Breeze through the first year of university with these surefire tips!

If you have successfully gained a place at university, CONGRATIONS! This will be one of the most memorable experiences of your life. Just how the movies depict it, university life can be fun, filled with opportunities to discover yourself and socialise. It's not going to be all easy and fun though, so we've prepared a few tips on how you can survive the first year of university life.

1. Do your memorisation activities in the morning

Dr. Jane Oakhill, a psychologist at the University of Sussex has discovered that weprocess two types of memory – Declarative and Semantic – differently throughout the day.

In the morning we tend to be better at Declarative Memory tasks – which is our ability to recall exact details, like names, places, dates and facts. However in the afternoon, our brain is better at Semantic Memory tasks – our ability to integrateNEW information with what we already know and make it meaningful. So what that means is this, the morning is best for researching information. And the afternoon is better for synthesizing and applying it.

2. Be prepared to feel overwhelmed

University life is a unique experience. For first year students, there will come a time when it all feels like it is too much to handle - juggling too many classes, deadlines for projects and homeworks, difficult professors, upcoming exams, and many others. Be prepared on how to deal with this feeling by staying rational and assessing the problem or by seeking help from a friend/colleague/counsellor/family member. Never suffer in silence.

3. Don't miss breakfast

Most of the problems freshman students face can be traced back to an illness that kept them away from classes for an extended period of time that led to a downward spiralling effect.Get enough sleep, take your vitamins, and eat right and never skip meals.

4. Socialise and have fun but not at the expense of classes and grades

University life is a mixture of social and academic happenings. Don't tip the balance too far in either direction.

5. Form a study group

Studies show that students who study with their colleagues routinely make better grades because study groups meet at regular times, attending students cannot procrastinate. You will probably find yourself more motivated if you know some friends also care about what you are doing in the class. Morever, studying alone will only enable you to see your material from the same perspective?--- yours but if you study with a group, you get fresh perspectives on a topic can help you learn it more thoroughly.

6. Fully utilise your study resources in campus

Get to know the facilities of your campus --- labs, library, computer room, etc. By discovering these places, you get to choose and establish a good place to study.