Great questions! Usually you can become friends/study buddies with people in class by sitting near them or through discussion sections! Through becoming class friends/acquaintances, then you can study with those students. Sometimes in discussion, the graduate student instructor (GSI) will ask if students are interested in study groups then they will sort of facilitate that. In my Legal Studies major, going in, I didn't really have any friends or know anyone in those classes. In the first ever legal studies class I took, the first day of discussion we got split off into groups and had to do group work etc - me and this other girl were in the same group. Then we sorta just sat in the same spot for discussion and would always do the group work together. Then over the next 2 years, we actually had 3 classes together and were class friends. Never really hung out outside of class but we would get together to study and had each other in those classes so we could save seats and had someone to talk to haha. You would meet people like that if you don't know anyone already. Otherwise, freshman year, a lot of students take similar classes so most likely you and people on your dorm floor are going to be in classes together and become friends/study together. Then for next semester, you could try to sign up for classes/discussions together if you're a similar major. In other classes, on the first day of class, I would see people I knew through friends of friends and then through that connection, we would become class friends. Hmm honestly finding a good study partner can be difficult and really depends on your study style. For certain classes, I would like studying alone and found that more productive. In other classes, I found studying with others helpful. For group studying, I would definitely say you should put in the time and study for the class before your group session. Use the group session as a way to reinforce the material rather than using the group study session as a way to initially learn the material. I found that using the group session to bounce ideas, do practice problems, and reinforce the material was WAY more helpful than using the session as the first time I ever even looked at my class notes. To find good study partners, you could emphasize this point and let the group know what this study meeting will be used for - since most likely you'll be meeting more than once. How group studying works really depends on the class! For essay-based classes, we would brainstorm fake essay topics and then think of topics from the class we could use to support our fake thesis. For classes like math, we would go over textbook problems and old exams to use as practice. Or, studying beforehand, maybe everyone in the group does a practice exam and you use the group time to ask each other questions on how they solved problems. You and your friends can really study however works best for you all! Studying in college can take some time to get used to though, so it may take a few tests or even semesters before you know what study habits work best for you! LOL long answer, hope this all helps!
@@rachel_lin Thank you so much for the thorough answer, I was so confused about study buddies/groups and your response was very very helpful. I had an "aha!" moment reading this. Thank you for making these awesome videos!
Hi Rachel, thanks so much for this great video :) I am an incoming student at Cal and I am taking courses for the summer. I am finding it difficult to read the long/dense readings my instructor assigns, staying engaged during class (I sometimes don't understand the lectures at all), and overall keeping up with the pacing (our midterm is next week, yikes!). Do you have any advice on this or any study/organizational techniques you'd like to share? Thank you so much!
Congrats on Berkeley! Good luck with your exam next week! Definitely the transition to Berkeley classes is a tough one, so you'll have some experience with how classes are structured/pacing/exams before starting freshman year in the fall, which is great! Definitely can relate to not understanding lecture haha. I would say to try to focus on the main ideas when you are attending the lecture for the first time - so see if there are common themes or points the instructor continues to mention. Then after class, like a few days after or on the weekend or something, take some time to go over your notes again and potentially re-watch parts of the lecture you found confusing. Because of covid, most lectures are recorded and available on BCourses, so you should be able to access a recording, but pre-covid some professors did not record anything (which is something to note going into the fall with some classes being in-person). I also found it helpful to read the assigned readings before the lecture that we were going to talk about that reading - so usually I would read the entire week's worth of material over the weekend, which was a good primer to what we would talk about in class. So then in class, it wasn't 100% new material, but at least from reading the textbook beforehand, I had some familiarity with the material already or at least recognized some words haha. And then also using Office Hours or the GSI Office Hours is always helpful and you can go in with questions prepared or things you were confused about from lecture, and the professor or GSI can help clarify the material! Plus also talking with other confused students at office hours is useful too so you can bounce concepts off each other. For readings, I also agree - some professors assign literally like 50-100 pages of reading per class which is so ugh. For those classes with super long, difficult readings, I would honestly like skim/fast read, otherwise 100s of pages would take hours to get through. I would write down the main ideas and vocab words - especially if sentences are in bold etc. Learning to read effectively and quickly is something that takes time and also depends on the class. So say your class is more essay-focused, then the readings are important, but grasping the main ideas would be more important than learning or memorizing the textbook word for word. Versus a class that may have multiple choice or vocab-focused exams, then memorizing the textbook would be more important. So how to read really depends on what kind of class you're taking and how the professor is styling the exams. I have a video about how I stay organized in college, so that may be helpful - th-cam.com/video/NV3b2i_pUYw/w-d-xo.html. I also have a video about how I took notes in college - th-cam.com/video/4Ant99YNbtM/w-d-xo.html. Hope this all helps!
@@rachel_lin Thank you so much, Rachel! I really appreciate your time in writing this and for your dedication to creating videos! Your videos have helped me SO much with this transition, especially with class enrollment and creating a dorm checklist :) I will check out out the videos you shared :D
I would say get involved in clubs/groups on campus! For example, joining dorm-based clubs at Berkeley, like Hall Association, doesn't necessarily "help" your RA application, but by joining, you get to interact with RAs and RA supervisors at the dorm so you can see if you really would want to apply for the RA position. You can also meet with your RA to ask them about the position and what their likes/dislikes are. At Berkeley, the RA application opens in fall for the next academic year, so Sept/October 2021 for being an RA from Fall 2022 - Spring 2023. I have this video all about the RA application process which may be helpful: th-cam.com/video/OwPG6iaN-vg/w-d-xo.html. Hope this helps!
@@gingyrocka6039 I was a Campus Ambassador all 4 years at Berkeley! Pretty sure the hourly pay was between $15 - $16. The application to apply will open in December 2021, so check back here if you were interested in applying: visit.berkeley.edu/becoming-a-campus-ambassador/.
That’s a good idea!! I actually have a vlog planned for Sunday’s video (featuring Gigi getting a haircut haha)! I feel like I don’t really do many interesting things that all of my vlogs are very similar… so I’m not sure if that is boring 🥲 but definitely if I leave the house to do something fun I can vlog 🤣
Great advice
How do you find study buddies in classes? How do you know if someone is potentially a good study buddy? How does group studying work?
Great questions! Usually you can become friends/study buddies with people in class by sitting near them or through discussion sections! Through becoming class friends/acquaintances, then you can study with those students. Sometimes in discussion, the graduate student instructor (GSI) will ask if students are interested in study groups then they will sort of facilitate that.
In my Legal Studies major, going in, I didn't really have any friends or know anyone in those classes. In the first ever legal studies class I took, the first day of discussion we got split off into groups and had to do group work etc - me and this other girl were in the same group. Then we sorta just sat in the same spot for discussion and would always do the group work together. Then over the next 2 years, we actually had 3 classes together and were class friends. Never really hung out outside of class but we would get together to study and had each other in those classes so we could save seats and had someone to talk to haha. You would meet people like that if you don't know anyone already. Otherwise, freshman year, a lot of students take similar classes so most likely you and people on your dorm floor are going to be in classes together and become friends/study together. Then for next semester, you could try to sign up for classes/discussions together if you're a similar major. In other classes, on the first day of class, I would see people I knew through friends of friends and then through that connection, we would become class friends.
Hmm honestly finding a good study partner can be difficult and really depends on your study style. For certain classes, I would like studying alone and found that more productive. In other classes, I found studying with others helpful. For group studying, I would definitely say you should put in the time and study for the class before your group session. Use the group session as a way to reinforce the material rather than using the group study session as a way to initially learn the material. I found that using the group session to bounce ideas, do practice problems, and reinforce the material was WAY more helpful than using the session as the first time I ever even looked at my class notes. To find good study partners, you could emphasize this point and let the group know what this study meeting will be used for - since most likely you'll be meeting more than once.
How group studying works really depends on the class! For essay-based classes, we would brainstorm fake essay topics and then think of topics from the class we could use to support our fake thesis. For classes like math, we would go over textbook problems and old exams to use as practice. Or, studying beforehand, maybe everyone in the group does a practice exam and you use the group time to ask each other questions on how they solved problems. You and your friends can really study however works best for you all! Studying in college can take some time to get used to though, so it may take a few tests or even semesters before you know what study habits work best for you!
LOL long answer, hope this all helps!
@@rachel_lin Thank you so much for the thorough answer, I was so confused about study buddies/groups and your response was very very helpful. I had an "aha!" moment reading this. Thank you for making these awesome videos!
@@greenlilac7327 haha yes! Glad you had the brain blast moment 🤣🙌🏻
Hi Rachel, thanks so much for this great video :) I am an incoming student at Cal and I am taking courses for the summer. I am finding it difficult to read the long/dense readings my instructor assigns, staying engaged during class (I sometimes don't understand the lectures at all), and overall keeping up with the pacing (our midterm is next week, yikes!). Do you have any advice on this or any study/organizational techniques you'd like to share? Thank you so much!
Congrats on Berkeley! Good luck with your exam next week! Definitely the transition to Berkeley classes is a tough one, so you'll have some experience with how classes are structured/pacing/exams before starting freshman year in the fall, which is great!
Definitely can relate to not understanding lecture haha. I would say to try to focus on the main ideas when you are attending the lecture for the first time - so see if there are common themes or points the instructor continues to mention. Then after class, like a few days after or on the weekend or something, take some time to go over your notes again and potentially re-watch parts of the lecture you found confusing. Because of covid, most lectures are recorded and available on BCourses, so you should be able to access a recording, but pre-covid some professors did not record anything (which is something to note going into the fall with some classes being in-person). I also found it helpful to read the assigned readings before the lecture that we were going to talk about that reading - so usually I would read the entire week's worth of material over the weekend, which was a good primer to what we would talk about in class. So then in class, it wasn't 100% new material, but at least from reading the textbook beforehand, I had some familiarity with the material already or at least recognized some words haha. And then also using Office Hours or the GSI Office Hours is always helpful and you can go in with questions prepared or things you were confused about from lecture, and the professor or GSI can help clarify the material! Plus also talking with other confused students at office hours is useful too so you can bounce concepts off each other.
For readings, I also agree - some professors assign literally like 50-100 pages of reading per class which is so ugh. For those classes with super long, difficult readings, I would honestly like skim/fast read, otherwise 100s of pages would take hours to get through. I would write down the main ideas and vocab words - especially if sentences are in bold etc. Learning to read effectively and quickly is something that takes time and also depends on the class. So say your class is more essay-focused, then the readings are important, but grasping the main ideas would be more important than learning or memorizing the textbook word for word. Versus a class that may have multiple choice or vocab-focused exams, then memorizing the textbook would be more important. So how to read really depends on what kind of class you're taking and how the professor is styling the exams.
I have a video about how I stay organized in college, so that may be helpful - th-cam.com/video/NV3b2i_pUYw/w-d-xo.html. I also have a video about how I took notes in college - th-cam.com/video/4Ant99YNbtM/w-d-xo.html. Hope this all helps!
@@rachel_lin Thank you so much, Rachel! I really appreciate your time in writing this and for your dedication to creating videos! Your videos have helped me SO much with this transition, especially with class enrollment and creating a dorm checklist :)
I will check out out the videos you shared :D
What can freshman do to prepare to apply as an RA later in their college career?
I would say get involved in clubs/groups on campus! For example, joining dorm-based clubs at Berkeley, like Hall Association, doesn't necessarily "help" your RA application, but by joining, you get to interact with RAs and RA supervisors at the dorm so you can see if you really would want to apply for the RA position. You can also meet with your RA to ask them about the position and what their likes/dislikes are. At Berkeley, the RA application opens in fall for the next academic year, so Sept/October 2021 for being an RA from Fall 2022 - Spring 2023. I have this video all about the RA application process which may be helpful: th-cam.com/video/OwPG6iaN-vg/w-d-xo.html. Hope this helps!
92 degrees in Phoenix this morning! Highs today 106 but theres a flash flood watch from Thursday evening through Saturday afternoon
Oh wow that could be a lot of rain! Stay safe over there! 🙏🏻
@@rachel_lin Hi, do you know how much campus tour guides make?
@@gingyrocka6039 I was a Campus Ambassador all 4 years at Berkeley! Pretty sure the hourly pay was between $15 - $16. The application to apply will open in December 2021, so check back here if you were interested in applying: visit.berkeley.edu/becoming-a-campus-ambassador/.
Hey rach why dont u try something like a new channel for only college stuff and this channel for vlogs coz its been awhile since u made a vlog....?
That’s a good idea!! I actually have a vlog planned for Sunday’s video (featuring Gigi getting a haircut haha)! I feel like I don’t really do many interesting things that all of my vlogs are very similar… so I’m not sure if that is boring 🥲 but definitely if I leave the house to do something fun I can vlog 🤣
@@rachel_lin when i read the word gigi for a sec I thought that u actually tried my idea
Great advice
Thank you!!