Recently, while studying in the library, I suddenly realised that this semester I have never stayed up all night rushing assignments. It reminded me of my first semester after arriving in Australia. Because I couldn’t understand the lectures, I spent a huge amount of time watching recordings every day. Staying up until 6am to finish assignments had become routine. The postgraduate courses at UQ are very intensive. My major is Master of Commerce, and many subjects have over 100 pages of PPT content alone. There were times when I racked my brains and still couldn’t write the assignments, and I broke down and cried several times.
Today I want to share some small tips, hoping to help those who have just arrived in Australia adapt to academic life faster.
- Classes
The biggest problem when first arriving in Australia is that English is not good enough yet, so it’s impossible to follow a fully English lecture from start to finish. My suggestion is to preview the knowledge before class and insist on attending lectures. If you don’t understand something, mark the time in your notes. After class, you can go back to the recording and watch the specific time you didn’t understand. It takes a lot of time at the beginning, but later you will understand more and more parts. It is definitely worth sticking to. - Self-study methods
I suggest that when reviewing by yourself, copy all the lecture key points into a Word document, translate them, and organise them sentence by sentence. My habit is to look at the slides and then handwrite the main structure on my tablet. Many knowledge points feel meaningless after reading once, but writing them out slowly by hand helps you remember them deeply. Mark technical terms in English. Later, when doing tutorials, your efficiency will be very high. - Taking tutoring classes
For some more difficult subjects, understanding and logical thinking are even more important. Simply reviewing classroom content is still not enough to handle exams. Actually, enrolling in a tutoring class is more efficient. There are many tutoring services in Australia, but I wanted more flexible time, so I chose an online 1v1 tutoring class.
There are many accounting firms (会计师事务所) in Australia, serving SMEs, family businesses, and high-net-worth individuals, are hiring interns. Students looking for an internship might want to check them out. Interns are often assigned a mentor and receive regular internal training. There’s also the opportunity to work on different projects. Because of the diversity of clients, it allows students to gain a lot of practical experience. The busy season can indeed be tough, but it’s also the period when students grow the fastest.
Author: Sim K
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