Mature Student - help

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Hi all, at the grand old age of 40 after having previously done no studying at all, I have made the (stupid) decision to do a degree (Business), this is so out of my comfort zone and totally unimaginable to me before, I am plagued with self doubts and feeling overwhelmed, please give me tips on studying, any resources I should be aware of, tips to improve my focus, reading and understanding research articles, anything else that may be helpful to know. Even very very basic things that you think are obvious.

I need to find a way to make this work so anything at all would be much appreciated.

Good luck!
Take a look at the Learning Scientists on YouTube.

They have some good videos on basic skills and how you should learn and why it works.
One thing I would recommend from the start is retrieval practice.
Best wishes!

Thank you so much I will look into this!

Can you discuss with your tutor? They can help and plan support if they know you are struggling or are anxious.
is there a class whatsapp? Sharing with your peer group will be essential
Switch your habits: a herbal tea and next week’s paper two evenings a week instead of a glass of wine and netflix
listen to podcasts on your commute: i do a queue of interesting podcasts on soundcloud and on spotify and play this every morning (for the evening commute i listen to something relaxing though!)
Dont fall for the gimmicks (fancy ipad, new app, cool software), pen, paper, highlighters and post it notes are your friends.
use the library as books can be £££
enjoy!

Definitely be proactive and look for support at uni.

I'm a lecturer and one of my new mature students did just that this week. Half an hour of my time but has helped her get her head around how things work.

Check out your uni library pages and look and see if they have study skills support too.

Our uni has various sessions to help with academic writing. Some can be booked one to one each week in addition to your classes.

Your reading list may indicate how important the resource is. Talk to your personal tutor about how to use the reading list. You usually would not be expected to read everything on it. Think of it as a curated list of sources that are vetted for you, as being of good quality. Think about what you want to say in your assignment then go looking for some sources who talk about that specific point.

You'll do great 👍🏻

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the advice!

I'm a 43 year old that just graduated from a business degree after no previous studying and loved it so much I went back and am now doing a Master's.

Enjoy it and access all the help the tutor, your course mates and student support (from the library) you can get.

Thank you so much for this, it’s really reassuring that it is possible & good luck with the masters