deter my minuses.

Yep, that’s all. Easy to do, yet incredibly effective. It works for me, because it results in actionable improvements I can make to my week, so that I can be more mindful about how I go about studying.

Bonus Tip for physics students

Learn how to use LaTeX for writing science documents. Though this way of writing documents may seem daunting at first, it’s an easy way to write beautiful equations and will save you a lot of time in the long run. Try doing a course or taking some time to self-study it online. Most STEM-studies require you to eventually write your thesis using this software, so getting used to it early on will save you quite some headaches.

For starters, we suggest you use Overleaf, a web-based LaTeX editor that allows you to collaborate with one other person. It’s free to use, though you can upgrade to a premium plan if you see fit. When it comes to learning this language, you can find a guide on the Overleaf site as well, or you can try following a tutorial on Youtube.

Putting it all into practice

So, now that you’re armed with all this advice, what should your next step be?

Of course there are many ways to go about things, but I’d suggest the following: During your first weeks, try to focus on your studying. Get to know your fellow students, and suggest meeting up to study. Look around for a comfortable place to sit with your group, and help each other get to know the ins and outs of your institution. Keep up with class- and homework, and eventually get into the rhythm of things by guiding each other. Remember that this should all be a fun process, so start adding things you’d like to do once you’ve got your flow down.

After a few weeks, you’ll be studying like you’ve been doing it for years, and will be well on your way to one day slay that dragon.