Get A First Class Degree

I recently read The Insiders Guide to Getting a First (or avoiding a third) so thought I would review it.

I was interested to read Getting a First, as, like this site it was written by a student, whereas most books on this subject seem to be written lecturers. The author of Getting a First was an MBA student who achieved a distinction (equivalent of a first class on an MBA) by applying a ’strategy’ to his degree.

Much of the advice found in this book is similar to that offered on this site. Both myself and the author of Getting a First:

• Treated our degree like a job
• Got the right equipment (PCs and broadband / cable Internet access)
• Established good relationships with lecturers and students
• Time managed effectively
• Prioritised work effectively
• Favoured ‘loose planning’ of degree work
• Worked smarter not harder (this may sound corny, but it works!)

Where the author of Getting a First differed in his approach was that he placed more importance on networking. He gave all his work away, distributing CD Rom’s of all his work to other students, in the hope of getting support from them in return.

I do not like this approach, for one it is a high risk strategy (acknowledged by the author of Getting a First) as you risk being penalised for plagiarism. Also, not everyone on any given course will get a first class degree, so to network with getting a first in mind, you inevitably have to ensure you benefit more from a relationship than other students you are working with. I have written a post on this issue: Avoiding CheaploadersCheaploaders on your Degree Course (an extension of my post on Avoiding Freeloaders On a Degree Course).

I have read a review of Getting a first on Amazon where a student complains of giving all his work away, without receiving anything of value in return. People who ’share’ work in this way are playing a game, not everyone will emerge from this game a winner!

Furthermore, in order to win prizes at University, which really set you apart when applying for jobs, you need to stand out from other students, this is made more difficult if you give away all your best ideas.

The author of Getting a First also viewed relationships with lecturers differently, to the extent that he used his relationship with a particular lecturer as one of the key criteria when choosing modules. Although I agree that establishing good relationships with lecturers is vital, I would not be put off taking a module because I did not get on with the lecturer. Even if you don’t like a lecturer on a personal level, in my experience, it is still possible to establish a professional working relationship with them.

Another massive advantage the author of Getting a First had over most other students was the fact that his twin brother was on the same course, allowing them to split work between them. Everything the author says about splitting work to increase efficiency is valid, but will not work unless there is someone you can really trust and rely on taking your course.

Something the author of Getting a First did which I never thought to do was attending seminars outside University, I thought this was a brilliant idea, both in terms of providing ideas for assignments, but also to widen your general level of knowledge, which can only ever be a good thing.

There are a few other nice tips in this book which I cannot believe I didn’t figure out for myself, but you’ll have to but the book if you want to know what they are

If I were to sum up this book in one word, that word would be BARGAIN! Getting a First or Avoiding a Third is a cheap book. It is small, maybe an hour’s read. For that small investment of time and money you can really start getting into the kind of mindset that will yield results on a degree course.

I would say it took me a good six months to figure out my own ’strategy’ or ‘approach’ as I prefer to call it. If you read this book before you start University, you will save a lot of time on trying to figure out all this stuff for yourself, and take advantage from all these tips and tricks from day 1.

In summary, I did not like or agree with a lot of the things written in Getting a First (or avoiding a third), but the majority of advice given is unquestionably correct and useful, just make your own mind up as to what you should implement or discard!

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