Getting Started at University

For university students, the beginning of autumn also marks the beginning of a new semester. This can come with several challenges, especially when it’s your very first semester at a university. Here are a few tips on how you can use Structured to organize the start of your studies. Some of these might even be helpful if you’re not at the beginning of your first semester but of your third, fifth, or seventeenth.

Curriculum

As soon as you know what courses you will attend, enter them into your Structured timeline to have an overview of your curriculum. If you are subscribed to Structured Pro, you can create recurring tasks for your lectures to avoid having to reenter them every week. Also, the notes feature might come in handy here. In this section you can make notes regarding your task, for example what the topic of the lecture will be, or in what building it will take place.

Get to know the campus

Before starting your studies, you should explore the campus of your university to make sure you know where everything is. By visiting the lecture hall beforehand, you can avoid being late for your first lecture. To avoid going hungry, you should locate the dining hall as well. Also check out the library and find out how things like borrowing books, printing, and booking a study room work. Additionally, there might be some organizational matters that you have to take care of. For example, signing up for courses, requesting your university e-mail address, or picking up your student ID card. Use the inbox of Structured to keep track of all of the things you need to deal with before the semester starts.

Buying the essentials

There are some essential items that every student should have at hand before their first lecture. These include notepads and a working set of pens (alternatively a laptop or tablet) to take notes in your lectures. You will also need other stationery to keep your study material organized like binders, index cards, highlighters, and sticky notes. Depending on your studies a calculator and flash drive might be useful as well. Additionally, we recommend a drinking bottle (ideally a clear one as they are the only ones allowed in some libraries) and a thermos to keep you hydrated throughout your study days. To be optimally prepared you should go on a pre-semester-shopping-trip. Create a task for the trip in Structured and enter every item you need into the subtask section. This way you can check off each item as you buy it.

Exam season

Generally, you will receive the dates for your exams at some point during the beginning of a semester. Use the little calendar symbol in Structured to jump to the exam day and create a task for it as soon as you know the date. For some exams you have to sign up beforehand or you will not be permitted to participate. Enter also the deadline for the exam registration in Structured to make sure you don’t forget to sign up.

When exam season is coming up you might want to check out: A perfect study day with Structured for tips on organizing your study sessions.