Whether you’re a HD student or are sporting more of a ‘P’s get degrees’ kind of attitude, who isn’t keen to make uni life just that little bit more cruisy?

Getting through a uni degree is a gruelling task that can drag on for years. It can end up taking more years than initially planned because degrees are a difficult thing to conquer and sometimes life gets in the way.

While there are technically no magical tricks that let you skip ahead to your graduation ceremony, there are some ways to work the system. We’ve rounded up seven of the most life-saving hacks to help get you through your uni degree. Listen up, because these are as close to loopholes as you’ll come.

#1 Stay On Top Of Your Degree Structure

Hear me when I say that this can make or break you. It can be all too easy to be swept away in the excitement of starting university and over-indulge in ‘experimental’ units. Sure, take Greek Mythology, take ‘Politics of Pleasure’, take ‘Neoliberal Capitalism In Action’, just have a plan.

If you’re just starting uni, talk to someone there about planning your degree out and if you’re mid-degree, check in that you are, in fact, on the path to graduating.

Let me tell you it can be a very inconvenient revelation when you find that you never took enough junior units to complete your major. A bit of simple planning can avoid disasters (and delays) down the track.

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#2 Save Your 20% Class Absence For When You Really Need It

Yes, not all classes will feel absolutely necessary. And yes, going all the way to uni for a class just to tick off that ‘participation’ mark can feel like a burden.

But while it’s tempting to use up all of your free passes to miss class early in the semester while you’re still in denial that uni has even started, you’ll need that time a whole lot more later in semester when you’re drowning in deadlines.

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#3 Consider Taking Some Units Online Instead

If all the uni contact hours are not working with your life schedule or you would honestly just rather take some subjects while snuggled up in your PJs, then get around online studying.

Thanks to the advent of virtual education you can take legitimate uni subjects from real universities online and have those units credited to your on-campus degree. There’s a huge range of study areas and courses available online – you can even study courses from a heap of leading Australian universities like Griffith and Macquarie.

Taking some classes online can be a real game changer.

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#4 Make Time For Actual Industry Experience

Intern. For real, industry experience is the most useful thing to get you work down the track. If you can make time to intern while in uni, then you’re much more likely to get actual paid work when you finish.

Jumping into industry work will give you a taste of what different areas of work are actually like, so you can decide what you actually enjoy sooner rather than later.

You build a more impressive resumé, plus you build relationships and might be able to line up a job by the time you graduate.

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#5 Study Extra Units To Finish Your Degree Faster

If you’re keen to get this degree done ASAP or you’ve fallen behind your expected graduation date for one reason or another, you could always add an extra unit somewhere to help catch up.

Fast-tracking your studies is a bit of a mission if you try to squeeze in another on-campus class to your already packed semester schedule. If you’re keen to speed up your journey to the finish line the easiest way to go about it is to take the extra units online – and you can even pick up units from other unis if that takes your fancy.

Whether you want to load up during semester or over summer, there are plenty of options to get you where you want to be.

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#6 Reach Out To Other Students Taking Your Units

When you’re trying to do an assignment and have no idea if you’re on the right track, it can drive you crazy. Unlike in school when you and your mates could congregate on Facebook to hash out what exactly the assignment was asking for, uni can be pretty daunting when you feel like you’re in it alone.

But you’re not in it alone! There are plenty of other students in the same boat so make it your business to get their contact details. Assessment confusion becomes much less intimidating, plus you might even make some new friends.

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#7 If You Fail A Unit, Go To Plan B

Look, it happens. Plenty of people fail subjects at uni, it’s not a disaster. Failing doesn’t have to mean delaying your graduation or wasting heaps of time because chances are, you can just restudy the unit online while you keep pushing on with your degree.

Try not to stress. If you’re committed, you’ll get that degree in the end. And that’s when the fun begins.

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(Feature image: Easy A/Screen Gems)

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If you need to catch up on some subjects or just want to fast-track your degree, Open Universities Australia is the way to go. Find out more here.