Getting yourself ready for university
No matter what you study at uni there are some skills that every successful uni student needs. Now is the time for you to think about whether you have these skills and what you might need to do to get ready for your entry to uni.
Personal skills
- Build up your independence with making decisions, planning your day and your studies and organising your own daily tasks.
- Have good organisational skills so that you can be at class on time, identify when assignments are due and plan your study time.
- Develop the ability to ask lots of questions and to ask for help if/when you need it.
- Get used to meeting new people and making new friends.
Academic skills
- Talk to your teacher, careers advisor and uni advisors about the academic skills you will need for the study areas you are considering.
- Make an honest list of the study skills that you believe you are good at and those you need to improve. Talk to those who know your study skills and ask their views too.
- Get very familiar with the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) Guide to learn about whether the areas of study you are considering need you to have completed specific subjects or other assumed knowledge before entering the course.
- Unis and TAFE offer bridging and preparation courses. Consider whether you may need to complete one of these courses before entering uni. Many of these courses are run in January to February yearly.
Information Technology skills
- Check out your own IT skills, in particular make sure you know how to use a word processor, the internet and email. Students must have these skills to be able to successfully complete the study and assessment tasks for any uni course.
- Build up your skills and get comfortable with the technology if you don't already know how to use computers or feel under confident.
Assistive Technology
- Think about whether you need any equipment, devices or modifications to use computers, participate in lectures/tutorials, complete assessment tasks or do any practical exercises that you might need to complete within your course.
- You may already be using Assistive Technology at school. Consider whether the aide(s) you are currently using are effective or whether other options may be more useful.
- Fix any problems you have using the Assistive Technology now, so that the equipment is as useful as possible when studying at uni.
- Get an Assistive Technology assessment if you are not already using Assistive Technology and you believe you may need modifications at uni.
- If you are using equipment that does not belong to you find out whether you are able to use the equipment after school and/or where you can access a replacement.