At the university level, instruction is accelerated, and competition among students is stiffer. As parents it is important for you to reaffirm your students' capabilities and remind them of the academic support options that are available. Encourage your students to get to know their instructors early in each semester. They should take regular advantage of office hours to seek help from the professors, teaching assistants, or the departmental undergraduate advisers. The residence halls also offer academic support services.
Students frequently form their own study groups for a particular class.
This peer tutoring can often help to clarify information and concepts and is a good way to benefit from the ideas and interpretations of other class members. Letters and Science Berkeley's five undergraduate schools and colleges all offer staff and faculty advising to their students. By far the biggest college is Letters and Science, with about 16,000 undergraduates. Its Office of Undergraduate Advising has a staff of 41 to help students with course selection and planning, choice of major, progress to degree, evaluation of transfer units, and referrals. Academic Partnerships for Excellence is an array of five academic and personal support services offering tutoring, advising, advocacy, and support to students at Berkeley.