Hi guys! My name is Aymara and I am a vlogger and a soon to be second year medical student
at the University of Nottingham. Be sure to check out my channel at Aymara Anahi to see
what being a student at the University of Nottingham is like.
In today’s video I’ll be talking to you guys about some of the similarities and differences
between studying at sixth form or a college and studying at university. I’ll also be
talking about what you can expect from going to university now that coronavirus social
distancing measures are in place.
The first difference I can think of between studying at school and at university is definitely
the teaching style. At school, you will be used to having lessons of about 30 people
with a teacher who talks through the topic then you get questions to do in class, followed
by homework. At university, teaching takes a variety of different formats and each style
of teaching has a different function.
The first and most common type of lesson you’ll encounter at university is a lecture. A lecture
is where you have a large amount of students in a hall with a lecturer who talks through
a PowerPoint usually. Following the University’s coronavirus guidelines, they are planning
to take all lectures online, but they are planning to do any small groups such seminars,
labs and workshops in person.
As an ‘early years’ medical student the vast majority of our learning comes from lectures.
This is the perfect opportunity to meet new people and make friends – definitely an
incentive to attending 9 a.m. lectures!
The next type of lesson you’ll encounter are seminars. Seminars are where you have
a small group of around 10 students and a facilitator or teacher of some sort, and this
gives you an opportunity to prepare and present work which can be discussed and developed.
It usually tends to be quite informal. My favourite lessons tend to be seminars because
it gives you an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas with your peers and teachers,
and also allows you the chance to delve in more deeply to the topic at hand.
The next type of lesson you’ll encounter are tutorials. These are one-to-one meetings
with your personal tutor where you can focus on your progress and goals. Lastly, depending
on your subject and course there could be practical workshops and laboratory sessions
or ‘labs’ where you get to put theory into practice and learn new skills. You may encounter
field visits - an opportunity to learn outside of the University campus, and work experience
where you gain real experience.
Following the University’s coronavirus guidelines, the University’s priority is to deliver
high quality teaching whilst ensuring the safety of us as students, so it will continue
to adapt and respond to the situation as it develops. For example, there are hand sanitisers
around buildings and social distancing markers around campus as well.
Secondly, the next difference is how independent you become and why it’s important you attend
lessons and stay on top of your self-directed learning to really make the most of your
course. At school, your progress is regularly monitored through end of topic tests and homework,
you’ll receive reports at the end of term and have to attend parents’ evenings. At
university this isn’t really the case. At university, aside from your end of year exam
results or coursework results, you don’t tend to receive regular individual feedback.
Also, apart from tutorials and seminars, attendance isn’t really taken for lectures so it can
be relatively easy to skip these lessons and fall really behind on work.
So it is important to remember that attending these lessons and actively participating in
them is a strong predictor of how successful you’ll be in your course. Additionally,
when I didn’t attend my lectures or lessons, I felt so isolated and lethargic. So not only
is it good to attend and actively participate in your lessons to be successful but also
to improve your mental health! Lastly, although both at university and at
sixth form you are assessed via coursework and/or end of year exams, at university you
don’t tend to get set homework that’s due for a specific date. However, you are
still expected to study and keep up with work. This can be difficult to get used to because
I remember when I was in sixth form, all that we had to know was covered in the lessons,
and homework was only to put into practice what I had learned. Meanwhile at university
it’s not just that you’re reinforcing knowledge, you actually have to learn knowledge
by yourself and getting used to this was a little bit of an overwhelming process.
So it’s really important you have an online calendar or planner to stay on track with deadlines
and to meet with your personal tutor regularly to make sure you’re staying on track and
making progress. Also it’s really important to make the most out of the University's resources
such as libraries, things you get in your course such as textbooks, and your peers to
make sure you are understanding the content and that you are filling up any holes in your
knowledge.
To sum up, studying at university versus sixth form is very different. Not only is the teaching
style different, but your environment and the expectations on you do change as well. Although
difficult initially to adjust, once you do you’ll find university is an incredible
opportunity to discover a subject or career that you are passionate about, to meet loads of
new people from different backgrounds, cultures and walks of life, and it provides the perfect
environment for you to thrive in and really gain a sense of belonging from. So best of
luck with going to university and I wish you all the best!