How to Conquer Lecture Classes

By Allie Caton on October 30, 2017

As a college student, you are going to encounter a dull professor that somehow manages to spike your melatonin levels after their first few sentences. It’s unavoidable and it’s always extremely painful. There’s no way to get around having to sit through hours upon hours of listening to a monotonous, static professor drone on about a subject that you don’t care about.

Despite this, you still probably want to do well in the class. Even if it’s a boring requirement, your grade is still reflected in your cumulative GPA. But how can you stay engaged in this situation? Here are a few things to try.

pexels.com

Identify distractors

Identify your biggest distractors and then deal with them. If you use your laptop to take notes, single out the social media sites that draw you away from class most, and turn off notifications and log out. It might even be helpful to turn off your Wi-Fi completely so you just have access to the offline document that you are taking notes in.

Computers are a huge distraction in class, so if you find that just being on your computer at all is distracting, choose to take handwritten notes instead. Handwriting notes can help you with retention as well so it might be a good idea to ditch the computer in class.

Same thing goes with your phone. If you are prone to checking your phone every time it buzzes, turn it off or put on Do Not Disturb during class so you can forget about any social media or friends who are trying to get a hold of you. It all can wait a couple hours for you to get out of class.

Participate

The easiest way to stay alert in class is to be an active participant. Be ready and eager to answer questions whenever the professor asks. This helps you not only stay present but also stand out in large lectures. If you are prepared to answer questions, you will want to be engaged throughout the class so you actually have something to say when question time comes.

Sit in the front row

It might go against your instincts, but sitting in the front row is a really easy way to help keep you engaged. The proximity to the professor and the board forces you to pay attention to it. On top of that, there is the threat of guilt and scrutiny from the professor who can clearly see you if you aren’t paying attention. Sometimes the threat of being called out by a professor is a good thing.

Prepare beforehand

Preparing before class will help you be able to jump right into the material. Before getting to class, spend just a couple of minutes reviewing your notes from the previous class so that you are 100 percent aware of what is going on in the lecture from start to finish.

Preparing beforehand doesn’t only encompass academics, but also how you prepare your body. Make sure you are well-nourished and hydrated beforehand. There is nothing more distracting than an empty stomach or a parched mouth. On the flip side, if you’re too full, you’re going to be uncomfortable and not prepared to learn either. Listen to your body’s needs and meet them.

Find a study buddy

Make a friend or two in the class who you can compare notes with if you feel like you missed anything. This is a win-win situation for you and your classmates. You could even create a shared Google doc and make a master document of all the notes for the class. This can act as an amazing resource and study guide for exams.

Sharing notes like this will also keep you accountable. Your note buddy isn’t going to be very happy with you if you are only contributing partial notes, so you have to stay engaged to hold up your end of the bargain.

Record lecture

If you find that no matter what you just can’t pay attention in lecture, recording is a good way to get the information without staying completely engaged throughout the entire lecture period. By recording, you can play the lecture back whenever you have time and take notes on whatever you might have missed in class.

You can also play back recordings at a higher speed if you don’t have time to listen to an entire hour and a half recording. You shouldn’t rely on this method because there are things that you can’t get through just an audio recording and it’s a time killer to have to listen back to the recording. Use it as a source of backup information rather than your primary source.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format