While I believe bagging a first class does not automatically translate to securing a job upon graduation or obtaining fully funded scholarship for graduate studies, it does open you up to many opportunities for job interviews and increase your chances of securing funding for postgraduate studies both home and abroad.
Graduating with a first class might just show that you understood the concepts you were taught in every of your courses despite the many challenges - outdated course materials, incompetent academic staff, core theoretical approach and many other drawbacks that characterize Nigerian Universities.
This article is meant for those who strive for excellence in any of their endeavors including academics. You can scale through all the hurdles and still arrive safely with a trophy waiting for you at the end. If others have achieved it, why not also aim at it. Why would you settle for less?
Below are some tips you will find very useful in your quest for graduating with a first class.
1. Start From Day One
Most universities in Nigeria use a cumulative grading system, which means every of your grade contributes to your final Grade Point Average otherwise known as Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). Therefore, you have to make valuable contributions to your GPA from day one!
In fact, first year seems to be the easiest time to clinch good grades, since as you ascend higher, you take more intensive courses.
2. Be Consistent
Consistency means you have to work hard at scoring nothing short of an 'A' - in most cases 70 and above - in all your courses.
For example scoring 90, 45, 65, and 70 in four courses will do your GPA more harm compared to scoring 80, 71, 74 and 83 in these same courses. Attention must be paid to all courses especially those that carry more units. A '2' unit course is not as weighty as a '4' unit course or Final Year Projects which are usually '6' units.
Consistency in another sense would mean to make daily study a habit. Ensure you contribute daily to your knowledge of your courses through your study. Do not wait until exam time before you do crash study, there will be too much to study by then.
Your consistency will also keep you prepared for short and unannounced tests which sometimes constitute 5 - 10% of your overall score
3. Take Assignments, Projects/Term Papers Seriously
Assignments and Projects are a norm in every university. More and more, lecturers are trying to shift from deciding 70% of your total score from a 3-hour exam.
Assignments - group or individual - and projects, therefore, take a good chunk of the total. Since you do not know which of the assignments given during the semester will be considered, it is advisable you turn in every assignment, project or term paper.
4. Study Past Questions and Trends
There are very high chances the questions you will encounter on exam day have appeared at one time in the recent past. Some lecturers almost repeat questions word for word, changing only certain parameters.
This focus on past questions should not be at the expense of the course materials or notes, rather, they are to make you have a feel of what to expect.
5. Study With Others
Group discussions and tutorials help you concretize your knowledge of concepts. You should volunteer to teach others; their questions will probe your understanding. We learn more when we teach others what we know.
Group discussions are meeting points to discover the latest materials and the most recent past questions. Don't under estimate the resources your classmates might have. Never walk alone!
6. Be Friends With Your Lecturers
This is not so you can lobby for free marks but for a healthy relationship with your lecturers. This relationship can make you boldly walk up to your lecturer for explanation to concepts you are struggling with, which makes him/her aware of your strengths.
Issues such as missing scripts and scores are more quickly resolved when your lecturers know you. You cannot afford to hate any lecturer or course. That invariably translates to failure, or at best, poor performance in all courses handled by that lecturer.
The above tips are proven ways of bagging first class from a Nigerian University. Follow them dutifully and you will be smiling upon graduation.
P.S: This is not to dissuade you from participating in other activities like student leadership, campus journalism, sports, seminars, internships and competitions that make you an all-round student.
Do not join the league of those students that go for the book and the book alone. These other activities are invaluable if you must be a complete student.
Photo Credit: gardner-webb.edu
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