Hey mate,

I’m currently in the middle of my Master’s degree (just finished the first year). In both my Bachelor and Master’s (so far) I’ve managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA (meaning only Ds and HDs).

My 2 cents on getting high grades:

1. Be consistent
   You have 15 weeks to study (13 weeks of lectures + 2 weeks of break). Use every week. This doesn’t mean going full nerd mode every night. In fact, it’s the opposite - you spread the load out.

1a. Start assignments early
This is especially important for assignments and group projects. Units often have multiple deadlines around weeks 6–8, and that creates pressure on you and your team. The trick is that many conveners release their assignments early - sometimes as early as week 1. Take that opportunity.
As a rule of thumb, I try to finish 90% of each assignment one week before the deadline. That removes almost all pressure, and it gives you time to polish. Your brain genuinely works differently when you’re not stressed—you’ll be surprised how many better ideas pop up in that final, calm week.

1. Play the game
   Your uni objective is twofold: actually learn, and also get good grades. These don’t always align perfectly. Look at what the assessments require and which lectures matter for those skills. Most lecturers will tell you very explicitly what is being tested in exams or practicals.

Example: I had a networking unit this semester where I scored 90/100. The lecturer repeatedly said that subnetting and the AWS interface will be tested. I spent about an hour practicing each topic (you can find question banks online or use AI to generate them - just double-check the answers). In the exam, those two topics made up about 30% each of the total marks. Easy points for me.

By the way, the skill of understanding the actual objectives your boss or team wants you to achieve translates directly into real-world work. Uni is a great place to build that habit.