Is it wrong of me to 'coast' along my first year of uni

it depends what you deem to be coasting to be honest.

forget about the weighting of each year - consider whether the content in your first year is fundamental to your future years.

many of the attitude shown here underline the varying extent of uni degrees and the consequent destinations for the people in terms of jobs etc.

ask yourself what you want to get into and then proceed accordingly.

i coasted through uni simply by going to the majority lectures, doing the required reading and putting effort in when required.
 
EOTT said:
Which University are you studying at? I heard they take your top 7 grades from your 2nd year and all of your grades from your 3rd year and they would get the average from those grades.
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I'm at University of Liverpool studying Accounting. It might be different for other unis/courses.
 
Some interesting replies... Well fortunately there is time for me to still turn around as this is only the first term; interesting to see how some people agree it's fine while others say I should work.
 
My advice would be as follows:

If your course is mostly examined then you can relax and have a good time. Make sure you fulfil all your course requirements and make sure you keep on top of your subjects. The first year is usually pretty easy, so it shouldn't be too challenging anyway (unless you are doing a really difficult degree). Put in the effort for your exams and you're sorted.

If your course has a large coursework component and you intend to apply for a job in Investment Banking, Accountancy, Consultancy or Law, firms will usually want to see all your module results. If you're doing a three-year course, this means that you would have to submit your first-year results alone for an internship application. If this applies to you, I'd suggest aiming for a 2:1 on average, and avoid anything less than a 2:2. This will probably be a bit of a downer on the partying, but it's what you signed up for :)
 
My course was 20% 3rd year and 80% forth year, with 50% of forth year being dissertation and 50% split accross 6 exams. It meant a damn good dissertation won you most of the battle :)
 
jidh007 said:
As the title says really. Should I really be working hard in my first year? How did everyone else deal with their work in the first year?
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I'm in my second year and still coasting tbh - I don't think it's a problem. I'm getting the grades I need (70% plus)... in fact averaging over 80% so far this year.

Coast if you can get what you need... makes no difference whether I get 70% or 100%... so I'm only working to what I need.
 
I coasted first and second years, didn't much care for the degree so spent most time drunk, 3rd year was very difficult because of this, ended up with a 2:2.

Don't coast if you want a worthwhile degree.
 
Even though first year was a bit of a doss I don't think I would have got my summer internship without getting high grades. So in that respect it was worth putting a little bit of effort in. Nothing major. 2nd year was a massive change in the work load and 3rd year is just insane.
 
as far as im aware uni just take on more then they should and the course doesnt really start until second year then the people they shouldnt have taken on leave but still payed for first year thus making the uni more money
 
Clarkey said:
I coasted first and second years, didn't much care for the degree so spent most time drunk, 3rd year was very difficult because of this, ended up with a 2:2.

Don't coast if you want a worthwhile degree.
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A truly honest reply :D The thing i'm not really spending my time drunk either, i'm just... putting work off last minute and racing through it to get done. Hence my regular attendance in the 'who's pulling an all-nighter?' thread :p
 
My Uni (possibly only the department) use 1st Year grades when weighing up your final grade... ie. if you did well in your 1st year, and you're on a 2:1/borderline 1st, you'll be bumped to a 1st.

Just a thought. Other than that, no, they're not technically "worth" any marks, but the experience is always good. Oh, and I actually used a lot of the 1st year material in my 2nd Year, so bear that in mind too.
 
No, not at all. You can coast most of the second your too and some of the third.

As long as you have half a brain cell and go to the lessons that count like the practicals you'll be ok. In first year i sent to most lessons during freshers because i didnt know many people from my halls. After a month or so i found a loads of mates.

I missed probably 80% of lectures in 1st year, 60% in second and 50% in third. Final year is all about your own study anyway
 
You can't work at a 2.2 or third level in first year and then suddenly start banging out a first in second or third year. I'm not saying you have to be amazing at everything in first year (I think I averaged about 64 in my first year) as first year is very much a case of laying the groundwork for 2nd and 3rd year.

In first year I read a lot more than a lot of my friends, learned how to use the e-journal/research tools and that has set me up with a very good basic grounding in my degree course.

Because I worked hard at learning what lecturers want from essays etc. in first year I've been able to average 74% this year while most people I know are sitting on either a 2.1 or in some cases a low 2.2.

If you want to come out with a borderline 2.1/2.2 doss all you want, but your dissertation will be extremely poor if you can't demonstrate wide reading, quality analysis and original thought - something which is extremely hard to do if you don't know what existing research material is out there.
 
yep same for me...

i failed 6 out of 8 modules in the 1st year and had a hellish summer resubmitting all the coursework and exam retakes...really not worth it

sure you can coast the first year and still do well in the second + third...depends if it is worth any marks towards your final degree. fortunately for me it didnt and taught me the meaning of working hard in the end...

have a good time and get your coursework in on time and it will work out v nicely!
 
Actually this question is really quite subjective given that some people might consider 'coasting' as partying 5 days a week and missing about 50% of lectures, whilst someone else may consider it as partying once a week and missing 25% of lectures, for example.

In honesty I don't think I really upped my work level by that much each year. But that was really the nature of the course (Economics). This was mainly due to the sheer lack of coursework and assignments to do througout the years (relative to my friend's courses). It did increase a bit each year, but not by a lot. It was so heavily based on exams - which meant the bulk of my university studying was in the last couple of months of the three years. :) Of course I made sure I did all my assignments and attended all the lectures I deemed necessary (I could go on about the incompetence of some of the lecturers I have experienced). So I dunno, without many courseworks and a low number of lectures - you could perhaps argue that I coasted the majority of my final year! But then again is it really coasting if I've managed to cover the majority of what I needed to? Just because it gave me time to have fun doesn't necessarily mean that I was coasting I guess ;)

Although, maybe I could have turned my 2:1 into a First...
 
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