For me, at first, the biggest motivator was fear of failure, I had a lot riding on that course…

Having short term targets for each assignment helps keep focussed and motivated on a day to day basis.

Having a planner with all deadlines highlighted is a good way to stave off procrastination… it makes you realise how little time you have to get things done.

If I did badly on a module I got feedback from the lecturer and applied what I learned to my later assignments. That way, even a bad mark (although disappointing) could be used an opportunity to improve future marks and keep focused, as opposed to sitting around feeling sorry for yourself!

Glad you found it useful….

Well you’ve done the right thing by speaking to a lecturer… the key to getting a first is to understand what the lecturers are looking for, and then give it to them!

As for what you need to do now, thats a more difficult question!

“Originality” “Flair” and “Talent” are rather abstract terms, you need to drill down to the specifics on how you demonstrate this / improve.

I would suggest you speak to your lecturer again, in fact all of your lecturers. Try and get specifics on how you can improve based on previous work… i.e. see if you can get time with them to review your past assignments and ask:

“what should I have done”
“how could I improve this”
“what were you really looking for here”
“what did I miss”
“where could I have scored better”
“what did the top scoring student do” ……

If you don’t get practical advice / specific answers then rephrase and persist…. getting clarity on this issue is key, you need to get specific pointers that you can implement.

See if you can get hold of assignments / dissertations from previous years that achieved the marks you are looking for and learn from them. Many Universities make these available, dissertations at least. If yours doesn’t, see if you can get them from friends at other Universities.

Try and understand what it is about a given piece of work that got it a first class mark and emulate / develop those skills for yourself. Always look for dissertations that scored well as opposed to those which are relevant to your own studies / ideas…

As for the second year not being a time to practice, well, it is! Its all practice and learning…. right up to the end of your course…..

I think what you are saying is that you want to take the “risk” out of practicing. For that you again need to review “work in progress” with lecturers before handing it in….

If you know what texts you will be reading next year, start on those over the summer break. See if you can find out what the assignments will be next year, based on what y2 students did this year… often lecturers recycle previous years work… be prepared …. GET AHEAD.

Then, when your assignments are set you will be in a good to get in early and review work with lecturers.

Present your ideas as early as possible and discuss the subject with your lecturers.

Discussing / debating the work with your lecturers will allow you to pick up on things they are looking for, give you new ideas, and tip you off on things to avoid!!

Reviewing your work / ideas with them will reduce the risk of making a serious error.

The level of interaction you get from different lecturers will vary. On my course some were open to reviewing work directly (i.e. sit down with a printed copy and go through it), others were more guarded not wanting to give away the answers.

If you persist, learn an approach / style that works with a given lecturer you will get there in the end

For example, you may need to speak hypothetically or skirt round an issue by asking relevant questions from different angles…. building a picture as opposed to asking a straight “tell me the answer” type question.

I would always start with the straight out approach, i.e. take my work and ask them to look at it, only when rebuffed did I use a more subtle aproach

If you do this when other students are not around you may have more success… lecturers may not want to encourage people to bring their work along, or be seen to give a particular student more help than others…

What I can say is that I DID get my work reviewed most of the time and I DID get more assistance than other students on my course by using these methods.

Don’t forget your peers, try and hook up with other good students and see if you can get help from them, but remember it is a two way street, so you have to have something to give back…

If you haven’t done so already learn to touch type, I cannot stress how much of a time saver this is, and that time can be put back into reading / research etc which will get your marks up.

If you read ahead over the summer and learn to type you can get ahead on your work next year. The further ahead you are the more opportunities you will create for review and improvement…

My work was always cyclic:

write > review > refine >
write > review > refine > …..

Again, getting ahead is key to this, as, more often than not you will only get time with lecturers once a week… so, think of each week you get ahead as another opportunity for a review in this cyclic process.

Similarly I always went through around three or four iterations of proof reading before handing work in, a good proof reader is invaluable, see if your University offers this service….. if not find someone else who is GOOD.

Hope this is of some help to you….. and not too rambling… good luck!

Firstly I would like to thank you for creating such a helpful website.

Secondly, I was wondering whether you would be able to give me just a little more advice.

I have just completed my first year at university. I am currently studying English Lit and so far I am predicted a 2:1 and have spoke to my personal tutor in hope of pushing my grades and obtain a First Class degree. He claims that in order to be getting A’s, lecturers in English look for originality, flair and talent. I’m not exactly sure how I can do this and my lecturer claimed that the above things come with practice. I begin my second year soon and I’m not convinced that “practicing” in the second year would be a wise move.

Any ideas would be much appreciated

Thankyou

Manvia