Your Survival Guide for Starting a Masters

This time last year I was hunched over my laptop furiously typing up my Masters dissertation. Somehow this feels like it happened a lifetime ago and also last Tuesday. I was stressed, I was excited, and I was consuming snacks like it was my job.

Reflecting on my Masters overall, there were many things that I did right, and many I did wrong. Everyone’s experience will be different, but here are a few tips to help get you started.

Am I smart enough? Do I deserve to be here? Am I the only one who didn’t understand that seminar?

These are just a few questions that went through my head in the first few weeks. If you start asking similar things, go to the mirror and give yourself a stern talking to.

I found the best way to tackle these feelings was to throw myself into the deep end and get involved.

My Masters degree was built up of several five week modules, many on topics I was not overly familiar with. It is impossible to become an expert on something in five weeks. You would need to have a super-human sponge brain and the ability to stop time in order to read enough – and remember it!

You won’t know everything, that’s the point. Your seminar leaders are there to challenge you and getting things wrong is just part of the process. Don’t be afraid to voice your thoughts.

Furthermore, many people on your postgraduate course will have come from different undergraduate degrees at a range of universities, all running a different curriculum. They will know more than you on some topics, but you will know more on others. That’s how you learn.

Unlike a Bachelors, a Masters is usually one year full-time. That is not a lot and, trust me, it will go quickly. While you will be provided with all the tools to be successful, it’s your job to use them.

In my induction week the department leader for postgraduate studies gave an inspiring talk. “This is a massive step up”, he said, “70% in an undergraduate essay will correlate to 60% in the MA”. I freaked. That’s a whole grade boundary!

Then I saw the reading we were assigned for each seminar, I freaked again! It was more than I have ever read in a week.

The start of your course will be overwhelming. But that does not mean you aren’t capable; you are just going to have to work a bit harder – and smarter – than you did in your Bachelors.

Make yourself a timetable and stick to it. Check the required reading ahead of time so you can estimate how long it might take you and learn to make smarter notes.

People retain information differently. The VARK model is a theory which argues individuals will tend to learn better from a certain type of stimuli: visual, auditory, reading/writing, or physical.

Whether you agree with this model or not, it is worthwhile experimenting to figure out what learning methods work best for you.

More visual learners, for example, might benefit from mind maps and brainstorms, and auditory learners could look to incorporate educational podcasts. Additionally, some people thrive in study groups whereas others work best alone. If you find you are the latter, I recommend a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

On top of this, you should learn how to take good notes.

For the first few months of the Masters my notes were basically just a stash of quotes. While a good quotation can give your coursework a nice boost, I didn’t really learn what the authors were trying to argue.

Since then I began using the Cornell notetaking method. This forces you to summarise arguments and add your own thoughts. Shockingly, I remembered a lot more of what I was reading.

There are many different learning methods out there, and countless YouTube videos explaining them, so have a poke around and don’t be afraid to try new things!

This point is pretty self-explanatory. Please don’t cause yourself any unnecessary stresses!

The deadline might seem like a long way off, but it comes around quick. No person will have exactly the same experience with their dissertation. Some start the Masters with a very clear idea of their thesis topic, others are inspired to develop one during the course and plenty of people make the final decision right at the end. Whether you fall into one of these categories, or somewhere in between, the dissertation itself will always be a long process.

I personally began with a rough concept for my project. I knew the themes I wanted to look at, but not necessarily the context. My tutor recommended an area for me to explore but after a month of reading I realised that the topic just wasn’t for me and I was struggling to locate enough sources.

After some thought, I talked to my tutor about some other ideas and she recommended me a different lecturer who might be a more suitable. By Christmas I had gone through three different potential projects and was on my second tutor.

Starting your research early will allow you plenty of time to play around with your ideas. Research will never go as planned. There are so many factors that could impact your intended argument, source base, or timescale, many of which are out of your control.

It’s therefore important to allow for a level of flexibility by giving yourself as much time as possible.

Above all else, enjoy your Masters. It’s a unique study experience, unlike what comes before (or after ). It’s also the shortest degree you can do and will be over before you know it: so get stuck in and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You’re human after all, as is everyone around you.

Soon you will be able to pass on your own words of wisdom.

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