Starting your university education can be an overwhelming experience on many levels; new academic challenges, new friends, a new environment and maybe you're even moving away from your parents permanently for the first time. It is however important to note that it is a very exciting and fun time and you should first and foremost enjoy it as much as possible.

On the IB programme our academic years are not structured in semesters, but are instead structured in quarters of seven weeks with two courses. This creates an entirely different and intense study experience where you quickly can get hopelessly behind in the readings and maybe even panic before exams, especially when you're new to the quarter system. But don't panic: If you remember these three main study rules you should be fine:

1. Be effective when studying. Switch off your cell-phone, close the door and focus entirely on the material you are going to read. The more focused you are, the quicker you will be done with your homework.

2. Don't fall behind in the readings! And if you do, just read on; don't get stuck with the parts you haven't read.

3. Be selective in choosing which parts of the text books you are going to read. Don't read everything! American text books have a lot of padding, so identify the most important parts of the text.

The study technique SQ3R is a good and simple instrument for learning your curriculum in the most effective and comprehensive way possible. You should use this technique for every subject if you want to get the most out of your reading

The best of luck with your future studies!

Joachim Meyer Andersen