Top tips for studying English

Tip 1: Use your free time wisely

Studying English, it’s possible you will have a few less contact hours than some other subjects, because English requires a lot of independent study. Please don’t take these hours as completely free time!

There’s definitely time to see all your friends, go for coffee - do all those fun things that are so important to university life - but please remember that your free time is also for independent study. These hours can be really useful if you use them to your advantage and use them wisely.

You might want to head to the library, or use the time to get ahead on seminar prep. This will really pay off in the end.

It’s all about balance. I feel successful when my academic stuff is sorted, my mental health and looking after myself, and also my social life.

Tip 2: Be adventurous in your module choices

Some of the modules that I chose which were a bit out of my comfort zone turned out to be some of my favourites. With the breadth of this course, you will struggle to find things that you have only ever done before. There are modules where you will have to take risks and wonder if you’ll like them.

For example, I chose the ‘Language Development’ module, which is very kind of 'science-y', and normally science is not my strong point at all. But I thought it’s important to know all the sides of English, and how we are able to speak it, so I think it is important to go out of your comfort zone a bit with modules. I’ve actually found that the sociolinguistic side is something I’m really interested in and something I’m actually going to do my dissertation on!

The modules are so amazingly broad, and they are just so enjoyable, whatever you pick. So don’t be too scared to go outside of your comfort zone.

Tip 3: Read widely

I recommend reading widely on all of your essays. There really is no substitute for this. It completely pays off in every essay. Even if you just end up quoting one line of a 30-page journal article that you’ve read, that is evidence enough to show that you’ve delved into the subject.

The amount of reading is quite intense. I did find it manageable, though. Some of the literature modules, where it’s a book a week to read, can be quite a jump from A level, but you do adjust to it pretty quickly. And the transition of workload from first to second year felt like the reading is gradually increased.