Consider Creating a Study Group
While being in a group can sometimes get distracting, many students benefit from studying together with other students from their class. Setting up a study group is a great way to make sure that certain blocks of time are scheduled for studying, and working together can help you and the other members of your study group collaborate to master difficult course material. If you’re having trouble understanding a particular concept, someone else in your group may be able to explain it to you better than the lectures or textbook.
Make Sure You Complete Assignments On Time
Missing homework assignments is a great way to damage your grade accidentally, even if you understand the material well and you do well in exams and long-term assignments. Consult your professor’s rubric ahead of time, and make sure homework is completed in a timely manner. In many cases, it may simply be a completion grade, but it needs to get done.
Set Realistic Goals For Yourself
You’re only human, and you can’t always be a superhero. Sometimes you have to make choices about what you want to prioritize. There’s no shame in dropping a class because you just can’t balance it with your other courses and your job. However, these are decisions that need to be made sooner rather than later. At most universities, you can drop a course within a certain time frame without being penalized for it, but you need to make your final decision in time.
Working and Studying is Hard, But Possible
Setting realistic goals is one of the most important parts of successfully balancing university coursework with a full-time or part-time job. By scheduling your time effectively, collaborating with other students, and knowing your own limits, you can slog through a few years of this before earning your degree and enjoying the rewards that it brings.