Returning or going to College for the first time can be an exciting time in life

Now is the time to tackle that reading list…

NO season has as many endings as summer for we simply don’t want to let go and face the realisation the normality and a return to college is fast approaching. Returning, or going to college for the first time, can be an exciting time in life – with many past students willing to claim it as being the best days of their lives! But all play and no work is not a good plan, which means you need to prepare in advance of college so that life’s a little easier once you start.

One of the ways to prepare for college during the silly season is to do some reading…yes, some reading! Abandoning college reading lists until you return in September can be self-destructive and believe me you’ll regret not using some of your free time during the summer holidays to lighten the reading load. Make little notes of the salient points you come across when reading texts now, fold them, and put them back in the book and bingo! You’ll already be ahead of the class come autumn.

Sitting back in the sun is a great way to utilise pre-college reading time. So turn off the phone and get reading. Text books are a daunting task but they must be endured if your ambition is to succeed. Whether you’re a first year, or a seasoned university pro, all you need to do is visit the college website and go to the relevant faculty’s page and see what the reading lists are for 2016-17. But make sure you double-check that your module’s reading list has been updated as some may not and you don’t want to read Tolstoy’s War and Peace only to discover it was on last year’s course (not that reading War and Peace is a waste of time I might add!).

Another great tip is to email your college lecturers and ask what books they are using this term. Many university lecturers are only too delighted, even sometimes shocked, that students are taking time out from their holidays to read course material in advance. Joking aside though, using the next few weeks to get some course reading done will really stand to you once the cut and thrust of college starts again and remember those autumn exams are not long off. You don’t have to read every book on the list, but it helps to get a start and stay ahead of the game.