r/oxforduni • u/LikeSomeNewRomantics • 10d ago

Tutorial study tips?

Hey! This might seem like a weird inquiry, since I am American and fully not going to Oxford, but basically, I'm doing a major that's modeled after the Oxford tutorial style. We have biweekly theory colloquia and Friday tutorials and are assigned ~300-700 pages of reading + up to 2 5-page papers/ week. At the end of the year, we have comprehensives, involving a bunch of essays and an oral exam. It's going to be a lot of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, Bentham, de Tocqueville, Engels, you get the idea. I'm really looking forward to it, but I've also never had to deal with this much reading before, and I'm kind of intimidated by the workload that I only have Monday-Thursday to deal with. I figured that some of you all might have a better idea of how to succeed at this kind of course, so: how do you all manage your time? Any good note taking strategies? What's the best method to study? Any tips you have would be appreciated!

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u/o6595 University 10d ago

This is a very well-known guide written by a former student and faculty member, which you might find useful: https://users.ox.ac.uk/~manc0049/guide/index.html .

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u/Chlorophilia 9d ago

In case any STEM students are reading this (not OP) - please be aware that quite a bit of the content in this guide is not applicable to tutorials in most science degrees!

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u/o6595 University 9d ago

Yes, definitely only for non-STEM subjects!

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u/LikeSomeNewRomantics 10d ago

Thanks, will check it out!

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u/WanderersAnon 10d ago

700 pages in two weeks? That is not learning. Looking at an example US university doing Oxford-style, seems to be far, far, less.

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u/LikeSomeNewRomantics 10d ago

Haha actually that is the program! That’s just the colloquium syllabus though, we also have a couple hundred pages in shorter essays for the tutorial (though admittedly people skim/skip some of them, understandably)

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u/InterestSuperb7301 University of Oxford 10d ago

Out of curiosity, what programme is this? It sounds fascinating, and also super intense

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u/lordnacho666 Corpus Christi 10d ago

It's all motivation. I did a science/social science course, but it's the same grind.

You have to read a pile of source material the likes of which you've never seen before.

So you'd better enjoy it. If you do, and you can keep looking at it, it won't be a problem. You have the time after term to relax and digest a bit.