How to Get a First by Thomas Dixon

 How to Get a First by Thomas Dixon makes the perfect companion guide for any student who is about to embark on a University undergraduate degree programme for the first time. It is commonly accepted that university education is very different to any other style of education, so this book really breaks down the differences between university and other education and helps inform students of what they need to do to be a successful student. This includes how to make full use of lectures and seminars/tutorials, how to read and approach assessments and generally how to set good foundations for a University undergraduate degree. 

This has been a good introduction to university education and how to make the most of one's time as an undergraduate student. At university, at least in my opinion, you are the student, the teacher, the exam officer, the examiner and the moderator all in one. This balance, on top of your studying and extra-curricular commitments, as well as social life, can all be extremely challenging. This book, however, helps to break down university education into more manageable steps and gives some valuable advice on how to make the most of this educational experience and how to really achieve to the best of your ability. 

Despite this being a good book, there are some things which may not make it the most appropriate book. To start with, this book was published in 2004, which at the time of writing this review is nearly twenty years ago. I would therefore argue that this book is largely dramatically out of date. Yes, it is still good for general advice on university education, but there have been so many changes in educational practices in the last 20 years, largely due to the impact on both the internet and, to a lesser extent, the Coronavirus pandemic. Looking forward, there will only be further changes to University education as more research is conducted into best practices. 

As well as this, this book is a general book for all subjects rather than specific degree programmes. This means the book does not include areas which are very important for some degree programmes such as legal databases for Law students or mathematical and programming software for students of Mathematics, computer science and engineering. This may mean that it could be more beneficial for students to read a book about university education more specific to their degree programme, such as Letters To a Law Student, Learning the Law or The Successful Law Student, which are all particularly good books for those looking at pursuing a degree in law. And a final point I wish to make, this book, like all the others has been written for a neurotypical audience. There are very few if any, books on the market for neurodiverse university students who may learn in different ways and have differences in their educational ability.

Altogether, I rate this book 2 stars making it a good/all right book because it provides students with valuable advice about how to approach university education which may not otherwise be communicated with students before they commence their undergraduate education. This book further offers some great general advice which will always be relevant for degree students regardless of how much educational practices may change in the future. I would therefore recommend this book to any individual who is about to embark on a University undergraduate programme for the first time.