Introduction

Abstract

A degree in science or technology is not seen as an ‘easy’ degree, but it can be incredibly rewarding, both intellectually while you are at university and financially when you go out into the workplace. This is a book about seeing the big picture from the start, not just at the end of your degree, when most undergraduates think — ‘if only I had known this from day one’. This is not a conventional study guide; there are many useful books available that will help you to write an essay, do a practical or present at a tutorial. This book is about the management of your degree, the ways in which you can make sure that you have the best time possible and achieve the right result by the end of your course. The book does not, for example, teach you how to skim read a reference book or solve an equation, but it will tell you how to choose which reference books to read and which to discard. It does not aim to teach you how to write an essay, but it will show you how to plan your time so that you can get the essay in by the due date without having a nervous breakdown in the process. The book also helps with those areas of student life that are not covered in traditional study skills guides, such as how to make your money last to the end of your course, how to cope with peer pressure and how to make the most of your tutors.