Name: Mistakes to avoid at university: 10 tips & advice from a graduate | ad
Uploaded: 2025-04-29T17:11:07.000Z
Duration: 14 min 30 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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So the new semester is right around the corner and since I just finished three years of university I thought it would be the perfect time to share 10 tips and advice from my favorite library in the whole world Okay, so I want to tell you guys a little story about what happened and I think it was the first month of uni I had a lot of free time I felt like which was strange to me because in high school we would have Classes constantly.

Basic quantifiers

At uni we didn't really have that many classes We only had like 10 maybe hours of seminars and lectures every week And so I was feeling quite bored And so I had my first meeting with my tutor which is basically the person that kind of follows you throughout university We had this meeting with I think it was three other students.

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He asked, you know, how are you feeling about university?

and I basically said that I felt very bored and the three other students and the tutor looked at me and like What are you talking about?

I later learned that the reason I was feeling this way was because I wasn't doing any readings readings in high school versus readings in university are quite different things in high school You could get away with not doing them as long as you Basically followed what was said in class.

In uni readings is the majority of your course.

You're gonna spend the majority of your time doing readings Learning them, understanding them.

Although there are some exceptions like recommended readings and optional readings Readings are mostly not optional and you need to do them to do well in your course and to even like follow along Your professors will talk to you as if you've done already readings, so you better do them.

Following on to this I also wish I knew when starting uni that it takes time to develop your capabilities in reading readings.

It's a totally new setup It's totally new structure They use different words than you're used to so you will need a period of training when it comes to understanding the building blocks the language and the setup of readings and you'll also need a period of Experimentation when it comes to your own method of taking notes from and learning from readings There's tons of different reading methods reading and taking notes Highlighting while you read, putting pencil marks while you read, drawing, writing summaries after you read them And you just need to take the time you need to figure out which system works for you That's gonna take some time to get used to so don't rush it You will learn eventually and just take that period of experimentation and learning and use it to your benefit.

In uni You choose your own modules every year and this is the time for you to Basically deep dive into the fields that you find really interesting and the fields you might want to potentially work in in the future However, you shouldn't just limit yourself to those few modules that interest you already that you're super passionate about That you want to work in in the future.

In my second year I chose three marketing modules and one different module.

I ended up choosing something called the history and evolution of China I don't really know why we have this in our curriculum for a business degree because it was basically about Urbanism, history of contemporary China and politics.

Anyway, I took that module and I fell in love I thought it was so interesting, the professor was so great I learned so many new interesting things and now I suddenly know a lot more about urban planning, about Chinese politics, about Chinese history That I can contribute to in conversations or just you know I can read about in my own free time because I find it really interesting And so although I don't see myself working in China or working as a middleman between a Chinese firm and an English firm I still love learning everything in that module And I just kind of developed a new interest that I have on the side of my business and marketing interests Which is really fun.

University is this great arena for learning so many things I know in the US they have two years of just learning different materials and subjects in the UK However, you mainly focus on the direction that you're going to go into and the degree that you're doing So you don't have those two years of you know learning different things and it's such a shame to go through three years of uni and Just learn things that you were already passionate about and you already kind of knew stuff about and you're gonna go in to work In for the rest of your life So don't limit yourself to the modules that you already have a passion for and you're gonna go into work in Try also having one or two modules a year that Could be of interest to you that could be potentially fun to learn about.

Uni isn't high school I thought that when I entered uni I could just do everything the way I did it in high school And although yeah to some degree can you know continue your study methods and continue your revision techniques and whatnot Uni is an entirely new ecosystem and just a way of doing things.

Oh my god, I Literally bird vomited for two hours onto a sheet of paper and handed it in.

No topic sentences I don't think there was any structure altogether.

And when I got the marks back, it was not good I nearly failed that module.

It's its own ecosystem Everything is done in a very certain way when you spend some time in the field of academia when you spend some time at uni You'll see that all the presentations all the readings all the textbooks everyone and everything has this kind of set structure and the more you spend time learning reading you'll kind of recognize the structure of things being done in a certain way and You'll need to do it in the same kind of way.

The way the universities run too is in a very bureaucratic way And so hate or love it I've done both you just kind of have to find a way through it if you want to get through uni or even more importantly If you want to get good marks you will need to learn the system of academia understand it and then play the game according to its rules a Presentation might not be as catchy or as entertaining when you structure in the way.

It's done at university But that's the way they do it.

It goes with essays and reports It might not be as entertaining to read You'll have to do it in the way that things are done because that's just the ecosystem that you find yourself Not learning the language.

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Don't give up on the language, although it's hard in the beginning.

This is going to be a quick point of the video, but I wanted to say it either way, because when I started uni, I felt really beaten down because I thought I would be really prepared to study in English.

But then I came to the UK and I started reading and I started learning from professors who spoke these absurd words and I started literally having everything in English.

I would have days where I didn't even speak my native language and that would be really confusing for my head and also really tough on my brain.

I would feel really confused and constantly I would feel this need to speak in Norwegian.

The more time I spent in the language, the more time I attended these lectures, I read readings in English.

The better it all became and suddenly it felt like a natural extension of my life to just talk English constantly.

But it takes a little period of getting used to.

So don't get beaten down if you struggle in the beginning.

I think everyone does, no matter how prepared you are.

And especially if you're unprepared, you're going to struggle in the beginning.

But know that literally everyone who's an international student does this.

If you have international student friends, and I would recommend you getting some because then you have some people who are in the same boat and who literally goes through exactly what you're going through.

If you have those international friends, you know that you're not alone.

You're all going through it and it can be really tough.

You will get through it, it will get better and suddenly it'll feel really natural.

Anyway, don't skip Freshers' Week or purposely try to stay out of events in Freshers' Week.

I know, not everything is going to be your favourite.

You're going to be uncomfortable in Freshers' Week.

I don't think there's anyone who really wants to go to every single thing that happens in Freshers' Week.

There's going to be events where you're so tired that you're just going to be like, I don't want to go.

Freshers' Week is really all about being uncomfortable and trying to find friends when everyone is uncomfortable.

Everyone's trying to find friends and everyone's trying to make their way through this new world.

And that's exactly why you should join Freshers' Week because it's just such a good opportunity to meet people who are literally in the exact same position as you.

The friend group that I ended up having throughout the whole of uni, I actually met at a picnic, which I was so resentful to go to.

I was literally having to force myself to go because I was like, first of all, I don't like chicken nuggets.

And I didn't really know these people, so I felt super uncomfortable and like sitting down with them, chatting to them for like two hours.

The picnic ended up being really, really great.

And that was the start of our relationship.

Don't put yourself to do things that you're not comfortable with.

But I think everyone kind of benefits from being a little bit outside their comfort zone, especially in Freshers' Week.

The start of uni is the time to take initiative.

And the reason for it is that everyone is so open to it.

The kind of paradoxical thing, however, is that it's so hard to take initiative at the start of uni because you don't know anyone.

You're suddenly put in this new position where everyone is new to you.

My whole dorm building, like everyone who lived where I lived, had gone out to pop.

And no one had texted me, told me about it.

No one had posted anything on the Facebook group chat.

So I just kind of had to either stay in my room or text someone to ask if I could come.

But I was alone in my dorm and I was feeling so like, you know, what if they think I'm stupid or weird for asking to join?

And also, like, how scary is it to go into a room, into a pub?

Everyone is there and you're the one person walking in alone.

But I pulled myself together and I literally just sent the most innocent text.

And she ended up saying they were at the pub and that I should join.