University life offers many new opportunities and openings and we encourage you to make the most of everything on offer. However, it is essential that these things do not prevent your devoting sufficient time to studying. It is not sufficient just to get by, attending lectures and other teaching activities without putting in the necessary private study to consolidate what you are learning. The evidence is very clear that people who do not spend enough time on private study will struggle to keep up to speed. Remember that you should expect to put in roughly one hour of private study for each hour of timetabled activity, making a working week of around 35-40 hours throughout the academic year.