Pursuing a postgraduate degree opens many opportunities, and it prepares you for the best and the worst. Trust me, I graduated with my Masters during the pandemic, and I have a full-time job in the UK now.
You will study for 180 credits during your Master's degree, containing 20+ modules that you will complete in a year. It is expected of you to study outside the prescribed text to score more than 70%. You will have to read different articles, journals, quote statistics, textbooks to understand and prepare for exams.
Returning to the University after a break can sound daunting. Questions like, how am I going to manage my time? Will I be able to write an essay that meets the standards? How to prepare for masters?
Here are my 5 tips to help you prepare for your masters before you start the course.
1. Research everything about the University
Once you start your Masters, your University will be your only go to support system.
Since you have taken a break from the usual study pattern, resources and facilities from the University can help you achieve both academically and professionally.
For example, at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), there is an Academic Writing Zone to guide us with the coursework (assignments) and dissertation. There are LUMS Career hub and BASE Career Hub for career-related queries, where they conduct a lot of events for interview preparation and Psychometric tests. LUMS also have an Employment and Recruitment Services wing at the BASE, where all the part-time jobs and internships are listed.
The facilities are available for you to exploit. So, make use of it.
2. Take an online course
While the one year Master's program is a sprint, it prepares you for a marathon.
There are several educational tools available to help you develop your skills. Pick a course that is in line with your core masters. From online classes, you will benefit in the following ways:
A deeper understanding of the subject.
Performing analysis and researches
Note-taking
Completing assignments.
The idea behind this tip is to get you into the study mode.
3. Find your study pattern
During your Master's, before beginning any module, you will be given a presentation slide and a list of resources. It is expected of you to study outside the prescribed text to score more than 70%. You will have to read articles, journals, quote statistics, read different books to understand and prepare for exams.
This was night and day from the way I used to study. During my law school, we had one textbook to study end to end and attend the exams. It was really different for me, and it was difficult to establish a research approach that would work for my Masters. To finally get my own studying technique, it took a month minimum.
Though I didn't take a break after my under graduation, I found it challenging. This affected my first assignment and group work.
Here my tip for you is to get into the study mode, find your study pattern. It will be beneficial to get settled in faster.
4. Talk to the current students
It is always best to get some inputs from the current students. You can find all the current students on LinkedIn and University Facebook groups.
Get an idea of what you will be learning, about their typical day, about the University & about the co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
5. Get ahead with the resources list
If requested, the programme team will usually be able to provide you with the handbooks in advance. You can always ask the current students to send you a couple of manuals to get started with your research.
Especially when your are Masters course is of a different specialisation than your UG, getting a brief ahead will definitely be peace of mind when you start your course.
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