3 things to do now to guarantee you enjoy studying next year
A guide to picking the right course modules
One of the most important and often difficult decisions many of us make while at university is choosing modules. What to do?
Many courses offer a lot of choice and it can be hard to decide what you want to spend the next year of your university life studying. For those of you wondering how on earth you’re going to make your mind up and choose something you’re going to enjoy, here is a little guide to help make things easier!
After all, choosing a module is a big commitment. Make a snap decision and you could spend the entirety of the next academic year, stuck studying a lot more Old English than you’d realised. All the time wishing you were on your mate’s module, comparing novels to their film versions.
Get Educated
First things first, make sure you know as much as possible about the logistics of the modules on offer.
Most universities hold ‘module fairs’. These give you the opportunity to talk face-to-face with tutors and ask any questions you might have about the content of the module and the way in which you could expect to be taught.
For many of us, this is a hugely important factor in our decision making. We all have different learning styles and needs. Meeting with the tutors is the best way to be in the know about the details of the module and allows you to see whether the teachers are passionate about the subjects you’re interested in.
These fairs will also often allow you to access reading lists and other helpful information that might make your decision a bit easier to make, I mean, an opportunity to write about Game of Thrones for your assignment is pretty hard to turn down, right?
If you don’t have a fair, you can always ask to speak to the tutor individually.
Talk to your peers
If you’re in luck, you might well have a friend or acquaintance who just so happens to be taking that “History of Watermelons” module you were really interested in choosing.
If so, I highly recommend getting in touch with them and asking what they think about the module and what their experiences have been so far. Fellow students at the university are most likely going to be totally honest and open about their experience, so you can be sure to get a true reflection of what to expect on the module.
Talking to a student also gives you the opportunity to ask questions that you might have felt awkward asking the professors, which is never a bad thing. Besides, a student might even tell you that you don’t get any watermelon tasters on the module and that’s sounds like a pretty solid deal-breaker to me.
Be aware of the work
When choosing your modules, it is vital that you pay attention to the workload that would be expected of you, and of how much the modules might overlap with deadlines or exams.
If you’re someone that prefers being assessed by coursework, make sure you try and pick a course that offers that for you. Or, if you’re one of those rare people who love exams, check you’ll get your three hours of frantic writing.
It’s also important to think about whether the modules you choose are particularly similar in topic. Getting a balance across your topics can be a really good idea in preventing you from getting bored of a certain subject. It also prevents the temptation to regurgitate the same material for different assessments, which is definitely a good thing to avoid.
So, those are three tips for making the big module make-your-mind-up process a little bit easier and to help you feel confident that you’ve made smart decisions once you’ve completed the big scary final choice form.
Good luck, and I hope you’re not craving Watermelon as much as I am after reading this!