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[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, I'm Greg Rombough.
I manage the Undergrad Business Program in the
DeGroote School of Business.
Hi, Faiza Hirji.
I'm the assistant professor in the department of
communication studies in multimedia in the faculty of
humanities.
My name is Jeffrey Donaldson.
And I teach in the English department at McMaster
University in the faculty of humanities.
My name is John Maclachlan.
I work in the faculty of sciences, specifically in the
school of Geography and Earth sciences.
I'm also affiliated with the arts and science program, and
the Center for Leadership and Learning.
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I always expect first-year students to come in a little
bit bewildered, and a little bit trying to understand what
they really need to do when they get there.
You just want to think in terms of basics in first year.
You're essentially learning how to do things.
You're not thinking too intensely, or with too much
anxiety about body of knowledge, or how much you're
expected to know.
If you don't know everything, that's perfectly fine.
You're here to learn.
But I think it's just showing that you're engaged, and that
you're willing to make an effort.
And sometimes that means being a bit flexible.
University is going to be different than high school.
It's very important that you understand how the program
operates, as well understand what opportunities are
available to you in upper years, such as exchange
programs and internship programs.
All of those hinge upon your first year second year
performance as well.
My expectation of first-year students is that they come to
class, they read the course syllabus, and they keep up
with the material the best they can.
You are, in the first year, learning about what kind of
learner you're going to be.
And if at the end of the first year you come out of your
experience is having a better understanding of what you're
going to be good at and what you might not be good at, then
you're well ahead of the game as you move into a program
that you choose.
Also understand the expectations for each course.
Sit down, understand the deadlines and what's the
assignments and of course work is required, and
write that all out.
And make sure you have a sense of what that year is
going to look like.
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I think one habit obviously has to do with time
management.
I think that's where a lot of first year
students run into trouble.
And not just first year students either, to be honest.
But I would say definitely having a minimum level of
organization.
Successful students are those students that are the most
organized and the most diligent in
staying to a schedule.
The assignment is due on this date.
There's a quiz on this other date.
I have to have this novel read for this class.
If I'm going to write this essay, I better have read this
novel by this date, so that I'll still have two weeks to
prepare for the essay by this date.
So knowing what you have to do, when you have to do it,
what the requirements are, what's expected of you.
And how you're going to be assessed--
make sure you've laid all of that out ahead of time.
And then build a schedule to meet those deadlines.
Knowing how you're going to accomplish this.
And then stick to that schedule.
It's all laid out.
Then you can tinker with it.
You say, OK, this is going to be crowded time.
I'm going to have to move some of this over here.
I understand attending lectures can be difficult,
especially in first year when you're trying to
organize your time.
But you get hints.
You get information at lectures that you can't get by
simply asking your friends for the notes.
Showing up to lectures really sets you up for
success moving forward.
You'll have a much better sense of exactly how much free
time you do have, and not make the mistake of taking all that
free time in the first couple of months of the term.
I wouldn't leave everything to the last minute, and try and
figure out how you're going to get all of this in the last
week of class.
Even when you have full notes, even when your friends go to
class for you and take your notes, you going can't be
replaced by that.
I would also say that professionalism encompasses
things like work ethic.
So making sure that you come prepared to work.
Treat school like a job.
Work from 9:00 to 5:00, and enjoy the evenings.
And you'll do very well.
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What you do in school is very important.
But also what you're doing around your school to support
your ability to stay focused and stay engaged with your
school work is also very important.
So that encompasses how you're eating, how you're sleeping,
and how you're doing stress relieving
activities outside of that.
So figure out what is that helps you deal with stress,
and make sure you allocate time to keep doing those
activities.
Note taking skills is very important.
If you have full lecture slides, there's a very good
chance your instructor is elaborating upon
those slides in class.
They're giving examples.
They're telling stories.
They're explaining research that's going on in the field.
And those can pop up on tests and exams just as
anything else can.
And your goal should be to learn and understand.
Sometimes there will be large amounts of reading.
And I often hear from first year students that it's too
much reading, and they can't process it.
But I think part of the skill you're developing as a
student, and then later as somebody who's going to be in
the workforce or an advanced scholar, is you're learning
how to figure out what's important.
So you're learning how to sift out the information that
really matters.
So it might seem like a lot of reading.
But you're actually learning a very valuable skill, which is
trying to differentiate the important facts from those
that are helpful, but maybe not as critical.
The humanities are going to be focused
around writing and reading.
So you want to be thinking about, how do you read?
What do you read for?
And how do you write?
How do you write an essay?
Students who have found a way of anticipating deadlines--
that they're writing the essay, say, five days before
to due, so that they have enough time to forget what it
is that they wrote in that essay.
So that when they come back to revise it, it will seem like
somebody else's work.
The challenge of anticipating a deadline is a very tricky
one nobody ever believes a deadline that they made up for
themselves.
The essay is due in November 15.
You say, OK, I'm going to get it due by November 7th.
It is very, very difficult to get the essay finished by
November the 7th.
One can almost always distinguish an essay that's
been properly revised and one that isn't.
And it's almost always something like a full grade
difference in achievement.
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