14 Tips for First-Year University Students: Your First Two Weeks
Five things pay off most in your first two weeks at university: finalize your timetable before the add/drop period closes, read every syllabus, put every deadline and exam date into one calendar, set fixed study times from the first week, and know who to go to when something goes wrong. Everything else can wait.
The first weeks are misleading. Nothing is due yet, the lectures sound familiar, and it feels like there is plenty of time. But the week-three and week-four deadlines are already written in the syllabus, and the students who set things up now get to them calm. Here are 14 tips for those two weeks, in order.
Rules differ between universities: add/drop dates, attendance requirements, pass marks, even the names of the systems. Wherever this guide says "check", that is exactly the thing to look up on your university's website or with your department office. If you are studying in Israel, the same terms apply: the add/drop period is tkufat shinuyim, and exams come in two sittings, moed alef and moed bet.
Before your first class
- Log in to every system: the student portal (where your timetable and grades live), Moodle or whatever your courses run on, and your university email. Cancelled classes and room changes are announced there, not in the group chat.
- Make sure your timetable is final: no two courses at the same time, and you are enrolled in the tutorials or sections, not only the lectures.
- Find out when add/drop closes. Most universities let you add and drop courses in the first weeks and then lock it. Know the date before you decide anything.
- Find your classrooms. It sounds trivial until two back-to-back classes turn out to be ten minutes' walk apart.
- Go to orientation. Most universities run an orientation day or campus tour for new students. That is where you find the library, the student support office and somewhere to eat, and meet the first people in your year.
Week 1: the syllabus, the dates and one calendar
- Read every syllabus now, not before the exam. The syllabus is the most useful document you will get all year, and most students open it for the first time the week before the exam. Read each one once and look for four things:
| What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Grade breakdown | How much the assignments, quizzes and final are worth. A 5% weekly assignment you keep skipping adds up fast. |
| Requirements | Mandatory attendance, how many assignments you must hand in, a minimum exam score to pass. |
| Dates | Deadlines, quizzes and the exam date if it is already published. |
| Reading | What to read before each lecture and what only before the exam. |
- Move every date into one calendar. Not the syllabus, not the group chat and not your memory, but one calendar you actually open. If your courses are on Moodle, you can export every due date at once, and we wrote a step-by-step guide for it.
Week 2: a study routine, before you need one
- Book fixed study times from week two. The most common first-year mistake is waiting for exam season to "start studying", and by then the material has piled up. A study session gets a name and a time, exactly like a class: not "study this week" but "Calculus, Tuesday 10:00 to 12:00".
- Ten minutes of review at the end of each week. Check what was planned and didn't happen, and give it a new time. A task with no time slot goes back to being "sometime".
- Keep time for rest, exercise and friends. First year is also when you meet people. A free evening and regular exercise are part of the plan, not a reward for finishing it, and students who study without breaks burn out before exams even start.
How much time? A rough estimate that works: your credits times about 2.5, and that already includes class time. The full calculation, and what to do when it doesn't fit, is in our guide to credits per semester, and building the week itself is in our semester schedule guide.
You can do week one and week two in one evening: import your timetable, your exams and your Moodle assignments, and the app books study sessions into the free hours you have left. Free.
Build my plan — freePeople and places to know now
- Your TA and office hours. A question asked in week three saves three evenings in exam season.
- Your classmates. The course group chat is where you hear about changes, and one study partner is worth more than ten groups.
- The dean of students' office. It handles exam accommodations, scholarships and, in Israel, students on reserve duty. Know it exists before you need it.
- The student union. At some universities it keeps a bank of past exams, one of the most useful things you can have before your first exam.
The mistakes most first-year students make
- Skipping tutorials. That is where you solve the kind of questions that show up on the exam.
- Taking as many courses as possible "to finish faster". An overloaded semester usually ends in retakes.
- Keeping dates in your head. They don't stay there.
- Being embarrassed to ask. If you didn't get the second tutorial, others probably didn't either.
What comes later in the semester
After the first two weeks come the deadlines, and at the end of the semester, exams. When you get there, we have a guide for each step: how to build an exam study plan backwards from the date, how to study for several exams in one week, and what to do when only a day or two is left. In the meantime, find out which time of day you study best.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important thing to do in your first week of university?
Read the syllabus of every course and move every deadline, quiz and exam date into one calendar. The syllabus also tells you how much each part of the grade is worth and what each course requires, such as attending tutorials. Students who do this in week one are not surprised by deadlines in week three.
How many hours should a first-year student study?
A rough estimate is your credits times about 2.5, including class time. At 15 credits that is around 37 hours a week. The real number varies by course, and after two weeks you will know yours. What matters most is booking fixed study times from week two instead of waiting for exam season.
What is the add/drop period?
It is the first weeks of the semester, when you can still add courses to your timetable or drop them. After it closes, changes are harder and sometimes cost money. Each university sets its own dates and rules, so check them on your university's website before your first class.
How do I succeed in my first year of university?
Start with order: read every syllabus, put every date into one calendar and book fixed study times from week two instead of waiting for exam season. Go to tutorials, ask when you don't understand, and get to know your TAs and student support before you need them. And keep time for rest and friends, so you reach exams with energy left.
Do I have to go to tutorials?
It depends on the course. Some courses require attendance at tutorials, and the syllabus or the regulations say so. Even when they are optional, go: tutorials are where you practice the kind of questions that show up on the exam.
Start the year with a plan
Focusity imports your timetable, assignments and exams and builds them into a weekly study plan inside the free time you actually have. Free on iPhone, Android and the web.
Build my plan — free