Survival Guide for Studying Abroad

I know, I haven't even started with my study. But I attended Studienkolleg for 2 semesters so I gathered some points for you based on my personal experience at Studienkolleg.

For your information, you who don't know how the German educational system works, here is some explanations:

The Studienkolleg is a public educational institution in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for students whose graduation certificate is not recognized as equivalent to the Abitur (high school level). It is a preparatory course for academic study at university.

Any foreigner who wants to study at german university has to study in Studienkolleg first. Here we are learning some stuffs like the other germans students when they are in high school. The purpose of this studienkolleg is to evaluate our school achievement at our own country, if it's good enough to study here. After 2 semesters of study we will face the Feststellungsprüfung (FSP), which is at the same level of the final examination of german high school students (Abitur). Basically when we passed the exam, then we can start to study here.

For me my time in studienkolleg is so precious. I had a lot of fun and I met a lot of new friends from other country. There we get to know so many culture with its own unique characters. The best part is: it feels like we go back to high school!

These are some tips and tricks to survive and also live your college life in abroad to the fullest.

Do not limit your friendship range based on nationality

It's so common that people want to “hang out” only with people who come from the same country. Or even worse, don't feel to make friends at all. It is such a shame, because in studienkolleg we get the chance to practice our german. So when we talk only to your country-mate, of course we use our mother languange and our languange skill won't be improved. Believe me, you will use your time in studienkolleg to improve your german skill, because if you are already in university, there's definitely no time for it.

Study in group

Sometimes it will be little hard to understand some stuffs the teachers said at the class. So we'll need to discuss the study stuffs with other students, and sharing what we have understood so far. Studying together can improve your languange skill as well.

Library is your new best friend

The quiet atmosphare and being surrounded with people who also studying never failed to motivate me. Seeing how other students keep consentrating with their own books gives me slap in the face whenever I feel lazy. Library has somehow imaginary force to keep you on the track.

Don't be shy to ask your teacher

on my first days in studienkolleg I almost didn't speak in the class. I've always been a really quiet person who want to consentrate and thinking silently. I don't feel the urge to ask the teachers, I would prefer to think calmly and finding the answer of the questions in my head. But then I found out that asking questions helped me to be more critical with my own understanding that I could dig in more and the teachers will give you much more informations than it's supposed to be. The more you get, the better your understanding will be.

Presentations

When your teacher gives you task to held a presentation, be happy! Because it's an opportunity to get your speaking skill and also your understanding of the study material better. Perform your presentations in front of your close friends first, and ask their opinion and even ask them to give you questions. From the questions of your friends you'll find out what your slide or explanation is lacking of.

Learn with cards

It's very handy using cards to write your study material on. So when you have nothing to do in the bus, just read the cards! It makes studying more mobile and it means you can learn anytime, any where. Therefore writing those cards needs a bunch of effort too so you'll have to read the same material several times.

Browse anything in the internet

Don't feel satisfied only learning with the books. You need more! Expecially when you're studying with friends, there will be some questions come up in mind and you'll definitely need to google. Watching some explanations in youtube is very handy as well. There are a lot of youtube channel to help you with studying. I personally really like Khan academy. Actually you can visit Khan Academy on their official website for more features, www.khanacademy.org . There are bunch of study materials almost for all subjects to enjoy and those are all FREE! They have even a scoring system to keep you motivated. So you'll be scored after watching each videos and at a certain sum of points you'll get your level up and receiving badges. It's like game!