The Idiot's Guide to University (FAQ)

[glitterfairy]

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also see http://community.boredofstudies.org/...light=bags+uni and http://community.boredofstudies.org/...ad.php?t=56521 for what I don’t cover

DISCLAIMER: Written by a Mac student. I’ve tried to be general wherever possible, but if something I’ve written does not apply to your university, please let me know and I will edit accordingly!

WHAT’S A SEMESTER?
We’ll start off with an easy one. This is the Uni “term” - a semester is generally about 14 weeks, and we have two a year with a two-week break in between which may or may not coincide with NSW government school breaks (also, don’t expect all uni calendars to be the same because they’re not). You will have a mid-semester break at about week 7, and most uni’s other than Macquarie will also have STUVAC the week or two before their end-of-semester exam comes up. However, I think we have a much longer between-semester break, so it all balances out eventually.

WHAT DO I DO IN MY FIRST LECTURE?
*Lecture: Usually an hour in which all the students sit down whilst the lecturer talks. Not unlike english extension 1 lessons*

Firstly and most importantly (I can't believe I forgot this in the first draft) is that you turn up to this first lecture, because this is when your Course Outline will be given out. If you miss this opportunity, you may be able to download it from somewhere, but otherwise you'll have to run around to find the Unit Corvenor to get a copy.

My main advice here is that you turn up on time as a courtesy to other students – also, several lecturers (the minority) get antsy when people are late. Keep in mind that lectures (at Mac, anyway) start at 5 past and go on till 5 to the next hour - waiting outside the door an hour before your lecture starts is pointless because there will be another lecture going on in there and you won’t be able to get in! lol. That being said, getting there about 5-10 minutes early means you can choose the best seats in the house.

In regards to seating arrangements, don’t stress too much over them. But as a general observation, Mature-age students tend to gravitate towards the front row and people wanting a fast exit tend to sit near the doors/aisle seats. Other than that anything goes (however most students tend to sit somewhere in the middle). Feel free to sit next to someone new and strike up a conversation – you can meet new people this way.

When the lecturer starts talking, I advise against trying to write down EVERY single word he or she says. You’re there to learn from them, not to mimic. Jot down the important points and maybe a few notes of your own to help you grasp the topic better – remember that you are NOT there to regurgitate, you are there to LEARN. At the end of the semester you’ll be tested on your working knowledge of the course – that’s when these notes/summaries will come into handy.

OH MY GOD! I HAVE A TWO/THREE HOUR LECTURE!!! WHAT THE?!?!
Whilst nasty in the nastiest possible way, there is some light at the end of the three-hour lecture tunnel. The only three-hour lecture I've ever done had a "tute" session for the third hour. Whilst still in the lecture theatre, it was something different. Sometimes you even get a different lecturer. You can sit there and pretend it's a whole different thing

Most lectures that go over an hour will give you a break in between lectures. Depending on how nice your lecturer is, they can give you a nice 20 minute break.

WHAT DO I BRING TO MY FIRST LECTURE?
A notebook of some kind, and a pen. My advice is to get an A4 lined binder that has pockets in it to store your Course Outline (gives rundown on what will be covered that week, plus homework due, assessment list/ranking, etc etc). Quill makes one called “A4 5 Subject”, which has lined paper and 4 double-sided plastic pocket inserts to hold papers inside. A lot of my uni friends have this book and we all swear by it – it is SO much better than carrying 4 different notebooks around! Plus, this way all your notes (both handwritten and photocopied) are already sorted by subject – which makes life so much easier around exam time.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I’M LATE TO A LECTURE?
Try to open and close the door quietly and sit in the first seat you come across. No-one (including the lecturer) will mind if you come in late and don’t disrupt the lesson – yes, even if you’re half an hour late! (yes, this happens… but try not to make it a habit, ok? Lol)

DO I HAVE TO GO TO THE LECTURE?
Unless your attendance is marked at lectures (this happened in my Accounting lectures, also tourism/environmental/agricultural subjects at UWS) technically you don’t have to. However, you’re highly advised to – where else are you going to learn the material? But anyway. Most lectures are taped and you should be able to find a copy in the library a few days later (or wherever the designated place is). Mac students have it even better – we have “iLectures”, where most lectures are taped and put onto the internet for the students to download and listen to at home.

However: iLectures can be really boring to listen to, because you don’t have the visual stimulation of your lecturer walking from one end of the lecture theatre to the other. It’s also REALLY easy to say “oh, I’ll just listen to the iLecture later” because a lot of people don’t ever get around to it. It’s also really easy to say “oh, I’ll skip this lecture and go to the next one”. And guess what… chances are you’ll skip the next one too. Try to always attend your lectures, for good habit if nothing else.

WHAT IS A TUTORIAL?
Tutorials, commonly known as “tutes", are very much like your regular class - there will be about 10-20 people along with your designated tutor who is normally a professor or Doctorate student (and they know their stuff, trust me) and it should go for an hour. You’ll most likely have homework to do each week (as specified in your course reader) which relates to the lecture material for that week (this is why you should go to lectures). You’ll discuss the material in more detail – if you have any questions about either the topic or the homework, here is the place to talk about it! Most of your uni friends/studybuddies may come from tutes, as you’ll be on a first-name basis with everyone. Also – about 10% of your final mark will come from tutorial participation. Yup, this means you actually have to put up your hand and contribute!

If you’re late, just apologise and get settled as quickly and quietly as possible (just like in lectures). Make sure the tutor marks you as “present” at the end of the tute.

PLEASE NOTE: The roll WILL be marked at tutorials. Depending on the course, you’re allowed to miss a certain percentage without a doctor’s certificate – for first year you’ll get to miss 2 or 3. If you miss any more than this, you will FAIL. So if given a choice, miss the lecture but for your own sake, turn up to the tutorial!

WHAT DO I BRING TO TUTORIALS?
Pen, paper, and any Course Readers/Textbooks you have for that unit. A Course Reader is a book full of readings you buy at the beginning of a year – you’ll read a few each week and the homework is often based on these readings. They may or may not be related to the lecture content for that week.

WHEN AND WHAT WILL MY UNI EXAMS/ASSESSMENTS BE?
This depends greatly on the units (ie subjects) you study. Assessments may take the form of a hand-in-essay, assignment or in-class test, or something else. There may also be NO end-of-semester exam for your subject. See your course outline (you’ll get this in your first lecture of that subject) for what your assessments are, how much they’re worth, and when they’re due.

You will get a rough exam period marked out in your Uni calendars, however you won’t find out the exact date until a few weeks beforehand. Don’t plan any holidays until you know when your exams finish, because the administration is highly uncompromising - they will NOT move your exams for you unless you have extremely dire circumstances, and even then they prefer to give you an estimated mark (so this sucks if you’ve been getting lousy marks up till now, and have been studying really hard for the exam).

WHERE DO I HAND IN MY ASSESSMENTS?
Don’t hand them into your tutors. Instead, in each department (Humanities, Sciences etc) there should be a stack of boxes with the unit name at the top of their box. Once you’ve filled in your cover sheet and signed it (yes, this means you have to go to uni in person!) you put it into the box. Your tutor will either give it back to you after it’s been marked, or tell you where to pick it up from.

WHAT HAPPENS IF MY ASSESSMENT IS LATE?
If you hand in your assessments late, marks will be deducted unless you have a doctor’s certificate or similar (notes from home won’t cut it). Exactly how many marks deducted depends on the unit and your university – they may get deducted at a rate of 2% per day (including weekends) whilst it’s almost 50% per day for others. Check your course reader for details.

*UWS: According to Cape, "you are penalised 10% each day the assessment is late, and this includes weekends. If you are sending it through mail, be sure to get a stamp and a reciept from the post office."

Note – most university assessments are due at a particular TIME on a particular day (eg 5pm). Whilst some units are a bit lazy in picking up the assessments, others will be right on the ball. Do yourself a favour, and get it there ON TIME!

PLAGUIARISM
Warning you now, University takes plagiarism extremely seriously. If you write in a quote from somewhere, or throw in someone else’s idea (whether professional or otherwise) you MUST reference this correctly using your unit’s preferred referencing system. And yes, you may be penalized if it is discovered that the majority of your assessment is not comprised of YOUR ideas. You also have to try to avoid relying too heavily on any one source. Headache? Yes, but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

Some uni’s – ie Mac – have started using the Turnitin system where written assessments are submitted online and checked for plaguarism (it’s something like if they find 5 words in sequence that match up to someone else’s, they’ll notify someone and have it manually checked from there). Provided you do your own research (most assessments are research-based) and write your own paper you’ll be fine, but if you try and cheat, there’s a possibility that it may be picked up and you’ll fail that assessment.

WHAT SORT OF MARKS CAN I EXPECT?
When they say “you only need a pass!”, it was obviously said by a Uni student. Because unless you need a credit-average, “at least a pass” is what most people will aim for – and get.

Marks tend to fall in these “bands” at Uni – Fail, Pass, Credit, Distinction and High Distinction. The exact marks will differ from uni to uni as each has their own marking system – there may also be a “Conceeded Pass” which means “you didn’t really do as well as we wanted you to but we’ll pass you anyway”.

Something important to note that Uni marks are NOT a rank. There is also nothing that says the entire class can't be failed if their work does not meet standards (however at Mac - and I imagine most universities - the tutor is held to account if more than a certain percentage of their class fail). The mark you get for uni assessments is what you deserve.

PASS means you’ve satisfied the criteria. Marks will be 50-64%
CREDIT means you’ve demonstrated capabilities and understanding beyond what was expected of this course at this level. This is above average, so 65-74%. Rough estimate: like getting 90+ for HSC assessments.
DISTINCTION – Speculation says that it's like getting a 96+UAI... however it's not unachievable. Pretty bloody good, though. Marks are about 75-84%
HIGH DISTINCTION – Use your imagination. Again, not unachievable (I got a few last year, however I think they were flukes though), marks of about 85+%

The biggest shock HSC students will find is that your marks will be significantly lower in Uni even if you work harder. That's because in the HSC, it's a shoe-in that most people will pass, and you're just seeing how high you go. In Uni, you have to work a bit for your pass - anything over is a bonus. Anything over a pass is GREAT!

Most people will find that they do ok in most subjects, really well in some and absolutely suck in others. This is perfectly normal. It’s also not unheard of for people to fail subjects and have to repeat it if it is a core unit – as your tutors may or may not have an interest in you actually passing (most don’t), it’s up to YOU to ensure you pass.

HOW DO I STUDY FOR UNIVERSITY?
For the most part, reading over your course readings, paying attention in lectures and contributing to discussions will stand you in good stead. Remember, you have to understand what you’re learning (you will NOT be spoon-fed) – past papers won’t help because few papers are ever alike, and they tend to re-vamp some units (eg sociology, cultural studies, humanities) every few years as well. Furthermore, you will rarely be tested on the entire semester’s content – rather, they’ll focus on a select number (4-11, for example, when you’ve learnt 2 each week). And you’ll be expected to know these in relevant depth – rote learning will not save your butt. Rather, it’ll bring you down – they want to see what YOU think, not what someone else thinks.

DO I BRING FOOD FROM HOME, OR DO I BUY IT?
The majority of students I know tend to bring some sort of food from home. Uni food tends to be pricey (even though we get some sort of student discount…!) and depending on which Uni you go to, there may not even be a good food court. However most universities are very close to commercial food outlets except for:

*UWS Hawkesbury is located nowhere near a shopping centre, so bring food, buy expensive food or starve, unless you can drive to Richmond.

And if you do bring food from home – there are normally a couple of student microwaves on campus, so you can heat your food up for free!

--- and now, for the important – material! – matters! ---

WHAT BAG SHOULD I BRING TO UNI?
You’ve got a large variety of options here. You can wear the cute little fashionable handbag, which looks good but can’t carry much other than valuables (meaning you have to carry another bag as well), the large trendy tote which looks good and can hold everything (but do you really want to bring that to Uni?! Might get damaged on the inside, just pointing out risks), a large shoulder bag (leather, fabric, even the free ones you get from Supre, anything goes), a backpack (top marks for comfort here) and even No-Bag: carrying your books in your arms (which you can do if you don’t have a lot to carry).

Choice of bag is really up to you and what units you’re doing. Humanities/social sciences people who aren’t on campus for too long can probably get away with either no bag, or a light bag. Any accounting/science people will very likely have big fat textbooks to cart around – a backpack is highly recommendable here.

But aside from that, few people really care what you use to carry your books around. So long as I can get my stuff from A to B, I’m happy.

WHAT DO I WEAR?
Most Uni students tend to dress up casual for Uni. Making it clear now – CASUAL. Much like what you’d wear around the house when you’ve got close friends over – not what you’d wear “out” when it’s even a minorly special occasion. As most people our age live in jeans, guess what! Most Uni students live in jeans too. But it doesn’t really matter what you wear – we’re far too lazy to care. Personally, I wear jeans a lot but in the warmer months I’ll wear a skirt. I’ve seen a lot of girls in skirts, and even summer dresses – and honestly, it’s fine. You don’t have to go out and buy jeans if you’re not a jeans person – just wear what you would normally.

As for shoes, a lot of people wear thongs or sneakers. Comfort is the golden rule here as you’ll likely be doing a fair bit of walking to and from lectures/tutes (so for girls - flats are great! Boots are good in winter if they have a decent heel – ie not a stilletto). A lot of asian girls (myself excluded!) tend to wear heels as well, but… ouch? But whatever floats your boat - most people really don’t care what you wear. I really can’t stress this enough.

Actually, I'll rephrase that. People as a general rule are far more tolerant in University. If you want to dress up, fine. If you don't, fine. There aren't really any "rules", but for those who wanted to know what most people normally wear, it's outlined above. Don't stress over it that much because it's not worth it - when in doubt just wear what you'd normally wear out, ok?

HOW DO I DEAL WITH PEOPLE SEEING ME IN….*gasp*…THE SAME OUTFIT TWICE?
It happens. And then you get over it very, very quickly.

[jase_]

As I mentioned in the initial thread, we'll eventually combine it with the other Uni FAQ with anchor links.

[Cape]

Some for UWS, as they slightly differ:

At UWS you will get one week mid-semester break, and you'll get another week off between the end of semester and the start of exams (known at stuvac). Even though stuvac is set aside for studying, be aware that some assignments might be due during this time.

First lecture Its very important that you attend, because this is where you get the unit outlines for your courses, and the lecturer goes in detail about assessments, when they are due, where they are supposed to be handed in, what topics you will cover and also what textbooks you will need.

Late assessments At UWS you are penalised 10% each day the assessment is late, and this includes weekends. If you are sending it through mail, be sure to get a stamp and a reciept from the post office.

How much study should I do UWS recommends that for every credit point you do, thats how many hours you should study, in class and out of class. All credit points are worth 10cp, so every unit you should be studying 10 hours per week. The average full time student, should be studying 40 hours per week.

Other general notes:
- If you are doing tourism / environmental / agricultural subjects at UWS, the roll will be marked during lectures, so try to attend them. As tutorials are rare in these subject areas. And if you attend less than 80% of the lectures, you will fail!
- UWS Hawkesbury is located no where near a shopping centre, so bring food, buy expensive food or starve, unless you can drive to Richmond.
- Lectures are usually but up in powerpoint presentation or word format, on webct, so you don't need to break your hand during a lecture, just take notes of the important stuff. When uni begins, you'll figure it out, eventually.
- Enter quietly and quickly if you are late to a lecture, don't slame the doors and make a big fuss that you were late, especially if your more than an hour late.

[santaslayer]

Originally Posted by Cape

Some for UWS, as they slightly differ:


Late assessments At UWS you are penalised 10% each day the assessment is late, and this includes weekends.

10% across the board?????

[glitterfairy]

I hear that it's 49% at UOW... however I'd prefer to have solid confirmation about that before I post it up as fact :S

[glitterfairy]

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

What's a semester, rofl.

Shoosh! It's ze idiot's guide, after all! lol.

[hfis]

Just something new students should probably note with marks and the marking scale: a '90' at university is much, MUCH, harder to get than a '90' at high school. Of course, this depends largely on your course, but as a general rule these kind of marks are much rarer.

[manifestation]

Thanks glitterfairy, this is brilliant! (well brilliant for someone like me, who is an idiot when it comes to what to expect at uni )

[Demandred]

To me, 90 in high school = 75+ at Uni, so don't get smashed if you get 60s or 70s, its still good.

Might I add, don't forget about the pre-semester uni work:

- Confirm that you have enrolled into the right degree and right units.

- Check that you HECs details are all correct, it's all checked my computers, a little smudge can completely stuffed up your application and unknowingly set you back a semester.

- Your timetable, unlike high school, you don't get your classes all done for you, you have to go to the university site, look up the time table for the units and make it yourself.

- Enroll in tutorials, this is done online, find out the exact time tutorial registration open and be ready on the minute if you want to get into the tutorial classes you want, otherwise you'd be left with 8am classes or 9pm classes.

- Buy your books, different unis have different policies towards prescribed textbooks. Some lecturers post them on the net near the unit timetables (for UWS anyways) and expects you to acquire them before the first lecture, some lecturers tells you the books during class and may prescribe some books on the list, some lecturers may go against the unit outline and tells you not to buy any textbooks because he/she had a fist fight with them during their academic days and prefers you to buy their books because they want to make big $$. Lines are VERY LONG during the first week of the semester, so preferably, get them before the semester starts.

[jase_]

Thanks for all your inputs guys. It's much appreciated! Anyone else who wants to contribute, please feel free too. Sometime in the near future, we might combine all the FAQ threads and make a large one and maybe put it on the BOS wiki too! Then it'll be pretty cool!

[Calla]

can markers assume that you have plagiarised or stolen an idea based on where they think your ability lies in previous assessments? or do they need to have evidence before they penalise you?..................btw when they do penalise you, do they notify you of the suspected plagiarism and are you allowed to defend your side?

[Captain Gh3y]

Originally Posted by Demandred

To me, 90 in high school = 75+ at Uni, so don't get smashed if you get 60s or 70s, its still good.

Well personally it's my intention to get smashed irrespective of what marks I get.

[Demandred]

From what I have experienced, the majority usually give you the benefit of the doubt, of course, there's always an minority who likes to go on a witch hunt for plagerism in every assessment.

Almost forgot, if you do get an unfair mark, for instance, plagerism, even though you truly have not, you can appeal for a remark. For most universities, you appeal to your lecturer/tutor, then to the unit co-ordinator, then his/her boss, and once last time to the boss of the boss of the unit co-ordinator. The downside is that it takes a long time to get through this process and you may even lose marks as well!

[sikeveo]

90+ in most subjects at school was impossible. I guess uni is the same thing.

Btw Glitterfairy, you finished that guide well

[acmilan]

umm the only thing maybe is the explanation of what a lecture is, mainly that there are often 2 or 3 hour lectures