Tips for first years ?

war2k10

Hi i'm just wonder if anyone has any good tips for incoming first year, like good societies to look out for or places you should check out or anything really that anyone has to found interesting in DCU or Dublin in general :pac:

bs2014

This is gonna sound sooo dry but learn to use the library, how to reference properly and how to find information from academic journals. I only learned how to use these in final year, but if use journals in your first and 2nd yr assignments, your marks will go up as generally only final yrs bother to use academic journsals!

war2k10

bs2014 wrote: »

This is gonna sound sooo dry but learn to use the library, how to reference properly and how to find information from academic journals. I only learned how to use these in final year, but if use journals in your first and 2nd yr assignments, your marks will go up as generally only final yrs bother to use academic journsals!

No that makes sense I will definitely make an attempt at it anyway is the library fairly well stocked or would you have to get the books you want well in advance

Konata

war2k10 wrote: »

No that makes sense I will definitely make an attempt at it anyway is the library fairly well stocked or would you have to get the books you want well in advance

Depends on what course you're doing but it's always good to get the books as soon as you can. Especially when you get to final year and everyone is trying to do well - it gets a little competitive for books! If your course is small you can try and arrange sharing the books etc. among each other but if it's bigger it's quite hard to do that.

war2k10

Konata wrote: »

Depends on what course you're doing but it's always good to get the books as soon as you can. Especially when you get to final year and everyone is trying to do well - it gets a little competitive for books! If your course is small you can try and arrange sharing the books etc. among each other but if it's bigger it's quite hard to do that.

I was thinking alright thanks

What are those?

Go to all your tutorials/actually do the work for them much more beneficial than lectures
Also actually study for your exams they can catch you off guard like myself,never failed an exam in my life and failed 3 in first year but underestimating them
In a general sense introduce yourself to lots of people at the start has helped me GAA is a great way to get to know ppl i found and i was on the 3rd team

AKeenan348

Konata wrote: »

Depends on what course you're doing but it's always good to get the books as soon as you can. Especially when you get to final year and everyone is trying to do well - it gets a little competitive for books! If your course is small you can try and arrange sharing the books etc. among each other but if it's bigger it's quite hard to do that.

Hi,

So you think it'd be a good idea to actually buy books? I was planning on setting up camp in the library and depending on Google books and academic journals. I graduated from level 6 business management last year, and got mostly distinctions by doing the above. I'm an IR first year. 60 in the course. Don't know about classes yet. Fingers crossed they won't be too big.

Konata

AKeenan348 wrote: »

Hi,

So you think it'd be a good idea to actually buy books? I was planning on setting up camp in the library and depending on Google books and academic journals. I graduated from level 6 business management last year, and got mostly distinctions by doing the above. I'm an IR first year. 60 in the course. Don't know about classes yet. Fingers crossed they won't be too big.

Not unless it absolutely cannot be avoided, and certainly not before final year. Unless it's a course book you'll be using very regularly or something, most of the books you'll need will only be for a specific assignment and therefore a small amount of time and most people wouldn't be able to afford books for little return. Before final year you shouldn't have many problems getting books in the library - just make sure you go looking more than a week before your assignment is due.

When you get to final year it can be a little tricky to get some books as as I said before, competition increases as people begin to care a lot more about their grades! But again, if you get in early it should be fine. A lot of books are available online these days which is fab - they'll be listed as 'e-books' when you search for them on the library website. Getting journals is usually handier online aswell. Worst comes to the worst there are a few not very legal ways to get books online too - so last resort :P

Duffman K

Be nice to the people making sandwiches etc in the canteen, they can sometimes be a bit stingy with fillings, but a simple "Hi, how's it going?" please and thank you can go a long way towards making sure your next few years are filled with generously made sandwiches.

If you need to answer nature's call on campus, the toilets upstairs in the Hub are usually clean, everyone forgets they are there.

If you want a free cup of tea or coffee you can go to the inter Faith centre.

As far as societies are concerned, join whatever ones you find interesting, all of them will cater to complete beginners, in my own biased opinion I'd say join Poker soc, but there really is something for everyone.

AKeenan348

Konata wrote: »

Not unless it absolutely cannot be avoided, and certainly not before final year. Unless it's a course book you'll be using very regularly or something, most of the books you'll need will only be for a specific assignment and therefore a small amount of time and most people wouldn't be able to afford books for little return. Before final year you shouldn't have many problems getting books in the library - just make sure you go looking more than a week before your assignment is due.

When you get to final year it can be a little tricky to get some books as as I said before, competition increases as people begin to care a lot more about their grades! But again, if you get in early it should be fine. A lot of books are available online these days which is fab - they'll be listed as 'e-books' when you search for them on the library website. Getting journals is usually handier online aswell. Worst comes to the worst there are a few not very legal ways to get books online too - so last resort :P

Ah, thanks very much for the advice. Good to know I won't need to spend a fortune on books. I've seen prices like €130 for a book I'll need from the reading list. The online stuff will be great as well. Thanks👍🏼

Aarong9224

Duffman K wrote: »

Be nice to the people making sandwiches etc in the canteen, they can sometimes be a bit stingy with fillings, but a simple "Hi, how's it going?" please and thank you can go a long way towards making sure your next few years are filled with generously made sandwiches.

If you need to answer nature's call on campus, the toilets upstairs in the Hub are usually clean, everyone forgets they are there.

If you want a free cup of tea or coffee you can go to the inter Faith centre.

As far as societies are concerned, join whatever ones you find interesting, all of them will cater to complete beginners, in my own biased opinion I'd say join Poker soc, but there really is something for everyone.

I'd second the poker society really well run

6thyearlife

Anyone know if you can change your password for DCU? or should I wait for orientation
Afraid I will forget the one I was given
I registered today !

BasedHobbes

Only one tip really. Actually go to your lectures.

I would love to see someone plot attendance alongside grades. The people who always attended all got 1.1s or 2.1s in my graduating class. Those who were less stringent got 2.2s or failed (no 3.1s in my graduating class, weirdly).

bren2001

6thyearlife wrote: »

Anyone know if you can change your password for DCU? or should I wait for orientation
Afraid I will forget the one I was given
I registered today !

Quite often, you need that password at different stages. For example, in 4th year Engineering to log into an exam, you require your original username and password. Just save it to your phone and learn it off, not too hard.

RyanDrive

If you're not working, treat it as a 9-5 job. Don't make the mistake I did first time round and do the bare minimum, it'll catch up to you eventually.

eeguy

Don't write your notes on an A4 refill pad. After 6 weeks in the bag all the pages will fall out and get lost.

Buy a proper hardback or spiral bound notepad and don't tear sheets out of it.

Write the date at the top of the page.

Don't take the first semester handy.
Too many people coast the first semester and say they'll pull up their sh*t grades in the second.

Better to go hard on the first semester, then ease off in the second. In february you'll be sitting pretty on a good GPA and you won't have to spend the first 4 weeks back catching up on all the notes you missed.

stmol32

6thyearlife wrote: »

Anyone know if you can change your password for DCU? or should I wait for orientation
Afraid I will forget the one I was given
I registered today !

https://www.dcu.ie/iss/email/password-reset.shtml

You will need to know your original password before you change it to something more manageable.