5 tips to surviving your poly life

After almost two years in SP, there are some lessons that we learnt (sometimes the hard way) and we thought it’d come in handy for freshies.. or people who still haven’t learnt their lessons after all this time. (what have you been doing in school?)

If you want a guide to surviving poly life, read on! Be prepared and make this 3 years the best you will ever have.

1. Fashion fix

                                    
We know that we DMC students are a fashionable lot – but don’t ever feel pressurized to look like a carbon copy of somebody else! What looks great on someone else may not be the right thing for you. We don’t have uniforms, so grab this opportunity to flaunt individual fashion styles! 

• Dress how you want people to perceive you – What’s your style? Sporty, smart, hipster, indie, chic?
• Don’t be sloppy – Wouldn’t you want to give your lecturers a good impression? Nobody likes to teach someone who comes to school looking like he just dragged himself out of bed!
• Dress comfortably – you never know when you’ll need to stay late hours in school to work on a project. If you’re not comfortable, you may possibly turn into the Mr Grumpy Cat in your group and scare everyone off! (Note: this is not an excuse to be sloppy!)

2. Cat fights

I know you guy probably heard a lot of stories about people being nasty to each other during project work, and they always tell you to ‘think of yourself first’! But that’s not how it should be. Our advice is for you to BE A GOOD TEAM MATE, above all else! Keep your group motivated and always have a shared goal. Don’t backstab and stuff – that’s lame. (Oh, and BTW? Good ideas are always meant to be shared! Don’t be selfish!)

About the gossip queens (and kings), that’s a totally different story. If you don’t like them, ignore them! They aren’t worth your attention, simple as that.

3. Study areas

It’s always important to find a space in which your group can work best at! It could be anywhere – the food court, The Agency, Hilltop library etc. Do you prefer it quiet or lively? A closed space or an open area?

The most important thing to note – DON’T GET DISTRACTED! Always pay attention when your group mates are talking to you about their ideas, or you might just piss them off! Sure, you can talk about things unrelated to schoolwork but always remember to go back on track, or else you’ll never get that assignment done before the oh-so-dreadful deadlines!! 

4. Have enough rest

Let’s face it – all of us spend hours surfing the net at night without a clue why we’re doing it. As social media addicts, we check Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr (and possibly Pinterest too) almost every minute! Tweeting things such as “I have so much work to do (but not actually doing any of it)” and “craving that custard bun I had this morning…” but not going to bed. Well here’s how your tweet will be the next morning – “UGH late for school… again. #sux2beme”

Come on! You can do better than that! Always make sure you have sufficient sleep (6-8 hours) and you’ll never have to rush to school (and still be late). If you don’t have enough rest, guess when is the next time you’ll fall asleep? Yep, class. Would your lecturer like that? No. Do you stand to gain anything (other than some ZZZs)? Nope. So why do this to yourself? Heed our advice and you won’t regret it. You’ll have a much better day in school when you’re not surviving on only a few hours of sleep!

5. When in doubt, ask

Pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Don’t ever hesitate to ask questions (unless they’re meant to annoy your friend/lecturer). Asking good questions shows your lecturers that you are serious about the subject. It’ll also contribute to your class participation marks, which do take up quite a percentage of your overall grade. Your lecturers have the answers, so go to them! If you’re the shy type of student, you could always drop them an email. Frequent consultation is key. You don’t want to work on a project without consulting your lecturer till the very last day, and realizing that you’ve been going the complete wrong direction the whole time! Always ask if there’s room for improvement (there always is!) and you’ll be on your way to straight As and that shining GPA of 4.0!

We certainly hope you’ve learnt a thing or two about poly life! Grades are important, but work hard, play hard! It’s going to be 3 grueling years and it’s your choices that makes it a fruitful one, or the worst 3 years in your entire schooling life! Embrace life and love yourself! 

Did any of these tips help you? Got any other tips about poly life that you’d like to share? Just leave a comment below! You can also find us on Facebook SP DMC or mention us on Twitter @CassyDMC– we would love hear more about how to survive in poly!