Tips for a Successful Academic Year

First-year students: welcome to the academic world! We know new beginnings might be hard and confusing, so we asked our faculty members and veteran students to share valuable tips and advice for new students. Here they are, categorized for your convenience. Hopefully you will find them useful.

Prepping for class

• Before each lecture or tutorial, go over the previous lesson to jog your memory. If the teacher’s notes or tutorial are online, give them a look, too (Prof. Eli Cohen)
• Most things will not (always) be clear during the lecture! If you got 30% of what was taught in class during the lecture – no worries, it happens more often than you’d think. After the lecture, go back and re-read your notes. You’ll find that most of it now makes much more sense. If you’ve managed to get (only) 70% of the material in class – you’re doing great! (Dr. Amir Weiss)

Making sure you understand

• After each lecture (while everything is still fresh), go over the material on your own or with friends, to avoid gaps (Prof. Eli Cohen)
• What you do after each assignment, project, or test matters just as much as what you’ve done before them. Try to understand: what you did, why you did it, where was the error (if, at all…), what was the reason for doing it, and what you can do next time to avoid it (Dr. Amir Weiss)

Keeping up with assignments, drills, and projects

• Time management is key: divide your project into smaller tasks and don’t leave everything till the last minute (Dr. Hila Chalutz-Ben Gal)
• Find the method that works for you. There are plenty of good tips out there, but it’s important to find the ones that best fit you, your skills, and your abilities (Dr. Amir Weiss)

Maximizing your potential

• Learn with intention to better understand nature, the technologies around us, and those currently evolving. Aspire to be the best engineer you can be, not just ace the test. Now is the best opportunity to acquire the knowledge, tools, and skills you would continue to use throughout your career (Prof. Eli Cohen)
• Be motivated by curiosity rather than the desire to pass the test. You would have a much easier time relating to the material (Dr. Hila Chalutz-Ben Gal)
• Don’t forget that adjusting to academic studies is a process that takes time. It’s important to keep the first semester experience in the right perspective—it can be (possibly very) good or (possibly very) bad, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the rest of your academic journey (Dr. Amir Weiss)
• Try to incorporate fun, even short-term activities, into your routine. Take a trip, exercise, meet with family and friends – these can help with concentration and academic work (Dr. Hila Chalutz-Ben Gal)

The Faculty of Engineering wishes all of its students a fruitful and peaceful year.