Karolina

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Sweden. Came to Australia after doing her Bachelors in Tourism and Business and completed her Masters in International Business together with an MBA at QUT.

Most of the exams in Australia have a time limit which I found very difficult because English is not my mother tongue. Sometimes I need to look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary, which takes time, and so it is quite difficult to finish the exam in time. In Sweden I feel much less pressured because we are given a lot more time.

Quite a few exams used a multiple choice format which took a while for me to get used to. It can be quite tricky because you need to have a very good grasp of English to understand the different nuances between the alternatives. They are really quite hard.

There were a lot more assignments in my course than I expected. In Sweden we mainly concentrate on the exams at the end so don't have that many assignments. Having so many assignments is very time consuming. In Australia there are lots of little assignments throughout the year whereas in Sweden we have fewer assignments but they are longer. In Australia they can be extremely particular about things like referencing.

I was surprised at the amount of reading that is required. I found it very difficult to keep up with all the readings and do the assignments at the same time. I got a lot of help from the language and learning staff. I have been using them as much as possible... You feel a lot better when someone has read your assignments before you hand it in. I had to be quite disciplined because I needed to get the assignments finished early so that they could be checked before handing them in.

I've noticed a big difference from when I first started. I have a much better routine now and I am now more strategic in my approach to study. There was quite a lot of interaction through group work, role-plays and discussions - sometimes almost too much because I also like to hear from the lecturer.

During the semesters I had very little time for recreation and travel. I did however manage to do some travelling around during the breaks. I thought I would have more time off during semester but I always had assignments and study to do so I couldn't relax that much. In Sweden I have a lot more leisure time. I didn't expect it to be this time consuming. It gets easier with time because you get to know what to concentrate on.

My course was really well organised... there were a lot of really friendly people and the weather was fantastic. I was a little disappointed with how many Scandinavians there are here. I didn't know that there would be so many Scandinavians. It's too easy to get sucked into that group when there are so many of them. I tried to do group work with people who were not Scandinavian because I could hear different points of view but that can be more time consuming because of those differing ideas and viewpoints. Australians can be difficult to work with sometimes because they are often working while completing their Masters and so they are not so available. Australians are also quite laid back so they often leave things to the last minute, whereas I like to get things out of the way.

I recommend that international students take advantage of all the services available to them such as tutors, learning support services, help from lecturers and so on. You get a lot of information at orientation sessions at the beginning of the course but it doesn't all sink in so it is a good idea to go over that information again and find what support services are available to international students because they really do help a lot.