by Carlos (Student Blogger: PhD in Management Science) 

I remember the day I came to the UK and started my studies at Lancaster University and how long it was since I last had some English lessons. I was worried about how difficult it was going to be for me to speak and listen with and to native speakers. However, everything changed as soon as I met my flatmates. We were able to speak about different and mostly non-academic topics and after several weeks of coexistence with them and listening to different styles, pronunciation and ideas, it helped me to feel relaxed about communicating in English.

Coming from Peru which has a very different education system to the UK I’ve found that it is essential to learn how every course is assessed at the end. Self-discipline to organise your learning progress and proper time management will be necessary to avoid stress and last minute rush and stress by the end of each term. You’ll find that some coursework is individual but you can share and reinforce your knowledge by working together with your classmates and sometimes you may find out that what you believe about the task is not the same as others understand it, including your tutor so this can be very beneficial to avoid any misinterpretation of your assignment task.
After submitting my first written assignments, I realised that my writing wasn’t as strong as I thought it was. This has been a real challenge for me and as the years have passed, I am still trying to be more clear with my writing and I can often identify that there’s something missing or unclear or that certain words can be misunderstood if I don’t explain what I am talking about clearly. I am sure that as my studies progress I will be able to improve on this even more.

I also have to mention reading at university which I have also found challenging. It was supposed that my best score in IELTS was obtained thanks to my advanced reading comprehension. Unfortunately, for me, academic reading can be exhausting sometimes and summarising or finding the gap in the literature and then criticising what the author has said, is an almost impossible task for a newcomer. Therefore, in this respect, something I would advise investing time into is developing a good relationship and maintaining good communication with tutors teaching the course or for me with my supervisor. I’ve realised that if I have a question about the reading or a particular part of my research and I cannot solve it on my own then the tutor or my supervisor is the best person to speak to about it.

As you can see, I’ve had a few challenges when it comes to studying in the UK but with hard work and determination I am positive that I will be able to overcome these challenges and succeed to the best of my ability.