I studied Psychology in first year with History and Archaeology.
I started doing Mechanical Engineering in first year.
In first year I studied Biology, Chemistry and Exploring the Cosmos.
In first year I studied English Literature, English Language and Film and TV.
In first year, Geography was my main subject alongside Digital Media and Accounts.
The course consists of three types of classes. Mainly, we have lectures.
Let’s say, for each subject, there would be two lectures a week.
Labs - which are usually two hours long, we’d have at least two of them per semester.
And tutorial sessions.
In first year for Biology, it was sort of lectures, labs and coursework.
We got taught in the form of lectures being the main part, and tutorials and seminars.
I think there was about 400 students in my first Psychology lecture.
So you feel like a tiny speck in amongst all these people.
But as soon as the lecturer starts talking and you’re busy writing down,
it goes really quickly and I found myself enjoying it.
The tutorials were smaller groups, which was pretty good, with more focus on you.
With tutorials, you had readings that you had to read to discuss the main points within them.
Whereas a seminar was more like an argument.
I found the workload in first year a big step up from anything I’d ever managed before.
With the Access courses, they try and get you prepared for that.
I found the workload quite a lot. When I got into English Literature, it was a book a week.
I found it quite difficult to tell myself that I had to go and sit and read.
It wasn’t like a piece of homework you had to complete or an essay you had to write.
You had to read and book, and it was strange to think of that as something I had do to,
rather than something I was choosing to do.
The approach you have to your work is similar to the way you approach your work in school in that,
you have to get it done. You might not like or want to do it, but you still just need to get it done.
In University, the main thing is that there’s no-one is chasing you up on it,
no-one making sure it’s done, or that you’ve met the deadline, it’s up to you.
First year compared to school, there’s a few massive differences.
For example, the amount of time you spend at Uni -
probably about half what I would have had in school.
You may think, ‘yeah, that’s less Uni, great, you have less work.’
But in reality, you’re not spoon-fed at all at Uni.
I had quite a limited timetable, there wasn’t a massive contact time,
but they expected a lot of reading outwith the lectures and the seminars, which was a bit daunting at first,
because you’re so used to being given everything in class then going away and doing a little bit of additional work,
rather than the bulk of it being by yourself.
You need to go beyond. Your lecturers won’t say, ‘you need to read this, this and this.’
You have to find that out yourself.
I particularly enjoyed going from learning about loads of different subjects to something that I’d chosen myself.
I really always wanted to do Psychology, so having the chance to enjoy the lectures so much was really great.
It was nice to be around people that all liked the same things I liked, and were all in the same boat as me.
If I had one piece of advice to give a new student that’s coming into first year it's, do take it seriously.
Keep up to date with Moodle, the online service
where lecturers and tutors will put up any lecture slides or notes that you need.
If you keep up to date with that, there’s not a lot you’ll miss.
If I had to give a piece of advice to an Access student, it would definitely be to read.
Because there’s all these amazing books and papers, especially in Psychology,
that really help broaden your knowledge when you come to do essays or tutorials.
Don’t worry about anything. If you need help, ask for it.
Don’t wait for anyone to come to you. There’s nothing they can’t fix or help with.