Alao Tope Atop
2 min readNov 19, 2017

How to prepare yourself for academic activities as a fresher

Here comes the period when students are given admission to study various courses, but most students get carried away by the noise and distractions of being a freshman that they actually forget what brought them here. Getting it right from the start as a freshman in school is very important, as your entire academic performance is dependent on your performance as a freshman. So here are some tips to help you on this journey:

1. Get recommendation on the right books/materials to read: Reading the wrong material is as brutal as not reading at all. You have very limited time to read while you are in school. And it will do you a lot of good to spend this little time reading what is really important. The only way to know which material is important is to get recommendations from people who are already in the game. I mean people who are in 200, 300 or 400level in your department. Not necessarily from the same school, even from other schools.

2. Familiarize yourself with the course you are given by creating interest around it: It is possible you are offered a course you didn’t put in for. I mean, I was offered a course I didn’t even know the meaning of. What I did was to use a dictionary to know what the course is all about and then use google to get more details. You can do this as well. Another way to create interest for this course is to find someone who is currently doing the same course and who is passionate about it, to explain the details to you.

3. Make friend with someone above you: find someone who is in a higher level than you to mentor you on your journey, this doesn’t have to be the best student in the class. The truth is, best students in classes are usually too busy trying to retain their status. You will learn a lot from people who are brilliant and have nothing to lose.

4. Go find accommodation before the school properly resume: The truth is that hostels are usually cheaper at the beginning of the session before student resume. And you can easily select from a wide range of hostels during this time. You can find off campus hostels on our website www.offkrent.com

Alao Tope Atop

CEO @AMW Nigeria. Providing financial services for average Nigerian