ACADEMICS
8 Strategies To Transform Your Student Experience
As we navigate the challenging but transformative journey of student life, it’s crucial to discover effective strategies that can make this experience truly remarkable. In the following article, I’ll share eight strategies that have the potential to completely transform your student experience. From mastering time management to building a versatile skill set, these insights aim to help you make the most of your time at university.
Before we dive into the strategies to transform the student experience, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. The insights I’ve shared in this article stem from a YouTube video that profoundly impacted my perspective on the student experience. You can access the full video and its wealth of knowledge here.
In the spirit of learning and sharing, I aim to pass along these valuable lessons so that others may benefit as well.
8 Strategies To Transform Your Student Experience
- How To Manage Your Time: One of the things you would find completely transformational is running your time entirely on your calendar. You are to schedule things that are scheduled, and then you do what you want with the rest of the time. Almost all successful people in the world live their lives based on their calendar. Schedule things, Schedule what time you intend to wake up, schedule what time you intend to do your assignment, what time you are going to lectures, what time you intend to go to your clubs and societies, schedule what time you will be hanging out with friends. It is really up to us how we want to allocate those 24 hours.
Let’s say you sleep for eight hours a day, you’ve got 16 hours, Let’s say you attend lectures or work for 8 hours, then it is up to you to figure out what to do with the remaining time. Now, if you are not intentional about how you are using that time, you are going to default to the random shits we do as students i.e. totally wasting time. But if you are at least intentional about it, you can nudge yourself towards acting in a way that you actually want to act.
Of course, I am not saying it has to be”always” productive, but at least try and be more intentional with your time. - How To Study Efficiently: This is something that no one teaches us. You don’t get taught in high school or university how to learn. It is just something you are meant to pick up and you watch other people do it and you do.
But actually, there are tons and tons of research people have done, showing methods of effective study.
One of the efficient ways of studying is practicing and testing yourself on what you are taught. Do more questions than re-reading your notes. It is when you test yourself, that you are really studying. You get more effective when you spacely repeat what you are testing yourself on.
What you read today, try and remember before checking your notes tomorrow, what you test yourself on tomorrow, try and practice it next week. What you tested on next week, try and practice it in 2 weeks time, then in one month time. This is spaced repetition.
Check below for more articles that explains studying effectively better;
How To Study For Exams – Active Recal
How To Study For Exams – Spaced Repetition
The Art of Reading More Effectively and Efficiently
- Study With Friends: This is another one of those things that makes those blocks of time in which you are studying more efficient, more effective, and way more enjoyable as well, which is what makes studying sustainable, and fun and creates all the memories and all that fun stuff. Even if you are not studying the same Subject but you sitting at a table together, that process makes studying way more effective because it is fundamentally more enjoyable. Anything you do, doing it with friends makes it more fun.
The other points mentioned below are what you should consider doing when you are not studying
- Join Clubs and Societies: Think of clubs as sampling different types of experiences. If you spend all your time at the university studying every time, you are missing out on a lot of other life experiences and career experiences that could potentially get you ahead in life.
It’s what you care about, but that could also add colors and vibes and that magic sparkle of enjoyment to your life as well.
- Learn skills in the Universal Toolbox: The Universal toolbox is a toolbox of skills and techniques that, if you learn how to do them, even to a basic level will help you out in life in a way you can’t imagine. Something like that would be Public Speaking. Whatever career you happen to be in, being confident in public speaking is just ridiculously helpful for doing better in your career, and also having a more interesting life.
Being good at negotiation is another one of those things because life is based on negotiation. If you are better at negotiation, you are better at negotiating raises, you are better at selling things, and whatever you are doing in your career, you are better at putting yourself forward for new things.
You can also learn the basics of how to edit videos, you could learn coding or design, or how to write a good presentation.
These are the things you could be spending time on, on your non-studying time, working on these different skills. - Experiment More With Side Hustles: The reason for this is that when you are a student, this is the perfect time to experiment with different side hustles, where the stakes are pretty low.
Now at this point, some people are very anti-side hustle, they are like “University is for enjoying yourself, not for trying to make money” But, would you say No to having extra money when you are working?
Most people find themselves in a job that they don’t actually enjoy, that doesn’t provide meaning and fulfillment. Especially in a place like Nigeria where there are not really jobs out there for university graduates. If you have the skills to make money on the side, then you are not tethered necessarily or stranded after your university. You already have what you can do, and likely enjoy making money.
You should be experimenting with side hustles, learning how to build a business, and learning the skills involved in making money. That means that at least in that part of your life, you have more autonomy, you have more control, you have more choice.
See;
6 Side Hustles Ideas For Students - Take More Photos: It will be so nice to look back on those memories of seeing you and your friends hanging out or studying or whatever that might be. There is really something nice about being able to relive those memories of student life by virtue of having taken photos.
- Surround Yourself With Energizers: You know that feeling where some of the friends you hang out with, really lift your energy levels, but you might have some friends in your life, whom you hang out with and it dampens your energy levels
It is better to nudge more time towards the energizers. It is less about time management and more about energy management.
If you are surrounding yourself with people raising your energy level, it just makes your whole life more enjoyable, but it also gives you more energy to be able to apply to your studies and also apply to the important things outside studying.
Whereas, if you are spending your time with people draining your energy, then you have less energy to give to your studies. And now, you have to work harder and it feels less fun and you have less spare time on other things we’ve talked about above.
Not really saying you should cut off yourself from friends draining your energy, but at least, nudge your time towards the people that are lifting you up rather than the people bringing you down.
Conclusion:
Your time as a student is a precious phase in your life, filled with opportunities for personal growth and lifelong memories. By incorporating these eight strategies into your university experience, you can enhance your journey and lay a strong foundation for a successful future. Remember that the actions you take today will shape your tomorrow.
Our Turn!
If you get to the end of this article, I like you to leave in the comment section “What did you take away?” and in particular, “What action point will you take?” It is somehow pointless if you are not going to take some kind of action away from this. I would love to hear, a bit of accountability from you and me. Share them in the comment section below, let’s learn together!
Mine, anyways, I can say what I learned is living in my calendar, as a way to manage my time, and also my takeaway from this post is joining clubs and societies, I will also take to attending more Church programs also, these are my action points. I need to take action immediately. Let me hear yours too!
