Challenges Faced by First Year University Students

Abstract

This essay will examine the proposition of the problems faced by first year students at any university. Firstly, it will consider different studying strategies compared to high school.
Secondly, it will discuss the pressure on students especially on first year students to pass the coursework. Thirdly, homesick which diverts students attention from studies. Fourthly, the environment and peer pressure, misuse of resources and influence by peers. Fifthly, resources such as the university premises can be misused by the students. Sixthly, text book each for coursework is expensive.   Books that are being sold in university book centre are expensive and cannot be afforded by most of the students. Lastly, it will claim the problem faced by students from different island nations.

University life is quite different from secondary school life.   University life is full of sacrifices.   Students need to devote time accordingly, so that they can pass their coursework and can pursue the next level of the studies.   There are a number of challenges faced by first year university students.   The challenges faced by first year university students can be in terms of academic and emotional factors, environment and peer pressure and economic factors.

The challenges faced by first year university students are academic and emotional factors in terms of different studying strategies, pressure to get good grades and homesick.   Firstly at university, there are different studying strategies compared to high school.   Learning at university is mostly computerised and notes for each lecture can be accessed from the university site.   For example, in secondary schools students were provided with notes by the teachers whereas in university it becomes the students’ initiative to print the notes from Moodle (USP site).   Therefore, new students find it difficult in coping with the academic studies.

Furthermore, there is a lot of pressure on students especially on the first year...