There are a few things I only figured after having spent half a term at LSE, so I thought I should share this with any prospective LSE undergraduate students thinking about university or incoming LSE students. This post would hopefully give you an insight into LSE’s workload and teaching methods, as well as how you can manage it effectively.

1. Learning Mode at LSE

High school students are often told that university would be very different, but in what ways? For my course at LSE, we have lectures, which are given by professors to a large group of students, and classes, which are small group discussions that take place each week, after we have done the lectures and reading.

One advice I would give as a law student is to take your reading seriously. I would say that lectures are only a taster of what the topic is about, while the reading is where you critically analyse different perspectives and their reasoning. In order to be able to participate in seminar discussion with your peers and with the academics, you will have to familiarise yourself with the materials, otherwise you will be sitting there not knowing what everyone is talking about.

One of my class teachers said in the first week that by not participating in class, you are essentially ‘funding for other people’s education’. As harsh as it sounds, it is true to an extent. But don’t panic just yet, my message is that lectures should be used as a guide rather than your only source of information; after all, you should always look at the core topics covered in the lectures for revision.

2. Time management

Time management is crucial, everyone knows that, but this is especially important for London university students as our accommodations are often not on campus. At university, many of us are living away from home and are ‘experiencing freedom’ for the first time. At the moment, as most of our lectures are pre-recorded, we only really have to go on campus for classes. Planning out a set routine or work schedule that specifies where you are working and for how long you will be working for each session would be useful. This is because often we spend hours sitting in the library but we get tired for sitting there for too long that we don’t get much work done.

Planning a schedule would also prevent you from spending too much time on a particular module. I would usually take into account the time for grocery shopping, exercising, socialising, as well as little things like cleaning my room and doing my laundry, so that I have a set routine and wouldn’t have to worry about not able to finish my to do list each week.

3. Finding the right place to study

Finding the right place to study at university took me a while. LSE has a fantastic library with amazing architecture, however as my accommodation is very far from campus, and I often don’t feel comfortable going home late at night I rarely stay at the LSE library after class.

Luckily, we have the privilege to make use of the libraries that are under University of London (UoL). I have been going to the UCL main library for some time now. They don’t offer a UoL library card so you will have to apply for a library card for each individual university. UCL alone has multiple libraries, and I think sometimes a change of scenery is good, because it prevents you from getting too comfortable with the environment and being too relaxed while studying.

This might not be the right study method for you – you might like to study in a workspace as a group or study alone in your room, but do check out the library cards if you are interested!